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The Lession
Imagine a point break, or a reef, and a high period swell that has to make a 90 degree turn to reach the line-up. The take-off zone is very stable and only a few meters wide. Sets arrive every 15 minutes, with no more than two or three waves with enough size to feel the bottom early enough to avoid breaking on dry reef. Spots like these only can handle very few surfers and the few waves offering good speedy rides can only be surfed properly when nobody disturbs the ride.
Higher evolved surfer communities have established strict rules to make the best out of these rare natural gems. Besides internal hierarchies these rules consist basically on a rotational system. Means: everybody waits until his or her turn. Means: when you had your ride, you paddle back out and enter the waiting line at the end. Means: you NEVER paddle past the fellow surfers still waiting in the line-up for their turn.
Without a very strict regimen like this, these beautiful and perfect waves would be totally ruined. So it is in the interest of all to obey to these unwritten rules and it is essential for any newcomer to learn this behaviour very quickly.
So responsible parents make sure that their kids learn these basic rules and practise these behaviour regardless to how many surfers actually sit in the line-up and who they are. Markus “Kussi” Elter is a responsible father and gave his 10 year old son Tim a lesion somewhere on Fuerteventura. Tim just had torn apart a decent wave and was paddling back out. In the line-up his father had patiently waited his turn. A wave approached. Tim paddled past his father into a deeper position. It was definitely not his turn but he nevertheless paddled for the wave and took off….
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