🏄‍♀️ How do you even know you're progressing? 🤯

👋 Happy National Dance Like a Chicken Day! Do chickens surf? Unlike dogs, and cats, and pigs, we haven’t come across any surfing birds. Well, there’s a bird called a surfbird, but it doesn’t surf either. Its song is a whistled tee tee tee.

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• How do you know you’re progressing? 🤯

• What the heck, asym! 🫤

• Lola faces a wave 🌊

• San Francisco to LA for beginners 🚗

• Surf news roundup 📰

• The cutest surf thing we’ve found 🥹

• Three surf trips we’re wishing for 😭

^SURFODRAMA

😱 How do you even know you’re progressing?

Lifting weights is easy. Okay, not fair. Lifting weights is easier than surfing, because tracking progress in lifting is a breeze.

You know what your form should look like. You know how much you can lift in pounds or kgs, and you know how many times you can lift it.

Tracking progress in surfing sucks, because none of the above have a true equivalent in surfing. Not even one.

So when people ask: how do you even know that you're progressing in surfing, the answer is: how long is a piece of string, and how much time do you have until your next appointment.

Beginners especially may be plagued by the thoughts of despair: Am I getting better? Or am I simply surviving, week after week? Or month after month, if you're a less frequent flyer.

Bad news. There's no objective answer. There's no exam you take, and if you're thinking: "but coaches!", we will get to it.

🪤 The counting trap
Most beginners try to measure surfing by applying the lifting metrics: number of reps. This includes counting the number of waves you caught, how long you surfed for, how far you paddled out to the lineup. And there are surf apps (Dawn Patrol, Garmin custom apps, Surfline session tracking) that take this data and present it in a pretty dashboard for you to ogle.

And this works for some people, even for a while. Then it stops working.

As one commenter put it: "After a certain point, raw wave count becomes a poor measure of progression. Once wave catching is truly removed as a barrier, you learn to care more about wave selection and quality more than quantity."

I used to count waves when I couldn't catch waves yet. Once you can catch them, the metric has to change.

The same logic applies to: how many times you popped-up, how many times you popped up without using a knee or fast enough to turn, how many times you've managed to turn on a wave and go down the line, how many surfers you restrained yourself from having words with in the parking lot because they snaked you.

Counting works to a point.

🎯 What experienced surfers actually track
The real progress signal, according to most experienced surfers, is internal. It's the moment when something that used to require thought becomes automatic.

It's easier if we share how some surfers describe it.

"Last few weeks I really focused on looking where I wanted to go during pop-up. Noticed yesterday I was just doing it, not thinking about it. Progress."

So this means we need to move from counting to… what? The best way to describe it is probably: when the thing (pop-up, turn, duck dive etc.) moves from "thinking about it" to "doing it without thinking." In short: when it becomes automatic.

Some surfers believe that this is the only form of progress that surfing actually offers.

We will talk about "what level of surfer you think you are" some time soon, but automation doesn't mean that the skill order doesn't matter.

This one is easier although not perfect science.

Get to the back, pop-up becomes a second nature (but it still doesn't mean that it has to be a super fast pop-up), then wave selection, position on the wave, trim, bottom turn and so on. Each skill, once it becomes automatic, should, in theory, unlock the next.

🤷 The anti-tracking camp
Now that we've figured out what we could track, let's talk about how bad tracking actually is. Because there's a small, but a very loud cohort of surfers that believe that we should stop tracking entirely.

These surfers say things like:

"The only thing I track is the fun I'm having."

"Every surfer should really get the idea of some timeline of progression out of their head. Just go have fun, prioritize that as much or more and you're good."

And we get their argument. Surfing isn't like any other sport. The ocean changes every session, and you will never have controlled conditions. I don't want to hear a word about wave pools. That's a different sport.

Should beginners just let go and stop torturing themselves with progress anxiety, because while anxiety can be measured, progress in surfing cannot?

Not so fast. That would be a total cop out, wouldn't it? Human beings, after all, derive pleasure and happiness from winning, or mastering new skills.

👁️ What you can't see from the inside
The most agreed-upon advice across everything we've researched (and experienced) is: if you can't tell, someone needs to tell you.

Many argue (and we agree) that surfing is easier and progress is faster when a coach is watching and giving feedback. Unless you don't enjoy being coached, in which case, all bets are off.

Most beginners' biggest problems (positioning, timing, looking down at their feet during pop-up) are invisible from the inside. You may think you're doing it right, but that's just an opinion.

That's why hiring an instructor occasionally, not constantly, may not be the worst idea.

Just enough to get an outside eye telling you what you can't see yourself.

"If you get a lesson once in a while from a good instructor, they can diagnose what you need to work on and give you some tips. Then you practice on your own."

Alternatives if a coach isn't available: video yourself, surf with more experienced people, watch better surfers in the lineup and copy what they do.

📌 The single best practical move
If you only take one thing from this:

Before each session, pick one thing to focus on. Just one. I'm pretty sure we talked about this before once or twice. But it's surfing, so we forget.

So, tape a sticky note to the nose of your board if you have to: "I will not let anyone steal my wave today."

At the end of the session, ask: did the thing happen automatically, or did I have to think about it? The former means progress!

💡 The honest answer
There is no objective metric that tells you whether you're progressing fast or slow. Whether you're going forward or backwards. It's too much of an unpredictable sport. All we hope for is for our surfing skills to progress from conscious to unconscious like breathing.

"My progression feels like one step forward, two steps back, then three steps forward! It's infuriating sometimes. Right now I'm out of the water. And I feel like the old fears are creeping back in. The patience you need for this sport is insane—and I am not a patient person! Why do I keep going? I do not know." says one of Girls Who Can't Surf Good.

Yeah, I don't know either. But we just keep going.

👉 We don’t need surf apps for tracking, but we still have a long list

^{WORD OF THE WEEK}

🤨 What the heck is an asym?

Asyms. Asymmetricals. Asymmetrical surfboards.

Once upon a time, and roughly every other day since, they've been hailed as the future of surfing. The ultimate response to every surfer's dream to own a surfboard so customized to their skill level and wave conditions that no matter how crap they are at surfing, they will surf like a pro.

Sorry, not happening.

👀 What does it look like?
If you've never seen an asymmetrical surfboard before, they look… just wrong. So wrong.

One side of the board may have a different tail shape than the other. Or one rail may be longer, and one side may be wider. Then the fins may not match.

Sometimes they look like someone shaped a regular surfboard and then got high and accidentally melted half of it. We know this is subjective, but they aren't pretty. Because symmetry is the prettiest one of them all.

🦶 Regular vs goofy
Still, some surfers, more experienced surfers, swear by them. Their argument? We humans are not symmetrical (especially frontside vs backside), therefore our boards shouldn't have to be either.

You know how you prefer going right or left on a wave, depending on what your stance is: regular or goofy.

Yeah, most surfers have a "good side".

Frontside usually feels more open, powerful, natural. You can see the wave, your eyes can follow it, so your body rotates more freely.

Backside, meanwhile, often feels compressed, kind of awkward and stiff. Plain weird, really, especially for beginners.

🔑 Backside surfing is key
That's where asymmetrical surfboards enter the conversation. Let me tell you a little secret: what if you could make your backside feel like your frontside?

This matters because backside surfing is where a huge number of intermediate surfers fizzle out. Their frontside surfing is pro-level, but when it comes to backside, bodies feel twisted, surfing feels somehow delayed.

And asymmetrical boards claim to directly address some of those problems. Sort of.

Some shapers are being more honest and admit that few surfers need hyper-specialized boards. That for the asym boards to be successful, you need consistent conditions, certain wave types, and to be performing specific types of turns. Dare we say, you need to be a specific type of surfer?

🤷‍♀️ Do I need one?
Probably not. But wouldn't it be fun to try one anyway?

^{PIC OF THE WEEK}

🌊 Lola faces the wave

I mean, what a shot!

This is Lola Fleming, also known as Limitless Lola, photographed by Rick Jackoway the day before the SLO County Open in Pismo Beach in Central California.

In case you haven’t heard of Lola before (we hadn’t), she surfs, skis and skates, and is on the USA Surfing Junior National Team.

Rick’s photo “Lola Faces the Wave” was named as a semi-finalist in the first NYU Sports Photo Contest.

^{LATEST FROM GIRLS WHO CAN’T SURF GOOD}

💬 3 things we’re figuring out this week

🌴 Looking for a Bali surf camp for Christmas/NYE, beginner-ish, ideally not just 20-somethings. Community top picks: Xanadu Surf & Yoga in Lombok (30+ crowd, Christmas and NY dinners, 25 min from Bali), Hanging Surf Club in Bali (book Leo for 3-5 day lesson packs at Serangan and Baby Reef Sanur), Kima Surf Camp, Rapture Camps Padang Padang.

🌉 Five days in San Francisco, advanced beginner or intermediate, want mellow waves and a lesson. Community top picks: Pacifica/Linda Mar (closest mellow option, 30-40 min from SF), Traveler Surf Shop in Pacifica (women-owned, rentals + sauna + storage), Sonlight Surfshop for board rentals, Alvaro Tisoc for coaching, Santa Cruz an hour south (Jacks, Cowells, Steamers), Bolinas via Pacific Coast Surf Lessons (no board rental locally).

🛣️ SF-to-LA road trip, advanced beginner, looking for mellow spots along the coast. Community top picks, from south to north: Malibu, Mondo's (north of Ventura), Cambria, Morro Bay (cool vibe, not always mellow), Capitola, 38th/41st Street and Cowells in Santa Cruz, Linda Mar in Pacifica. Skip Ocean Beach in SF. Locals also flagged: check with surf shops about shark breeding seasons and currents before paddling.

👉 Join us for more recs, chatter, and support

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ River surfing injuries. Burnout in British surfing. Munich’s wave returns. Surf films go to Cannes.

🌊 Surfer nearly loses leg after river surfing wipeout
What initially seemed like a minor fall at Boise Whitewater Park turned into a rare medical emergency requiring emergency surgery and a long recovery.

😮‍💨 Eight-time English surfing champion opens up about burnout
Lucy Campbell says years of nonstop competition, travel and pressure eventually left her bedridden and unable to surf for weeks.

🏞️ Munich’s famous river wave is back
The iconic Eisbach wave has officially reopened after disappearing during maintenance and following months of controversy and safety concerns.

🎬 Surf-themed animated film to open Cannes Critics’ Week
“In Waves”, based on AJ Dungo’s beloved graphic novel about surfing, love and grief, is heading to Cannes.

👉 Read the full news roundup

^{THIS WEEK’S WEE SURF SHOPPE FIND}

🫎 The cutest surf thing we’ve found in a while 🥹

This week's Wee Surf Shoppe gem is...Jonas Claesson. Because honestly, how do you choose just one thing from his world? 😭

Jonas is an artist inspired by the ocean, surfing, and the natural world. He grew up in Sweden, keeping an eye out for moose while exploring forests and remote islands. These days, he lives in Australia with his family, where the wildlife spotting has mostly been replaced by glassy ankle-slapper (not an animal) spotting.

His work somehow manages to be funny and cute + peaceful and whimsical. We want to buy everything!

And yes, we absolutely added The Surfing Animals Alphabet to the Wee Surf Shoppe. 🥰

👉 Check it out

^{JUST IN ALL THINGS SURF DIRECTORY}

😭 Three surf trips we wish were going on

Summer is almost around the corner in the Northern Hemisphere. Who wants to go on a surfing vacay?

🥹 Cold Hawai’i—sorry, Denmark—in June: they had us at “warm soup” and “wild water swimming.”

🌺 Mentawais in August: who can say no to coral planting and batik workshops?

😜 Baja in November: coaching by a pro surfer? Meals by a pro chef? What next—a pro hot tub?!

👉 More surf retreats, events and meetups in the directory

^{ALL THINGS THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY}

_{The Wipeout Weekly—our home and digital magazine.
The Wee Surf Shoppe—explore useful, cute, and sometimes simply outrageous surf “stuffs”.
The Wipeout Weekly podcast—daily surf stories and weekly* guests.
All Things Surf Directory—surf retreats, learn to surf, classifieds, surf-side lodging, you name it.
Girls Who Can’t Surf Good—an 86k-member-strong private group on Facebook.}
Feedback—we do want to hear from you! Whatever is on your mind, drop us a line.

⬆️ Aaaaaaand that was the last wave of the week!
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