🏄‍♀️ Cold water surfing is very good for you 🥶

👋 Happy Almost Wintertime! Are you a summer surfer, a winter warrior, or both? As winter arrives in the Northern Hemisphere, here’s the case for staying put and embracing the cold (booties, gloves, hood included).

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• Cold water surfing is very good for you 🥶

• Over the falls…ouch ouch ouch 🤕

• Beach boys or beachboys? 🏝️

• WTH do I sit in the lineup 😈

• Positive surf news 🗞️

• The good stories you missed 😽

^SURFODRAMA

😱 Cold water surfing is very good for you 🥶

What if I told you cold water surfing is better than drugs? And by cold, I mean water below 60°F (16°C), in case you were wondering. Oh yes—today we’re talking about the surprising perks of winter surfing.

Summer’s positively over in the Northern Hemisphere. In other regions, water temperature never gets particularly comfortable either.

And judging by the rate of people seeking recommendations for more tropical surf spots, some of us are wondering whether winter surfing is going to be worth it.

Booties, gloves, hoods—oh, so much more gear to keep you comfortable in the ocean, making surfing so much more uncomfortable.

Surely, there must be some silver lining to this cold-water surfing situation? Yes, there is!

🌊 Better surf, fewer people

First of all, some cold-water breaks like Northern California, New Zealand, and the UK work better during this period. They get more consistent swell, less wind, and fewer flat-so days. The storms that we don’t appreciate on land make for some perfect surf. Well, “perfect” surf is somewhat debatable, because some of us thrive in smaller-than-2ft summer surf—but objectively, surf gets a boost.

The colder it gets, the emptier the lineup gets too. Fewer surf schools are out, fewer people decide to learn when it’s colder outside, and fewer surfers in general find surfing in cold water appealing. Even the most popular spots that see 50 people fight for a wave suddenly feel more manageable.

Being one of those surfers who do make it out immediately earns you brownie points that you can cash in on your way to becoming a local. It feels good to be part of this smaller group of cold-water surfers. You’re a real surfer now!

As for feeling good physically, it can be literal. The cold causes blood vessels to constrict, then dilate when you warm up. Over time, this may improve circulation, lower inflammation, and help with muscle recovery.

🤯 Welcome to the DEP effect!

Now, welcome to the DEP effect (we made it up). Here’s where cold-water surfing will not only toughen you up physically and mentally, but can make you feel ecstatic.

🧠 D is for Dopamine. There are several studies showing that immersion in cold water—especially below 60°F (16°C)—can increase dopamine by up to 250%. Dopamine is your motivation + reward + feel-good neurotransmitter. This is why people report feeling energized and positive after a cold surf or plunge, even hours later.

😌 E is for Endorphins. Cold exposure causes a short burst of endorphins, your body’s natural opioids. This can lead to feelings of euphoria, reduced anxiety, and even a sense of being “floaty” or mildly high afterward. If you’re into running, it’s similar to the “runner’s high.”

🧘 P is for Parasympathetic Rebound. The initial cold-water shock activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight), but afterward, your parasympathetic system (rest and digest) kicks in hard. And this rebound creates a sensation of deep calm, clarity, and presence. Some surfers describe it as “ocean meditation.”

Are we saying that cold-water surfing is better than drugs? I guess we are.

^{WORD OF THE WEEK}

Over the falls off we go. Ouch. 😣

Over the falls, with a variation of sucked over, is a wipeout—or a stage in a wipeout—where the surfer is pitched out with the lip as it hooks over and drops into the trough, flipping head over heels with the wave as it crashes.

It does hurt, because you don’t just fall off your board—you get launched and thrown by the power of the wave itself.

☢️ One of surfing’s most dangerous wipeouts

According to the Encyclopedia of Surfing, it’s one of surfing’s most dangerous types of wipeout. The surfer has little or no control of their body position or where they’ll land; they’re generally dropped smack into the wave’s exploding core, and momentum gained in descent might drive them straight to the bottom.

As a result, it’s disorienting. You get spun and flipped so fast you often don’t know which way is up. And violent too, because bigger waves can slam you down hard—into the water or the reef below.

🤨 Why it happens

It’s possible to go over the falls after paddling up the wave face and not making it through the curl. If you’ve watched Riding Giants, you may already know that Hawaiian big-wave surfer Mark Foo died at Mavericks in 1994 after going over the falls on a 15-foot wave.

There are many reasons why one could go over the falls, including hesitation at the takeoff, being too far forward or back on your board (like in any type of wipeout), or not paddling fast enough and getting sucked up the face—or bailing as the wave pitches and taking the full ride down.

💪 How to avoid it

To avoid it, just do the opposite of all that—and most importantly, commit to the takeoff. Because it’s the half-assing that gets you pitched.

^{SURF SKILLS}

😈 Where the hell do I sit in the lineup?

Have you ever sat so far on the shoulder that there was zero chance of catching a wave? Happens all the time.

But hey, unless you grew up surfing Malibu since you were six, no one tells you this stuff. You just kind of… paddle out, plop yourself in a spot, and hope for the best. And then wonder why you’re either getting zero waves or getting yelled at. Or both.

In case you needed it, here’s where—or more like how—to sit in the lineup.

👉 Read the full guide

^{SURFING THRU HISTORY}

🏝️ Is it Beach Boys, beach boys or beachboys?

I don’t think you can visit O‘ahu, Hawai‘i and not come across this term. I wanted to learn more about the origins of beach boys so I could share it with you.

Beach boys—or beachboys—were a staple on the beach at Waikīkī in the early and mid-20th century. The beachboy was, well, we can call it a profession. Beach boys earned a living by performing lifeguard duties and giving surf lessons and canoe rides. When they weren’t working, they were surfing, swimming, fishing, and playing music—basically living the dream.

🏨 Moana & the rise of the beachboy

According to the Encyclopedia of Surfing, beachboys first appeared in Waikīkī just after the Moana Hotel was built in 1901. As you may remember, surfing and all the other water sports almost got killed by religion by the late 1800s—because, you know, too much fun and too little clothing.

By 1911, two surfing clubs—the Outrigger and Hui Nalu—took up residence on Waikīkī Beach. Hui Nalu’s captain brokered a deal with the Moana Hotel to run the first surf lesson concession in 1916, and the Moana Bathhouse Gang was born. These beach boys were clean-cut, wore uniforms, and were supposed to not flirt and to keep their hands to themselves.

Not everyone loved the beach boys. They were once called “a bunch of lazy male prostitutes who made their living off mainland divorcees.” Harsh. Yet Californian surfers loved the look and feel, and upon returning home tried to replicate it. Aloha shirts for the win!

🎭 Celebrities & wildcatters

Then the Royal Hawaiian Hotel opened in 1927. You know, the pink one. Hawai‘i tourism went into overdrive, and the number of beach boys increased accordingly—teaching surfing and taking tourists on canoe rides. Some famous ones too: Charlie Chaplin, Babe Ruth, Cary Grant, and Bing Crosby. Oh, and Agatha Christie!

The Second World War put an end to the tourism explosion in Hawai‘i, and beachboys took other jobs. After the war, things changed. Wildcatter (non-“unionized”) beach boys came to the fore. And they were not very nice. They were renting defective surfboards and then charging tourists extra to be brought back to shore.

Let’s not forget about Duke Kahanamoku. He wasn’t a paid beach boy, and of course he wasn’t a wildcatter, but he was the aloha spirit incarnate. And when he died in 1968, according to the EOS, “the beachboy lifestyle in a sense died with him.”

And Rabbit Kekai—one of the original innovators of modern surfing—who died at 95 in 2016, has sometimes been called the last beachboy.

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ Girl backflips. Boards fly free. Dolphins crash a comp. Wave pools rise East and West.

 🌀 Sierra Kerr lands a backflip and surf history is made
Seventeen-year-old Sierra Kerr just became the first female surfer ever captured landing a full backflip, and the entire surf world is flipping out.

🧳 Flying with boards just got less painful
Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines are finally treating surfboards like normal luggage—with a new policy that ditches special fees and lets you check your whole quiver.

🐬 Rincon gets crashed by the real locals
A pod of dolphins stole the show (and a few waves) during a longboard contest at Rincon, reminding us who truly owns the lineup.

🌊 The wave pool boom hits both coasts
Two massive wave pool projects—one in Myrtle Beach and one in Newport Beach—just moved forward, sparking both stoke and controversy across the U.S. surf scene.

👉 Read the full news roundup

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY FOMO}

😳 The good stories you might’ve missed

At The Wipeout Weekly, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We take surfing very seriously—the good, the not-to-good, and the everyday-surprising.

All the methods of pop-up and none of them work—sad 😜

Shoulder burn is a real pain—that hurts 😩

The worst thing that can happen to you in the surf–and it’s definitely not what you think 😉

⬆️ Aaaaaaand that was the last wave of the week!
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^HOUSEKEEPING

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