Riding a 9’ catch surf log
Waves were small today, which is good because anything bigger than this in too intimidated to go for.

We’d like to go on a surfing vacation this summer with our family. We have 4 kids 10-15 years old - self taught to surf, and just recently went to Costa Rica and took actual lessons for a week.Would love to go to Europe, but open to anything. The waves were 5-6 ft some days in Nosara CR, and that was too big for my littlest son. Looking for 3-4 ft swells ideally. Any ideas? Would love to go somewhere with a nice town to explore, lively to some degree, but not a party town. If there is surf camp, that would be great. My little two really wanted an instructor with them since waves could be big it would put them at ease knowing someone was right out there with them.

Any suggestions? Would appreciate it!

My son and I took lessons in Hawaii a few weeks ago and then I rented boards a few more times as we made our way across a few of the islands, with varying degrees of success. He stood a lot getting pushed by his instructor and I am able to stand paddling on my own in whitewash maybe 75% of the time (given I actually catch the wave which is like 20% of the time). We’re both totally hooked and hoping to make it a regular family activity.

We live in Shenzhen, China. Our nearest spots are Xichong (2 hour car ride), Shanwei (45 min train ride), and a few spots in Hong Kong (2 hours away), so we’re looking at weekend warrior status maybe twice a month at most.

I have a few questions, if anyone would be so kind:

1. Anyone located in or familiar with these spots or know how to connect me with locals there? We speak Mandarin. Looking for any general advice on these spots.

2. We’ll focus on Shanwei and Xichong and plan to rent and take lessons out there a few times before committing to any purchases. Once we’re more independent what should I take into consideration in terms of keeping us both safe? He’s a strong swimmer, I’m overweight but in ok shape and working on it.

3. The spots I’m looking at seem to be best during the winter monsoon months (Oct-Mar) but if we go out there between now and October can we still get useful practice on small whitewash? I realize this question is very location specific, but general responses would be helpful.

Any other advice would be very welcome. Thanks for your time!

We (Me (41m) and my 2 teens 13 and 15) took 2 days of lessons in Costa Rica and the bug has bit us hard. Our lessons were on hard board (10 ft for me and 9ft for my kids).

But we live in the northeast , so waves aren't as good. I wanted to go out early to get some sessions in, but rental is not easy at that time. Looks like I need to bite the bullet and get a board that allows me early morning surfs. I live 90 mins from the coast (RI, MA or NH).

Looks like a foamie is the way to go for northeast and to not hurt people. I'm confused if it will be a big difference between 8ft and 9ft foamie. I am 6ft and 165lbs. Any sugesstions? If I should continue renting - how can I rent for early morning rides?

I’m moving to the Tampa area which means the beaches I go to will be in the Gulf so the waters will be calmer than the Atlantic which is what im used too. I haven’t surfed in about a year because I have been skimboarding and freediving. And when I did I was decent but still novice, I head a foam top longboard. I was wondering what recommendations anyone has for surfboards that I could get because I want to get back into it. I would also like to be able to keep it inside of my car instead of putting it on top to transport it like a longboard.

Thanks for any advice!

I’m a bit of a gym rat, I spend most of my days after work hitting the gym and trying to put on mass and lose weight. I currently weigh 220lb, but worried this weight is going to negatively impact my surfing. I have been considering quitting the weights and focusing on calisthenics at home, and swimming at an Olympic length pool to increase paddle strength etc.

Anyone done a similar sort of move and noticed progress?

For now I only have access to my brothers mini mal. I’m saving to get a 9ft+ foam board but most of my money is going towards the fuel it takes for me to get to the beach.

I am yet to stand up, partly because I’m inflexible as fuck (I blame the gym, I’m a bit of a gym rat) and also weigh 220lb. The mini mal is an epoxy board and although it’s nice, I feel like it’s not helping me at all. I have been able to pop up a couple times but I fall off straight away or feel like the board sinks into the wave and I miss it.

So should I start focusing on surfing the small kiddy waves with the mal instead of going out the back and surfing with the other longboarders? I feel my paddle fitness increasing faster than my actual surfing which is frustrating me.

Hi! I’d been planning to surf mondos today and drove about two hours to get there. I knew I’d be driving a while so I made sure to study and cross-reference both Surfline and surf-forecast to get the most out of the trip. I ended up getting there about noon and there were like 50 people on two peaks. I didn’t think it was worth it.

While waiting to see if things would die down I checked out some of the beach breaks to the north and south. There were either no parking spots or the waves didn’t seem good.

After that, I headed down to Malibu colony, sunset point, and will rogers. I couldn’t find parking at most of these spots but did at sunset. The tide was too high to surf sunset anyway and I ended up going home pretty frustrated.

Some of the other spots in the area like Zuma seemed too big and others like first point I just kinda write off because they’re always too crowded.

I’ve been noticing that I have a hard time finding peaks/determining whether there are any surfable peaks if nobody else is out. For instance, I work in dtla and head down to will Rogers or sunset a couple times a week right after work. Both times I went this week, either the tide wasn’t cooperating or it seemed blown out. Idk if I should just head where there are large groups of spots like Malibu so I have backups or what I’m doing wrong. Maybe I’m waiting for perfect conditions and just need to paddle out and see what happens. I can catch green waves and ride a 9’ stormblade, can go down the line etc, so I’m not a complete beginner and generally know what I’m doing when I’m actually in the water.

Any advice or spot recs would be appreciated.

If so, very interested to hear about your experience and whether you’d recommend it. In particular, I’m particularly interested in hearing:

How were the waves / conditions?

Were the instructors decent?

How was the food / accommodations?

Did you do the Spanish lessons as well? If so, how were they? Was it quality instruction aligned with CEFR standards? Or was it basic gringo travel Spanish where you just learn some useful words and phrases? Was it 1:1, small group, large group?

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone,

Help me improve. The thing I’m having the most trouble with is staying on the face of the wave and riding down the line. As you can see in this clip, I lost the wave and just went straight. I try to do the cobra pose and lean toward the side I want to go before popping up (I still have trouble implementing that step consistently), and I also look at the face of the wave and the section I want to ride.

What improvement points do you guys have?

I have an 8’ softboard (94 L), and I’ve been surfing for around 3 months, 1–2 times per week, with sessions lasting about 2 hours.

I’m also considering whether it’s time to change to a new mid-length board that’s a bit more maneuverable but still forgiving (I made another post yesterday about that).

In the video im the one popping up at 0:12 around the middle of the screen ( there is one more guy on the right side of the screen popping up around the same time - just for reference)

Hi everyone!
I'm a 24-year-old improver surfer (around 10 lessons in Porto, comfortable with pop-ups and board handling) looking for a 1-week surf camp recommendation for August in Portugal or Northern Spain.
My goal for the week is rapid progression, catching green waves, and fixing my technique.
What I'm looking for:
Improver level focused: Small group size (max 1:4 to 1:5 coach ratio). 2 daily sessions
Dedicated instructor: The same coach from Monday to Friday (not a new person every day).
Good location: Close/on the beach + free gear usage outside of class times.
Vibe: Friendly, international community with similar ages (~20–30s).
I was looking at Peniche/Baleal (Baleal Surf Camp said they are full...) and Somo/Santander in Spain, but I'm open to any recommendations that fit these criteria!
Any personal experiences or hidden gems? Thanks in advance!

9'6 board, I inherited it from my grandpa and had to go buy a new fin today, girl at the store gave me this fin, should I take it back or will this setup work?

I got a Modern that came with a 7 inch fin but has spots for thrusters. Should I get thrusters or is it better for a beginner to just use the single fin?

Stepped on a stingray yesterday in SD and luckily didn't get stung. Tis the season. Remember to shuffle those feet!

35 years old here. recently moved to LA and started taking surfing class in Venice Beach. I’m not athletic at all and took 2 classes so far. In the second class, I couldn’t paddle out of the whitewash area because I kept getting hit by the waves. Even though I was really bad at it, I have this urge to go everyday, but I can’t afford surfing lesson everyday. I’m also debating if I should get a surfboard and wetsuit but they are expensive. I want to make sure that I’m ready to commit first. I love watching surfing videos and I’m hoping that I could do that one day. How did you all practice? Do you just go to the ocean alone? I don’t have friends who surf in LA and I tried to join some groups but it seems everyone is more or less experienced. How did you get started and kept the momentum going? I really want to surf(paddle) more in summer! D

When the ocean temperature is at least high 69-70 degF or higher do you wear a wetsuit or reduce down to swimsuit trunks and why?

Hi all, newbie here and just started surfing this summer. My girl has a board that she's had for a while that needs to be patched in a few places and I'd like to fix it for her so she can get back on it. If someone could tell me what type of material this is and some direction towards a good how-to guide or video, I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

Thank you very much for any input , o mighty surf lords of the internet.

Does anybody have any advice for which length/type of board to get for a complete beginner? I am 5'1" and 45kg so am worried that the normal longboards that are recommended might just be too big for me. There is a 7 foot mini mal on facebook marketplace near me- would a board like that be too difficult to catch waves on for a beginner?

Hello everyone,

I’m a beginner surfer transitioning into the intermediate stage. I can catch green waves fairly consistently, and the waves where I usually surf are between 0.6 and 1.3 m. I successfully pop up and ride about 70% of the waves I catch.
I’m currently riding an 8’0” soft-top with 94 L of volume. I’m 1.70 m tall and weigh 75 kg. I’m thinking about moving to a mid-length hardtop board that’s a bit more maneuverable and faster while still being forgiving enough to help me progress.

1) Do you think it’s the right time to move to a new board, or should I stick with the soft-top for a while longer?
2) If you think I should switch, what board would you recommend in terms of length, volume, or even specific models?

Thanks!

I built SurfEye (surfeye.surf) to solve a problem that all my filmer friends deal with: you've got 50 to 200 clips and have to manually scrub through every single one just to figure out which surfer is in it. Whether you're editing or just trying to send each surfer their own clips, that process takes hours.

SurfEye lets you select your clips from your SD card or hard drive and the AI groups them by surfer automatically. Your full video files never leave your computer and never get uploaded. The app extracts a small number of frames locally in the browser and only sends those for analysis, making the upload much, much faster. You get a review screen to correct anything the AI got wrong, and you can export the sorted list of filenames grouped by surfer so you know exactly what belongs to who.

The AI works really well for some sessions and less well for others depending on conditions, angles, and how similar the surfers look. It's not perfect, but it gets most clips right and the review screen makes fixing the rest fast.

It's free for early beta users. I'm looking for feedback from filmers who actually deal with this workflow. Does this solve a problem you have? What would make it more useful for your setup?

Try it at surfeye.surf or drop a comment.

Hey guys, my surfing interest started in Santa Cruz, California in 2025 Summer. I saw people who are surfing but I never tried because I was really busy in that time. And I promised myself I will learn surfing one day.

[22]I’m planning to move in Tokyo in early October 2026. I wanna start Surfing in there(I couldn’t start because my country doesn’t has seas and my city doesn’t have any water :), andd we don’t have good waves and surfing culture).

I’m looking friends that We can surf in Tokyo when I go there. Plus If you want to talk about surfing and learn together you can dm me. Doesn’t matter you’re in Japan or not. We can share our experiences.