It takes time to get a surfer’s priorities straight

When I first started learning to surf as a gawky 14-year-old at Tonggs on the South Shore of Oahu, I got tips from Rabbit Kekai and Harrison Thurston — two mellow, middle-age local guys with a kindly twinkle in their eyes. Even when I paddled out by myself, I didn’t feel alone.

“Go,” they’d say, meaning you should paddle for a wave. Or “Wait,” meaning wait your turn.

The traditional rule of etiquette is that the surfer who’s positioned deepest in the takeoff zone, closest to the peak, has the right of way.

If you catch a wave in front of another surfer who’s riding it, you’re dropping in, the cardinal sin.

That’s why spectators at the Pipe Masters competition in December were shocked to see Gabriel Medina drop in front and nearly on top of Kelly Slater, who was emerging from a barrel at Back Door.

Medina wasn’t penalized. Why not?

“That’s the big topic for sure,” said Marty Thomas, World Surf League Hawaii/Tahiti Nui tour manager, with a laugh when I asked him on the phone. “Gabriel did have priority in that situation, so he had the right to take off.”

WSL heats start without priority, and the surfer closest to the curl has the right of way. But then priority is established in the order in which waves were caught, and when a surfer has priority, meaning it’s his turn, he can drop in.

It shouldn’t be abused, however: “(Medina) didn’t try to complete the wave,” Thomas said. “He took off and just went straight, inadvertently blocking Kelly.”

Acknowledging the heated online discussion that followed, “I think in future, if an incident like that happened again, there’s potential for that to be called a blocking interference,” Thomas said.

It was different at the 2013 Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast contest at Kirra Point, Australia, when Slater used priority to drop in on Joel Parkinson, who’d just scored a barrel ride. Slater tucked into his own barrel on the same wave, riding it farther down the line.

This was considered legal, as Slater took off with intention of scoring, and did.

PRIORITY, followed in two-surfer heats since the early 1980s on the world tour, was added to the four-person heats in the qualifying levels four to five years ago, Thomas said.

“Before, it was kind of a free-for-all: Surfers would tussle for position, and sometimes the more aggressive would get the better waves.”

As I watched Hawaii surfer Billy Kemper win the Sunset Open on Jan. 24 at Sunset Beach, I remembered something that happened to a friend of mine back in the 1970s. Sunset waves are majestic, wild and powerful. Its original name, Paumalu, means “taken secretly,” from the legend of a woman who took more squid than permitted and had her legs taken by a shark.

My friend was surfing there and lost his board (this was before ankle leashes). As he swam after it, an older surfer, famed for his skill at Pipeline and Ala Moana Bowls, got there first, towed the board into the channel and let it go in the riptide.

Knowing his board was gone, my friend made the long swim to shore.

His assailant had taken extreme measures to assert dominance, but generally, the best surfers in a lineup don’t have to prove anything: Everybody knows who they are. The alpha surfers have their pick of waves.

“Guys who have proven themselves at Pipeline or Ala Moana Bowls over the years get the best waves,” Thomas said. “The rest get the scraps.”

Drop-ins happen at every location, added the former pro, who grew up surfing Rocky Point. Starting at 14, he worked his way up in the lineup until in his fourth year he started getting his fair share of waves.

Now 50, he seeks out less crowded spots and counsels patience, respect, a sense of humor and understanding that you earn your place.

“Check your ego at the door and try and have a good time.”

That’s sound advice, no matter what your pleasure.

“In the Lineup” features Hawaii’s oceangoers and their regular hangouts, from the beach to the deep blue sea. Reach Mindy Pennybacker at mpennybacker@staradvertiser.com or call 529-4772.