I came down to visit some family in Sunny Isles for the week of Thanksgiving, and was kind of excited top surf there. I 'surfed' Harbor House, which is the south end of Haulover Inlet.

 

Upon arriving, I noticed people putting on full suits, even though the water and air was in the low 70's. Even with the strong winds later on, it was still comfortable enough to skin it. The majority of the line up seemed to not know what etiquitte was, as even the elder locals were dropping in on fellow locals, and treated it as if it was an ok thing to do. The amount of collisions I saw was ridiculous... I myself almost got hit in the head by 3 longboards going over the falls or flicked during a botched take off. No apologies to me or anyone, let alone any aknowledgement that it was a dangerous situation. I then got dropped in on by a guy who collided with me, and the first thing he said was "dude, I called that wave". I was closer to the peak AND up on my feet first, and the guy didnt even know what getting burned is. Once again, the majority of the surfers saw nothing wrong with this. I later said to a guy next to me that the winds should be dying off tomorrow, so maybe it would get more fun, which to he responded that "hes been surfing for 50 years and that I should shut up and not tell him how the spot works" or something like that. I later mentioned the great days that some of the reknown central florida spots have had within the past year and the guy and his buddy didnt even know about it or where the spots were...

Even on social media, people were calling the spot well overhead when it was merely a solid shoulder high, and almost all of them carried themselves with a vibe that screamed 'kook', but what made it worse was that they literally think the miami surf scene is the coolest thing to happen to the entire east coast of North America. Im sure there are several down to earth Miami surfers who are both humble and very skilled, but a look around that spot and its assoicated social media accounts (locals, surf shops, etc.) gave me a good impression of how oblivious this crowd is to a true surf scene and community.

 

On a side note, I am EXTREMELY thankful for how great the central florida surf community and scene is, keep being awesome everyone and share the stoke!

Edited: 11/27/2015 at 02:47 PM by Julianuribe23

They drive like that too!

This reminds me of surfing at Da Pier, 1st Light (not 2nd), and northern Cape Canaveral during Hurricane Swells which, for me the last time was Isabel in 2003.

I also can't forget about 2 years ago in January on a random Monday morning north of Ocean Ave. Me and one other guy out waiting for chest high set waves on a perfectly glassy morning. I drop in, and down the line he just drops in on me and puts my first ding in a board I had ridden for over 2 years. He said NOTHING. About 15 minutes later, just he and I still sitting there, I said "hey did you realize you dropped in on me and put a ding in my board?". he quickly blurted about how sorry he was, and he was wrong, etc., but the fact that he did it, and the fact that he was never going to acknowledge his utter lack of etiquette amazed me. At least I was in Brevard and not Miami.

"a look around that spot and its assoicated social media accounts" ... I'm an older millennial and even I laughed and rolled my eyes at this...fucking surf, not the internet.  "upon arrival" = epic tale of trials and tribulations about to be told, guys...

"but what made it worse was that they literally think the miami surf scene is the coolest thing to happen to the entire east coast of North America."   -  this is like fox news. A collective 'they' is a very myopic point of view.

besides.. Every spot has its entitled older dude... ... we are on 2nd light after all...

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The Dude Abides.

http://www.rollerphotography.com/

Edited: 11/27/2015 at 04:00 PM by LostSherpa

Its a little bit tough to surf when youre surrounded by people like that... 

You can judge it negatively, or...

Accept it as an experience by which you have come to appreciate alternative experiences in your life, which I see as a positive.

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"Don't count the days, make the days count." -Ali
#rydyrstrong

Did they greet each other by saying, "Ey, yo Vinnnnayyyy" ?

Ha, that was my old surf spot, Long Beach, NY.

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Who needs a better life?

It's amazing to me that Miami even has a surfing population...

I wonder who has more surfing days (defined as 2 ft +): Miami or Pensacola?

I don't know how, but Miami has some pretty good surfers considering its location, at the bottom of the East Coast seaboard

Yoda? Is that you?

I'd put money on pensecola. Fall/winter really isn't too bad in that region. have family in Destin and have scored some quality surf over the years.

With all due respect you're too old to call me that, sir.  

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"Don't count the days, make the days count." -Ali
#rydyrstrong

"South Florida" and "pretentious" are synonyms

Haha for sure ^ and I was born and raised there

Yep, SOFLO can be pretty terrible scene. Especially when you got homeboys from Naples driving over to PBC with their fun shapes and full board length track pads, trying to go for set waves and just straighten out if they make the drop. 

South Beach MIAMI has some serious rippers and some serious kooks. You will probably get burned by the latter, but you should defintlely not snake the former. Them boys got fire in their blood from south of the equator. 

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Touché my friend.