California has been aggressive in adopting stay-at-home guidelines in various jurisdictions since mid-March, but San Diegans struggled following Mayor Kevin Faulconer's daily pleas for people to stay home and not gather in groups outside of their households. As a result, the guidelines expanded shut down parks, trails, boardwalks and beaches. And now, as we know, that means no surfing as well.
And, brah, the surfers are totes bummed about it. Social media blew up with posts from surfers decrying the shutdown. “I would think that surfers rarely get within 6 feet of each other while in the water," posted @FredZuckerman. "I suppose during a Santa Ana in the warm summer months, they could get close during the lineups. But in March/April, I don't think it gets that crowded. What am I missing?”
Faulconer posted a video from surf legend Skip Frye.
“Sixty-two years surfing,” Frye said on the clip. “I wanna say something to all you surfers out there: I know it's hard not to go surfing right now, but we gotta stay home, we gotta stay isolated -- because if one person is at the beach, a thousand people are at the beach. So stay home and stay safe.”
Enter the local band Well Well Well, who've written a downtempo chill track which debuted on 91X Loudspeaker on Sunday and via their social media accounts on Wednesday.
“Wrote this song the day the earth stood still and they canceled surfing.... It’s called 'No Surfing',” posted WWW frontman Seton Edgerton.
SoundDiego
Music. Community. Culture.
Edgerton bartends at Thrusters in Pacific Beach and lives “pretty much on the water in Mission Beach.” The song's accompanying video uses a friend's drone footage of the beach as well as his own footage.
“I was pretty much just biking around the day they initially announced that surfing was more or less postponed," Edgerton said via telephone on Monday. "It was pretty surreal. They had a bunch of patrols, SUVs, motorcycle cops on the boardwalk; anyone on the beach was pretty much told to get off and people that were in the water were told to get out by the lifeguards, and if they weren't getting out, someone in a boat came by, or SeaDoos. It was full-on."
"No Surfing" even captures a little audio of a cop giving verbal warnings to people on the boardwalk. “I tend to just have my voice memo always at the ready and walked over and was like, 'Hey, man, what's up?' ”
You can check out the song and video here, or keep an eye out for distribution via Spotify, AppleMusic and other streaming sites. Edgerton shared the lyrics, which you are below.
That wake-up feeling's gone
Sleep past my noon alarm
My days just linger on
I look out my window to see the sun is gone
Police all around my home
In the sky, on the beach
In the sand, on the streets
They're alone
I'd hate to have to write you a citation
And i'm sure you've seen the news
But you seem like a smart guy
So consider this a verbal warning
No beaches
No boardwalk
No parks
And absolutely, under no circumstances
Will there be any surfing
Trapped inside way too long
Just staring at my phone
Complaining all day long
Paranoia sleeps beneath my tongue
Wait for the news to turn on
2020 hasn't been fun
How long do nightmares go on?
Will you wake me up when it's all done?
Well, I guess you left me no choice
Please step away from the board
Hand over your aquatic information
And sit patiently on the seawall
I hate that it had to come down to this
I'm a surfer myself
You know this is for your own good
and the good of the city of San Diego
If I catch you out here again
Paddling out for a spicy one out the back
You can bet your bottom sand dollar
That I won't be spreading the aloha spirit
