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	Wisdumb
	Bounty from the Sea, Part II (1-19-03) -Standard Personal Rant Section- I have been bodyboarding for about 27 years. I do it, and still do it because it is fun. Occasionally I wish I had a longboard for the days when Campus Point is waist high, gutless and perfect, peeling for 75 meters. Why either one? It’s just a choice. I am not trying to “get chicks” or be cool or prove anything, just having fun and trying to improve my style. Today, it is more difficult, but not impossible to have a fun session in nice waves where people behave like gentlemen, play by the rules and give each other some bit of respect regardless of your particular pool toy you chose to ride. This groovy surf fantasy of the soulful session gets a wake-up crack with the 2 by 4 of sobriety in the form of the specter of limited resources. As more people “learn” to surf, the number of rideable waves remains constant or even decreases due to development and pollution. At a minimum, it is simple economics of supply and demand. As fancy animals, we react to this pressure by resorting to frustration, violence, or new hobbies. To add to the hate, surf magazines often refer to bodyboarders in some derogatory fashion, thus instilling a systematic caste system of inequality with all the associated injustice. What the hell am I talking about? In practice, it means it is OK to stuff someone in the pit based solely on what they are riding. Logically, this argument, like many, cannot tread water in the sea of stupidity. Nonetheless, the ocean belongs to all of us so everyone should be able to enjoy the surf. But, if everyone did just that, there would be chaos and injuries. So clearly, there is some need for self-regulation in the line-up with emphasis on following the basic rules of surfing so it is worth paddling out in the first place. Where do you draw the line? The debate rages… Big Rock Theater of the Absurd (4-30-03) Ron McAdams has been riding a bodyboard for a long ass time. He, Glenn Policare, Dave Duffy and I traveled to Bali a few years ago, comprising the Team HeeHaw, since we often felt like jackasses there for the first time. I even saw his name in an old mag listing him as getting 8th at the Pipe contest in 1986. Since then, Ron has established a solid position for himself in the rocky nooks and crannies of the La Jolla reefs, in particular Big Rock. He doesn’t just leisurely stroll down at the crack of noon on the best session of the weekend, he is there before light nearly every morning it is worth riding, scoring more pits than your grandma’s bowl of prunes before you watch your first cartoon. As such, Ron feels a deep connection with his spot. For him, it is simply a matter of respect and etiquette. Showing up with a bunch of crew, paddling to the top of the peak with your buddy on the beach with a video camera, will forfeit your welcome. Despite the fact that he is on a sponge, he plays no favorites between bodyboarders or surfers, pro or amateur. He is a soul surfer and an enforcer. The following interview is in response to an incident at Big Rock that escalated into quite a mess. Ron refused to talk to the main surf magazines that were then left to get their “facts” so contorted it would make corporate media newscasters blush. I thought it would be fun to get the actual story straight from the donkey’s mouth and scoop the mags at their own game. Here, exclusively on Toobs.com! (I emailed Ron a bunch of questions and made him do all the work typing the answers!) So tell me some history about the spot: The spot in mention Big Rock is a really heavy localized spot. Since I can remember (20 years), it has always been crowded. The difference back then is that there were no bodyboarders that were locals, and even bodyboarding the spot was hazardous either from the locals or the reef. The place had its hard core locals that would yell at you if you paddled out on a sponge or if you were not a local. This kept the place hard to get waves and drove off the guys who were not patient enough to sit in the channel or put years into the place to become one. How long have you been surfing there? I’ve been surfing there religiously for 10 years, but I’ve been riding there for 20. Riding it religiously means paddling out at dark every time it breaks, and defending it when outsiders try to bully their way into the lineup, and gaining the respect of some of the most hard core locals and riders. What is it like surfing there as far as pecking order etc. on a good day? As far as pecking order goes, there are the surfing locals such as Peter Loch, Marshall, Rex, Big George, RK, Joe Roper, bald Cris, Carl, and even Nate, who right now we don’t see eye to eye. These guys are the locals and they get whatever wave they want when they want. There are more then I can name, but those are the main guys. Lance and I are the most respected bodyboarders and have the respect of the guys I just mentioned (so that we are the main bodyboarders to ride the spot and catch what we want.) What the hell’s the problem (in general) at Big Rock? Here is the problem in a nut shell. Guys paddle out and get in problems in the line up and instead of working their way up they try to force their way in the pecking order, and this goes for bodyboarders and surfers. That becomes a problem and usually ends up with a confrontation. When there is a confrontation it will go to blows then its over. When people start ganging up on one guy on the beach or in the water, you will get problems on the beach when the guy comes back the next day and wants to settle the score. The next time it is one on one or with all his buddies. Describe the incident that initiated the problem on that fateful day. The day all hell broke lose was one of the first good and big days of the winter. Everyone and their mother showed up at the spot, including large amounts of bodyboarders. Rex and I got into it early because of the vast amount of bodyboarders in the line up and that I was being mislabeled as someone who brings all these guys out. He felt that I was the reason all these guys are here. I have no control over who is in the water and in fact if I wasn’t in the water there would be even more spongers out there. Me and Rex worked our differences out and we were back to surfing perfect surf. I then got into it a little with Hans who is another surfer, but that was more my fault and we just exchanged words and that was it. You have to understand that when you are a bodyboarder with a seat at one of the best waves in California, you get surfers challenging you to your seat and they think that since he is just a bodyboarder, I can drop in or paddle around him. That does not work at this spot and I sometimes get frustrated trying to get waves when all this happens during one session. The thing with Ian and I was that we were paddling for the same wave, and you have to understand that I have never seen this kid before, so when he is challenging me for a wave, I'm going to do whatever I have to to make sure he knows the rules. As we paddled for the wave I grabbed his board and pulled him out of the wave with me. He then said "what’s your problem" and we both sat up on our boards facing each other. He got in my face and I socked him, plain as that because when someone gets in your face and challenges you, they are man enough to fight or they better be ready to fight. He got socked and that was that, until his buddy came over and then it became two on one. At that time I go into "who wants it first" mode. When this happens, you go nuts and go after whoever wants to fight. Well Ian went back to surfing and this other guy wanted to finish the brawl so I went after him. He shot his board at me and I tried to drag him back to me by his leash, but he kicked me good with his foot, which was a respectfully good shot on me if I have to say. Well that really pissed me off so I got his board from him and broke the skeg off and told him to get the out of here. Well, he kept mouthing off and saying he was going to kick my ass and bla bla bla. Was he just some random guy? I found out later that (the first guy) was Ian Rodkins and that his dad is some old time local from Windansea, who is a legend to this day with people around La Jolla. And was one of the founders of the Windansea surf club. Then what happened? Well Ian and the other guy went and told Ian’s dad and the Windansea guys that I beat him up for no reason and that I'm trying to kick surfers out of big rock with this so called band of bodyboarders I control. My view on what happened between me and Ian is that we are both on the same side when it comes to localizing the spots in La Jolla. I feel that he does not like me because I'm a bodyboarder, and those were words from his mouth and that I should not be getting the best waves. He challenged me and lost, and instead of being respectful of the guys that have been there before him, he tried to force his way in. The heat was getting hot so Glenn said you guys had a lot of fun at Magic Mountain the next day. What happened while you were gone? The next day another incident happened with another bodyboarder, as this is what I heard so don’t quote me on it.(even though Ron is writing this…) This bodyboarder dropped in on Chris Ward and that they had a few words. They settled their problem but I guess the bodyboarder was met on the beach by a few surfers that were going to kick his ass. Personally, I really don’t care what happens to kooks that drop in on guys; bodyboarders or surfers. Well, the next day (I was there) we were sitting there looking at the waves at the rock. The bodyboarder from the day before hears that one of the guys that surrounded him named Mika is sitting in his truck at the rock. The kid comes over to the rock and runs down to confront Mika saying "here I am (poopy-head), lets go!” Mika gets out of the truck with a bat and runs after the kid up the street. Mika claims later that the kid had a knife, which none of us saw. He did have a cell phone in his hand which he might have mistaken for a knife. Terry and I are up there watching this go down along with a few other random surfers and bodyboarders who crowded around these guys to see what the commotion was about. Terry and I go up to Mika, and Terry nicely asks for the bat, because we didn’t want Mika to go to jail for hitting someone with the bat. Mika gives us the bat and we ask Mika if he wants to fight this guy one on one and he says yes. Well the fight starts and the guy gets the upper hand and gets him on the ground. Mika’s friend tries to help him when the bodyboarder gets the upper hand. I tell the other guy to let them fight and when one yells out they want to stop, then we will stop it. Mika finally taps out and the fight ends. That was the fight, the truth and the results. Everything after that is bull and for Surfer and Surfing magazines to run anything but the truth is unprofessional and can get people hurt on both sides. I was not there to help Mika get his ass kicked; I just helped two people settle a score the way it should be settled. To tell you the truth, I was hoping Mika was going to kick the (poop) out of him, because I don’t take sides between bodyboarders and surfers and Mika is a guy I respect in and out of the water. I have never had a problem with him. Did things escalate any further? When I got back from Magic Mountain, I went out at the Rock with Terry, and we could see where some of the kids had written anti-sponger stuff on one of the walls facing the Rock, which is no big deal. When I got out of the water I was met by Big George and a couple other guys, and I asked George what was up? He said that he was there to fight against me and the so called group of bodyboarders that I had coming down to the beach. Little did I know that while I was up at Magic Mountain rumors were flying around that I had beat up this kid at the rock the day I was up north and that I was plotting this whole anti-surf rally to kick surfers asses out of these spots. The other rumor was that I was there helping the bodyboarder beat up Mika with my set of goons and that I was ready for all out war. Well I told George the truth about what really happened and he laughed and said he was going to go surf. He couldn’t believe the rumors had gotten so off based. Well I was changing when an older man who was Ian’s dad confronted me and we got into an argument about me hitting his son, and that I was wrong to do it. Ian showed up and we talked it out with his dad, Ian and me. And that was that as far as Ian was concerned. But I guess the rumors of the fight were set in motion and there was nothing I or anyone else could do to stop it. Ian’s dad asked me to leave (respectfully) because he said there were a lot of guys coming down to fight the spongers and me, and since I was the only guy there I was going to get the brunt of it. I was reluctant to leave because I have never walked away from anything but Ian’s dad was persistent on getting me out of there. I guess there were up to 20 to 40 surfers showing up for this fight and I thank Ian’s dad for helping me out that day. I want to state that I have no problem with what these Windansea guys where doing, sticking up for there spots and banding together. The problem is that people like to put out false accusations and, lies and rumors, and that people will run with it and it can cause injury to both surfers and bodyboarders. I will state again that Surfer Mag and Surfing Mag are irresponsible to print non-facts and to add even more tension to a very delicate issue. This shows that the mags have a different agenda when it comes to telling factual information and shows they will say anything to get the story. One of the mags called me and asked if I would tell my side of the story and I told them I don’t have anything to say on the issue and that it would just cause more controversy if I went in a surfer mag and told my story of the truth. I'm doing this now because to this day, people don’t know what really happened and now they do. How did things work themselves out? Things have settled down now, and things are getting back to normal. I did have a meeting with one of the guys from Windansea and the kids involved but it didn’t turn out too well. One of the kids I got into a fuss with last year claimed I kicked his ass on the day I was at Magic Mountain and the cops ended up showing up and the kid backed out of his statement when he found out I wasn’t even around. This bull$hit lie this kid conjured up could have gotten people hurt. In conclusion, I will still surf my spots and stick up for what I believe and not back down when confronted. And I hope this clears up the fact that I ride for myself not for spongers or surfers and the only group of guys I have control over are my son and step son. Note: Ron would love to hear from you. But don't paddle out at Big Rock to tell him, just email him at ronmcadams2002@yahoo.com more stories >>