New Municipal Agency Will Assign Wave Entitlement Numbers Based on Residential Proximity, Surf Experience, and Oral History Exam Performed Before Three City-Appointed Judges

Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat

HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA — The City of Huntington Beach unveiled Tuesday the Bureau of Wave Priority, a newly established municipal agency empowered to issue laminated lineup cards assigning each registered surfer a numbered wave entitlement based on residential proximity to the break, years of documented surf experience, and successful completion of a brief oral history of surfing in Huntington Beach before a panel of three city-appointed judges. Bureau Director Chad Hollenbeck described the initiative as “the most logical solution to a problem that every honest person admits exists” and said laminated cards would be available for collection at City Hall beginning June 15, subject to a $75 processing fee and a three-to-five business day wait, which locals noted is longer than most waves last.

How the Wave Priority System Works in Practice

Under the new framework, surfers will be assigned to one of five Priority Tiers. Tier One — Reserved Local — applies to surfers who were born within two miles of the Huntington Pier, have surfed the break continuously for a minimum of fifteen years, and can name at least six professional surfers from Huntington Beach without using their phones. Tier Two — Established Resident — covers surfers who have lived within Huntington Beach city limits for five or more years and who own, rather than rent, their surfboard storage unit. Tiers Three through Five cover visiting surfers on a descending scale of tolerance that bottoms out at Tier Five, which Hollenbeck described as “tourists from the Valley with brand-new boards, and we all know who we are.”

“This is not about localism,” Director Hollenbeck clarified, standing in front of a sign that said LOCALS FIRST in large letters above a smaller sign that said THIS IS NOT LOCALISM. “This is about efficiency. This is about a fair, transparent, rules-based system for managing a shared natural resource. This is about ensuring that the people who built this surf culture are able to enjoy it without being shoulder-hopped by someone who bought his wetsuit on Amazon three days ago and has never heard of Corky Carroll.” When asked if Corky Carroll had been consulted about the system, Hollenbeck said he had not but that his spirit was “very much present in the room.”

Tier Five Surfers React With Predictable Dismay

The Tier Five designation, which carries no wave entitlement and requires its holders to remain seated on their boards fifty meters outside the lineup until a Priority Review Officer signals availability, has drawn criticism from civil liberties organisations and several recreational surfers from Pasadena who did not wish to be named. One unnamed Tier Five surfer, who arrived at Huntington Beach on a Monday morning with a foam learner board and sunscreen applied in quantities more appropriate for an Antarctic expedition, told reporters he felt the system was “a bit much” and that he had simply wanted to “give it a go” before returning to his career in corporate audit. He said the laminated card system reminded him of the queue management system at his office and that he had not come to the beach to be reminded of the queue management system at his office. He then tried to catch a wave, fell immediately, and confirmed that at least that part felt free.

The Bureau confirmed that Priority Review Officers will be stationed at the beach daily from 6am to 6pm and will carry whistles but not weapons. Officers are authorised to issue formal Wave Intrusion Notices to surfers who enter a priority zone without entitlement, and repeat offenders will be referred to the Bureau’s Adjudication Panel, which meets on the first Tuesday of each month and is chaired by a retired Huntington Beach surf shop owner who describes himself as “famously patient but only up to a point, and that point is earlier than most people expect.”

The Broader California Context: Surf Zones as Regulatory Frontiers

Huntington Beach’s move follows a national trend of formalising informal surf culture hierarchies into codified bureaucratic structures. The Surfline forecast platform, which is consulted by essentially every surfer in Southern California and which does not issue tier designations or laminated credentials of any kind, noted that informal lineup hierarchy has always existed in surf culture and that the transition to a formalised municipal system raises interesting questions about what surfing means when the government is in charge of it.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was asked to comment on whether wave priority systems were consistent with federal public access obligations and replied that it “manages ocean conditions rather than ocean etiquette” and wished the Bureau of Wave Priority “all the best with that.”

What Locals Actually Think

Opinion among established Huntington Beach surfers is divided. Several longtime locals expressed enthusiasm for a system they believe will restore order to a lineup they describe as having deteriorated significantly since the pandemic introduced a generation of enthusiastic beginners to the sport. Others expressed concern that bureaucratising localism would remove its essential character. “Half the point of being a local,” said one Tier One cardholder who asked to be identified only as Deano, “is that it is not official. The moment you give me a laminated card it stops being mine and starts being the city’s. That is not what surfing is about.” He then paddled out, caught the first wave of the next set, and did not look back. A Tier Five applicant from Riverside paddled in the general direction of the same wave, recognised the social situation, and redirected himself toward the shore with quiet dignity. The system, in that moment, appeared to be working exactly as designed.

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SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/huntington-beach-wave-priority-bureau/