Paper short abstract:

On the Gold Coast, the Ocean represents for surfers a setting for a neo-Romantic escapism from urban life: it provides them the waves, and surfers pay this "debt" with their commitment. However, this relationship relies on the surfers' ability to compete with other surfers for priority on the peaks

Paper long abstract:

In the rapidly growing context of the Gold Coast (Australia), surfing plays a central role in the social and cultural milieu. This has stimulated intense sensibilities among local surfers towards the Ocean, and developed a peculiar version of what Booth called "Australian Beach Cultures". In the Ocean, Gold Coast surfers account to feel finally detached from the chaotic life of the city - that still remains visible from the local line-ups - while recovering an intimate, authentic relationship with nature and their own selves. In this postmodern interpretation of Romantic escapism, the Ocean becomes the only impartial and authentic social agent surfers can relate with, in a context dominated by the logics and illusions of marketing. The Ocean provides surfers the waves (the sources for their fun), establishing an obligation for a return. In this logic, surfers' commitment represents the reciprocal effort that is expected to compensate the Ocean's "gifts". However, in the hyper-crowded waves of the Gold Coast, surfing is not a democratic activity. To establish this reciprocal relationship with the Ocean, surfers need to show they deserve it, dominating - or at least handling - the hard competition with other surfers to get priority on the peaks. "For me, he's just another fucking surfer that crowds the line-up!", tells me a friend when I mention I just saw a big champion on the waves. Surfers on the Gold Coast establishes therefore a dual social relation, based on reciprocity toward the Ocean and antagonism toward other humans.