To Claim or Not to Claim – A Surfer’s Dilemma

Claiming it – in surfing, it can be a bit controversial!

If you’re a Steve McQueen type surfer, and too cool for school, you will let our surfing speak for yourself and will be above ever claiming it.

Other sports, such as football (i.e. the NFL, which the WSL is known to aspiring to be), the claim is often referred to as “the dance” and certain players, notably in the Jerry Maguire movie, were too cool and initially refused to be associated with doing it.

However, in football, “the dance” or claim, so be it, isn’t as controversial, because they only do it (mostly) after they have made an actual score (Rod couldn’t hold his dance in as much as he wanted to in the below clip).

In pro surfing, it is a bit more complicated because the claim is made before surfers know how the judges scored them and some pro surfers have been known to claim it, in hopes of manipulating the judges scores.

Our stance on the claim?

There’s no shame to the claim, if it’s filled with stoke. 

Sometimes, some of us surfers, are just not that cool, and we cannot contain our enthusiasm, so in that case, it is essential to make the claim and let out a big wooo hooo after a great wave. Especially if you are not competing, if you don’t make a claim, after a wave gets you stoked, you’re just censoring yourself and being fake.

That’s our take on the claim – if  you feel the same way, check out our rash guard shown above in our Surfer Shops store, and pick it up, and claim your stoke in the lineup.