You might live in a surf town if:

There are signs at the major breaks explaining the rules or etiquette of surfing. Does this help in any way avoid friction in the lineup? Does it keep the beginners out of the advanced break zones or the shredders from snaking the beginners in their space?

You see cars and trucks from a wide radius converging on your town with logs, SUPs and sponges in the back and on the top. In Santa Cruz, people come from at least as far away as Sacramento to surf the waves.

Several times a year you arrive at your favorite break to find there's a surf contest underway.

You drive along a major road in town and count more surf shops than liquor stores. In Santa Cruz, this would be 41st avenue.

There are at least two shops in town that repair wetsuits. Blown Out Wet Suit Repairs on the East Side, and HeatWave Custom Wetsuits on the West Side prove that Santa Cruz is indeed a surfing town.

You can buy surf wax at several Mom-and-Pop grocery stores right at the checkout counter.

Good natured graffiti covers road signs, turning them into surfers headed to the ocean.

Local media includes swell, tides and other ocean conditions. This one isn't unique to surfing towns, and by itself doesn't guarantee you are living in one. Ocean-side communities which are not surf spots also have new coverage of ocean conditions.

You see pictures of people surfing your town's breaks in the major surf magazines and on the major surf web sites. This includes advertising coverage as well as article and photos.

Pro surfers from your town compete and win in contests around the world.

Can you suggest more?

And, here are some of the opposite aspects. Don't be fooled! You might think you live in a surf town if you see these things, but you could be wrong.

You see surf schools advertised and surf classes in the water. The last thing a surf school needs or wants is actual waves. This would be dangerous indeed!

Surf shops with only a few placebo boards, but lots of clothes and continuous surf videos running on many flat panel displays. For heaven's sake, there is an O'Neill's surf shop in Paris on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, within spitting distance of the Arc de Triomphe!

You see people at the beaches carrying surf boards. Sometimes, these are only props and part of a costume.

You see people sitting on boards floating in "lineups." Yeah, but are there any actual waves, and is anyone actually riding them?

CU Out There,

DogMan