Is surfing racist?

February 19, 2007 7:34 AM

Is surfing racist? This Brit thinks so: "If I cast my eye over the magazines that litter my office, I start to feel yet more depressed. There are great waves galore and boat trips to island paradises and in just about every single one of them the only people surfing are... white."
posted by tombola (15 comments total)

A tiny post followed by tons of comments from people contradicting it? Bleh. I didn't even know people in the UK surfed a lot at all.
posted by delmoi at 7:39 AM on February 19, 2007

Is Morris Dancing racist? Or do black people just not like it?
posted by opsin at 7:44 AM on February 19, 2007

let's start a surfing recruitment drive in the ghetto just so we can feel better about ourselves.
posted by quarter waters and a bag of chips at 7:44 AM on February 19, 2007

Not even gonna bother clicking on the link.
posted by tadellin at 7:44 AM on February 19, 2007

No.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 7:48 AM on February 19, 2007

The surfing industry may be racist. I'm pretty certain that the board and the wave don't care what color you are, though.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:52 AM on February 19, 2007

I'm making a little movie in my head. It has people in long white robes and peaked hoods hanging ten in the wild surf off the sunny Gulf coast.

Sadly, I have competition.
posted by CynicalKnight at 7:52 AM on February 19, 2007

You know, you don't see too many black skiers either.

Skiing múst also be racist.

You do see a lot of wiggers on snowboards though. Pretty much all of them.
posted by three blind mice at 8:00 AM on February 19, 2007

Talk about a desperate attempt to find racism where none exists.
posted by kjs3 at 8:00 AM on February 19, 2007

Ice fishing is also racist.
posted by psmealey at 8:04 AM on February 19, 2007 [1 favorite]

Most of the surfing in the UK is in the far South West, probably half the decent beaches in the country are in Cornwall, with a significant fraction of the rest in Devon or Wales. The SW of England is very low on non-white population and I would imagine that the UK surf scene reflects this. Is this just an argument that the SW is racist rather than British surfing? Maybe, but Cornwall is also pretty rural (the biggest town is ~25,000) and minorities have never tended to live here in significant numbers. As with the rest of the UK, non-white populations are more likely to occur in primarily urban areas,

(Having thrown some logic at that, I could probably make a good case that there is a fair bit of racism down here, though of the thoughtless unpleasantness rather than aggressive hounding kind, for what that's worth.)
posted by biffa at 8:07 AM on February 19, 2007

As is ice hockey.
posted by jourman2 at 8:07 AM on February 19, 2007

Ku, God of Strength, doesn't discriminate. You either respect his beautiful shores of Hawai'i, or you pay the price.
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:11 AM on February 19, 2007

What?! No ... Jesus, that's just dumb.

I lived on the North Shore for three years, and if you think surfing is all white people, you're sadly mistaken.

Unless you count Hawaiians as white.
posted by Relay at 8:12 AM on February 19, 2007

You know what's a racist sport? Curling.

Ever see a black curler? I didn't think so.

The obvious solution here is to give inner-city black youth curling brooms and stones so they can play and thus make curling less racist.
posted by champthom at 8:22 AM on February 19, 2007