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Are you a Kook?

Ever wondered why you keep getting called a kook? Here's a handy checklist for you to have a look through. If you are nodding your head a little too much as you read through the list, then you probably are a kook!
(Don't know what a kook is, check our surf dictionary)

You might be a kook if -

• you look in the mirror and see a surf god, even though you can't surf 1ft ankle slop.
• you change your leash foot several times in the first few minutes you're out.
• the surf shop attendant has to tell you that the kneepads should go at the front of your new zipperless wetsuit
• you spend 5 minutes trying to paddle out back, only to end up turning around and riding in the whitewater on your belly to shore and calling it a day in your beach chair with a beer.
• if you spend every session standing in waist high water with surfboard floating beside you, and jump on the board and paddle frantically when a thigh high wave comes. You then spend the the evening describing all the barrels you caught.
• you tell everyone the bandage on your head was a result of an overhead wipeout, but really you slipped off when popping up because you didn't wax your board.
• you finish your ride on top of a toddlers sand castle half way up the beach.
• you try to paddle outback over an oncoming wave only to not make it over the top and flip backwards.
• you flinch when you see your leash slithering out of the corner of your eye… thinking its an eel or snake.
• you as a beginner go out with 60 km/h wind and with overhead waves.
• you prance around on the beach and pretend you're a really good surfer, but are really afraid of the water.
• you ride a surfboard, but every ride is on your belly.
• you've had a board for eighteen months, and it's never seen surf wax.

You don't have to be a kook just because you lack surfing ability. If you are honest about your abilities when talking to surfers at a break, or posting on our surf forum, and you are respectful to other surfers in the lineup, you're no kook.

Feel free to add to the list by posting a comment below.

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