A few winters back, a perceptive and clever prankster spray painted the phrase “Caution: Egos Ahead” on a roadside guardrail along Kam Highway, just south of Waimea Bay.  For maximum readership and impact, it was strategically placed facing oncoming northbound traffic, and was obviously done in facetious reference to the vainglorious environment that exists at the high profile surf breaks north of the Bay, such as Off The Wall, Backdoor, Pipeline, Rocky Point, and Sunset Beach.  Personally, I detest graffiti, but I had to give this one a pass, thinking it was warranted and spot-on (hilarious too).

Ego is generally defined as an individual’s over-inflated perception of themselves, their social status, public appeal, and talent, especially as they rank relative to those of others (if others are even bothered to be considered at all).  In this context, it’s a behavior that’s thankfully unique to the human species.  But despite this common application, Ego does have its benefits.  It’s driven rapid progress in business, finance, and culture, and has pushed performance barriers in the areas of arts and entertainment, science, and athletics.  Ego has also produced some of history’s most fascinating characters, and if used properly and for the right reasons, it can be a powerful and positive force.

But we live in the real world don’t we, and the word carries a well-deserved negative connotation.  Because ego requires frequent exposure and perpetual upkeep and ubiquity, egotistical people will often do socially disagreeable and occasionally asinine things to promote themselves or maintain their existing prominence in the public eye. In entertainment and sports, particularly in modern American culture, over-the-top egomania is rampant as the vicious cycle of celebrity, wealth, self-entitlement, obsession, and personal insecurity and neurosis implodes on itself.

Surfing is certainly not immune to this and it’s begun to get a little scary in places.  Traditionally, surfing culture “encourages” a certain level of modesty and this unspoken rule is regularly enforced with the international language of a flying fist or two.  Paradoxically, bravado has long been rewarded in surfing, when presented with a level of humor and restraint. In the 1970’s, the North Shore of O’ahu was a clear and sometimes violent reminder of the conflicting mindsets of flash vs. humility, and in heavily localized enclaves in California, paddling out with a colored wetsuit away from a city beach could result in a black eye, cut lip, and/or permanent marching orders.

What happened in Hawaii back in the day clearly set the tone here for visiting and local surfers to check their egos at the water’s edge, take only your fair share of waves, and let your surfing do the talking for you.  If you were good, people would know it.  Pretty simple, right?  Wrong.

The advent of the ASP World Championship Tour and specialized big wave riding in the early 80’s introduced more intense international media coverage, big corporate surf brands, increasing sponsorships, contest earnings, and photo incentives that all help to maintain a dark, underlying ethos requiring professional surfers, and those aspiring to become one, to get themselves noticed (especially on the North Shore) in a big way, and all while trying to avoid getting their butts kicked in the process.  These days, surfers are getting paid to surf at much younger ages and at higher incomes than ever imagined before.  The arms race to top each other on both performance and financial levels has reached a fever pitch.  Every kid who can pop an aerial in the shorebreak is a potential cash cow for surf apparel companies, and many of them are not near mature enough to handle the newfound wealth and notoriety.  As all these foul aspects amplified in the 2000’s, humility seems to be on a precipitous decline.

In my work televising North Shore surfing contests for Time Warner Cable, I’ve had the good fortune of seeing the professional surfing machine at work from the inside out, some of the social and media interplay that occurs, as well as some candid moments deep backstage.  I’m glad to report that 99% of the surfers I’ve met or seen around the event sites have turned out to be really cool people, quick with a handshake, a “Howzit”, “Ola”, or “G’Day”, without false modesty, and not at all full of themselves … at least not in the way they presented themselves to others. 

Unfortunately, not all encounters have been as pleasant and reassuring. 

There was a situation where I wound up standing next to a very well known and retired professional surfer in one of the event towers.  Since we’d seen each other a few times over the last couple winters, I thought I’d introduce myself, thank him for appearing on the broadcasts, and just say Hi. He looked down his long sunburned nose at me like I was a nuisance, with a “How dare you talk to ME” countenance and attitude that I found both surprising and needless. I wasn’t interrupting anything, didn’t want an autograph or a photo, to pepper him with a million questions, or be his best friend.  Just wanted to say Hi.  Maybe he felt that he was way too cool for the “nobodies” and couldn’t spare a few seconds to return a cordial greeting?  I don’t know, but that was fine and I wasn’t bummed or insulted … more sad for him, as that kind of thing tends to catch up with a person eventually. 

Situation two involved the behavior of an active B-list female professional surfer. We and 50 other people were out on an average, inconsistent day at Haleiwa.  It looked like she had a personal team photographer shooting her from the beach, one in the water, and a couple of girlfriends along for the ride. Together, they seemed to be going out of their way to make a spectacle of themselves, working hard to draw others’ attention.  At one point, Pro-Girl was accidentally dropped in on by a young guy, whom she proceeded to berate with something along the lines of, “Don’t you know who I am?  I get paid to do this, so catch your own &@%$# waves!!!!”  Her girlfriends let out a nervous laugh and started chanting her nickname!  Their conduct was so outrageously uncool that I thought they were shooting North Shore II and that Pro-Girl was reprising the role of the evil Lance Burkhart!  I felt sorry for the kid and paddled nearer her for a good stare.  She blinked first (small victories, LOL).  Unfazed, she and her cocky entourage continued their loud, boorish behavior, eventually leaving the water in shared frustration as the now not-so-accidental snake jobs gained in frequency. 

Situation three was at a town side break, where I’d been admiring the exceptionally mature and technical surfing of a very young (pre-teen?) boy, who obviously had tons of natural talent and multiple sponsor stickers competing for space on his tiny little surfboard.  I’d seen him around before, and curious about what he was riding, I politely asked him between sets what his surfboard dimensions were … you know, typical small talk in the lineup.  Without looking back, he just paddled away.  I thought “OK, maybe he didn’t hear me”, so a few waves later I asked again. He lifted an eyebrow, chin high in the air and with the corner of his mouth, made that annoying “pphhsst” sound, as if to say, “Dude, like I’m a future surf star OK dude, so like, don’t even bother dude.”   Whoa, the attitude on  this kid. It actually made me chuckle, that such a colossal ego could fit into such a small head.

I’ve never been famous, nor do I want to be, so I don’t know what it feels like to have thousands of people bugging you for your autograph or picture, catering to your every need, to bear the burden of having to please your big money sponsors and fans, or be a rising young gun who has the world in the palm of their hand.  These were isolated encounters and I’m being presumptive, so it’s not necessarily fair to judge someone on them alone.  I’d really like to think that maybe I caught these people when they were having a bad day, like all of us do. But without looking for it, the conceit and smugness just seemed so regrettably evident.

I’ve heard lots of insider stories about pro surfers from industry people in-the-know who travel the world tour with them, who described some of them as prima donnas, divas, drama queens, spoiled brats, and other assorted (and unprintable) nouns, but you can’t really be sure who or what to believe.  I’d assume most are credible, and some partially anecdotal.  But the incidents above I experienced personally and combined with the hearsay, indicate that ego and all its distasteful byproducts exist in surfing in a sadly pervasive manner.  Ego flourishes in a gluttonous, attention starved, everybody-look-at-me, instant gratification, YouTube/Facebook/Twitter/Reality Show/TMZ headline grabbing society that rewards brashness, materialism, hubris, and good old fashioned me-first self involvement.   It makes the Egomaniac’s mission to stand out from the crowd and satisfy their unrealistic goals for fame and recognition increasingly difficult as they fret, posture, and fight the unceasing battle against anonymity and irrelevance.

Everyone has an ego and the associated desire to be regarded as good at what they do, but there are boundaries as to what exceeds reasonable social decorum.  Ever heard the saying, “Be careful who you screw on the way up; because you’re going to see them on the way back down”?   You’d think that if one is doing well enough in their chosen field, they’ll get noticed.  Surfing is a sport that began in the most humble of origins, so it’s a shame that the unapologetic misuse of ego has leached into our noble sport at any level.  Based on some of the disturbing signs, ego’s influence on surfing is here to stay, no matter how many guardrails are tagged with catchy one-liners. 

Coming Up In October On Oceanic Surf Channel

Le surf magnifique!  French culture and world class beachbreak barrels come into your living room, as Oceanic SURF Channel televises stop number 8 on the ASP world tour; the 2011 Quiksilver Pro France live and in its entirety, October 4th – 13th.

We then trek south for the 2011 Rip Curl Pro Portugal, live from the beautiful region of Peniche, October 15th – 24th.  This is stop number 9 on the ASP world tour and completes the critical European leg.

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Then it’s back home to sunny Hawaii for a live telecast of the 2011 HIC Pro presented by Vans, from Sunset Beach, Oahu, starting October 28th.  The HIC Pro is a prestigious feeder event for the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, and signals the start of the North Shore big wave contest season.

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