🏄‍♀️ So you think you're ready for a custom board? 🫣

👋 Happy Fourth to all who celebrate! To everyone else, hope you squeeze in a wee surf this weekend. 🏄🏻‍♀️

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• So you think you’re ready for a custom board? 🫣

• WTH is a surf city? 😳

• This is all of us 🤲

• From break-up to Denmark 🇩🇰

• Surf news roundup 🗞️

^SURFODRAMA

🏄🏻‍♀️ So you think you’re ready for a custom board? 🙄

I bought my one and only custom surfboard because of FOMO, more than a decade ago. A 9'6" from Brian Hillbers of Fineline, in LA.

After my husband picked up a Fineline longboard from Mollusk surf shop in San Francisco for our Bolinas Sundays, I didn't want to be left behind and contacted Brian directly.

Would he make me one? He would. Would it cost less than from Mollusk? It would.

It took a few months, and it was, very surprisingly, a collaborative process. When we went to pick the board up, we brought a six pack of beer. We read somewhere that's what you do when you work with a shaper. $800, which made it about $150 cheaper than buying it from the shop. My handpicked design and colors. I was in love.

I remained in love until I moved to SoCal, and Venice Breakwater became my local break. My board was not only long, but heavy as hell. Not made for someone who needs to navigate fast closing waves, even on the smallest days. But hey, that's the price you pay for stability and effortless pop-ups. It was a gliding machine.

Whenever I see someone post a picture of their new gorgeous, custom surfboard (little colorful flowers always get me), I wonder: would I ever do it again? And if you're thinking about it too, here are a few things to consider.

🤔 Should you even?
There's no rule against getting a custom board as a beginner. Plenty of beginners do. Plenty of flash-with-cash beginners get multiple custom boards, too. It's just that it makes more sense to wait until you know what's what. Because the main reason why you get a custom board is that you can't find a board that you want in a shop. And how will you ever know that if you don't at least try out a few different boards, from friends or second-hand, before committing to a considerably larger expense than a factory-made board?

📍 Where will you be surfing?
Next, think about where you’ll actually be surfing this specific board. Is this supposed to be an all-rounder replacement for your 8-foot foamie that you'll travel with, or a board you'll commit to one break? This is also one of the key questions that will shape not only the type of board you choose, but also which shaper you work with. Because it's always best to work with a shaper who's familiar with your surf spot.

The advantage of getting a custom surfboard for a specific break is also being able to observe what other surfers at your level and a similar build are riding. If you're lucky, you may even spot a local shaper's logo on their board. Or you can just talk to them. Preferably after the surf, on the beach.

🔍 Choosing your shaper
There's more to selecting your shaper than them being local. You wouldn't just go to any custom tailor, would you? Have a look at their website, see what types of boards they shape. Check out their socials. Now even the biggest traditionalists show off their wares on Instagram to bring in custom orders.

💬 The interview
The shaper will ask you about your weight, height, age, where you surf, how often, all year round or when it's only small or only big. They should drill down into your surf abilities beyond the level at which you surf, and what you like and dislike about your current board. Finally, what are your goals: do you want to cross-step or nose-ride, or are you hoping to graduate to 360-degree aerials?

They may ask you questions that you have no idea how to answer: what type of box do you want, more or less rocker than your current board, what blank you prefer, how do you want it glassed? This is why sometimes it is better to postpone ordering a custom board until you know what you actually want.

🖌️ Artwork, deposit, timeline
And then, there's the artwork or none, a deposit to be paid and timeline to be agreed upon. It helps if you connect with your shaper on a more personal level rather than making it solely transactional.

Depending on how busy your shaper is, it can take a few weeks to a few months to finally get your hands on your new baby. And then, no backsies, no returns. It's yours and yours alone.

💔 Things nobody tells you
Getting a ding in your second-hand board is annoying, but nothing hurts more than damaging your brand new custom board. Tail and nose are usually the first victims.

And if you're going for a custom color and a tragedy strikes, like in my case, a shortboarder embedding their fin into my rail, it costs a lot more to match it and repair it. Which is why I have a big, fat, ugly white stripe running across my board. You rip your custom fin box out in the shallows? That will also be a little bit extra.

But when it's all said and done, owning a board made just for you is a rewarding experience. And you should absolutely try it. Whenever you're ready.

^{WORD OF THE WEEK}

😳 WTH is a surf city?

Woohoo! Sayulita in Mexico is about to become a "Surf City"! But what does this even mean?

Sayulita will officially become Mexico's first Surf City, receiving the designation on November 2, 2026, during the destination's Day of the Dead celebrations. Sayulita is joining a global club that includes Ericeira and Nazaré in Portugal, San Sebastián in Spain, Miraflores in Peru, and Arica in Chile. And Nayarit (that's the Mexican state) got itself the Vice Presidency of the World Surf Cities Network while it was at it.

According to The World Surf Cities Network that has so far bestowed this honor on 19 (or maybe 20) cities now, a Surf City is "an urban area where surfing and its culture are an essential part of local life, and where the surf industry forms a significant basis of the city's economy, employment, and cultural identity."

Ok, cool, it's all clear now. Not quite.

🌇 A tale of too many Surf Cities
There's also Surf City, North Carolina, there's Surf City, New Jersey. And there's the one and only Surf City USA. No, wait...this is where it gets interesting.

It all started in 1963, when a band called Jan & Dean sang "Surf City" that starts with the line you may be familiar with: "Two girls for every boy!"

The lyrics didn't specify the location to said societal marvel and led to a conflict between Santa Cruz in Northern California and Huntington Beach in Southern California that both claimed to be "Surf City USA".

👩‍⚖️ Politicians enter, because of course
In 1992, according to the Encyclopedia of Surfing, former Huntington Beach mayor Tom Mays wrote a bill asking that the state of California officially recognize Huntington as "Surf City." Santa Cruz assemblyman Sam Farr countered that surfing was introduced to mainland America by Hawaiians at the Santa Cruz rivermouth in 1885, and therefore Santa Cruz is the OG.

Then there was Hillary Clinton campaigning for Santa Cruz: "This is the real Surf City where only real surfers surf." Huntington Beach congressman Dana Rohrabacher responded by saying "Surf City isn't supposed to be a laid-back place with laid-back people."

This political circus went on for decades and turned into a copyright dispute. So un-surfy.

🤡 Trademarkgate
Huntington Beach filed nine trademark applications for "Surf City USA".

Santa Cruz's Mayor Mike Rotkin went on local TV to sing his own version of Jan & Dean's tune, threw in a lyric about leaving your lawyers with their trademark tricks, and proposed a surf-off with the trademark as the prize. Legend. He also threatened to file a competing trademark for "Original Surf City USA."

Dean Torrence, half of Jan & Dean, told the press: "None of us had Santa Cruz in mind. I'm flattered that Santa Cruz is so uptight about it."

The lawsuit that followed dragged from 2006 to 2008 and settled quietly, with Huntington Beach keeping the trademark.

Then in 2009, Surfer magazine crowned Santa Cruz America's number one surf town anyway, adding: "Huntington Beach may have won the right to the name in the California courts, but any surfer who's ever paddled out at Steamer Lane knows the judge got it wrong."

In 2023, California officially designated the I-405 / Beach Boulevard interchange in Huntington Beach as the "Surf City USA" interchange.

So it's on the road signs now. Great. Maybe these guys should go out surfing a bit more.

^{PIC OF THE WEEK}

🤲 This is all of us

Looking at this pic, I feel so seen. Don’t you? 🥰

This is Yachel, @yacheliphotography, one of the Girls Who Can’t Surf Good surfer gals. She started surfing in November and absolutely fell in love with it.

Yachel shared: “Not sure what I was thinking of starting in the winter, but in hindsight it was a good choice. Less surfers out and good waves.”

Smart surf cookie.

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

💬 3 things we’re figuring out this week

🥶 4/3 wetsuit recs for cold-water Denmark surfing, ideally with a chest zip and a bit of color? Community top picks: O'Neill Hyperfreak (stretchy but not the most durable), Rip Curl Flashbomb (skip the Dawn Patrol), Sisstrevolution 4/3, Need Essentials with a bib zip for easier entry, Feral, C-Skins 4/3, Rip Curl E Bomb, and Janga if you want patterns and colors. Abysse if you fancy Yamamoto neoprene, though not for the very coldest water.

🏝️ Beginner surf camp in Lombok, for someone getting back into it after a break? Community top picks: LMBK Surf Camp, Insider Gerupuk, Lombok Logs, Xanadu Surf & Yoga, and Roots Surf Camp & Yoga Retreat.

🌸 Post-breakup August getaway, 35-45 crowd, mellow waves, social but not messy? Community top picks: Costa Rica (Santa Teresa, Nosara, Tamarindo, or Damo Surf Camp in Jaco), Puerto Escondido or Baja in Mexico, WaveHouse or Medewi in Bali, Xanadu Retreat in Lombok, Women + Waves in Portugal (Aug 1-8), The Dames Raglan in New Zealand, the Mentawai women's retreat, Playa Venao in Panama, and Folly Beach in South Carolina for a Southern US option.

👉 Join us for more recs, chatter, and support

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ Orca meets a surfer. Canoe’s big wave day out. The ISA comes to its senses.

🐋 Orca surprises solo surfer in Oregon
A solo surfer in Neskowin, Oregon, got the scare of a lifetime when a large dorsal fin appeared about 30 yards from his board.

🛶 Canoe surfing triple-overhead Waimea
A crew of Hawaiian watermen charged triple-overhead waves at Waimea Bay in an outrigger canoe.

🏄 LA28 Olympic surfing qualification gets updated
After pushback from surfers and national federations, the ISA revised the LA28 Olympic qualification system, increasing WSL Championship Tour spots from five to eight each for men and women.

👉 Read the full news roundup

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⬆️ Aaaaaaand that was the last wave of the week!
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