🏄‍♀️ Surfing is so bloody tiring—and how to make it less so 😩

👋 Happy 13th! Let’s be glad it’s not a Friday. If you’re going surfing, we have a little pick-me-up for you on how to make surfing less tiring. Or you could just pick up an e-foil and never be tired again — but we do not recommend.

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• Surfing is so bloody tiring 😩

• Hydrofoiling…is it even surfing? 🪂

• Your wetsuit stinks 💩

• Kook cord is good for you 🪢

• Latest surf news 🗞️

^SURFODRAMA

😱 Surfing is so bloody tiring—and how to make it less so 😩

I surfed 5 out of 7 days last week, and after that last session, I felt totally stoned and had to crash for a nap. The stoned bit I can live with. The nap? Not ideal. I don’t have time for that. So how do you surf without getting so bloody tired?

Surfing humbles even the fittest among us. You can run marathons, do CrossFit every day of the week, or swim laps—and still find yourself out of breath after just a few waves. Because, in case you weren’t told, surfing is an extreme and endurance sport.

Plus, there’s nothing natural about it. The muscle groups you’re using—triceps, shoulders, traps, lats, lower back—you’re using them lying down on a board. So, unlike when you’re swimming.

And paddling can be totally exhausting. Ninety percent of surfing is getting to the lineup and paddling into the right position.

🧠 It’s not just fitness—it’s efficiency

You may think that this is all about being in your peak shape, but it’s as much about fitness as it is about efficiency. You’ve seen the best surfers out there. None of them looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger. But they do know how to relax in the surf, conserve energy, and use their breath and body in the most efficient way possible. Some say that paddling should feel as easy as walking. Treat it like a stroll, not a sprint.

🧥 Is your wetsuit holding you back?

Before we jump into how to be like the best surfers out there, a couple of things to consider. If you’re wearing a wetsuit, it might be working against you.

If it’s not a good fit, no matter how fit you are, you’ll always be on your back foot. A poorly fitting wetsuit can wear you out faster than you think—especially if it's too tight around the shoulders or traps. It could be too thick for the conditions, and you didn’t notice.

Or, if your suit doesn’t keep you warm enough, you will definitely get tired faster. That’s why some surfers swear by Yamamoto neoprene and custom wetsuits. But it’s hard to tell for sure how much difference they would make to your efficiency without trying them out.

🥤 Food, water, sleep, repeat

Two other considerations that typically skip our attention. One—you need to fuel up. If you don’t have the energy, there’s no way you’ll hit any efficiency levels. Your brain just won’t compute. Make sure you drink enough water, too. It’s just like in any other sport.

Two—be smart. No matter how great the waves are, everyone has a different limit as to how much time they can spend in the water and surfing.

If you feel like you’re running out of juice, it’s time to call it a day and get onto your recovery. Because endurance is built over time. Your body needs recovery days, sleep, and proper fuel to adapt. You’re building slow-twitch muscle fibers and increasing mitochondrial efficiency—you know, science.

Actually, there’s one more thing before we jump into what to do so you don’t get tired out in the surf. Sometimes, it’s the conditions, not your fitness. Getting pounded by a massive beach break on a strong current day will zap anyone. So one day you may feel like a surfing Superman, the next like a total failure.

📝 What Reddit surfers recommend

Ok, so here are a few things you can do to not conk out too early while surfing, according to our good surfer friends on Reddit.

Accept that you need to be fit to surf. No shortcuts. You can do all the land training—like cardio, resistance, and strength—but it’s surfing regularly that will make all the difference.

Get smart and time your paddle-out during lulls. Also, use rip currents or channels to your advantage, and rest outside the impact zone.

As for paddling—paddle with long, smooth strokes—no thrashing. No sprinting unless it’s required to catch a wave. Focus on your position first and foremost.

Also, practice posture and body awareness, especially if you’re just starting out. Are you in the sweet spot on your board? Not too far forward or back? Are you lifting your chest with your lower back constantly? If it all hurts, you can practice on land by doing some prone supermans and thoracic extensions.

Everyone says it because it’s true: the more you surf, the easier it gets. Paddle fitness is earned in the ocean. No cheating. Technique helps, gear helps, fitness helps—but nothing replaces water time.

^{WORD OF THE WEEK}

🪂 Hydrofoiling...is it even surfing?

A couple of weeks ago, there was a dude at my local break wheezing around the lineup, making me wish he was a paddleboarder. He was riding a monstrosity otherwise known as an efoil. Which begs a question: hydrofoiling...is it even surfing?

I bet you have seen them around too, because apparently efoiling is the next best thing in water sports, combining elements of traditional wakeboarding, kiteboarding, hydrofoil surfing and… surfing.

So basically, it’s a Frankenstein of watersports. An expensive Frankenstein too, because these electricity-powered boards, unless you buy them directly from the Temus of watersports, retail for $8,000–$15,000.

🤔 How did we get here…

…to this surfboard-like board that doesn’t touch the water surface, can shred for miles, and may inflict even more serious injury than a big wave gun?

Hydrofoiling has been around for centuries (the first patent was filed in 1869) and was initially used in boat design.

The principle hasn’t changed: a hydrofoil is a wing (or foil) placed under the hull of a boat or board that, as forward speed increases, generates lift, raising the hull out of the water. The result is reduced drag and therefore higher speeds and/or greater efficiency.

🏄 A brief history of foiling

Hydrofoil tech trickled into recreational and watersport domains much later, in the later 20th century. There was a waterski hydrofoil, a surfing kneeboard hydrofoil, and a sit-down foil — which you also may know as an Air Chair—was first ridden in 1984.

Hydrofoiling among surfers gained notoriety when we all watched Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama riding hydrofoils at Jaws in Maui in in 2003. Laird had been experimenting with hydrofoils for years, because he knew that they could reduce the drag that prevented a rider from getting enough speed to outrun the biggest waves.

That was Laird’s reasoning, but hydrofoils don’t need the biggest swells to be fun. You can use them like a regular surfboard in small surf, or you can combine it with a paddle (SUP foiling), or a kite (kite foiling), or a wing, or you can get towed behind a boat or water ski. Finally, you can become totally self-sufficient by spending $8,000–$15,000 to add an electric motor and a remote to your board.

If I sound like I’m not a fan of efoiling, it’s because I am not a fan of efoiling. The same way as I am not a fan of electric surfboards. Even if there’s no danger of accidental electrocution per se.

🤝 What I love about foiling

What I love about foiling (kite, wing, SUP etc.) is that it removes the main source of surf aggro where waves are a limited resource. You can foil as far away from the lineup as humanly possible, and it's all good when you stay out of the way.

As one Redditor put it:

“I too wing foil and it's great to go out and surf for 12+ miles in an hour while riding waves, swell and beating upwind. The best part is there is no competition for waves so everyone is friends on the beach and eager to help newcomers. Learning was a bitch though.”

And while it’s not as cheap as surfing, like a beat-up Wavestorm from FB Marketplace for $50, you can find a wing foil package for under $1,500. I’m also told:

“It feels like a hoverboard and a new branch off the tree trunk of surfing . And under wind power you feel like Poseidon's spawn.”

I’m not going to be trying it any time soon, so do let me know how you get on.

^{SURF SCIENCE (KINDA)}

💩 Why does my wetsuit stink?

Neoprene stinks. Literally and figuratively. I know we shouldn’t be complaining about the one thing that makes it possible for us to surf in non-tropical conditions.

But seriously, why didn’t we invent a material for a wetsuit that would be easier to care for?

And your wetsuit stinks too? That’s normal. Would you like it to stink less? We have some ideas.

👉 Read the full guide

^{SURFING THRU HISTORY}

🪢 The kook cord is good for you

Crazy to think that once—and it wasn’t that long ago—all surfers went leashless. What might be even more insane? That once upon a time, you actually had to be a very good swimmer to surf.

And why would you even wear a leash, anyway—especially when, according to the Encyclopedia of Surfing, more than 10% of surfing injuries are caused by leash recoil? Or when full-time surfers report breaking 2 to 10 leashes a year? It’s an expensive hobby.

But leashes are good for you.

In case you need some convincing, read on. Warning: you’re about to learn more than you ever wanted to know about leashes.

👉 Read the full story

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ Sharked punched. Watermen inducted. Mavericks swells. Alyssa hat-tricks.

🦈 Wing-foiler punches his way out of a shark encounter
A 61-year-old surfer in Margaret River survived a shark attack by landing on the predator—then punching it before paddling to safety.

🏆 Four legends inducted into the Hawaiʻi Waterman Hall of Fame
This year’s honorees shaped surf history—from pioneering women’s pro surfing to dominating outrigger races and charging Peʻahi.

🌊 Mavericks season kicks off with 40-foot giants and cracked ribs
The big-wave break roared to life on November 6, drawing elite surfers, injuries, and one very determined 19-year-old.

🦸‍♀️ Alyssa Spencer wins her third Super Girl Surf Pro title
With a powerful performance in Florida, Alyssa becomes the only surfer to three-peat this QS event—outsurfing the youngest finalist ever.

👉 Read the full news roundup

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

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