Hey Dibi: Can San Clemente Survive the Olympic Circus?

Editor’s Note: Have a question for Dibi Fletcher? She’s definitely got answers. Or at least a perspective. Don’t hold back, shoot her a DM on Instagram and ask away. Here’s this week’s dispatch from the Matriarch of Radical…

How do you deal with Christian? He’s gnarly.  I don’t know how my parents deal with me as a teenager at 51. Ya know as a skateboarder and surfer and party boy San Diegan all my life, I guess it’s just love and compromise. I’ve hung with him many times, and just wonder what you really think? - Party Boy from SD
Hey Party Boy from SD…Christian’s CHRISTIAN… and has always seen life from his own perspective and behaved accordingly. He’s taught me more about myself than anyone else and for that I’m sincerely grateful.

Hey Dibi…. Was there something particular you did to create a family of super surfers? - Surf Dad
Hey Surf Dad…. I never thought of anything in particular but when I go through the memory bank of all the early years, I would say that I created an environment that made it easy for them to surf every day. My dad was a surfer and as soon as he made enough money, he bought a home on the beach where I grew up. I was a beach kid and when I had kids, I just took them along like my dad took me and they picked up surfing naturally. My parents still lived on the beach, though they had built a larger home a few doors down from my childhood home and my kids spent most of their time there. When they got a bit older, they’d call my mom for surf reports and hop on their BMX bikes and ride down to Poche, the surf break in front of the house where they left all their equipment, so it made it easy for them to paddle out. It was so much fun, they were having a blast, who wouldn’t have wanted to do that every day?

Hey Dibi… I’ve surfed San Clemente for 30 years, can the town survive the Olympic circus and still keep it’s soul? - SC Local
Hey SC Local? The town has changed so much over the last couple of years, the Olympics will put its trajectory on streoids towards becoming another city on the beach like Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and all the other cool coastal aeras that sold their souls for growth.

Hey Dibi… I own a surf retreat. I wanted it to be about local culture, ocean respect, and good waves. My business partner wanted yoga decks, smoothie bars and influencer discounts. We went his way, and the place is doing good, but it doesn’t feel like a dream come true to me, it feels like a job and I’m not that stoked. Should I try to sell my stake or just adapt to reality? - Disillusioned Dreamer
Hey Disillusioned Dreamer… It would seem with a project that large and costly you would have had time in the initial phase to talk over the build out in its entirety, from construction to marketing and everything in between and now you’re surprised your partner has a different business model in action than you envisioned. I don’t see your partner changing, especially when his plan seems to be working, so I would certainly sit down and have an honest conversation with your partner about your options before it becomes a messy divorce.

Hey Dibi… I was in Bali and saw a surf camp selling “karma cleanse” surf packages, complete with guided meditations, smoothie bowls and a pro photographer. But the locals who actually surf the reef can’t afford to eat there. Is surf spirituality the passport for the wealthy? - Outpriced in Paradise
Hey Outpriced in Paradise… Selling surf seems to have morphed into a ticket to Nirvana, with everyone hanging out their shingle to become your spiritual guru. Seems like a recent version of the 1927 novel Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis that was a critical look at the social and religious attitudes of the 1920s. The book was considered a landmark work in American literature for its penetrating study of hypocrisy and riveting portrayal of the era. It brings the old quote to mind “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.