"You should've been here yesterday" is one of the most unpleasant things a surfer can hear from another. It's annoying and almost offensive.
Surfers can be particularly mean to each other.
What is the point of making clear to someone in front of you that they've just barely missed an amazing event or experience?
What do we gain from telling another surfer we just lived an unforgettable moment that the other person missed?
To frame our point of view, the starting point for this reflection is the realization that surfers are the worst.
If you disagree or you're not able to cope with different ideas and opinions, then it's probably not worth continuing to read this.
The Lineup as a Catwalk
So, here's the harsh truth: surfing is a show-off sport.
Yes, we get pleasure from the rides and the contact with the ocean, but a relevant part of the process is also attracting attention and admiration.
A lineup is a vanity fair with a liquid catwalk on which surfers display and unveil their egos, frustrations, territorialist genes, and sometimes rage.
Sharing is not a concept you see much at a popular surf break. Surfers don't share waves - that's actually almost a sign of weakness.
What was the last time you've been in or seen a party wave?
Luckily, on a good day, surfers take responsible turns and everyone gets their fair share of waves. And that's almost a reason to open a champagne bottle and celebrate.
Telling a fellow surfer, "You should've been here yesterday," is in line with the sport's unpleasant reality.
But what does this throwaway, cliché surfer catchphrase tell us about surfers?
The Chosen One
Greed is an insatiable desire and affects all humans.
But "You should've been here yesterday" is immensely boastful and condescending.
It's boastful in its self-congratulation and bragging ("I was there when it mattered"), but also subtly condescending in its attempt to feel sorry for the person who did not surf the most perfect waves on that particular day.
The goal is always vainglorious, yet profoundly embarrassing.
It sounds like those who say it were the chosen ones to enjoy an epic, historic, never-before-seen, once-in-a-lifetime swell.
So, what can we do if we hear a loose "You should've been here yesterday"?
Well, sometimes, and always depending on the context, it feels like it deserves a more vigorous and raw reply like, "Yeah, so what? Do you think I've never had an unforgettable day here?"
The Value of the Sublime
Wave riders spend their whole surfing life chasing ephemeral perfection.
The variables are too complex, yet they involve the storms aligning, tides matching the epic swells, sandbars shifting just right, ideal offshore winds grooming the lineup, etc.
So, the saying highlights surfing's patient, successful, waiting-for-transcendence syndrome. And then takes it to the stratosphere.
In other words, it's that unique moment in time, nearly similar to Christ's resurrection, when all of Nature's elements align with one surfer's weekly agenda.
"I am not only the chosen one, but also get the right to experience a revelation."
It's almost mystical: "Yesterday the ocean revealed itself; today it is silent again. And you were not here when you should have been. Sorry..."
This gives surfing its religious aura as if you've underlined very clearly that one can't schedule the sacred, and only a few can hope to witness it.
Only a few are the prophets of surfing. And there's even a patron saint for surfers...
Subtle Hierarchy
The line also carries a psychological undertone of exclusivity.
It says: "I experienced something extraordinary, and you didn't."
It sets up a subtle hierarchy - those who were present at "yesterday" belong to an inner circle of the initiated, while those who weren't are left outside.
In psychology, this relates to the modern concept of fear of missing out (FOMO) and our deep social drive to be part of rare, unrepeatable experiences.
There's no denying surfers are myth-makers, and "You should've been here yesterday" enshrines the storyteller as someone who was picked by fortune or a higher entity.
The Philosophy of Impermanence
Lastly, surfing is built on fleeting moments.
A wave is born, accumulates energy across the open ocean, and breaks close to the shore, never to exist in the same way again.
The annoying, self-praise catchphrase implies a core truth of impermanence, very much in line with Buddhist thoughts and Heraclitus' "You can't step into the same river twice."
Surf culture embraces this sort of transience but also laments it, like the best waves are always already gone, preserved only in memory or story.
It's like scarcity makes it golden, and history never repeats itself.
"Have you surfed the swell of 2025, aka the swell of the century? No? You should've been there..."
The tension between presence (living the moment when the waves are here) and nostalgia (mourning their passing once they're gone) sugars the pill of the overwhelmingly special moment one just lost.
As if it made the sayer a superior human being.
Surfers are intricate creatures, to say the least. Avoid them, if you can.
Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com
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