[Sir_Substance]

>at which point common decency might suggest you should apologize. Perhaps you are unaware that surfing right of way is first about safety?

I guess that depends. If people are trivializing safety by using it as a token in a game of brinksmanship, I will not apologize. I'm happy to wait my turn, all I want is equal and fair treatment. If I find that other people are trying to place me at the bottom of a "pecking order" at a public beach, then I'm not going to play along. If you let people bully you that way once, they'll do it forever.

I'll wait until everyone else has gone at least once, I'll clearly signal that I'm going to take the wave, and then I'll take it. Try to intimidate me off by committing on the same wave to muscle me out, and you'll find me totally willing to call your bluff. We'll both go in the drink, if necessary. Try it a second time and you'll find I'm willing to do that _every_ time. At that point, the ball is in your court to drop the elitism and start sharing like an adult, or roll the dice enough times that one of us gets seriously hurt. I won't be intimidated by this cliquey highschool shit. It's a shared beach and we all pay our taxes, everyone has a right to equal use.

That having been said, this is all hypothetical, because I don't surf and hate beaches. Fucking jellyfish man.

[goodnews3879]

That's not how it works. Good surfers will just paddle around you without a care. You will just be injuring yourself and other beginners. This happens every day.

A person usually only has two options for getting waves, whether they like it or not:

[1] Show respect, humility, and make friends [2] Be the stronger/faster paddler

[fapjacks]

This is just trying to elbow your way into an established community of <skilled individuals> without proving your mettle. This is exactly the wrong way to try and earn respect. Whatever you do, don't try surfing. With that attitude, you will get into a fight in the water with people that fight in the water, and you will lose the fight. Or if you don't get into a fight in the water, they will follow you out and fight you on land. Yes, it can be childish, yes it can be stupid. Of course not always, but it does happen. But that's surfing, and that's just the way it goes.