Surf camps seem to be popping up every few miles along coastal towns all over the United States at an alarming rate.

Just a few years ago, there were only two, maybe three full service, five day a week surf camps along the New Jersey coast. Now, there are at least two for each beach town. The outcome is arguably positive and negative, depending on whom you're speaking with.

These camps offer a very in depth and hands on insight into the proper ettiquite and respect towards your fellow watermen. They teach proper paddling, safety techniques, how to handle being swept out in a rip current (which claims a few lives each summer nationally), which surfer had priority on a specific wave and how to identify safety zones to paddle out and how to protect yourself at all times.

This is all very positive, very neccessary knowledge one needs to have to safely access the ocean and enjoy surfing.

I was head advanced surfing instructor for the past four summers at a very large local surf camp. Each summer, I watched our weekly classes balloon from five kids a day during the first year to over forty kids a day last year. As our classes grew, so did the animosity from the local surfing crowd.

Although the particular beach our camp is at happens to be the most user friendly, frequently accessed (due to no charge for a beach tag) and already crowded surfing lineups around, locals were still growing hostile towards us. I have yet to determine which side of the fence I'm on.

On one hand, some locals have the obvious gripe— crowds. Although the crowd may be growing, we do not advise any of our students to surf without an instructor until we pass them through our camp test and deem them at a high enough skill level to venture out alone.

Watching the students we pass versus the person that just goes and purchases a board and goes at it without even one lesson both pains and bothers me.

Camp students from most camps posess at least a marginal understanding of how to handle themselves. Untaught surfers are just plain dangerous and scary.

I feel more aggitated towards those few than the graduates of a surfing program. As you can see, I try to view every  surfers complaint from all angles. If I had to choose, I would choose that each surfer had to complete a surf camp program before venturing off on thier own. The line ups are going to be growing either way with the rate at which surfing is growing as an industry and a sport.

Now, on the other hand. I see many of the older locals being the more angry, volatile surfers because of these camps. One of the reasons that is always brought up— "they're just mad they didn't start it first."

Although this seems like a cop out, I believe it to be painstakingly true. With these camps charging roughly $400 dollars a student per week with an average of 40 students per week for nine to ten straight weeks, thats $16,000 a week or $160,00 for the summer.

If alot of the local surfers had thought of building a surf camp instead of houses, they cannot say they wouldn't have. So, I can see the jealousy that may arise from the fact they work year around to feed their surfing needs and these surf camp instructors/owners work for nine to ten weeks and get to surf the rest of the year.

I for one think that surf camps are both good and bad.

They are bad in the fact that they are filtering many, many more people into our line ups than normal. They are good in the fact that they actually teach skills and guidelines that you can't learn unless they are explained and taught to you.

With the growing numbers in the water, you would be hard pressed to find an everday surfer that wants to actually take the time to teach a clueless beginner rather than tell them to go down the beach or get out.

Every argument is valid, but surf camps will not be going anywhere anytime soon. They provide jobs, knowledge and a great place to learn how love the ocean and the beaches. Granted, some camps employ less than experienced instructors, you just need to do your research wisely when chosing which camp you or your children are going to be attending.