Surfing has a gatekeeping problem
Surfing loves to talk about freedom.
Soul.
Salt.
Brotherhood.
But let’s be honest.
Surfing can also be territorial. Tribal. Closed.
We say the ocean is for everyone.
Then we act like it isn’t.
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Somewhere along the way, surfing confused scarcity with purity.
You had to earn your place.
Earn your wave.
Earn respect.
There’s truth in that.
But there’s also ego.
And ego is not the same as culture.
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Surfing did not begin as a private club.
It began as ceremony.
As community.
As something woven into daily life.
Then we industrialised it.
Then we commercialised it.
Then we protected it.
Sometimes protection becomes exclusion.
And we rarely admit it.
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Here’s the uncomfortable bit.
If you need to live near a coast, own a car, have time off work and feel safe in a lineup to surf - then surfing is not accessible.
It’s privileged.
And pretending otherwise doesn’t help anyone.
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When we built a wave inland, some people said it wasn’t real surfing.
Too controlled.
Too engineered.
Too easy.
But here’s what I saw.
Children who had never seen the ocean stand up for the first time.
People with disabilities catching waves without fear of rips or rocks.
Teenagers who would never have driven to the coast finding belonging in a field outside a city.
Tell me that isn’t real.
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Surfing does not belong to coastline property prices.
It does not belong to localism.
It does not belong to a logo.
It belongs to the human nervous system.
It belongs to joy.
It belongs to water.
If we truly believe surfing is transformative, then restricting access contradicts the philosophy.
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Wave pools are not the enemy.
Exclusivity is.
Ego is.
Complacency is.
If inland waves expand access, lower barriers and reconnect cities to water, then they are not diluting surfing.
They are evolving it.
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The future of surfing is not just bigger airs and better boards.
It’s broader access.
It’s adaptive inclusion.
It’s urban integration.
It’s blue spaces designed into everyday life.
If surfing remains coastal and exclusive, it shrinks.
If it becomes infrastructure, it grows.
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Disruption is not disrespect.
It’s remembering the original spirit.
Surfing was never meant to be small.
Just add water.
And open the gates.
