🏄‍♀️ How not to die in the ocean💀

🌺 Happy Dale Webster Celebration Day! Imagine surfing every single day for 40 years. Every. Freaking. Day. Four decades without missing a session. Today, we celebrate California icon Dale Webster—who passed away this week—for his incredible, unwavering commitment to surfing.

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• How not to die in the ocean 🌊💀

• Surfy & dusty Santa Teresa 🌴💨

• No surfing without Duke 👑🌺

• The news: wipeout edition 💦🤕

• Surf hair is hard labor 💇‍♀️🌀

^SURFODRAMA

 😱 How to stay safe in the ocean—so you don't die surfing 🫠

Hot on the heels of surfing with anxiety in our last edition, here’s potentially more stuff to give you anxiety. But don’t worry—we’ve got solutions!

I don’t know about you, but I’m okay with nose dives, wipeouts, underwater somersaults, and failed turtle rolls. Weirdly, all of them make me feel safer in the ocean—because despite how often they happen, I don’t usually panic.

I’m not really scared of the ocean, per se. I’m scared of the unexpected: a two-wave hold-down, getting too tired trying to punch through the whitewash to the back, rip currents, passing out after being hit by my own board—or someone else’s.

You could probably write a book (and I’m sure someone has) about how to stay safe in the ocean while surfing. That’s why we’re just going to focus on a few non-negotiable areas.

🏊‍♀️ You DO need to know how to swim
You will hear it from experienced surfers that you shouldn’t be surfing if you’re not a confident swimmer. I am not one, and yet I surf. Because it is perfectly possible to surf a beach break at low tide if you’re not Michael Phelps. But as Kunu says in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, you gotta do more. More than just floating or doing doggie paddles.

A year ago, I had this audacious idea that I’m going to do the Malibu Triathlon, and I trained for it. I went out swimming in the pool. I went out swimming in the ocean. And the knowledge that I can keep going for 30 minutes non-stop gave me more confidence that perhaps I won’t drown while surfing. (I didn’t do the triathlon—I’m too slow without the freestyle.)

Learning to bodysurf and bodyboard can also be super beneficial.

🚫 DO NOT overstretch yourself
This can apply to soooo many situations. Do not surf in a surf spot that is clearly beyond your abilities. Do not surf on a bigger day than you can handle—the whitewash may just murder you. Do not surf if you’re stressed or feeling off. The ocean will give back whatever you bring with you. Sure, you can challenge yourself, but be smart.

🛑 If the whitewash doesn’t kill you, your (or someone else’s) board will
In the surf, I’m concerned about the big waves battering me, but not as much as I am terrified of being smacked by my own board or getting someone else’s fin embedded in my body.

For your sake and everyone else’s—do not ditch your board. Hold onto it (in as many different configurations as necessary) and do not let go. Stay far enough from other surfers so you’re not on the receiving end of someone’s board flying through the air. When you come off your board, jump as far away from it as humanly possible. And if you’re not a fan of plastic surgery, cover your head and face.

I wish all surf schools would teach students how to walk out into the surf. I’ve seen it recommended that you hold your board by the nose, perpendicular to the waves. The latter I take no issue with, but I find it much easier to hold the board to my side and push the tail down to get across the whitewash. I do a little jump, too.

🦶Be aware of the bottom
If you’re surfing a beach break, there isn’t much to worry about. Well, maybe when you’re walking out, be aware that the bottom may suddenly disappear, because it’s not always perfectly flat. And maybe, just maybe, there are stingrays. Just shuffle your feet.

But if your break is a sharp reef or cobblestones, you’ve got to be careful about how you fall off your board—and sometimes what you wear when walking out. Booties may be needed.

🌊 Learn this about rip currents
I don’t know why or how—because it’s been ages ago—but the first thing I learned about safety in the ocean while surfing was about rip currents. Do not paddle against it—paddle parallel to the beach.

Rip currents are sneaky little effers, always bending backward to tire you out as you battle against them. So either paddle parallel to the shore (you can do it at a slight angle), or if that’s too tough, let yourself float past it and then attempt the parallel paddling.

😮‍💨 Relax, don’t do it (panic!)
It’s easy to advise DO NOT panic. But panic is largely involuntary. I think it’s safer to say—relax if you can, because whatever you’re experiencing is going to pass. And if you know how to deal with these situations, it will pass pretty quickly.

Finally, it’s always safer to surf where you’re not the only one in the water. Even safer with a buddy. And if you don’t know the most common SOS sign for “I’m drowning / I’m in trouble,” it’s one arm up in the air, and do a small wave. 🫡

^{SURF SPOT SPOTLIGHT}

🏝️ Santa Teresa—a slightly lesser-known beginner surf spot in Costa Rica

You know those places that seem to appear in every “surf + yoga + Açai bowl” Instagram reel? That’s Santa Teresa. Except in real life, it’s a lot...dustier.

🌊 Waves
Santa Teresa is basically one long stretch of beach with multiple peaks. Playa Carmen is your go-to if you’re starting out—mellow and forgiving at mid to high tide. Playa Santa Teresa itself has faster, punchier waves for when you’re ready to level up. For extra chill vibes, head north to Playa Hermosa: softer peaks at high tide, more kick at low. Water’s like soup year-round, so no wetsuit required—just a rash guard if you don’t want to burn.

🚰 Water quality
Generally clean, though rainy season (May–Nov) can mean more runoff and murk after heavy storms. Dry season? Crystal clear and perfect for those “just-caught-a-wave” GoPro shots.

👙 Wardrobe
Bikinis, boardies, or rash guards 365 days a year—water hovers around 27°C (80°F). Just pack all the sunscreen.

☀️ Best time to surf
December to April is the sweet spot for beginners—smaller, cleaner waves and glassy mornings. Rainy season (May–Nov) brings bigger, more consistent swells for intermediates and beyond.

⚠️ Hazards
Strong rips at lower tides, especially on bigger swell days. Watch out for hidden rocks at some peaks and the occasional runaway ATV zooming along the sand.

🏄🏻‍♀️ Surfboard rental
Everywhere. The main road is lined with surf shops—Nalu, Del Soul, Pura Vida Surfers—offering everything from soft-tops and longboards to shortboards and fish. Most will swap boards mid-rental if you want to try something new.

🍉 What else to do in Santa Teresa
Yoga studios on every corner, beachside cocktails at sunset, waterfall hikes in nearby Montezuma, or ATV missions up dusty jungle trails to find hidden beaches. The most important things–fish tacos are just about anywhere.

🧳 Solo traveling
Totally doable. The surf/yoga/backpacker crowd is friendly, and surf camps or hostels make it easy to meet people. Just note—Santa Teresa is spread out along a dirt road, so either rent an ATV or embrace long sandy walks in flip-flops.

^{SURF THRU HISTORY}

🌺 Duke Kahanamoku: Aloha spirit incarnate

Before surfing was a global obsession—before it had pro contests, COVID surfers, and surfluencers—there was Duke. The ultimate anti-surf-aggro surf hero. 🥰

I honestly do not want to imagine a world where Duke Kahanamoku was never born. We probably would never have surfed. He was "the most magnificent human male God ever put on the earth" after all.

🏝️ A waterman is born
Duke—and that’s his given name—Kahanamoku was born in 1890 in Honolulu, Hawaii, into a family of watermen: surfers, swimmers, and paddlers.

Around the time of his birth, surfing suffered a decline because it was fun—and Calvinist missionaries did not do fun. Plus, the entire Hawaiian society was decimated by diseases brought from the mainland. Thankfully, by the time Duke went to school, religion was out, making money from tourism was in, and surfing became a thing again. Waikiki emerged as the newest vacation destination.

🏊 Duke the champion
Though we remember him most as a surfer, Duke first made his mark as a swimmer. In 1911, when he was 20, he broke the American 50-yard record by more than a second and beat the 100-yard world record by over four seconds.

The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) was in total disbelief and didn’t recognize these feats until many years later. According to Wikipedia, they claimed the judges must have been using alarm clocks rather than stopwatches, and later argued that ocean currents had aided Kahanamoku.

Duke won his first Olympic gold medal in 1912 in Stockholm, setting a world record in the 100-meter freestyle. Over the next twelve years, he collected five Olympic medals (three gold, two silver) and became a Hawaiian hero and an international sports icon.

🏄 Surfing goes global
While Duke was competing and performing swimming exhibitions around the world, he brought something else along: his surfboard.

In 1915, he paddled out at Freshwater Beach in Sydney, Australia, and gave what’s considered the first public surfing demonstration outside Hawaii. He did the same in California, inspiring the earliest mainland surfers.

Even before the Olympics, when all the surfers in Waikiki were hanging out near the shore, Duke would build himself a 10-foot board and paddle further offshore to surf much bigger and longer waves. He would make the beachgoers look twice as he approached the shore—standing on his head.

🌟 Not quite fame
He was celebrated as a swimmer and a surfer, hanging out with Charlie Chaplin, Babe Ruth, and John Wayne. But he was also a dark-skinned school dropout who was only given small roles in movies and was denied service at restaurants and hotels.

Thanks to his new manager, Kimo Wilder McVay, from 1961 Duke was at the head of a small commercial empire that included Duke Kahanamoku’s Restaurant, the Duke Kahanamoku Invitational Surfing Championships, and merchandise.

Unfortunately, Duke didn’t get a chance to enjoy commercial success for long, as he died of a heart attack in 1968 at age 77.

💫 The Duke legacy
Duke was a skilled wave-rider, but his real gift to surfing was the way he presented the sport as something that could be practiced with grace, humor, and generosity, according to Matt Warshaw’s Encyclopedia of Surfing.

“You know,” he said in 1965, “there are so many waves coming in all the time, you don’t have to worry about that. Take your time—wave come. Let the other guys go; catch another one.”

I have to wholeheartedly agree with Matt here: surfing’s greatest shortcoming may be that surfers have, for the most part, failed to live up to the Kahanamoku ideal.

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ Yacht surfs Waikiki. Canoe goes to ER. Movie stars nearly drown.

• 60-foot yacht goes out surfing in Waikiki

• A 6-man paddling canoe wipes out, goes to ER

• Movie stars: “I nearly drowned” and “I was not allowed to almost drown”

• Surf Ranch Who? Wavegarden arrives in the US of A 

👉 Read the full news roundup

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY POD}

🎙️ Surf hair don’t care… except I do care, so I talked to Brittany Jones

When I was growing up, all I wanted was surfy, wavy hair. But it wasn’t meant to be—I have super fine, damningly straight tresses.

Maybe that’s why I’m semi-obsessed with how, after a surf, other people’s hair looks like they just stepped off a catwalk… and mine looks like I’ve just crawled out of a trash can.

Which is also why I effectively interrogated Brittany Jones—beginner surfer, experienced sailor and diver, and founder of Coconut Smuggler—on all things hair, in our latest episode.

🎧 Listen to The Wipeout Weekly on your fav pod platform or right here.

^{WEE PROMO CORNER}

🏄🏻‍♀️ Lucky enough to be 55+? You can hit a surf retreat in 2026

Lisa, one of the founders of Sassy Silver Surfers, and Alex of Modern Sage—who took up surfing at 58—are organizing their first-ever retreat for women 55 and over!

The retreat will run Sunday, February 1 – Sunday, February 8, 2026 in Rinconada, a neighborhood in the northern part of Puerto Escondido, Mexico.

Expect surfing, yoga, journaling workshops, game night, and an excursion to a turtle sanctuary—plus daily breakfast and plenty of free time in the afternoons. No surfing experience necessary: surf lessons with photo analysis are included.

The deposit is only $249 and is due by September 15!

👉 Learn more about the retreat

🛍️ Free the codes!

🧴 Coconut Smuggler — pre- and post-surf haircare by Brittany.
Use code GWCSG20 for 20% off.

🧘 Yoga for Surfers — improve your pop-up & more by Inessa.
Use code GIRLS.

_{P.S. If you’d like your product or service featured in our newsletter—for free—just reply to this email and pitch us.}

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

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