James Rutenberg/The New York Times
A tough crowd always shows up at Ditch Plains — this bruiser was waiting for his heat in the Anything Goes round of the contest finals.
Hamptons Magazine, the glossy chronicler of the rich and the fabulous on the East End, has given surfing the equivalent of a debutante’s coming-out.
A fashion spread features the model/bathing-suit-designer-who-surfs, Tori Praver. She is shown striking various poses with various surfboards at the Ditch Plains beach in Montauk. A guide describes several named, local breaks running from Westhampton to the far East End. It includes Ditch Plains — warning that the spot has “more wanna-be posers than you’ll ever see,’’ with no reference to the magazine’s above-mentioned fashion shoot there. But it does not name any of the breaks in Southampton, the hometown of the guide’s author, Shane Dyckman of the Flying Point Surf Shop.
Nonetheless, Hamptons readers are told that in Southampton, “Surfers always get right into all the clubs — velvet ropes and all.”
Surfing etiquette even makes it into the magazine’s “Hot” and “Not” list: “Snaking” rides — that is, butting in on a fellow surfer’s wave and stealing it — is listed as an in thing to do; showing respect for one’s fellow surfer by waiting one’s turn is, on the other hand, listed as being out of fashion. This might have been a joke, but it is hard to tell.
It is all part and parcel of a new and un-abating embrace of surfing by the boldface names set this summer.
Regardless, we at Waves can happily report that some things have not changed: Nothing resembling approval has come from stealing waves this year. And in spite of an influx of new surfers still learning the ropes, general etiquette seems to be holding at the more popular breaks throughout the area. (The crew at the Hilo surf shop in Hilo, Hawaii, has a great primer on the rules of the lineup that should hold for anywhere in the world.)
And for all those whose passion for surfing has nothing to do with getting past the velvet ropes at the right clubs, Waves attended and photographed last week’s Rell Sunn surf contest, which went back to the basics: Having fun and making the most of whatever waves were kind of enough to show up. (Better still, the contest raised $36,000 for three families contending with cancer.)
Waves is an occasional City Room feature chronicling surfing in and around New York City, and the issues important to local surfers. Its author, Jim Rutenberg, is a Washington correspondent who grew up surfing in New Jersey and continues to surf regularly on eastern Long Island. Ideas and comments are welcome at e-mail:Wavesnyt@gmail.com.
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