Abstract
Dangerous Fun is a very dramatic book. The book is filled with epic stories of near-death experiences while surfing the largest waves of Hawaii. Ugo Corte has done impressive fieldwork, including interviews, trying out big wave surfing himself, and hanging out with big wave surfers on the Hawaiian Islands, to capture the ‘memory of a community’ (p. 2).
Big wave surfing is a relatively new phenomenon at the fringe of mainstream surfing and surfing competitions. Only a handful of surfers can catch the giant waves full-time. The interest in big wave surfing is nonetheless on the rise, becoming commercialized, as exemplified in the HBO TV series 100 Foot Wave, and turned into a professional sport. These surfers struggle to overcome their fear of death and injury to surf the largest waves possible to gain excitement, collaborative commitment, and experience group pleasures. Riskier rides have become more common as surfers now have inflatable safety vests and can rely on jet skis to pull them into waves and out of the ocean.
The book shows the attractions of big wave surfing. Corte details the ‘moving perspective’ (p. 179) of a career as a big wave surfer, how surfers enter (sometimes through the help of mentors), and through the reciprocal peer influence of pushing oneself to advance in skills and daringness. Surfers can be ‘chargers’ (p. 179) that take significant risks when surfing, sometimes to prove themselves, or more experienced ‘sharpshooters’ (p. 180) who are more selective about when to surf a wave. Disengagement may come from physical inabilities, wanting to quit on top, or fading away by taking smaller waves.
Community is also a central theme. The community, or cliques, of big wave surfers hang out together at the grocery store, parties, or line-ups waiting for a big wave to come. They belong to what Michael Farrell (2001) calls a ‘collaborative circle,’ trying to make a mark in their field. While community and cooperation are pivotal to watching out for one another when waves are caught, there is also fierce competition. As ‘good’ waves are scarce, there is a rivalry to ride them (even though waves can be shared), and attempts are made to scare off newcomers and women (pp. 96, 152). ‘Assholes’ are a common sight (p. 87). Competition for status and reputation, through peer recognition and to get a hold of the few sponsorship deals, also exists.
Corte argues that community, collaboration, and belonging are based on ‘fun.’ Fun is conceptualized as non-planned hedonistic satisfaction that encourages group belonging, separating ‘us’ from ‘them’ (p. 82). The fun is conditioned by the opportunities for it through the offerings of the ocean, collaborative commitments to share knowledge and skills among the performers, and shared narratives about the experiences that may bring about a sense of groupness. By sharing the activity, experiences, and focus, ‘emotional energy,’ an emotional power to perform, is produced (Collins, 2004). Corte argues that emotional energy varies depending on the physical circumstance through ‘interaction intensity variance,’ such as the singularity and importance of certain huge waves (p. 25). Corte uses Anthony Giddens’s (1991) concept of ‘fateful moments’ to describe the short moments that may change a surfer’s life, career direction, and who they perceive themselves to be. These moments are existential turning points that persons may use to narrate whom they have become. The moments are only realized due to the surfers’ continued engagement in situations of edgework. ‘Edgework’ is closely associated with extreme sports, the voluntary risk-taking that involves life-and-death situations (Lyng, 1990), which may create ‘flow experiences’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1982).
The big wave surfers are great storytellers. The stories come in waves, and the sense of repetition brings about what it means to be a big wave surfer – waiting, repeating – but through the unpredictability of nature that might bring the next gigantic wave. The most common experience among surfers, waiting or being bored, should nevertheless have been elaborated on in the book. The book also tells dark tales far from the commercialized tourist image of Hawaii as a paradise island to the darker sides of living there, including different forms of addiction, poverty, and lost cultural heritage.
A general problem with the book is the need for a discussion about the possibilities for analytical generalization from the study made. What can we learn about the extreme sport in society, how fateful moments impact our lives, and how people desire something that ultimately may be bad for them? Corte’s study could be seen as a novel approach to the sociology of addiction, using surfing as an example. However, the text does not fully develop the connection to the sociology of addiction.
Corte has written a well-researched and fascinating book that will be important to small-group research in cultural sociology. Corte has pointed out a potent area of sociological inquiry, and it is now up to us to catch the waves created by this book.
