10 Summer Surf Tips

It used to be all about the summer. Maybe blame the 1959 box office hit Gidget for that, being set in post-Memorial Day Malibu, and featuring not a single shot of anyone in neoprene, no rock-hard, slippery wax or any goosebumps on Sandra Dee’s tiny, bikini-ed frame; as depicted in the film’s SoCal summer fantasy sequences, beach fires were for making out, not thawing out. Then, of course, there was that other movie about surfing, and if you don’t already know where I’m going with this, I can’t help you. Well, alright, here’s a hint. It opens with this bit of narration, which, at the time (the mid-1960s) served as a potent cultural manifesto:

“Summer means many different things to different people. For some it might mean the thrill of a high-speed catamaran. Others like to float around and soak up a few stray rays. Still others like some kind of inland activity. But for us, it’s the sport of surfing.” 

Give producer/director Bruce Brown credit for trying, but even his wildly popular mainstream hit, which until 1994’s Hoop Dreams was the most successful documentary film of all time, couldn’t render surfing’s summer endless, as during the passing decades the other three seasons insidiously crowded into those previously hallowed three months. Blame better, more flexible wetsuits, commodified international surf travel or increased awareness of the dangers of skin cancer, but regardless, it’s getting harder and harder to discern summer surfing from the rest of the year. And I think the surfing experience has lost a little of its magic because of it. So, with a nostalgic look back at those two culturally influential surfing movies, both which celebrated summer, I say it’s time to put a little of that special season back into the sport. Here’s a few tips to get started.

CHANGE YOUR WAX

Sounds simple, but how many surfers do you know who take the warm/cool water wax and just grind it over their winter wax job, smearing the softer under layer until the deck of their board looks like a pan full of burnt scrambled eggs. I know plenty. But beyond being more effective, (and attractive) a ritual stripping and re-application of wax is a great way to celebrate the changing of the season, with hopes of better traction and warm toes to come.

CHANGE YOUR EXPECTATIONS

For example, it’s estimated that there’s over a million surfers in California, and on any given summer south swell it seems that almost half of them can be found surfing Lower Trestles, that fabled, super-consistent cobblestone reef break on the San Diego/Orange County border. But how many of those pilgrims are actually getting waves, or, in fact, enjoying any aspects of one of the country’s premier summer surf spots? Exactly. Meanwhile, right down the beach from the pack at the peak is Middles, a less-uniform but immeasurably more user-friendly break that although not quite as glamorous is still, as The Beach Boys used to say, “fun, fun, fun.” And trust me, every popular surf zone has a Middles. 

TAKE A FOUR-WHEELED SURF TRIP

Nothing says summer more than a road trip, so what are you waiting for? An invitation? So, convince a few friends, load those boards, fill up the tank and get out there:

Galveston, Texas to Oceanside, California: 1,551.7 miles. Estimated drive time: 23 hours.

Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, to Buxton, North Carolina: 747 miles. Estimated drive time: 13 hours.

Huntington Beach, California, to Abreojos, Baja California: 696 miles. Estimated drive time: 12 hours.

Newquay, United Kingdom, to Biarritz, France: 711 miles. Estimated drive time: 16 hours.

GET A LONGBOARD

Not just because, along a lot of coastlines, summer surf is smaller than in the winter. No, get a longboard so that on those smaller days you can put up that “performance board,” with all its associated anxieties, and for a few minutes just cruise: into the waves, toward the beach and, almost as importantly, in a car with a board proudly strapped to the roof, and not stashed in the back like you’re ashamed of it, or something. 

SKIP THE DAWN PATROL

Even if you manage to be the first surfer out, how long before the rest of the herd shows up and spoils your idyll? Instead, take advantage of those warm, lingering summer evenings to be the last surfer out, reveling in the experience, however fleeting, of having every wave to yourself without ever looking over your shoulder. 

FIND THE RIGHT SUMMER SONG

I’m not going to tell you what it is, or from what era or genre. You’ll know it when you hear it. It’s the one playing in the background when you picture yourself surfing, or hanging on the beach, or driving down the coast with the windows open and your arm sticking out all warm in the sun. And it’s the one that when you hear it again on a cold, windy winter’s day puts a summer smile right back on your face, blue lips notwithstanding.

HAVE YOUR FRONT DOOR BE A ZIPPER

As in, go camping. Sure, snow caves are fine for mountaineers and polar explorers, but for surfers who want to enjoy sleeping outdoors near the source, summer is the season. There are plenty of campgrounds adjacent to quality surf, each providing the opportunity to crawl out of your tent, grab your board and head for the waves, pretending that you’re starring in your own early-70s surf movie. Here’s just a sample:

Leo Carrillo State Park, Malibu, California

Sebastian Inlet State Park, Melbourne Beach, Florida

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Buxton, North Carolina

Surf Grove Campground, Tofino, B.C. Canada

 GET A LONG JOHN

Sure, we all wish summer sea temperatures topped 75 degrees, but unfortunately that’s not the case, for example, on the west coasts of both North America and Europe. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take a break from tugging a clammy full wetsuit on and off.  When the air’s warm and the water’s cool a long john is the perfect way to feel the warmth of the sun on your shoulders without dropping your core temp. Get yourself a cool long john tan, too – formerly the easily identified mark of an authentic surfer. 

GO TO THE BEACH

The late, great Greg Noll, who, during his amazing run through the 1950s and ‘60s pretty much experienced everything a surfer could, once testified that the very best thing about surfing was coming into the beach in the summer a bit chilled, laying on his stomach in the warm sand, scooping some under his chest, and blissfully laying there like basking sea lion. Then, as the sand underneath him cooled, roll away and find a new warm spot, repeating the bliss. This, from a man who in the fifties introduced modern surfboards to Australia; who was one of the first guys to ride Waimea Bay and Second Reef Pipeline, and who got Mickey Dora to sign an endorsement agreement. His point being, don’t be in such a hurry to get back to the parking lot. 

RETURN TO WAIKIKI

Even if you’ve never been there. Because it was in the the gentle, accommodating waves of Waikiki that this whole thing we call upright board surfing got started. And it’s where you can still experience the atavistic thrill that enraptured generations of out Polynesian progenitors…if you do it right. Which means booking one of those economical airfare/hotel package deals sometime during the summer south swell season, leaving your board home (no baggage hassles!), slipping on a bathing suit, walking down Kalakaua Blvd. to the sand, renting a big board from one of the beach concessions, paddling out at Canoes and, completely free from any thoughts of performance, hierarchy, trendiness, vaguely-defined lineup rotation or “my wave” bullsh-t, taking your place among hundreds of other boardriders until, when the right little swell comes along, you take off with all your brothers and sisters and share with them a graceful ride to shore. Feeling, at least once in your life, the soulful essence of surfing as it was originally practiced, before returning home to the work of it. 

The post 10 Summer Surf Tips first appeared on The Inertia.