FAMILY SURF LOG 02

My Hawaii beach house circa 2018.

It's been flat for a few days, and to top it off I hurt my hand badly enough to require a midnight trip to the ER. That slowed me down on just about every front this week.

With no waves to distract me, my mind kept wandering to something that's been on my mind for a while. Beach towns are changing, and with them comes the rising cost of living and a growing disconnect from the communities and traditions that made these places special in the first place.

But surfing has never belonged to the highest bidder. Sometimes it’s just 4 dudes in a parking lot in 2016.

The only way to save surfing is to keep surfing. It's a way of life, not something that can be bought, branded, or packaged. You can own the beach house, build the McMansion, or book the all-inclusive surf trip to Bali, but none of those things will make you a surfer. They can buy access, but they can't buy the experience, the commitment, or the respect that define the culture.

Surfing has never been about what you own. It's earned through early mornings, hard work, humility, and respect for the people who share this way of life. As long as there are people living this life for the right reasons, surfing will survive. The culture doesn't live in real estate or consumer products. It lives in every person who simply surfs because they know and desire nothing else.