A surfing band concert in California shows
the audience is a mix of ages, but the senior population is the majority
at such events that tend to be free and include many of the musicians of
the same age as the audience.
Babes & Boomers Taking up the Surfing
Craze, But By the Numbers, Who's the REAL Audience?
With baby boomers
who grew up with Gidget now heading to surfing concerts featuring old
school surf bands, Eliminators, Dick Dale and the like, surf schools
have amped up their marketing techniques to capture this elite, "time on
your hands" audience. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal by a
staff reporter did a cursory study of surfing. She interviewed a few
people and came up with the claim that the surfing industry and surf
schools, along with the travel industry folks, are now crafting products
and packages for baby boomers who want to have an experience such as
learning to surf.
But by the numbers
the babes still win out over the baby boomers in who signs up for surf
lessons and camps. Local California residents who make up over 85
percent of the state's travel, pretty much know how to access a
surfboard and take a lesson. You just show up in beaches in San
Diego--Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Del Mar and Encinitas; Orange County
beaches San Clemente, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach,
Sunset Beach and Seal Beach; Los Angeles Beaches such as Redondo,
Hermosa, Manhattan and Santa Monica; Ventura's Oxnard & Ventura Beaches;
Santa Barbara beaches; San Luis Obispo County's Pismo or Avila Beach;
Monterey County; Santa Cruz County's Capitola, Aptos and Santa Cruz; San
Mateo County's Half Moon Bay...and on. You get the picture. There are
hundreds upon hundreds of surfing lessons shops and companies offering
simply the lesson, or a package with wetsuit and board thrown in the
fee.
San Diego 4 hour Surf Culture Safari is one example of an experience
aimed at older folks. Among the experiences you'll enjoy: Get acquainted
with some of the most sublime beaches in California, by hearing amazing
surf stories. From the longest pier in California, get a surfer's view
of the beach where people first began riding San Diego's wave almost 100
years ago. Visit the world's first engineered surfing park, where the "Bruticus
Maximus" creates a churning wave so huge it challenges the skills of
expert surfers. Go to a surfer hangout, a fish taco shop where you'll
sample a fish taco. Learn to read surf patterns and see how surfers pick
their waves.
California surfing adventure trips generally tend to be more of a visit
to Disneyland, a day at the beach and some local eats. But what about
when you're traveling the globe? Is surfing still the hot ticket item.
And for California surfers and local residents, the urge to visit some
distant clime and take up surfing is not really the best use of time,
most say. But if you live in Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota and Arkansas,
for instance, a coastal visit either to Florida beaches or California
beaches is an appealing thought when the weather is either too cold or
too hot. Surfing lessons might be one of the options for a good time.
We asked a local surf school owner from Huntington Beach, Mike Ali, if
his audience included many boomers. The answers was a resounding, "Not
many. Kids like to surf here especially," he said. College students,
teens, and young adults or parents with children under the age of 18 are
his biggest audience. Ali offers a board rental, surf lessons and
wetsuit for under $85. The next time you're thinking of hanging out at a
Cali beach, you may want to try a hang ten with one of over 100 surf
schools and surfboard rental companies along the California coast. While
you can probably get yourself going and learn how to mount that board, a
lesson can help you learn a little faster.
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