If you’ve ever had the great fortune of being in town while the Championship Tour is also in town, then you know the pure joy that is not catching a single damn wave until every pro finally leaves. Peniche, the North Shore, Trestles — where the freesurf insanity at drives lower-tier pros to then take over adjacent waves, thus spreading the joy to everyday Joe’s. I’ve seen this phenomenon on a few occasions and it is my favorite surfing experiences ever.
Luke Cederman is currently enjoying this at his home break, Manu Bay. He told us as much when the beautiful left turned on before the contest window and CT pros took their obligatory fill of waves. He singled out one surfer as an example.
“Italo Ferreira has caught about 80 percent of the waves,” he told The Inertia. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. (Italo) is out there hustling, which I can appreciate. But f#%k, it gets a little bit annoying when you’re just trying to chill.”
If Italo is collecting about 80 percent of the waves, the rest of the CT surfers in town are easily gobbling up another 80 percent. That leaves local everyday guys like Cederman in the ballpark of negative-sixty percent of the waves to enjoy themselves. So Cederman has done what any good steward of his local community should do.
“Ever since the circus has been in town there’s been a lot of involuntary wave sharing,” he says. “That’s something we do not ever do here in Raglan at any time. That’s why I’ve employed a surf etiquette liaison.”
The job entails ensuring Raglan’s guests can count to one, the number of people that are supposed to be on a wave. It also includes administering vision tests and hearing tests to ensure there are no prior physical impairments that challenge a surfer’s ability to adhere to the town policy.
