Extreme Sports

When you go surfing, no matter how expert you are there are fundamental things you have to think of all the time. Below are five things that you must know when you go surf wave:

Always be cordial to the local surfers- Many of us are passionate about the hobby and would like to spread this knowledge. This goes for any hobby but most especially for those with tight knit communities. Many surfers are more than willing to teach you the ins-and-outs of surfing, the tides of your local beach, how to paddle out without being pounded to a sandbar and the courtesy involved with the sport. If you are a starter, ask for help.

Buy the right board for your area – if your area has extremely small surf wave, don’t buy short boards. Short boards have the tendency to plow through the water which makes it hard for you to catch small waves. Small boards often feature a stomp pad on the back which is used in extremely tight maneuvers such as cutbacks. When you are unsure about the board you must get, ask the surf-shop employees of your local shop.

Make use of wax that’s suitable to your conditions- This is significant. One of the most frustrating things is to be out in the water and start slipping off the board because you used the wrong wax. Typically, there are two types of wax. Cold water wax can be softer and stickier than wax for the warm water. If your water is cold enough that this type of wax will not melt in the sun, use it. Warm weather can pose a problem to the cold water wax because of its low melting point and it will run off the board which makes your fiberglass board slippery making you fall off the board every time you try to stand on it.  Read more...

When you go surfing, no matter how expert you are there are fundamental things you have to think of all the time. Below are five things that you must know when you go surf wave:

Always be cordial to the local surfers- Many of us are passionate about the hobby and would like to spread this knowledge. This goes for any hobby but most especially for those with tight knit communities. Many surfers are more than willing to teach you the ins-and-outs of surfing, the tides of your local beach, how to paddle out without being pounded to a sandbar and the courtesy involved with the sport. If you are a starter, ask for help.

Buy the right board for your area – if your area has extremely small surf wave, don’t buy short boards. Short boards have the tendency to plow through the water which makes it hard for you to catch small waves. Small boards often feature a stomp pad on the back which is used in extremely tight maneuvers such as cutbacks. When you are unsure about the board you must get, ask the surf-shop employees of your local shop.

Make use of wax that’s suitable to your conditions- This is significant. One of the most frustrating things is to be out in the water and start slipping off the board because you used the wrong wax. Typically, there are two types of wax. Cold water wax can be softer and stickier than wax for the warm water. If your water is cold enough that this type of wax will not melt in the sun, use it. Warm weather can pose a problem to the cold water wax because of its low melting point and it will run off the board which makes your fiberglass board slippery making you fall off the board every time you try to stand on it.  Read more...

Have you always wished to experience yourself what would it be to ride the big waves, and not just sit down there in your couch watching ESPN? You know, it’s better to be a beginner than to be a man with no guts. Your lifetime is fast and short and if you spend all your wee hours telling yourself and thinking about “what if’s” and not about “wow! I’ll do it one more time!”-then you are no better than a Buddhist monk in fasting. The monk is actually better since at the least he’s reason was for his self-enlightenment and that it’s his choice, while you, you are turning back on the chance because you are scared. For a beginner like you, you can begin looking up for surf boards and the best surf schools close to your place.

Think of this, while you lie there one Saturday morning complaining all about the news update in West Africa that’s away from your means anyhow, the big waves gushing on your seaside are huge and enormous. It is said that surfing is 4,000 years old, but has been in fact first recognized by conquistadores in the Hawaiian Islands in 1779. The explorers saw the residents in their wooden boards riding onto the crest of the great waves, hooting and enjoying themselves as the surf board carries them to the shoreline. According to widespread account, when you get your first ride, you get bitten by the surfing bug, and it becomes hard to stop.

Today, surfing is considered as one of the most widely held recreational sports in the earth. It’s also branded as a “lifestyle sport”, as it provides plenty of entertainment for those who have plenty of time to use up and enough dough to go to renowned surfing destination such as Western Europe or the Pacific. Countries such as Spain, Portugal and France for instance are among one of the most popular surfing sites any surf buffs would say that offers excellent waves and pleasant sunshine all year round.  Read more...

The Bahama Island chain blocks most of the big offshore swells that hit Florida’s southern coast making the best surfing beaches beginning in Vero Beach and moving north from there. Sebastian Inlet is the most popular surfing hotspot in the state, hosting many surfing tournaments every year. The Sebastian Inlet Pro, Volcom-Seacow Surf Contest, Quicksilver Skins and many other smaller contest.

Sebastian Inlet is a unique surfing spot at Florida Beaches with two popular locations where surf riders catch waves. The North Jetty is the most popular, surfers have a short paddle to the best waves on the east coast. Monster Hole, south of the inlet and about 3/4 mile off the beach is the place where head high swells take longboarders for a long ride, but it’s a pretty good paddle out to the breaking waves so usually only locals attempt the paddle. Most of the locals come in from the south and paddle for about 1/4 mile out to the break, sometimes they just jump off the south jetty depending on the swell direction. Others use a boat to take surfers out to the break, tow in surfing from Personal Watercraft are also found riding the monster waves.

Cocoa Beach is called the “Small Wave World Capital” and features some of the best summertime surfing in Florida with an eastern facing beaches near Orlando. One of the more popular surfing spots is the Cocoa Beach Pier, a man-made surf break builder, the pier is also a popular party spot and has hosted the Beach Boys in concert.

Cocoa Beach is also home to many Tournaments such as the PBR Pro Surf Contest, NCFL Maui Mix, the ESA Surf Contest, NKF Surfing Tourney, King of Peak, Kelly Slater and Brothers Invitational, the Easter Bash plus many other smaller annual surf contest.  Read more...

The Hawaiians are credited with being the fathers of surfing, and are known to have practiced the sport as early as the 15th century AD. The Hawaiian name for surfing “He’enalu” – can be translated as wave sliding. During its early history, surfing was taken as a sacred practice and only those with a high social status could take part; in other words – Hawaiian kings and queens were surfers. Ironically, today, surfing is seen by the general population as a sport for those who have dropped out of society, the very opposite to how it began.

As a people living on a cluster of small islands in a very big sea, the Hawaiians were not surprisingly fascinated by the ocean, and attached great meaning to its moods and forms. In a similar way to which the Inuit are said to have many names for snow, the Hawaiians also have hundreds of words to describe the various forms of the ever changing sea.

Just as modern day surf bums insist on surfing as a lifestyle rather than just a sport and thus devote great portions of time and money to the pursuit of the waves, Hawaiians also found unfathomable bounds with the practise, as the writings of Kepelino Keauokalani, a 19th Century Hawaiian Scholar, shows in his observations of the local Hawaiian surfers:

“All thought of work is at the end, only that of sport is left. The wife may go hungry, the children, the whole family, but the head of the house does not care. He is all for sport, that is his food. All day there is nothing but surfing. Many go out surfing as early as four in the morning: men, women, children.”

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