Have you ever wondered how it feels to live in a place with an excess of waves? It sounds like a paradox, but it happens. I don’t recall an autumn/winter season like the one of 2025. In November and December, the classical North Atlantic swells, fueled by back-to-back intense and very active low-pressure systems, have…

The surfboard shaping industry has changed dramatically since polyurethane (PU) became the world’s most popular core. Yes, computer numeric control (CNC) machines have been increasingly reducing production time, and alternative blanks such as polystyrene (PS), expanded polystyrene (EPS), and extruded polystyrene foam (XTR or XPS) have found niche markets. However, most surfboards today start as…

On a sunny day along the California coast, it is hard to miss them. They’re bright yellow dots bobbing on the horizon. They are trusted data providers to surfers, sailors, scientists, and even lifeguards. The wave buoys of the Coastal Data Information Program (CDIP) were born at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and are now part…

Lady Gaga can keep selling her Mayhem tour merch, and a federal judge just handed her a clear early win in a legal fight that has caught the attention of surfers and pop music fans alike. At the center of the case is one word: Mayhem. For many surfers, Mayhem is inseparable from …Lost Surfboards,…

It’s one of a surfer’s worst nightmares – being sucked over the falls. Now, imagine that in a 40-50 foot wave. Nazaré is the mother of all ocean waves. It’s probably the biggest, the heaviest, and the most dangerous mountain of moving water on the planet. And if that ain’t enough, throw in the title…

The backside air reverse is an advanced surfing maneuver that requires smart wave reading, speed, timing, and smooth body mechanics. It demands way more than just popping off a lip, especially if you want to impress and get closer to Gabriel Medina, Kelly Slater, and Josh Kerr’s infamous airs. The backside air reverse requires reading…

SurfLoch has been building artificial waves for more than four decades, but its newest design, the WaveBender, is easily the company’s boldest turn yet. WaveBender is way more than just a refreshed footprint or a bigger pool. It’s an attempt to make a mechanical reef behave like a real one, complete with a wave face…

Three main variables influence the size of waves arriving at the coastline: wind speed, wind duration, and fetch. Is there a way to establish a reasonable and fairly accurate nonlinear correlation between them? Yes, there is. The table below summarizes typical conditions under which wind generates waves over a consistent fetch. The fetch is the…

The Canary Islands are well-known for their quality waves and world-class surf fueled by a 360-degree window of Atlantic Ocean swells. The Spanish archipelago is actually the go-to destination for all sorts of water sports enthusiasts. If Fuerteventura is perfect for windsurfers and kiteboarders, El Frontón is the ultimate bodyboarding slab, and El Quemao is…