🏄‍♀️ Ever heard of surf insurance? Not a thing 😬

👋 Happy 28 Weekly Newsletters Later Day! Yep, it’s been a while—200+ days since we started. And the rest of the year is shaping up to be even more riveting (scroll to the news section). 😜

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• Surf insurance, anyone? 🛟

• Tourmaline is so slow 🐢

• Soul arch ain’t soul surfing ☮️

• Once upon a surf forecast 🌬️

• Surf news: 3 hurricanes, 2+ wave pools 🌀

^SURFODRAMA

😱 Surf insurance, anyone? Or you prefer living dangerously 😜

I’m gonna buy me some surf insurance. Whaat? No such thing?

I am pretty unlucky in the damaged surfboard department. A teenage shortboarder ran into my longboard in the lineup and cut it up really badly. A friend ran into me and took a big chunk out of what was considered an indestructible board. Oh, and my sister-in-law took a fin out of one of our boards in the shallows, but that’s family, so it doesn’t count.

📊 The Reddit poll that said what we’re all thinking
Three years ago, someone on Reddit ran a poll on “who pays if you damage someone’s board and you know it’s your fault.”

With the assumption that you know for a fact it was your fault, and that the other surfer was not an a-hole. A sample of more than 1,000 surfers voted:

You should pay and you would: 65%
You should pay but you wouldn't: 22%
You shouldn't pay but you would anyway: 4%
You shouldn't pay and you wouldn't: 9%

The rub? No one believed the data. Because, yeah—but it’s surfing. Accidents happen. Don’t turn it into a lawsuit.

But seriously. What are the rules here? In this surf society that we live within. It appears that there are three clubs that you choose your membership in.

💸 “It’s your own fault, you reluctantly pay” club
If the damage occurred because of your actions that didn’t adhere to generally accepted surf etiquette, you should offer to compensate a surfer who suffered said damage.

For instance, you ran someone over because you were not fully in control due to your skill level or unsurfy behavior. Or you decided that a leash is the enemy and against the free-flowing surfing spirit, and your board went flying and bumped into another leash-on board.

Bad, bad surfer–you did the very thing that you should never do and ditched your board and hit another surfer’s board. Or maybe you didn’t look in the parking lot, walked into someone’s board, or ran it over with your car.

Of course, two can play that game, and sometimes the fault will be shared. This may happen if you’re both surfing, following the rules, but the ocean has other ideas, and you unfortunately bump into each other.

☯️ “Surf karma is real” club
The surfers in this club take karma seriously. They would not ask for money if their board got dinged, but would kindly accept it if offered. This club is all about keeping the vibes up. What goes around comes around. Soul surfer types, you know.

The extreme case of “surf karma” believers are the surfers who know they weren’t in the wrong and still offer to get someone else’s board fixed. They would paddle up to you to make sure you’re okay, even if you’re evidently very okay. Just to make sure. Because for them: karma is very real.

😤 “Are you for real, bruh?” club
For these dudes and dudettes, surfing is a contact sport. They take no prisoners. No matter whose fault it is, it will be your fault and you will hear about it, and it will be endless.

And in extreme cases—chased to the parking lot to make a speedy Venmo transfer.

All the above is very much surf spot-dependent. You also may never end up in a situation where you get run over or you damage someone else’s board, so you would never even need surf insurance. And only you can decide which club membership suits your surfing style best.

Just keep in mind: dings are reasonably cheap to fix, fin boxes less so.

P.S. There is such a thing as surf travel insurance—and there was a company that insured your surfboard, but it doesn’t seem to operate anymore.

^{SURF SPOT SPOTLIGHT}

Tourmaline in San Diego is slow–but not slowing down 🌊

Summer might be winding down in Southern California (though let’s be honest—we ride summer until Halloween), but the busiest beginner surf spot in SoCal isn’t slowing down.

Tourmaline Surfing Park—aka Tourmaline—is hands down San Diego’s best spot for beginners. End of. Also, because it’s so slooooow, it’s a great destination for longboarders.

Tourmaline is tucked between Pacific Beach and La Jolla, on the northern edge of Pacific Beach. And it has something that very few other popular breaks offer, free lot parking!

🌊 The surf
Tourmaline is a soft, sandy-bottom beach break with reef influence (which is why some people think it’s actually a reef break) and long, rolling waves—perfect for longboarding and learning. It faces west/northwest, making it super consistent year-round, though it shines brightest with a small to medium southwest swell.

The waves here are mellow and forgiving—ideal for beginners. But it does get busy!

🚿 Water quality
Usually good, though after heavy rain, give it 72 hours before paddling out (hello urban runoff). Otherwise, the water’s clean and clear.

👙 Wardrobe
Water temps range from chilly to boardshort-worthy, depending on the season:

• Winter (Dec–Feb): 56–60°F (13–15°C) — 4/3 or 3/2 wetsuit

• Spring (Mar–May): 58–62°F (14–16°C) — 3/2 fullsuit

• Summer (Jun–Aug): 64–70°F (18–21°C) — springsuit or surf bikini/boardies + rashie

• Autumn (Sep–Nov): 62–68°F (17–20°C) — 3/2 or shorty depending on the day

☀️ Best time for beginners to go
Late spring through early fall (May–October) is your sweet spot: smaller swells, warmer water, and plenty of daylight.

⚠️ Hazards
Tourmaline is one of the least intimidating surf spots in San Diego, but still:

• Crowds: It’s popular. Expect a packed lineup on sunny weekends—but the vibe is more “smile and nod” than “fight for every wave.”

• Rocks: There are some reefy spots, especially at lower tides. Ask a local or just stay center peak where it’s all sand.

• Surfers on bigger boards: Watch out for boards with a lot of momentum. Everyone’s chill, but stay alert.

🏄 Rentals + lessons
Tourmaline doesn’t have rentals on-site, but you’re just minutes from Pacific Beach where you’ll find plenty of surf shops.

🍉 When you’re not surfing

• Chill on the bluff and watch the sunset with locals and their dogs.

• Walk to the nearby cafés and juice bars on Mission Blvd.

• Head to the Crystal Pier for classic San Diego views.

• Explore La Jolla tide pools or visit the sea lions at the Cove.

🧳 Solo friendly?
Very. Tourmaline is one of the safest and most welcoming surf breaks in SoCal. You’ll meet friendly locals in the lot or lineup, and the beach itself is a great place to hang if you're solo-traveling. But busy. So so busy.

^{WORD OF THE WEEK}

Soul arch, and can you be a soul surfer with a mortgage? 🏡

The word of the week is: soul arch. And we will throw in “soul surfing” free of charge, because otherwise, it would be a micro-story.

📸 The origin of the soul arch
I had never heard about a “soul arch” until I started researching “soul surfing,” and this was a next-door entry to it in the Encyclopedia of Surfing.

“Soul arches” in the wild are hard to come across these days. It’s when a surfer stands tall, chest out like a freaking peacock, bends their back in a deep arch (usually with knees bent and arms stretched or hanging loosely), while cruising down the line or during a frontside bottom turn.

It doesn’t really add functionality like trimming or noseriding—it’s all about showing off. It’s a double show-off if you combine it with hang five or hang ten.

The expression itself originated in the early 1970s, but the move itself was made famous by world champion Peter Townsend, who effectively stole it after seeing a photo of California surfer Kemp Aaberg back-arching at Rincon in 1961.

🎸 Where soul surfing came from
Surf guitarist Johnny Fortune wrote an instrumental piece called “Soul Surfer” for his album in 1961. Soul music was very much au courant in those days. But it is said that its actual origins came from surfing’s alignment with the counterculture in the late ’60s. A soul surfer was described in Petersen’s Surfing Magazine as “the man upon his board who shuts out the world and its clamor.”

Soul surfing was never fully defined — or perhaps was only defined in opposition to pro surfing. It was against prize money, competitions, surf media, and the surf industry in general. So, unlike the surfing we know today then.

🌿 Country soul & California soul vibes
Two examples of how soul surfing bloomed IRL:

In Australia, a small group of surfers celebrated the “country soul” movement, moved into abandoned farmhouses, grew their own produce, made their own surfboards, and rode together at uncrowded breaks. They lasted two or three seasons.

In California, soul surfing jelled with territorial localism, with locals discouraging visitors from surfing in their spots. Intimidation and violence ensued. Not very soul-surfy.

🏠 The pragmatic soul surfers
And then there was a rise of pragmatic soul surfers. We’re talking Gerry Lopez in Hawaii, Tom Curren in California, and Wayne Lynch in Australia.

They had the soul surfers’ souls, but as Matt Warshaw describes in the EOS, they also had mortgages — so they canoodled with the surf media and surf industry. We all have to eat, no?

Soul surfing was all but extinct when Sam George launched his “Soul Search” in Surfer Magazine in the 2000s. He said about soul surfing:

“(It) stretched and shrunk and tugged like the rubber on an ill-fitting wetsuit. We’re all soul surfers, and so there's no such thing as soul surfing.”

Only in the movies. Like the Kahuna in Gidget, played by Cliff Robertson.

^{SURF SCIENCE}

🌤️ Once Upon a Surf Forecast: the ultimate surf bedtime story

Still confused by surf forecasts? Us too. And we've had it explained to us many-a-time by people who actually know what they’re talking about.

So we decided: we can do better. We’ll explain the surf forecast like we’re telling it to a five-year-old—in the style of a bedtime story.

You can even fall asleep to it if you want—I used my “cartoon” voice for this one. 🤭

👉 Ready for the story

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ Hurricane waves on both coasts. Wave pools all over the place. What’s next for The Wipeout Weekly?

🌪️ Hurricanes churn chaos on both coasts
Hurricanes Humberto, Imelda, and Narda fueled dangerous surf, rip currents, and rescues from the East Coast to Southern California, with five Outer Banks homes lost to the sea.

🌊 Billionaire plots LA surf park near the beach
Vinny Smith’s Toba Capital bought a $54M El Segundo site to build a wave pool resort beside the Chargers’ HQ, aiming to replicate his Palm Springs Surf Club success. About $300 per wave session, no?

🏗️ Oceanside wave resort finally set to rise
After years of prep, Ocean Kamp will break ground in 2026 with San Diego County’s first surf lagoon, a hotel, retail, and 667 homes, timed ahead of the LA Olympics.

🤡 The Wipeout Weekly “breaks ground” on a wave pool for surfers who can’t surf good
Obviously not (we’ve got better things to do). But we did just hit 200 days, 28 weekly newsletters later. Curious what’s next?

👉 Read the full news roundup

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

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