The Truth About Your Local :

Introducing Schnapper Point, Nelson. The most crowded wave in Nelson and how often surfing here ends in frustration, sometimes joy but most of the times,
,,,,, a mixture of both.
Lets take a sit down and have a talk about exactly why.......

Schnappers - as a good friend once put to me - is like the local pub, the local hang, the local skatepark.
Its the place we go to immediately due to the fact that it... lets face it, is ridiculously convenient.
Its an easy paddle out the back, breaks both left and right and it also receives, well, attracts the most rideable swell in Nelson. The only place that perhaps gets more is the blind channel or "brokeback bar" but lets just leave that stuff up to the sup guys and girls as its realistically not surfable on a conventional surfboard.Aaah yes Schnappers or Snappers, however you want to spell it can be a ridiculously good wave on a really good swell and generally its a pretty user friendly kind of break with easy entry from each side and it is also closest break to town depending on where you live.
It can also be a ridiculously crap wave in weak wind swell.

The point of this spill is the fact that time and time again I hear people complaining about altercation and or interactions in the surf regarding dropping in , snaking, wave hogging, angry grumpy surfers and all of the above. Sure, I have even heard people talk about intimate relationships with the wave but lets face it, in short we go there ,,,,, because it is easy .

I guess the point im trying to make is that if you go there to surf, It most likely will be crowded. It is a shifting peak so there will technically always be someone who has "snaked" you. There may be frustrated heated exchanges even... just like the local bar haha,  but you may also... if you have the right attitude, end up having some good yarns and leave with a smile on your dial rather than venomous spite. I see and hear so many "beaten wife syndrome" stories where people complain about surfing at snappers then return there very next surf. If you dont like it, dont surf there. Take Nathan Torvic for example,,, he lives at Cable Bay and has lived in elson for a good 6 years and has never surfed Snappers.... he just surfs Delaware and Cables,,,, likewise for a couple of Glenduan residents I know who just surf the Glen and those random Rabbit Island locals that only seem to be at Rabbit Island.

Another absolute gem is when I myself and the whole Nelson Boardriders club get blamed for the surf being crowded at Snappers.... an amazing feat if it were true but it leaves me in tears, of laughter.

"But I dont have time to go anywhere else", another classic line.  Its a 5-10 minute drive and sometimes 10minute walk to the nearest and most likely better class waves. Leave home earlier or talk less shit in the carpark,

Anyways, dont be a sook, if you go to Snappers it will be crowded and you will most likely get snaked or burned, unless it gets over 4foot then we start to find out the who and the what is really going on. To the beginner, it really isnt the best place to learn to surf, try Rabbit Island, Delaware Beach or Tahunanui, the secret to learning and improving your surfing is catching heaps and heaps of waves and if you turn up to Snappers and there is 15 cars in the carpark, 23 surfers in the water and 2 set waves every ten minutes then its pretty obvious its going to be hard to get a wave whether your a beginner or an elitist.

Change your Attitude and Broaden your Horizons.

Most of all, Have Fun !!!

BONUS BITCH !! :  

 When people turn up and check snappers from the end of the carpark drive with their hands on their hips or heads for 10 or more minutes and look up and down the boulder bank like they have a special affinity with mother nature............. FFS,,,, just get out there !! Beggars Cant be Chosers !!!