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ONCE BITTEN
Poisonous sea snakes hoax invades new OC surf spot
by Marcus Sanders
Last week, Orange County surfers spotted this CNN.com page to care about:
(Reuters) Residents of the beachside community of Huntington Beach, California see firsthand the danger that exists by the recent discovery of Nigerian Red Banded Saltwater Marsh snakes found in nearby Bolsa Chica.
See, the city of Huntington Beach is opening Bolsa Chica wetlands up to the ocean. Surfers, of course, are mostly concerned with whether or not this will create a zippy, hollow wave in a zone that's currently home to mostly mushy rollers. No one really knows what'll happen -- most likely, the ocean'll do what it damn well pleases -- but speculation has been running rampant among locals and on various online surf bulletin boards.
Some people ask: will it be the best spot in Orange County? Will it be a crappy, polluted closeout? And others just want the rest of everyone to shut the hell up about it and hope no one notices if it turns out really good. (Like that's possible with half the entire surfing population of Orange County driving by it every day.)
Ron Woolhether, Huntington Beach-based surf photographer had an idea. He started writing a fake story about -- get this -- Nigerian Red Banded Saltwater Marsh snakes invading Bolsa Chica. That'll keep people out of the water, yeah? Kinda like how folks claim a sewage spill right before a big swell, but a little more creative. (Actually, this is probably the second funniest act of localism surf history, right behind the great fake shark scare at Seaside Reef a couple years back.)
"I was going to give a one-liner," Ron said. "But then I just kept typing -- I didn't think anyone would buy it." Ron posted the story on a surfermag forum, and mostly people called BS. But another surf photographer, Tony Barbatto from the South Bay, had another idea.
"I was browsing through CNN when I first saw the thread," Tony says. " And I figured pasting it into a CNN-looking page would add some legitimacy to Ron's story. I wanted to see who'd believe it." Tony spent a few minutes doing a little creative cutting and pasting, and bam, ferocious sea snakes invade Huntington Beach. CNN said it was so. Nevermind the url points to Tony's website and the ads are for Tony and Ron's respective photo websites. "Guerilla marketing", says Tony.
And oddly enough, some folks believed it. Odder still, some folks probably didn't believe it but wanted to corroborate, hoping it'd maybe keep the crowds down. "I had guys ask me if they could post warning flyers on cars when it first opens," Ron laughs. "And other people say, 'yeah, my dog was hit by one of the buggers.' But I've got no illusions it will keep anyone away. Maybe the name'll stick, though -- Snake Pits. That'd be cool."
So is this a cottage industry in the making? Posting fake news stories to keep people out of the water? Tony doubts it. "I haven't heard anything from CNN yet," Tony says. "But I doubt they'd have the same sense of humor as us. I should probably take it down pretty soon."
RELATED LINKS:
Ron's website: www.awefoto.com/
Tony's website: http://localsurf.net
OC Register story about how the new opening might affect the surf (Including our own Sean Collins' thoughts on the matter.)
Surfermag forum threads are here and here.
www.cnn.com
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