“There’s a better wave down the beach!” Or variants thereof, must be one of the most over used statements in surfing. That statement sits right on top of the pile, along with “you should’ve been here half an hour ago/yesterday/last month/in 1956”, “what’s the tide doing”, “it’ll be better/worse on the push/drop” and “can I borrow some wax and/or sunblock please Trident?”
Surfers seeing, or more accurately – imagining they are seeing – better peaks breaking just down from their current spot must be experiencing some kind of undetermined mass psychological delusion. For starters, if there really was a better wave down the beach – why not simply go there in the first place? Or at least check it out properly first? In a car perhaps, if it’s too far to walk? Like a normal person with at least average functioning mental faculties?
Trident speaks from experience here. So unless you’re in J Bay and NOT out at Supertubes, chances are there’s probably a reason you’ve paddled out at your selected spot.
Let’s get back to J Bay though. The fabled surf town is a notable exception to the better peak down the beach delusion. When sitting at spots other than Supers, say Point or Tubes, or even if you’re sitting at Impossibles or Salads or Coins, Supers will always look better. As an aside, Impossibles, Salads and Coins aren’t actually surf spots, merely parts of the overall miracle that is Supertubes. Which for that matter, also should include Tubes and Point when J Bay is all time. Let’s not be ridiculous with Magna’s, Boneyards and Albatross and all the rest.
Anyhow, when out at Point for example, Supers looks better. Why? This is due to the fact Supers IS better. So why aren’t you out there? Gnarly 6 – 8 foot waves? Terrifying 6 – 8 foot sharks? Terrifying 6 – 8 foot locals?
The Rule that Proves the Exception.
Anyway, Supers is the rule that proves the exception. When you’re sitting in a lineup anywhere in the world, you can basically only look left and right. On either side of you there will likely be other visible breaking waves. Depending where you are surfing exactly, you can see only ever really see the wave breaking from behind, or the wave face from the front. Right? End. Of. Story.
So here’s the rub. When watching a wave break from a distance, it kinda always looks good. From further away for instance, the little bumps and ledges from less desirable wind directions are less obvious to see than up close. A trick of the angle also means you’re really not seeing the wave’s size accurately either. Then there’s the sea, the eye or, the imagination playing tricks on you if you’re having a sub standard surf session. Alliteration. So yes, if your current wave ain’t doin’ it for you, those inviting waves just a little further up the beach look better. Way better. All time. But don’t be deceived brothers and sisters. That sweet looking right with nobody out is probably way kakker than you realise.
The angle you are seeing is flattering a wave that is at best; probably only marginally better than the surf where you currently are. More likely though, the wave you’re seeing at a distance is probably a mushy pile of trash as fun as surfing a wavepool running on water contaminated with run off from the nearby sheep dipping facility.
The Grass isn’t always Greener on the other side.
As far as infamous clichés go; it could just as easily have been the surf always looks better from somewhere else. Like moving to Australia. Want to escape SA’s well known issues only to be faced with heat so severe you’ll singe your eyebrows walking to your car? A country where the love of surfing becomes a serious game of Russian Roulette with sharks instead of bullets? Oz’s shark issues are worse than ours for sure. So it’s not always best to dismiss what you have in front of you. You hard to please princess, you.
If we had a buck for every time our fellow surfers tried to convince us to move to another spot that looks better, well, we’d probably be broke. Still, we’d have like, an extra few hundred bucks. Most of the time we’re at two minds. Unless we’re at Point or Tubes and it’s Supers they’re talking about.
