There was a time when surfing was the sport of scruffy beach bums and sun-burned dudes hanging ten. Those who took to the waves were as counterculture as skateboarders and took great pride in thumbing their noses at the establishment.
According to the New York Times, however, surfing has recently become increasingly mainstream as today’s corporate monkeys don wetsuits and share waves as though it were just another round of handshaking and sycophant ass-kissing found so often on the golf course.
For whatever reason, surfing has become respectable in the business community and people are using it to network, bobbing up and down in the ocean and talking real estate and hedge funds.
One of the obvious extensions of this growing passion is the emergence of high-end surf vacations that cater to businessmen with deep pockets and saltwater in their hair. One such trip quoted by Matt Higgens in the New York Times article costs $10,000 a day and includes gourmet meals and accommodations on a yacht instead of the traditional beach shack and fish tacos.
Wow. That’s enough to make you say “dude” in the next board meeting.