Surfing and Snowboarding has been around for decades, yet since the pandemic struck the U.S. there has been a drastic increase of those willing to pick up a board and surf whether it is in snow or water.
Growing up in California opens many doors to outside activities due to the vast amount of weather conditions from snow to extreme heat.
Southern California is one of the few places that offers the advantage of being able to go surfing and snowboarding on the same day. It shows the uniqueness and unity of this skate and surf culture.
Surf culture was seen before skateboarding and snowboarding had even come to exist and yet they all contribute to one another in their own way. Peers not familiar with the sport suggest that surf and snowboarding culture collide when in fact they correlate.
When speaking to surfers and snowboarders, one can see how much they both seek the same connection to the rush of the experience as well as help one progress in said sport.
“Surfing was a way for me and my friends to be safe and to enjoy our time outside without having to be yelled at to wear a mask or feeling like the odd one out for not wanting to wear one,” Patrick Golden, a Citrus college student said. “Since I am a beginner, I could just finally relax at the beach.”
He is not the only new beginner out there around this time of year.
Statistics on the surf and snowboard industry growth shows an increase of roughly 12% to 15% a year which makes surfing and snowboarding one of the fastest growing sports as of today according to Damjana Cikaric, an author from Bitola.
Surfing and snowboarding are sports that take place outside which resulted in many using these sports as a way to get away from all the COVID regulations.
Since at the time surfing was all one could do, many people have joined the sport and are now in the water chasing waves as much as the locals.
“It’s a sport that hooks you, once you finally get up on that board and take a wave all the way in,” Jeremy Brown, a local surfer from Newport Beach said, “there is no going back because you’ll fall in love with the feeling.”
The joining of many newcomers is very controversial when it comes to asking the locals whether they like sharing the waves with “kooks” yet many are excited to have a global spread of the awareness of the sport and culture behind it.
