"Why Do Men Drop In? Women’s Strategies for Tackling the Line-Up"
Why do men drop in
Women’s Strategies for Tackling the Line-Up
Woman and the waves
Sisterhoods, woman circles—it looks like they get popular, and even the men get jealous seeing the first men's retreats pop up. Only for men!!
Why do we create this as a woman? It is because we need each other's support.
If it is about surfing it looks that men and women are alien to each other.
Talking for myself, why am I colliding with men, and why never with women?
Still, I want to believe we are Yin and Yang and a balanced amount of men and women to operate at our best. But also, in the waves? We do need each other, right?
*men skip the next sentences*
Surfing with men can be annoying in the line-up. They “think you will not take the wave and yet the wave is yours when a man drops in on you."
Leaving you behind with the explanation: “I thought you were not gonna take (or make) that wave?”
Wherein my reply usually is: “Why do you think so? I have a much bigger board than yours, of course, it’s easier for me to take this wave!
As a woman, I often feel that we need to educate a man for what he is doing in the waves.
They drop in on your waves, they snake on you, they try to take over paddling in a wave, and they don’t look!
What is happening here?
Let’s dive deeper into the perception of men and women.
How do you deal as a woman in the line-up?
Let’s investigate.
Men are looking at their target.
The target in this case is catching a wave.
They do see you (woman) in the corner of their eyes but they will not look at you.
This is the biology of a man.
A man’s view is directed at a target to catch a prey.
When a woman catches a wave she will scan the whole area before she pops up.
Why?
Because women are made to look over a broad spectrum to find food.
Now image men and women are in a field.
While the men are looking in the direction of their target, and nothing else they will not pay much attention to what happens around them. Otherwise, they lose the prey out of their sight.
Woman on the other hand scan their whole area to pick their fruits.
In the broad view, they see the man and they see the man is focused on their prey.
The woman will stop so the man will not collide with her.
This is what is happening in the line-up.
Most of the time the man takes the waves from a woman even if it is her wave.
Because she scans a 180-degree spectrum and sees the man not having her in her sight.
She, on her turn, wants to stop the collision and pulls back and the guy takes the wave.
This can be very frustrating for a woman who thinks she is just careful not to crash.
Besides that, it might be that de guy even judges the woman thinking she cannot paddle hard enough.
Some suggestions I use:
1. Behave like a man. Focus on your wave and nothing else. Know your spot in the water. If you have priority go!!
I have men seeing getting scared thinking they were going to be beheaded by me. It was their judgment thinking I couldn’t make sharp turns.
Warn them in time that you are coming!!
2. In busy lineups, I take a bigger board or even a foamy out. The biggest board wins
I will behave like a man.
I only look at my target, to catch that wave. The foamy gives me a safe feeling.
It’s a big boat, undestroyable. I only care about my prey.
3. When the surf is challenging I book a lesson with my favorite surf teacher. I can take out my most maneuverable board. He will do the man part for me. He makes the road free for me so I can focus on my technique.
I have found my solutions.
But I know my solution might not be the best for everyone or you cannot find yourself in my solution.
What is your solution?
P.S. If you look at this wave you see I’m going in the wrong direction, so I shouldn’t even bother. But Still…. I was on the wave first!
Out of all the waves I’ve caught, only a tiny fraction have been photographed. Yet, in the few photos of me surfing, two already show a guy dropping in on my wave—here’s yet another example.