Here’s a bonus of being South African. As for the second word of the title of this article, you can pronounce the word “woes” as “owes” as in – the Ed owes me lots of back pay for my excellent work for this website. (Ed’s note: Er…) However, you can also pronounce “woes” as “goose”, or if you’d want to be crude; the word can rhyme with a famous Afrikaans swear word beginning with a “p”. Either way, the title boils down to the same thing. English woes as in – woe is me – sadness, or South African woes as in righteous anger. Or just any kind of anger. Either pronunciation would be appropriate to this article interestingly enough. So just say it your way. (Ed’s note: Never in my life have I read a more rambling opening paragraph to any article ever. However, it’s completely coherent and the point you make is indisputable. I’ll give you the back pay. Author’s note: Thanks woes with a ‘p’.”)
Last week, without fear nor favour, Trident tackled the heated topics of social media and its place and impact in modern surfing. (The conclusion was: don’t tempt fate, yet short of pumping popular surfing spots full of cyanide and/or bloody chunks of chum, you’ll always have crowds.) Nevertheless, the world of surfing has another new scourge, depending on which side of the fence you currently find yourself. Live webcams, the third most accurate way of judging the surf conditions. (The second most accurate way being looking for yourself, and the all time most accurate way being consulting your horoscope. Trust Trident – this works.)
Trident reckons nobody can halt the march of progress. However, like all technology, surfing webcams can be used for good or evil. Consider every invention, advancement or progression ever to have been developed by humanity. Plastic, nuclear power, motor vehicles, alcohol, social media, stem cell research, the WSL, Velcro, bubble wrap, mid lengths boards, freeze dried coffee, fishpaste, the Kardashians, the phrase YOLO, the Trident website, pizza with pineapple on it, leather chaps, rollerblades, clowns and the poo man stance. Like these and many more of mankind’s most well known inventions, all have the power to be abused beyond their original intended purposes.
As of course do online surf cam’s. The issue is simply: by using a web cam to film a surf spot, you’re exposing it to the world. Much like the unwitting participants in a sex tape.
Trident’s compatriots in KZN seem to be pleased and rather proud of their webcams in the region, whereas closer to the middle of the country’s coastline, surfers have been threatening to blow up the local web cams with bazooka’s.
Here’s a reasonable thought though. Say a web cam shows Spot X absolutely firing, while you’re browsing the site while swamped at work, or baby sitting the kids at home. Or sick or injured in bed at home or hospital, or while on holiday or on a business trip to landlocked Zimbabwe. (We’re assuming people still actually go there.) You’re not suddenly able to simply drop everything and go surfing. That’s something to consider. The other thing is a paid subscription. Which we might just offer on this site soon. At a damn premium y’all.
Thoughts?
