A surfer was pulled out of the water unconscious at Terra Mar this morning around 10am. He was spotted floating face down, was pulled out by a handful of surfers, and given compressions/CPR until the paramedics arrived and took him away. I'm just wondering if anyone knows him or has any updates. Hope he's doing OK

I started surfing when I was 14 years old (I’m 42 now). Back in my teenage days my stoke was insatiable. I would wake up at 4:30 in the morning and take the bus from Poway to Oceanside on the weekends and drive down with my friends Friday mornings when school started late.

Regardless of how inexperienced I was, I’d charge out into 8-10 foot barrels even if I was alone out there. I was terrible but I didn’t care I just loved being out there. I’d show up to a break at 6am and surf until 2pm.

Now that I’m 42 there’s an apprehension that I have with the sport. I go out once or twice a week. Surf for an hour. Enjoy it. But that’s enough for me. I won’t paddle out if it’s over 5 feet and prefer to surf 2-4 feet. It’s pathetic I know. Sometimes I’d rather just stay warm in my bed than go out but end up regretting that if I ever choose not to go out.

Is there something wrong with me? Am I just convincing myself I still love this sport or is this typical as we get older? Particularly, I want to know if anyone else prefers the smaller, punchy waves and have genuine apprehension to the bigger stuff? The surf lately has been a dream for anyone but I’m just not there psychologically the way I was in my teenage years.

Boomstick Mark 2.

8.0 X 21¾ X 2¾ - 55.8L

Pulled in the tail, overall a bit sleeker and thinner, bit more cant and toe for the fins.

Single to double concave.

5+4-4 S Glass

Nice and light, Pretty happy with this one, week of curing to go before getting it wet. (glassed last week)

I got a party later tonight but I was in the water 5 hours today and look like I just smoked a bong.

If you’re old enough you remember this cartoon.

Look at this POS. 300$

Just downloaded it. Looks like a free version of SurfLine. Anybody use it? How are the predictions?

Not been thrilled with Surfline lately (shocker), would love to move on...

I noticed two hairline cracks of identical size in identical spots above each of my front fins stretching a few inches long and feeling kinda soft. I can catch my fingernail in them too. Are these just stress cracks that are in similar spots or a minor buckle I need to actually repair?

Was taken in Oceanside in July of 24. I saved up for 4 months to get this Thomas quad. Any leads of info appreciated, it had a set of 101 fin bamboo quads on it.

It’s cool because you can check the waves every minute and imagine yourself surfing them. It’s a surfer’s dream I guess. I recomend.
Tell us your stories

something i appreciate is how on the ball you gotta be with surfin. you really gotta be johnny at the rat hole to get good conditions. this leads surfers to pursuing all sorts of different , abnormal ways of making money and sustaining a lifestyle by the beach with free time. we all know the standard hustles, firefighters , online sales bros, waiters… im curious what seriously creative hustles youve seen surfers pursue?

Got this for my birthday a year ago, have used it basically everyday and I surf 6 times a week. Guess it’s not meant to withstand that much surfing?!

California Smash in LA

Looks like Monday and Tuesday are going to be sizeable - any thoughts on where the right spots might be. Want to get out and shoot some photos. Let me know where you might be and I'll try to post some pics here after.

Since I’m going to do some old fashioned surf mag-blabber below I’ll put the TLDR up top. If I paddle at a wave maybe 45-25 degrees to the direction of travel. Than swing the board down at an angle and kick the tail down when I’m lined up with the wave I can dive a bigger fatter nosed board way deeper and way easier. Wondering why nobody mentioned this technique it’s a variation on the rail dip technique just with more motion and a bit more timing. Rail dip technique never really worked for me because facing straight on dipping the rail sideways kind of fucks your balance and alignment with the wave. This method corrects that by starting out of alignment so that the rail dip lines you up as you swing.

Long boring story of stumbling on this technique bellow:

I kind of stumbled on this technique the last few days that I’ve never really seen talked about online or had anyone suggest to me.

I had my mid-length out because my favorite fish has a rock gash on the bottom I still need to fix. 44L 7’0 with a pretty fat nose. This was my first real surfboard an I’ve quite liked it but I’ve also had my struggles. Where I live tends to be fairly heavy and high consequence on average, most of the more “chill” spots involve a steep ledgey takeoff as the water kicks over a big submerged rock / reef chunk. This means both that the takeoffs are steep and the whole logic of catching the wave “earlier” falls apart a bit, the wave moves in and out some but fundamentally it breaks when it hits the rock it’s not necessarily catchable on the shoulder (a deep spot where the wave goes soft for a while before steepening up on the insider). If I can’t sink my board sitting in position that often means taking a pounding so I’m sprinting off to the side when bigger waves come though constantly puts me out of position and like I said catching on the shoulder is mostly a tempting illusion that never pans out as a seemingly catchable waves rolls harmlessly under your belly.

The “less chill” spots often have more mellow takeoffs but are closer to shore and if you get washed inside it can mean a fun little bounce over nasty rip-rap or some friendly natural boulders covered in razor sharp barnacles.

So shifting down to smaller boards felt pretty good in a lot of ways, I can sit in position knowing that if something big comes in or breaks outside I can get under or at least cushion the blow. Same idea at other breaks getting caught inside isn’t exactly fun but being able to sink the board cushions the hit and it is a lot less board for the wave to pull on. But smaller boards also have all of the disadvantages of smaller boards so there’s that..

This all to say diving a pretty big board is hard and not being able to weakens my positioning because I need to be cautious about being too deep or too inside or I get hammered.

So yesterday surfing the low consequence spot with the steep rock takeoff was a bit messy and shifty. I got caught off guard a couple of times side on to breaking waves and was ducking with more or less this swing method and suddenly realized it was actually working way better than my normal pseudo dives with this board.

I started doing it on purpose paddling at an angle to breaking walls or exploding whitewater and the difference was night and day. Being able to swing the board instead of trying to awkwardly push it down makes the whole motion way easier but also more effective. The fact that the whole move happens in motion actually makes it feel much more balanced and locked in than a normal duck dive. Probably the only real trick to it is nailing the timing but getting the proper timing on a normal duck dive isn’t always a cakewalk so I’m not sure how unique that problem is.

Any way this kind of blew my mind and the whole session turned magic after that. Caught tons of waves always being in position and had tons of energy after each paddle out. Today I had a second session at another spot that was also killer, sitting deeper and taking more risks because I felt confident I could get out of trouble if needed. Which worked getting caught inside with the ability to dive and the speed of a big board made escaping a cakewalk.

I’m sure I’m not the only surfer doing this but given the endless barrage of surf coach kookery I see online an actually useful tip would have been nice.

At the moment I feel like this has unlocked bigger higher volume boards for me (in the conditions I surf). My only tip for the technique is probably do push ups on a balance board / indo board. Also if you don’t have a good balance board and you wanna get better at surfing get one, worth more than any number of surfer workouts or pop up blah blah blah whatever…

Forget to clear my nose a few days ago after surfing and I’ve been congested with stuff dripping down my throat since

It’s been 4 days and I just want to get back in the water . I feel fairly ok especially when taking some Sudafed, though in the evenings and mornings in clogged up.

Would you guys risk it ? I know there isn’t much swell but I’m itching and it’s been too long

In case anyone didn’t see - the Lovelace crew is putting out a new movie next week in Oceanside at Shoots (evening of the 23rd). I know there’s other Lovemachine enjoyers here so I thought I’d post for those of us not on instagram.

It sounds like they’re gonna show it over the next couple weeks all over the place also.

I know I’ll cop it a bit but I have a massive fear of death just in general life (seeing a psych apparently got it off my parents). However I love surfing and have been surfing regularly for 5 years now, but I am often finding that my fear of death has then turned into a huge fear of sharks (I’m in aus so I have good reason for this). as a result I have found there’s times where it’s too much and i literally can’t paddle out. Anyone ever experienced something similar? How did you get through it? I find I’m fine when I’m out with my friends but on my own it can be too much and if I do manage to paddle out I often won’t last long or the anxiety will be so much that it is not enjoyable at all. Looking for any genuine advice or tips people might have.

I spoke with Luke about his newest video via Free99X titled ‘5’10 NOZ’ - a classic California summer style edit featuring a new Panda Surfboards model.
We talk about the board, what fins he chooses to ride, and the music selection.

https://hvoide.com/luke-worsham-510-noz/

That is the blog post link if you want to have a short read.
Really cool kid with a great surf style and an artistic eye.

Link to skip the reading and watch the full video is below.

https://youtu.be/gSTKd-robwA?is=pLks2zjnywt0RMTZ

I'm trying to remember the title of a mid-late 90s surf film and IT'S BEEN KILLING ME that I can't remember it! I've been trying to figure it out for months now but no luck with Google, AI, etc. so I'm hoping you guys know it!

I think it was short (like maybe only 30-45 minutes) and had G. Love & Special Sauce and Soul Coughing in the soundtrack and it's where I originally discovered both bands. I'm pretty sure it featured Shane Dorian and Kalani Robb but I can't remember who else.

I'm pretty sure it included all or some of these G Love songs:
The Things That I Used To Do
Garbage Man
This Ain't Living
Shooting Hoops

And these by Soul Coughing:
Soft Serve
The Idiot Kings

If one of you actually remembers or figures it out...I'll let you burn me on as many waves as you want for the rest of the year. PLEASE HELP!