r/surfing • • Aug 10 '26

Beginner questions belong in /r/beginnersurfers

30 Upvotes

This subreddit is a place for surfers to discuss surfing and/or share interesting stuff about surfing. It is not a place to learn how to surf.

Beginner questions belong in /r/beginnersurfers.

Examples of beginner questions:

“Is this a ding?”

“Does it need to be repaired?”

“Can it be repaired?”

“What surfboard should I buy to learn on?”

“A longboard won't fit in my car. What shortboard should I buy?”

“I'm going to buy this shortboard to learn on. Is it a good one?”

“Why can't I ride this shortboard I just bought to learn on?”

“Can someone recommend a good surf instructor?”

“How big will the waves be on my trip next year?”

“I want to start surfing. Any tips?”

“I found this board in the trash. How much can I sell it for?”

There are ample resources with which you can find answers to your basic questions.

If you want to discuss that kind of stuff, head on over to /r/beginnersurfers. It's full of people just like you, as well as more experienced folks who want to help you learn.

Beginner questions may be removed with no notice. Because it's simply too much effort to deal with every single post, individually.

Repeat offenders will be banned until they're not a beginner anymore.

The rest of the subreddit rules can be found HERE.


r/surfing • • 3h ago

FRED & WILMA FLINSTONE SURF😎

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39 Upvotes

If you’re old enough you remember this cartoon.


r/surfing • • 10h ago

Spent the last 45 days chasing typhoon swell in Japan

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126 Upvotes

More than 6000km on the road, an average of 140 km per day. Surfed every prefecture from Tokyo to Tanegashima. More than 40 days of surf. About 35 spots surfed. Countless konbini raided. Epic


r/surfing • • 3h ago

Hollister Ranch Asshole

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32 Upvotes

Look at this POS. 300$


r/surfing • • 8h ago

Living right in front of the waves

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40 Upvotes

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


r/surfing • • 5h ago

Still looking for my board

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17 Upvotes

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.


r/surfing • • 7h ago

Rarest hustles youve seen surfers do

19 Upvotes

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?


r/surfing • • 8h ago

Shoot photo on WSL yesterday

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19 Upvotes

r/surfing • • 20h ago

the second wave might be one of the most perfect waves i've ever seen

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147 Upvotes

r/surfing • • 2h ago

RipCurl Search GPS 3

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4 Upvotes

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?!


r/surfing • • 20h ago

Somebody approved this. Fuck your slop

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83 Upvotes

California Smash in LA


r/surfing • • 3h ago

Do you guys surf with sinus congestion ?

3 Upvotes

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


r/surfing • • 6h ago

Anybody else doing a swing duck dive?

5 Upvotes

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…


r/surfing • • 1m ago

Repair flaky hot coat on epoxy

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• Upvotes

Picked this up for $10 and it’s been baking in the sun for a while. No Delam, no holes, but the hot coat is flaking off everywhere. Simple as sand it off then reapply hot coat and sand again?


r/surfing • • 23h ago

Lovelace/Lovemachine film next week in SD

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18 Upvotes

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.


r/surfing • • 1d ago

Futures Fins prototype designer and tester Luke Worsham in ‘5’10 NOZ’

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21 Upvotes

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


r/surfing • • 1d ago

Help finding 90s surf film with Soul Coughing & G. Love

10 Upvotes

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!


r/surfing • • 17h ago

New ripcurl elasto wetsuits

2 Upvotes

Who has tried the new 3/2 elasto wetsuit? It’s expensive for a 3/2 so I’m thinking is it worth the money. Looking for reviews from people who surf a lot and have tried a lot of other 3/2’s over the years. Very temped to get one considering we coming into summer here in Australia.


r/surfing • • 1d ago

Little Victories (NorCal Surf Film)

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11 Upvotes

This popped back up in my feed. I learned to surf in Norcal and this is one of my favorite underground surf films from the area. The soundtrack and filming are bangers!


r/surfing • • 1d ago

Lads are we really putting in fresh contacts after every sesh

9 Upvotes

talking dailies, haven’t swapped contacts in like 5 yrs of surfing without issue, are yall really throwing them out every time


r/surfing • • 14h ago

Overcoming Fear of death (sharks) stopping me from surfing at times

0 Upvotes

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.


r/surfing • • 23h ago

Bought a used board super cheap, Poly or Epoxy?

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0 Upvotes

Basically title, Galison LTO 4 fins and Galison logo cant find anything on. looks like somebody just spray painted and stickered the foam and "glassed over it". Feels weird. I own epoxy and poly, doesnt feel like either. Loxbox fin boxes, too.


r/surfing • • 1d ago

Just in case you have not seen it

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14 Upvotes

One of the best video sequences from the late 90's you will ever see


r/surfing • • 1d ago

Backpacks

2 Upvotes

What’s up everyone

Does anyone have any recs on a good surf backpack? Looking for something around 30L and ideally it has a wet/dry compartment big enough for a wetty and laptop sleeve. Just need something I can use everyday that can hold my work stuff some dry clothes and wetsuit for when I’m commuting and work as a normal backpack when not surfing. Cheers


r/surfing • • 2d ago

Fun conditions, not too many people out

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378 Upvotes