Getting old, surfers have their own VW Van ...

Reading the Leroy Grannis book with pictures of surfers in the 60's, I was dreaming about a simple life of beach boy. Reading stories of the first Californian and Hawaiian surfers, I was dreaming about going fishing, diving, shaping boards to get enough money to go surfing my favorite sports.
Reading stories about globe surfers, I was dreaming of buying an old VW van, taking 2 to 3 boards and friends and going surfing Europe, Africa, in a simple life.
But, it looks like having such a life today in our crazy world is rather hard. I think Micky Dora showed us how hard it is to stand apart from the system, but still engaged in surfing.
Reading Surf Session, I see a lot about competitions, challenges, sponsors, brands, training. Searching for a Van to buy, I see the new VW Van (see picture), far too expensive for a surfer (not all surfers are poor, but I've never seen any Van like this one on the parking of a surf spot), looking more like the Rolls Royce for surfers than a real invitation to a trip.
Old Surfers are getting old and they are not ready any longer to sleep 4 months on a piece of wood somewhere in a jungle near a surf spot. They want huge boats paid by sponsors to be sure they will not loose 1 minute of surf, they want surf camp at 100 USD per day, to be sure they will get their waves. It's like people who want to have an insurance for Sun and Snow when going in the Alps. Some tour operators used to have this argument : Snow and Sun guarantee, or you get your money back ...
What bothered me is that they will probably raise their kids this way, and despite the good engagement of many surfers for enviro actions, I am not sure the surf world is going the right way for our planet, our spots.

Comments

[Pierric]

Received an email with :
"Old Surfers are getting old and they are not ready any longer to sleep 4 months on a piece of wood somewhere in a jungle near a surf spot. They want huge boats paid by sponsors to (...)"

Old surfers don't have sponsors. It is the young ones who are not ready to sleep on pieces of wood for 4 months and "demand" huge boats paid by their sponsors...

Niegà

Thanks Niega for this remark.