Cost of oil, gas is totally bogus for surfers

U.S. bookings to exotic surf spots in Asia have dropped 20 percent as airfares soar as high as $2,500 to places such as Sumatra, said Sean Dunlap, sales manager at Wave Hunters, a specialty surf travel agency in San Diego. Many airlines have added or increased excess luggage fees that can add hundreds of dollars to a plane ticket for surfers with board bags.

Some surfers are using the Internet to find good surf instead of driving around until they spot it themselves.

Web sites with surf cameras have reported an uptick in users, said Mike Matey, vice president of marketing at Huntington Beach-based surfline.com.

Webcam traffic is up 10 percent at his site, which has cameras positioned at 135 prime locations worldwide. He also said subscriptions to the site's premium Web service have jumped 17 percent. Similar sites reported increases of 10 to 12 percent in Web camera traffic.

Other surfers said they are hitting the beach less often, cutting back on long drives or eliminating trips when they aren't sure in advance the waves will be great.

Seattle surfer Whare Heke, 40, has cut out day excursions to the beach because of the cost of the 270-mile roundtrip.

"We've been doing a lot more hiking," he said.

The high gas prices still haven't dissuaded some die-hard surfers from enjoying their sport — expensive or not.

As the sun set over San Clemente's famed Trestles surf break on a recent summer day, Alan Harrison peeled off his wet suit and swore he would never choose money over surfing.

"If you love it, you can't change it for anybody or anything," said the 23-year-old Harrison, who spends $40 a week to get to Trestles from his inland home. "Even if gas went to $10 a gallon, I'd still do it. I'd find a way. It's an addiction."

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