A few weeks ago I was checking the surf at Swamis and noticed this guy’s tailgate that was absolutely riddled with stickers. It reminded me of this tailgate I saw on a truck at Waimea Bay (check the plates).
It also jogged my memory. I remembered blogging on surfer’s breadcrumbs (surfers marking their trail via stickers) years ago. I also remembered some black and white photos I took a few years back of woodys during the annual Wavecrest event in Encinitas. One of those is below.
When I go to an event like Wavecrest I look at the stickers as much as I look at the Woodys. I want to see authentic stickers… I want to see some history.
No, I’m not condoning this or promoting it… I’m simply looking at our culture and attempting to make sense of it. And tagging is a visual part of beach/surf culture.
We tag to mark. We tag to customize. We tag to personalize. We tag to communicate. We tag to make a claim. We tag to make it personal. We tag to make it… ours.
