This is an open letter to all surfers and the surfing media.
I am a surfer. I love to surf. I love the ocean. I ride a 6′ 3″ Ian Byrne thruster. I actually moved to the Gold Coast from Melbourne because I wanted to surf more. There is no question about it, I simply love catching waves. I am also a surf lifesaver, I patrol regularly at Mermaid Beach. As I am both a surf lifesaver and a surfer I think I’m qualified to write this open letter, offering unbiased opinion about those few surfers who still insist on surfing between the surf lifesaving flags.
As we all know by now, the surf lifesaving flags are set up to provide a safe environment for families to swim in, where the conditions are relatively safe and they can enter the water under the supervision of the patrolling surf lifesavers. We all know this thanks to a century long education campaign by Surf Lifesaving Australia and the relative state branches. Part of creating this safe environment for swimming is ensuring surfboards and other surf craft are kept out of the area between the flags. This ensures swimmers are not injured by wayward surf craft.
Everyone knows this, there is no ambiguity about the community values in regard to the surf lifesaving flags and surfboards, yet every time I am on patrol there is a small percentage of the surfing population who insist on surfing between the red and yellow flags. It is only a small percentage of the surfing population, the other 95% of surfers ensure they surf outside the flags, helping to promote safety on our beaches. This open letter is written to the small percentage who insist on surfing between the flags though, hoping to educate them about what patrolling surf lifesavers do, hoping to debunk the myths that they have created for themselves, excusing their own self-absorbed behaviour.
A small person (in character as opposed to stature) is not interested in truth or the facts, this is because truth forces them to appraise their own character and worth. A small person rather will lie to themselves to justify their own behaviour. In this way they do not have to reflect on the impact they are having on the people around them. This is a character flaw. A person of integrity will seek the truth, will chase down the facts, will reflect on their own behaviour and actions and become a better person over time, through the acknowledgment of their own mistakes and the lessons within them.
The point of this letter is to explain the truth of the surf life-saving patrol. The information I have to tell you endeavors to debunk the lies you tell yourself, the lies that justify your continued insistence on surfing between the flags. I challenge you, next time you go to the beach, spend a little time looking around. Reflect on the information provided to you in this letter and validate it for truth. If you find what I’ve said to be the truth, reflect on your own actions, learn something from this reflection and modify your behaviour if it so warrants.
The lie that surfers who surf between the flags tell themselves, is that surf lifesavers put up the flags were the best breaking waves are. They tell themselves this, then they tell themselves that they have the right to surf the best waves and therefore the right to show the surf lifesavers that they can breach the community values in so far as the red and yellow flags are concerned. So they continue to surf between the flags despite all the protestations of the patrolling lifesavers.
As surf lifesavers, when we are setting up a patrol, we look for one thing when deciding where to put the patrol flags. We look for the safest place for people who are not ocean savvy, who are not confident swimmers and who do not understand the surf, to swim. This place will typically be somewhere that is shallow, somewhere where the currents are not very strong and somewhere where the swimmers are protected from rips. The point of this position is that the children who swim between the flags can put their feet on the ground and stand up. This in itself provides them with a high level of safety. Further, the lack of currents and rips means that these children will not wash out to sea, requiring rescue or endangering their lives with potential drowning.
Next time you go to the beach, please pause before you paddle out and have a look to see if my words run true. Rather than looking all the way out to the break and forming your opinion, look to the shore line. Have a look to see if there is a sandbar immediately in front of the flags. Have a look to see if the rip that you paddle in, is outside the region where the flags are. As an ocean savvy surfer, you can safely move up the beach to catch a wave in a different spot. Our swimmers do not have this luxury. They are not ocean savvy, if we moved the flags to a different position on the beach, we will endanger the lives of these swimmers due to deep water, rips, or other dangerous currents.
Please, take the time to review the situation next time you’re at the beach and see if my words ring true. If they do, please review your opinions regarding the reasons the lifesavers place the flags where they have placed them. Having reviewed your opinions, please also then carefully consider where you go to spend your surfing session.
The second lie that surfers tell themselves when surfing between the flags is that they are getting at the lifesavers , really showing them who’s boss. Have a look at the lifesavers when you are doing this next time. Do they look like they are enjoying the water? Or do they look like they are sitting on the beach, donating their time to ensure other people can enjoy the water? When you surf between the flags, you are not attacking the lifesavers. The people you are attacking are the people who are swimming between the flags. It is their safe haven that you are destroying. Have a look at them. They are children. Their ages range between six months old to probably about 10 years old, they’ll typically be accompanied by their parents and other people who are not confident or aware in the ocean. People like the elderly.
Does it make you feel big to attack children and the elderly? That is what you are doing when you’re surfing between the flags. You are not attacking surf lifesavers or the lifesaving movement, you are not proving a point, you’re not maintaining your rights, you are attacking children and the elderly. Is this the person you want to be? Is it the way you look at yourself? Is this what you want to be remembered for? If not, why do you insist on surfing here, what lies are you telling yourself to justify this behaviour?
Let’s look at the facts of the situation. If something goes wrong and you lose control of your board, for example in the case of a wipe-out, your board becomes an uncontrolled weapon in the water. If you tell yourself today that you are going to surf between the flags to teach the lifesavers a lesson, what are you going to tell the three year old girl who you scarred forever, with a fin cut to her face when you wipe out? Further, what lies will you tell yourself, to convince yourself that it was an accident and you are still a good person? Because you are not a good person. You decided to surf between the flags were the swimmers were, fully aware of the risks you were creating and did so with the complete disregard to the people around you and the damage you could cause. You are 100% responsible for any injury you cause having made this conscious and deliberate decision.
It is not a good decision. It is the decision a person of questionable character makes.
It is well-known that even in the prison system, people who attack children are despised. You may think I’m going over the top, but these are the qualities of character you are showing when you surf between the flags. You are knowingly and deliberately putting children at risk and in danger. You are knowingly undertaking actions which could cause physical and emotional harm to the youngest of infants. Is it really worth it? Is this the type of person you are? Does it make you feel big?
Another interesting point to consider is that us lifesavers are just normal people. We live in the same area you do and we notice and we recognise you. You surf the same break week in week out, in front of the same lifesavers week in week out. At Mermaid Beach where I’m a lifesaver, we have about 150 people patrolling on a rotational basis, all who live in the same community where you live. You behave like someone who attacks children in front of the same 150 people, consistently over the course of summer. Sure we get frustrated with you, but we also remember you. We see you every week. If we see in the street we know who you are and that you’re the type of person who willingly endangers children.
This has the potential to massively influence your reputation in the community. Not just the surfing community, but the wider community also. This could influence your chance to get a job down the track. This could influence your service at a cafe, at the pub, or at the shops. Take a moment to consider what else it could change. Think about the frequency with which you interact with the people of your community. Anyone of these people could be a lifesaver. Anyone of these people could have watched you endanger the children playing in their patrol area last weekend.
You may think you’re being clever at the time, but you’re being terribly self absorbed, you’re being irrational and antisocial, you being irresponsible and downright dangerous. The risks you are creating are not risks to you, they are risks to the less self sufficient (in the ocean) people around you. You know this, we know this, we recognise you and remember.
There really is no gain to be had from surfing between the surf lifesaving flags. There really is no reason why you should be doing it. Please think twice before you paddle out in front of surf lifesaving area, it could have massive consequences to the people around you, it could have a massive influence to your reputation in the community and therefore your life too.
