Welcome to a Day With BA Enjoy Your Surfing In La Jolla, California? Now Go Home!

Surf was good today - Wind**Sea

Shores photo from last week: Brian
This photo is probably one of the best I've taken with the crappy Fuji Disposables - well - maybe they're not THAT bad!

And of course - hate mail!

Following is a message that was posted somewhere, by someone.

The message was sent to me by a friend - cut and paste -

Maybe my friend was just kidding me - I thought the message was really funny - I did not think he was that clever - JUST KIDDING -

I'll preface my response by stating that I am not a member of the La Jolla Shores Surfing Association. I was a volunteer, and my job was to keep the competition area free of non-competitors.

The reason that I was yelling - non stop - at the surfers who would not leave the contest area, was for the safety of the competitors.

I have been a volunteer for other surf clubs over the years, performing the same function as I did for the La Jolla Shores Surfing Association.

I have NEVER had the difficulties keeping non-competitors out of the competition area as I did last weekend.

If the anonymous author were the recipient of my taunts, then he or she simply deserved the taunts - My responsibilities started and ended inside the contest area - between the red flags on the beach - strictly for the safety of the competitors -

I never patrolled an area north or south of the flags - but - if one were inside the posted area, and if one were not a competitor, one was certainly the object of my taunts - and now that I think about it - I'm sure that I always said "please move north or south out of the contest area."

If "please move" did not produce the desired results, then I'm sure that the message became a bit more emphatic.

[I'm not sure what age the youngest competitors were, but I'm sure there were many kids under the age of 16 involved in the competition].

I suppose I could have asked the lifeguards to pull the offending surfers out of the contest area - they (the non-competitors) could have received a ticket, or a trip to jail, but I chose not to do that.

Anyway, it's pretty funny - at least to me - I numbered the paragraphs so I could make a few closing comments:

1. "I need to comment on the childish and ignorant heckling of surfers I witnessed at the La Jolla Surfing Associations surf contest on April 24th."

2. "At least one of the announcers of this contest taunted surfers on their surfing skills, hurled personal insults, and threatened to "take his shirt off and come out and drown" people."

3. "Anyone with any intelligence knows that it is this type of thing that is a precursor to most acts of violence including surf rage, school shootings etc."

4. "There are those of you that will laughingly dismiss what I am saying, but there are those of you that are intelligent enough to know that if you support this type of thing (which this announcer's continued rantings indicates you do), there is a chance that you or a loved one could be a victim of the fallout of this type of hateful bullying."

5. "The most upsetting thing about this was hearing the young children chime in to support this small minded individual."

6. "What a great society this man is helping to mold."

7. "Will I quit surfing at La Jolla Shores because of this man?"

8. "Hell no."

9. "How brave am I posting this on the Internet?"

10. "Every bit as brave as that man was mouthing off into the microphone with his entire mob beind him."

My comments:

1. The recipients of my "childish and ignorant heckling" were only the ignorant surfers who chose NOT to leave the posted contest area. The contest area was posted for the safety of the children who were competing.

2. "At least one of the announcers of this contest taunted surfers on their surfing skills, hurled personal insults, and threatened to "take his shirt off and come out and drown" people."

I'm guilty of all the above - again - if one were taunted, it was only because they were in the contest area - and - I never said I was gonna take off my shirt - I think I said I'd take off my skirt.

I'm pretty sure that I never threatened anybody with a drowning - but I could have - I was really getting tired of certain surfers who would not leave the contest area.

3. Whew - I guess maybe I'm responsible for global warming too - I think that anyone with any intelligence would have stayed out of the competition area.

4. "Hatefull bullying?" If one stayed out of the competition area I loved you. It was pretty simple - for the safety of all the competitors, please stay out of the contest area.

5. "Small minded?" Ouch - probably so, I think I get my mind measured.

By the way, the "young children" were only joining in with their comments about how anyone, who would not leave the contest area, could be so small minded. These kids were obviously smarter than the surfers who would not leave the contest area.

6. No comment - errr - Thank you - I'm working hard to make society better.

7. I wish you would quit surfing La Jolla Shores, but I certainly can't make you.

8. Oh well, one more surfer in the water. Welcome to La Jolla Shores.

9. How brave are you? - I don't know, and I certainly don't care.

10. I'm glad you heard me. If you were the object of my mouthing off, you deserved it, because you were in the contest area. My "entire mob" consisted of concerned parents and competitors - they were concerned about safety issues - that's all.

Later,

Bill Andrews
619-665-4039
williamwandrews@yahoo.com

BA - Black's - 2000 - Geoff Pastusack Photo

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