The face of a man who has spent his entire career dealing with lineup politics. Photo: Nathan Florence//YouTube
Crowds are probably feared by more surfers than any actual slab. A big crowd can ruin what should be a perfect session, and in some spots the locals can be outright dangerous. As such, reading social cues and navigating lineup hierarchies are skills that can often be as important as reading a wave or navigating a break.
Perhaps nobody has had to navigate more of those lineups than Nathan Florence. The itinerant slab hunter makes a living traveling around the world, searching for hyper-local breaks in heavy water – so he has the process of entering an unfamiliar lineup down to a science. For his his latest video, he broke down some of the knowledge he’s gained from his years of experience. Here are a few takeaways:
Be Respectful
“The first thing I do, when entering a crowded lineup: If it’s about 10 people, out, I’ll try to say hello to everyone and just be friendly,” he explained. “[I] let them know I’m not some uppity pro, coming in, thinking I’m going to paddle straight out the back and around everyone and take the first big wave.
However, there’s a limit to this strategy. He elaborated that “anything more than 10, it’s a little too much. You’re going to be shaking a lot of hands. You’re going to be drawing almost too much attention.”
Placement Matters
“I don’t paddle and sit myself in the center of the pack. I don’t paddle and sit myself outside of everybody,” said Florence. “Even though I probably can go on the next set, that doesn’t give me a right or reason to do that. And, of course, it’s a new reef for me, so I want to learn it.”
Choose Waves Wisely
As to how to actually catch waves, Florence said that, “If you’re going to surf in a crowd, you want to paddle out and look for a different wave than everyone else is. Otherwise you’re going to be competing with 10 other people to catch one wave. That’s why there’s such an advantage to sitting on the inside.”
“Maybe they’re not all the best waves, but every once in a while, one sneaks under, and the whole mid-pack is looking at those guys who don’t even look at it. And it goes under the whole crowd and you get an incredible wave.”
