Surfers can be territorial, aggressive jerks, especially to newbies. Though I’m not excusing that behavior, the instinct is partly for good reason: a beginner wielding a sharp surfboard they can’t control in waves they don’t understand puts everyone in danger. And unlike many other outdoor pursuits, the resources (waves) are limited. Every wave you catch is one less wave for me.
Surfing is an inherently dangerous activity. Not only can we be eaten by sharks and impaled by our surfboards, but we are playing amongst forces that will quite literally crush and drown us. Add a bunch of other surfers to the combination and you’ve got almost unlimited possibilities for disaster.
But mostly in surfing everything is ok . it’s one among the few action sports covered by most travel insurance policies which says tons . Once we make it through the first phases of learning to surf we get hit by our surfboards less often. We understand where to paddle and the way to minimise risk.
There are still a couple of things we will do to surf safe and have more fun. It starts before you even get to the beach.