Official Surfing Thread

i'm digging our espn news feeds in media section... honolua bay billabong pro

Nice pictures, those are sweet! You are so lucky a month in Bali.

I agree. Even KM base gets crowded. I'd rather have blown-out conditions with a couple friends than deal with crowds ... but I find that around noon-2:00 misses both the morning and afternoon madness.

Panama boat trips are still OK ... all our old CR spots are overrun with Floridians.

I was watching mavericks today and I think the people surfing would agree.

http://www.surftech.com/boardDetails.php?bid=SURFBDS+:+L1197-0706-YT&type=SURFBDS&skill=intermediate

what do you all think of this board for a guy who's surfed a 8.5 ft foam board the past couple summer seasons.
It's 7'6" funboard. the nice thing is it's made of Surftech Tuflite and my friend is selling it for $400. is that a good deal?

i'm 6 ft, 180 lbs, newbie

Gotcha, thanks Timmay. you're right though, it kinda depends on how much i go

I'm guessing i'll end up going minimum 10 times this yr... hopefully i'll start going once a week so up to 30-40 times a yr.

Maybe I can get the Yater for $350 which i'm thinking will be good deal because it supposedly retails new for about $800 (it's surftech tuflite) but yes it is used...

I'm also looking at a 8'4" Stephen Slater(Kellys Brother)Tak longboard that's Tuflite and $300 (retails $800)

im a newb looking for my 1st board. i was thinking of getting a fun board myself. any suggestions?

man waves are short here in maryland where i go a few times a year...

be really careful with those tuflite longboards.  They are even "tuffer" than the short boards and will crack you good if you're not doing everything just right

If using a leash, make sure you use an actual, long, longboard leash (preferably calf strap).  A shortboard leash on a Tuflite LB will not give you the reaction time to get out of the way of this rock-hard projectile.

They really aren't for beginners (unless it's a softop), but, if you get one, I'd say take it out on the smallest days possible for the first few times, so you can get a head start on dialing it in

i wish they have waves like that in NYC beach

I just want the water on the East Coast to get warmer

best place to learn to surf?

Originally posted by k-brew best place to learn to surf?

any EC riders here? and has anyone heard of challenger surfboards? im looking at a longer board for when its small

ha, my first board was a challenger.  Vintage single fin 7'0" pintail with open dings in the nose and tail.  Paid way more than I shoulda for that thing at a pawn shop...but I just had to have it. 

Use to pull it behind the boat on flat days, before wakeboards were so popular, and catch some pretty huge wake airs...no bindings, just a good headwind to really float one

Originally posted by mammoth34 I am looking to pick up surfing over the summer. I live in Socal and was wondering if anyone had any reccomendations for beginner surf camps/ instructors. Also what are some good soft top board brands? thanlks

you should get a used longboard anywhere fro 8 ft to 9 thats definitely the best kind off board to get and then once you get good get more longboards short boards suck. My first board was a locally shaped 6 footer and I live in Florida worst decision of my surfing life. I started using my buddies 9 ft. longboard sooo much better so i sold my board and got a locally shaped by one world surfboards 9'2 best board ever.

Honestly, if I saw those dolphins coming, I would be a little worried.

Originally posted by Vinno lol worried? i'd be sh*tin bricks!  how would you get under that with out copping a dolphin in the back?

Dolphins are pretty smart, and they know what they are doing. They won't hit you (unless one isn't paying attention, but that would be rare). When I lived in Hawaii, my favorite beach always had at least one group of dolphins playing around nearby. I'd sometimes go out just to swim with them. Pretty strong rip at that beach though. I've been nervous a couple of times...
The only time I really was freaked when when I was down surfing in Costa Rica. All of a sudden the ocean just came alive under me while I was sitting on my board. Fish just started flying out of the water and spazzing out around me, it was the strangest thing.

Originally posted by Piranha ha, my first board was a challenger.  Vintage single fin 7'0" pintail with open dings in the nose and tail.  Paid way more than I shoulda for that thing at a pawn shop...but I just had to have it.  Use to pull it behind the boat on flat days, before wakeboards were so popular, and catch some pretty huge wake airs...no bindings, just a good headwind to really float one

are they any good,  its like a seven foot one and it comes with everything for 300 used, i just want something longer for when the surf is smaller

I took one lesson in Hawaii and pretty much taught myself but I had been playing in the ocean a long time. The hard part about surfing is learning to read waves well. It is nice to have someone who knows how to do that to help you. 

Originally posted by joness Originally posted by Vinno lol worried? i'd be sh*tin bricks!  how would you get under that with out copping a dolphin in the back? Dolphins are pretty smart, and they know what they are doing. They won't hit you (unless one isn't paying attention, but that would be rare). When I lived in Hawaii, my favorite beach always had at least one group of dolphins playing around nearby. I'd sometimes go out just to swim with them. Pretty strong rip at that beach though. I've been nervous a couple of times... The only time I really was freaked when when I was down surfing in Costa Rica. All of a sudden the ocean just came alive under me while I was sitting on my board. Fish just started flying out of the water and spazzing out around me, it was the strangest thing.

biggest dolphins I've ever seen (and I've surfed with/seen a lot of different kinds) where in morro bay in central CA.  Some species there are giant, approx 3X the size of the average adult dolphin.  Out of nowhere, they started randomly jumping out of the water and landing extremely close to me, several times almost landed on me...would have f*d me up for sure.

Originally posted by dilldawg Originally posted by Piranha ha, my first board was a challenger.  Vintage single fin 7'0" pintail with open dings in the nose and tail.  Paid way more than I shoulda for that thing at a pawn shop...but I just had to have it.  Use to pull it behind the boat on flat days, before wakeboards were so popular, and catch some pretty huge wake airs...no bindings, just a good headwind to really float one are they any good,  its like a seven foot one and it comes with everything for 300 used, i just want something longer for when the surf is smaller

that's a really old brand, so you never know how many times the name has changed hands or who's making them now (china?)...it's probably fine

Originally posted by determined How long did it take to learn how to surf? You guys learn on your own or took lessons?

took me about 10 years, riding about 30 days a year here in CA to get "good"...by that I mean quickly reading a wave by instinct, strong paddling, "pumping" flow for speed in small waves, hunting blastable sections, immaculate deep bottom turns to off the lip, round house cutbacks, instinctive barrel riding, equal in all respects at front and backside waves (except my backside barrel riding needs work because bails are relatively wierd).  I also kinda suck at handling the stress of surfing in a tight crowd...whole 'nother aspect not present in snowboarding

self taught, but I'm guessing "you either have it, or you don't" comes into play here...same with good snowboarding

yeah, rays are super cool.  In the gulf of mexico, found myself surfing in a school of baby manta rays .  About 20 of them were playing all around me and sporadically jumping through the air...infinitely more entertaining than the pathetically weak "waves" I was trying to surf 

Mark Ochilupo reckons he was out surfing once (don't remember where) and an Orca basically jumped over him! Now that would be scary!!

I saw plenty of sharks when I surfed on the east coast.  With the schools southern florida spinner sharks clearly in the waves, I kept surfing because the locals said it was o.k.  

In south carolina, we were kinda solo and the water was murky, so when a 5 ft hammerhead practically brushed up against us, we freaked out and bailed.

Water is usually really clear in the gulf of mexico and you frequently ride over smaller sand sharks, no problem.  Thing is, my step brother caught an 8-10 foot hammerhead right off alabama point jetty

Here in CA, water is dark and you really have no idea what's around you.  There are probably more seals than anything (shark food) and otters, but there's almost as many dolphins and they're pretty protective of their babies