Surfers Brawl in Huntington Beach Over Two-Foot Wave (Video)

The incident, captured on TikTok, is from the northside of the pier in Huntington Beach, CA. It shows one surfer take off on a wave – a right, headed towards the pier – before blatantly being dropped in on by another surfer. The snaking surfer clearly did it on purpose.

Next, the surfer being snaked, who appears much younger than the one doing the snaking, tackles the offender, effectively ending the wave for both.

And after that, it comes to blows. Just a few. But fists are thrown.

Questioning the incident, the TikTok poster writes: “Who broke etiquette here?”

The most obvious answer is the surfer doing the snaking. In pretty much every circumstance, dropping in on another surfer – snaking, shoulder hopping, etc. – is breach of surfing etiquette. However, there’s no context here. The surfer being snaked could’ve paddled around the other surfer, forcing a deliberate display of force. But who knows.

Once again, the wave was two-foot. There was no danger, only egos.

Recently, regarding surf etiquette on the whole, pro surfers Nathan Florence and Koa Rothman mused upon the “decline of surf etiquette in 2025.” Nate talked about a surf session in which a group of “some of the biggest kooks I’ve ever seen” broke another golden rule: paddling in the way of a surfer up and riding. “If you’re paddling back out, you don’t have the right of way,” Nate explained. “You get out of the guy’s way.”

As for the incident in HB, whose team are you on?