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Author: Drew Ellison

  • Beginner’s Guide to Your First Surf Lesson (Vol. 16)

    Beginner’s Guide to Your First Surf Lesson (Vol. 16)

    We keep coming back to this topic because it keeps mattering.

    Every surfer you see threading barrels and carving turns started in the whitewater. The beginning is awkward, humbling, and absolutely worth it. Here is what to expect from your first lesson.

    Your instructor will start on the beach, walking you through the pop-up motion: lying flat, hands beside your chest, pushing up and planting your feet in one fluid movement. Practice this on land until it feels automatic. In the water, everything happens fast.

    The first waves you catch will be whitewater — broken waves that push you toward shore with forgiving force. Focus on your stance. Feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent, arms out for balance, eyes looking forward. Do not look down at the board. Ride it out to the sand and do it again. And again. The ocean is a patient teacher if you let it be.

  • Winter Swells: Why Cold Water Means Better Waves (Vol. 6)

    Winter Swells: Why Cold Water Means Better Waves (Vol. 6)

    We’re revisiting this topic after hearing from more of you — here’s the updated take.

    November through March, powerful low-pressure systems spinning across the North Pacific generate the largest and most consistent swells of the year. While summer crowds thin and casual surfers pack away their boards, the serious locals know: this is when California truly delivers.

    The water temperature drops into the low fifties along the central and northern coast. A good 4/3mm wetsuit, booties, and gloves become essential equipment. But the reward for tolerating the cold is access to waves of a size and quality that simply do not arrive in summer.

    The great winter swells of recent memory — the El Niño winters of 2016 and 2023 — brought forty-year events to breaks that rarely see overhead surf. Mavericks ran. Jaws detonated. And down at the local beach break, a generation of surfers got the sessions of their lives.