The Sorry Status of Surf Writing

“In the ensuring three hours, Occy, Taj and Benji battle to get waves from the 50-thick crowd,” writes STAB magazine, Australia’s leading publication that habitually defies traditional mainstream surfing coverage. Mainstream coverage usually includes inordinate ad pages, extensive photos and minimal text. STAB generally deviates from such paradigms. Yet, presumably what STAB meant to say was, “In the ENSUING three hours…” But that is pure, albeit probably accurate, conjecture.

That sentence, from a feature interview with just retired icon Mark Occhilupo (Occy) about a filming trip to Grajagan—G-land, as it’s known, sits off the southeast coast of Java in the Indian Ocean—for a Taylor Steele movie with fellow Aussie Taj Burrow and American Benji Weatherly, demonstrates what is wrong with surf writing: it sucks. However, surf writing’s editorial shortfalls are not limited to STAB alone. In fact, crack the thin spines of other surfing magazines and, chances are, they will be littered with typos, improper diction, questionable syntax, grade-school grammar, and meandering incoherence.

Fuel TV, a beacon of action sports television that’s not offered by every cable provider, produces a series called “Fins” that explores various aspects of surf culture, from new trends in board designs and product technologies, to notable profiles in surfing and art. Recently, its “Best of” episode interviewed Newport, CA, local Josh Hoyer. Early on, the Quiksilver-sponsored free surfer remarked that he rarely publicizes that he’s a surfer to avoid being stigmatized as an apathetic, unproductive beach bum (or something like that). That sentiment, although steadily waning due to surfing’s swift-ascending popularity, is not mitigated by surf writers’ lack of style chops.

A surprising amount of bad writing is often found on magazines’ corresponding Web sites. In order to defeat the challenges posed by an increasingly digital environment, magazines are focusing equal attention on the web component of their product. Like other periodicals of greater prestige, some of the writers published in print are charged with developing and nurturing online content as well. The natural course, in that regard, is that shoddy writing in the pages of the printed edition will inevitably appear online. During a time when digital material is gaining importance, shouldn’t basic editorial competence apply?

One example can be found in the vastly popular Surfer Magazine. Its online “Surf Tip” column broaches a list of surfing grievances replicated in rule form. “Here’s a few surfing bills we’d like to see debated,” the opening paragraph reads. Sounds harmless, right? For readers with any modicum of English savvy, the number disagreement is evident. And that’s the problem. Readers and writers schooled in the nuances of the English language—if proper usage and grammar can even be defined as nuance—are not a coterie catered to by widely circulated surfing magazines.

In a business so dependent on ad-generated revenue, mags must determine which targeted audience will successfully retain their advertising accounts. (It’s a constant discussion at the magazine where I work.) Sadly, the individuals most easily influenced by the empty, barreling blue wave and bare-assed babe advertisements are those to whom sound prose is a hardly-existent concern. Churning out thoughtful, well-written essays, profiles, and reporting is not the most celebrated dollar generator. (Read: bummer.)


Yet, in the face of such stringent financial objectives, shouldn’t there be room for added literary complexity? By reducing their editorial well to reader letters, flawed articles, an occasional obtuse fictional piece, and the interview—an industry staple—publications are deterring any surfer who happens to enjoy reading about his favorite sport from spending $5 on an issue. This seems disturbingly short sighted; a niche publication is denying itself a large portion of its reachable market.

Surfer claims its mission is “to bring our readers a slice of the entire surfing world with each issue,” and it does so very effectively, as do many others like Transworld Surf, Surfing, and STAB. In question is not any given magazine’s effectiveness in covering the surfing world, but rather the method and quality with which it does. That the features published monthly, bimonthly or quarterly pander to the lowest common denominator is problematic. In turn, Hoyer’s fear of the loathsome surfer reputation is further illustrated to anyone who flips open a page in a surf magazine and reads a sentence that sounds as though it was plagiarized from a high school newspaper. Is this frustrating tendency impervious to change?

Other stalwart journals, such as Water and The Surfer’s Journal, have taken a minimalist approach to advertising in their books, laying out high caliber photos and text spreads on durable, glossy, ad-free pages that ostensibly pampers a more mature audience. And though their pages favorably probe less mainstream parts of the surfing lifestyle than the more trendy mags, they, too, are plagued by mediocre writing. What is maddening is that the content breeds intrigue—these magazines are well known, respected, and garner almost unfettered access to hordes of fascinating personalities and locations across the surfing globe. That the writers struggle to convey their thoughts with an incisive and robust vocabulary is disheartening to those who enjoy the purpose these magazines intend to serve. (In a column by surf legend Peter “P.T.” Townend in the Summer 2007 edition of Water, the opening paragraph suffers a blow to solid grammatical accuracy: “Peter Drouyn was at the time, the Queenslander of the [era]…” Omitting a comma before “at” converts an otherwise routine prepositional phrase into an fragment—a dependent clause that segues into a brutal run-on sentence.)

The weaknesses in wide reaching surf writing, nonetheless, shouldn’t tarnish what good work is continually produced and the writers who create it. Steven Kotler is perhaps the most established writer tackling surfing today. Published in the The New York Times Magazine and GQ, among others, Kotler’s most recent book, West of Jesus: Surfing, Science, and the Origins of Belief, delves deeply into the spirituality of surfing and the science and research surrounding it. Kotler also tells the story of the Malloys in the May 2007 issue of Outside Magazine, three tight-knit, ranch-raised brothers whose name is ubiquitous to surfers. Even the aforementioned journalistic violators aren’t immune from running quality stories. Surfer printed Chris Dixon’s pointed and conflicted essay, “Home Cooking,” about his transition from a Southern California charger to South Carolinian reporter, father, and pleasantly surprised surfer in March of last year. A writer named Kimball Taylor wrote a book of fascinating short stories titled Return by Water. And National Geographic journalist Joel Bourne is an avid surfer. (Although his passion for wave riding isn’t revealed so specifically, since he confronts broader environmental issues.)

So, does any of this matter? Realistically, no; editors will do as they please. But erudite individuals tend to enjoy the intellectual challenge of reading something that is complicated and presented articulately in captivating phrasing. The thing is, many of those people also enjoy surfing. And though it may seem so in the publications that detail the culture, surfing and reading are not, nor have they ever been, mutually exclusive. The fact that magazines exist at all is worthy logical testimony. Just look to Ice-9 Foam Works president Jon Stillman, whose inspiration for the company’s name derived from his love of Kurt Vonnegut, lifting “Ice-9” from his book Cat’s Cradle. But the poor writing quality in the majority of surfing journals presents thorny questions. How are potential buyers reached without alienating an older generation comprised of educated consumers? Should mags market to groms to secure ad revenue, and does multi-dimensionality inhibit that goal? These are serious industry quandaries.

Ultimately, given surf mags’ large percentage of photographs of the hottest pros—always modeling their advertising sponsors’ hottest gear—and exotic locations, editorial enhancement can be achieved by changing little. That is, except the writing. Maybe if better-seasoned writers are sought, at least on a freelance basis, to draft more reader-oriented content, the problem could be solved. Doing so might actually benefit a magazine’s bottom line. Superior writing cultivates greater exposure and positive reviews—exactly what lucrative ad campaigns demand. Improving surfing’s written aspect will attract the countless surfers who love to read about it but hate what’s out there. If that means an editor doesn’t give a friend a job, then so be it.


“Surf Tip”
http://preview.surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/surf-tip-10-07/index.html

Kotler’s Malloy bros. piece
http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200705/best-jobs-malloy-brothers-1.html

Author’s site
http://www.kimballtaylor.com/

Bourne’s story on America’s coasts
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0607/feature2/index.html