Quote blog

“Kook means ‘beginner surfer.’ It is not a neutral term; it carries a slug of derision, a brand for the clueless, for those without hope, without grace, without rhythm.” _______________ PG. 1 ____________ The board sport world is known for its language. Instead of sounding like chatter around the cafeteria, any event in this industry has this one tone of voice that everybody shares, and it is chalk full of new vocabulary. Terms such as gnarly, spitted, stoked, shacked, pitted, groms, bunk, sesh and shredded are often used all in the same sentence. In my opinion, this is a very notable quality of the action sport industry as a whole. Going back to the word “kook,” everybody is a kook at one point. Similar to other sports, in surfing, kooks are often ragged on, called out and sometimes are punished if they disrespect another surfer of higher ability. In all honesty, it is very comparable to hazing. The faster the kook phase passes, the better. This is all based on natural ability for the sport, as well as a conscience for general respect. With the term kook comes the term kook move, which are actions often carried out by kooks. Examples of kook moves are dropping in on a wave that someone else is already “shredding,” getting in someone’s way on your paddle back out to the lineup (where people wait to catch the waves), and claiming every wave that rolls into the lineup. As a novice surfer develops into a real surfer, he or she goes through goes through their kook moments, and they stay in your mind to remind you what is right and wrong throughout your entire surfing career. 

Photo: Ed O'Donnel 

Like all other surfers, I have gone through some pretty humorous kook moments. Moments that I would now call myself out on, openly laugh at or pick fun at the action with the guy straddled on his board the left of me. One time out at Jenness beach, I was getting a little bored with the lameish waves rolling in to the crowded beach, and a little agitated by all of the surfers around me. I knew of this spot from a buddy on the north point of the beach called Straws. Straws is a reef break, meaning that the break is formed from a steep change in seafloor elevation. So I got out there after a long 15 minute or so paddle through deep water. Instead of a beach break most reef breaks, including Straws, have only one spot you can drop into the wave, and these kinds of drop-ins are brutally tough for a beginner surfer mainly because it requires precision that only experience can get you. It was my turn in the respected lineup, I paddled into it and got spun tail over nose as the lip of the wave brought me from its 6 foot peak to the two and a half foot deep water below, head first. I was laughed at, actually called a kook and I went back to the beach break. Anyways, everybody goes through this phase, but the reward of such a technical skill such as surfing makes it much worth it.

Photo: James Kelley Photography