Went to my local skate shop the other day after I shaped a couple cruiser boards for myself and a buddy. I was buying wheels and bearings and talking with the shop owner about getting back into skating after years off. He said something that made me think a lot about the differences between surfing and skating, in terms of opinions regarding us older people (I'm in my early 40s) and either starting or getting back into shredding waves/concrete. I told him I hadn't skated in a long while but I was a huge skate nerd earlier in life, and he was just so incredibly excited to have me start again. It was really, really refreshing and nice and made me want to skate even more.
I couldn't help but compare this to some of the sentiment I've seen on here and in the lineup about such a move surf-wise. Don't get me wrong--I understand the differences between endless concrete and limited waves. I know that kooks in the water are a bigger liability than on land. I know that if I brought my cruiser board to skate a pool or a bowl somewhere I'd probably get scorned by some people. So I guess I'm just wondering... is the hate directed at everyone of a certain age who wants to start surfing? Or, is it a case-by-case kind of deal, depending on lots of other variables like conduct and respect and attitude? Seems to me that everyone deserves a fair shake and an open mind, until they prove that they don't deserve a fair shake and an open mind.
