I drove out to Malibu early this morning and had myself some fun just cruising some 4 to 6 footers mostly on my longboard, but I did a few short board sets too. After I was done, I sat on my tailgate listening to some tunes and watching the point and another guy who had been surfing came up and asked me what IEMs and DAP I was running (Campfire Supermoons and A&K Kann Alpha for those interested ).
Obviously, this kicked off a discussion about gear, music, etc. The whole thing got me wondering how many surfers, or folks that surf (if you don’t like the surfer tag lol), there are on the forum. This is far from the first time that I have ended up talking audio with a fellow surfer when one or the other of us picked up on being fellow audio enthusiasts as well so I figure there must be a few of us on here.
I’m from SoCal though funnily enough, I’m from the Central Valley and not a beach town. Nonetheless, my family has always gone to the beach several times a year and my uncle has had me surfing since I was six. I’ve been surfing all over the US, various spots in Central and South America, Australia once, and even in the UK. I have really been wanting to plan an epic surf trip to some spots in Africa and S.E Asia so I can cross the last two continents off my list (I doubt they’ll let me try Antarctica). If anyone has any rec’s for some sick spots I should check out for planning that trip, I’m definitely open to hearing about them.
So anyways, if you just want to check in, post about some of your cool local spots, share pics of your latest board purchase, post that amazing story about an epic wave/set/wipeout, or whatever else this is the thread to do it in.
I wouldn’t label my self a surfer. Mainly because I’m not that great and started later in life when I moved to Florida as a older teenager. My wife and I spent a lot of time surfing then, she’s by far the better of us two. I stuck mostly just to longboards for the ease. My wife was known to rip a few waves on a short board. Lived in Florida for about five years before worked moved us to Oklahoma.
Started skating again Oklahoma. Mostly bowls, on an old 80s style Bones reprint, just to flow and carve to mimic surfing. Occasionally would meetup with a group and bomb parking garages with our longboards. Then I got heavily into rock climbing all around Oklahoma and Arkansas and it sort of stole the show from skating. Which was a tremendous benefit because we ended up moving to Las Vegas. Which has Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and is jammed packed with climbing in its small area. Spent so much money on climbing gear there. Then fast forward four years and we’re moving to Oahu.
Picked up surfing again and had a blast just casually cruising the long rolling waves a Waikiki Beach. Now I’m back in Florida, nearly 20 years later, but the waves of Miami and the upper keys are disappointing. The skateparks are bland and everything is flat so pretty much all my older hobbies are mute here. Its somewhat how I came into IEMs because I wasn’t spending money on my other joys.
Cool! I don’t skate much anymore, but I live at the top of a pretty hilly area and I have been known to bomb the hills in and around my neighborhood an my longboard evert now and again, but I haven’t done any skate park or street work in a while.
Then again, I have always enjoyed surfing much more than skating and I didn’t even really skate much until I went to college at UC Berkeley (Cal). I lived on the Berkeley Hills side of Berkeley in my fraternity and later in an apartment so I could ride my board from my front door to the buildings my classes were in, downhill all the way. Good times!
I have been to Hawaii twice and I always thought living their would be fun from a surfing point of view, but I probably wouldn’t get much else done for a good while when I first moved there. Have you ever been back to Hawaii since work moved you back to the mainland? What were your favorite surf spots over there? I wasn’t there for long enough either time to hit anything other than the more famous/touristy spots.
It’s cool that your wife surfs too! I tought my girl how to surf and she’s actually a bit of a natural (which she is with most things), but she only goes with me a few times a year because she’s just not super into it. She has her own long and short boards though and she did go on surf trip to S. America with me for a few weeks about 6 years ago.
How often do you surf these days? I have only surfed a couple times in Florida. I’ve surfed at S. Hutchinson Island by the nuclear power plant, Cocoa Beach, Fort Pierce inlet (got knocked off my board by a shark there), and by St. Augustine. I was never there for very long and my trips weren’t planned around surfing so I was generally just catching a few hours between doing other things.
Anyways, it’s nice to know there are others who surf on here. I love going out for early morning sets and then chillin’ and listening to some music once I’m done. It’s a great way to start a day and I think it helps keep me young.
I haven’t been back to Hawaii since leaving. My wife and I have want to hopefully call it home one day. My job would allow for us to rent a house at a great rate in comparison to others houses. Would like to buy but, Hawaii is crazy expensive. Our favorite spot was Waikiki mainly because it was easy and the view of Diamond Head was amazing when going on a sunset ride. Then afterwards we’d lock up our boards and go out for a night in town.
We also liked Waimea Bay, Sunset Beach and Bonzai Pipeline. They’d get rough though for amateurs during the winter so we mostly stuck to boggie boarding. Kawaikui Park was also a good spot during the summer for beginners. I can’t say we did much more than those spots. A lot of our free time was spent hiking the mountains. Oahu gets looked over a lot for how touristy it is but, it’s got some beautiful hikes.
I don’t surf much these days. Unless we’re going more up north past Fort Lauderdale or when we visit family in Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Most our ocean time is now spent on our SUPs exploring the mangrove forest or deep sea fishing. Our just hanging out for a beach day. We spend enough time their that our cars and house probably have a beach of sand in them.
That’s crazy you got knocked of by a shark. Good think it didn’t attack. I went free diving with sharks before and was terrified the whole time. There was at least fifteen all within ten to thirty yards of us. My only cool surfing story was sharing a wave with a dolphin. Got about a good fifteen seconds with it next to me. Was a very surreal experience for me. It seemed to riding the wave for pure enjoyment just as me. Really hit me that we’re not much different than them.
My family and I live for the cleansing of the soul you get from the outdoors, especially the ocean for us. Was really disappointed it was to cold to enjoy this Christmas. Between Hawaii and FL we’ve always went to the beach after gifts. Just looking out at it and realizing how vast it is with basically a whole other world mostly unknown to man.
Your outdoors soul cleansing philosophy sounds a lot like the way I see it. My girl really likes doing the SUP stuff too. We spent all day paddling around up by Morro Bay near the sea otter rookeries a few weeks back and it was a lot of fun.
I wanted to hit Bonzai so bad last time I went to Hawaii, but I never ended up making it. Waimea Bay had some BIG stacked sets when I surfed it a few years back in November when I was out there for a friend’s wedding. The way the sets build on one another actually reminded me a lot of Steamer Lane in Santa Cruz, CA which is one of my favorite spots to surf in Cali. I lived in SC for a few years when I was younger.
When the shark knocked me off my board it left two gouges from teeth, but it didn’t get me and it turned and high-tailed it away from me so no harm, no foul lol! I actually went free diving with sharks off of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and again when I went to the Maldives. I was definitely a bit apprehensive the first time, but when I went in the Maldives we were surrounded by hundreds of reef sharks and I was too awestruck to be worried. It was beautiful! I also went cage diving with some great whites in South Africa and that was INTENSE! You really have no idea how massive and strong these animals are until one is right next to you and they start bumping the cage making several thousand pounds of metal seem like a tin can!
Living in Hawaii would be very cool, but I can only imagine how expensive it must be. I was already humbled by how much money I had to drop to by my current house in the LA area so I’m sure buying real estate in Hawaii would make me weak in the knees. I wish you luck making that dream come true though.
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I actually went free diving with sharks off of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and again when I went to the Maldives. I was definitely a bit apprehensive the first time, but when I went in the Maldives we were surrounded by hundreds of reef sharks and I was too awestruck to be worried. It was beautiful! I also went cage diving with some great whites in South Africa and that was INTENSE! You really have no idea how massive and strong these animals are until one is right next to you and they start bumping the cage making several thousand pounds of metal seem like a tin can!