Surf insurance, anyone? Or you like living dangerously?

I’m gonna buy me some surf insurance Whaat? No such thing? I think it is a mistake. Let’s at least talk about it.

My surfboard damage résumé

I am pretty unlucky in the damaged surfboard department. A teenage shortboarder ran into my longboard in the lineup, cut it up really badly with his fins, and he didn’t even notice. No point asking him for his surf insurance, he probably still lived with his parents.

Not one, but two of my boards fell onto the remnants of construction rods sticking out from the ground (that’s on me and my storage skills), putting deep holes in them.

A friend ran into me and took a big chunk out of what was considered an indestructible board, but didn’t feel it was necessary to say: OMG, I am so, so sorry! I have made new friends since then, don’t you worry.

Oh, my sister-in-law took a fin out of one of our boards in the shallows, but that’s family, so it doesn’t count.

The Reddit poll that said what we’re all thinking

Three years ago, someone on Reddit ran a poll on “who pays if you damage someone’s board and you know it’s your fault.”

With the assumption that you know for a fact it was your fault, and that the other surfer was not an a-hole. A sample of more than 1,000 surfers voted:

You should pay and you would: 65%
You should pay but you wouldn’t: 22%
You shouldn’t pay but you would anyway: 4%
You shouldn’t pay and you wouldn’t: 9%

The rub? No one believed the data. Because, yeah—but it’s surfing. Accidents happen. Don’t turn it into a lawsuit. Perhaps it would be much easier if we had surf insurance, no?

But seriously. What are the rules here? In this surf society that we live within. It appears that there are three clubs that you choose your membership in.

It’s your own fault, you reluctantly pay club

If the damage occurred because of your actions that didn’t adhere to generally accepted surf etiquette, you should offer to compensate a surfer who suffered said damage.

For instance, you ran someone over because you were not fully in control due to your skill level or unsurfy behavior. Or you decided that a leash is the enemy and against the free-flowing surfing spirit, and your board went flying and bumped into another leash-on board.

Bad, bad surfer–you did the very thing that you should never do and ditched your board and hit another surfer’s board. Or maybe you didn’t look in the parking lot, walked into someone’s board, or ran it over with your car.

☯️ Surf karma is real club

Of course, two can play that game, and sometimes the fault will be shared. This may happen if you’re both surfing, following the rules, but the ocean has other ideas and you unfortunately bump into each other.

The surfers in this camp take karma seriously. They would not ask for money if their board got dinged, but would kindly accept it if offered. This camp is all about keeping the vibes up. What goes around comes around. Soul surfer types, you know.

The extreme case of “surf karma” believers are the surfers who know they weren’t in the wrong and still offer to get someone else’s board fixed. They would paddle up to you to make sure you’re okay, even if you’re evidently very okay. Just to make sure. Because of them: karma is very real.

Are you for real, bruh? club

For these dudes and dudettes, surfing is a contact sport. They take no prisoners. No matter whose fault it is, it will be your fault and you will hear about it, and it will be endless.

And in extreme cases—chased to the parking lot and made a speedy Venmo transfer.

All the above is very much surf spot-dependent. You also may never end up in a situation where you get run over or you damage someone else’s board, so you would never even need surf insurance. And only you can decide which club membership suits your surfing style best.

Just keep in mind: dings are reasonably cheap to fix, fin boxes less so.

Author: The Wipeout Weekly team