🏄‍♀️ The break you'd marry 😍

👋 Happy International Surfing Day! That’s on Saturday. Join a paddle out or a beach clean up, or just go out and have fun. Celebrate your way, and stay safe!

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• The break you’d marry 💍

• It’s going to be a destination wedding 🌴

• May your sunset sessions rock 🤘

• From Europe to French Polynesia 🇵🇫

• The only sharks we ever want to meet 🦈

• Surf news roundup 📰

^SURFODRAMA

😱 The break you’d marry

Someone asked me recently what the best break I'd ever surfed was, and without thinking I said Waikiki. Then I added Bolinas. And then, immediately, I felt incredibly ashamed. Because neither answer is impressive.

Waikiki is the surf equivalent of the Eiffel Tower, and Bolinas is a sleepy Marin County town with a foggy beach break that nobody outside Northern California ever talks about. Neither would crack a top hundred list of objectively great waves. But that wasn't really what the question was asking, was it?

I've been thinking about this because of a thread where someone asked surfers a more pointed version of the same question: if you could only surf one break for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

Hundreds of answers came in. And the pattern of why people picked what they picked turned out to be more interesting than any individual answer. Here's who surfers would like to marry.

🛟 The forgiving wave
One surfer picked their break and added, simply: 'I know it won't kill me.' I don't think he was joking. When you're looking down the barrel of a single wave for the rest of your life, the question stops being 'what's the most exciting break I've ever surfed' and becomes 'which one lets me keep surfing into my seventies without getting hauled out on a backboard.'

It also reminded me of Mark Mathews, a famous heavy wave surfer, who surfed Cyclops (it's a very dangerous wave) once and vowed never to surf it again. Sounds about right. 'Crazy exciting' doesn't necessarily make for good marriage material.

🛋️ The cruiser
From one explainer: 'It's an easy drop with a nice wave. It's a cruiser wave and that's my favorite ride.' Mellow, makeable, offers no surprises.

The kind of wave you can surf when you're hungover (we do not recommend), and still have a decent session. You may even feel more alive afterwards.

🤹 The versatile wave
The most well thought through answer in the entire thread talked about getting the most out of a single wave: 'It has a right and a left. It's a high-performance wave but easy to surf. Fun whether there's not much swell or plenty of swell. 1-2 ft or 6-8 ft. Stays relatively glassy and rideable throughout most days.

Someone else made the same case for their break: 'Longboard in the morning and barrels when the tide drops. Best of both worlds.' This almost sounds bigamist, doesn't it?

⏳ The long ride
Several of the most-voted picks were all chosen because they go forever. One commenter put it perfectly: 'That left goes forever, you can ride till your legs get tired.' When you can only have one wave, length begins to matter. I bet we all remember our longest ever rides.

🥹 The sentimental wave
That was the softest category, and probably the largest. The home break, the wave with a person attached. 'Learned there, taught there, my ashes will be spread there.' 'My father's ashes are there. I talk with him about stuff when I'm there.'

Someone picked a South African spot because his dad grew up surfing it. Another picked his home break: 'Might not be world class but it's home. Surf there daily rain or shine.' The feeling, the memories matter more for some than the quality of the spot.

🙅 The conditional wave
Then there's the with-conditions group, who name famous breaks, but only with caveats: 'Empty Lowers.' 'Uncrowded Malibu.' 'Costa Rica minus the crowds.' 'Cloudbreak with no one out.'

That's not really an answer to the question. It's a wave plus a condition the world will never grant you. You will be single forever.

But in the same group, I discovered surfers who would marry any wave really, as long as their mates could come to the wedding. They'd rather have a mediocre wave with three friends than a perfect one with thirty strangers.

🙉 The unthinkable wave
There were a few, very few surfers, who for their wave to marry, have kids, and spend the rest of their lives with picked a wave pool wave. Some said it jokingly, some did not.

Whatever my feelings on the matter (wave pools are not, like, real surfing), the reality is that wave pools are quietly entering the conversation as legitimate answers.

🌺 So why Waikiki and Bolinas
Waikiki is my forgiving wave, and the long ride. It's a beginner spot, there are no expectations, no stress. If you're willing to do a dawn patrol, you can experience it relatively uncrowded. The trade-off is that the only crowd is the locals.

Bolinas is my sentimental wave: longboards, friends, lunch at the Sand Dollar after, and somehow never once a thought about sharks, even though Bolinas sits right next to Stinson Beach and one of the more colourful great white résumés on the California coast.

Had I stayed living in San Francisco, I would've been married to Bolinas for sure. But sometimes things don't work out the way you plan them, and so I've been engaged to Venice Breakwater, the convenient wave, for quite some time.

So, what wave would you marry?

^{SURF SPOT SPOTLIGHT}

🌴 It’s going to be a destination wedding

We talked about the types of waves the surfers would like to marry, but what about specific surf spots?

We have a shortlist! Call it the consensus dream honeymoon list.

Pavones, Costa Rica. It's the long, machine-like left on the Pacific coast of the Osa Peninsula, and the appeal is obvious. When you can only have one wave, you want one that goes forever.

Honolua Bay on Maui is Hawaii's emotional favorite, picked over Pipe and Sunset by people who've ridden all three. Several said it was the wave they'd want when conditions are right and they're in shape to deserve it.

The Gold Coast superbank cluster (Snapper Rocks, Rainbow Bay, Greenmount, Kirra) is very popular. So popular that a few people refused to pick just one of the four and named them as a single ride. Technically a violation, but we’ll allow it.

Rincon. Some of those Rincons are in California, north of Santa Barbara. Some are in Puerto Rico. And we couldn’t tell which one was which.

Lower Trestles in California, Cloudbreak in Fiji, Chicama in Peru and Macaronis in the Mentawais got notable mentions.

If you're planning the trip of a lifetime and want crowdsourced authority, bear in mind that these were very emotional choices for some surfers. Love, right?

You can always refer back to our list of the 25 best beginner surf spots on earth or 11 countries to surf on a budget.

^{PIC OF THE WEEK}

🤘 May your sunset sessions rock on this International Surfing Day

For International Surf Day, we're wishing you all a sunset session as spectacular as this one, captured by Scott Fisher of Cornish Drone Photography.

Scott’s mission is to portray the breathtaking beauty of Devon and Cornwall in the UK through his unique drone, landscape and water photography styles.

You can purchase prints on Scott’s website.

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

💬 3 things we’re figuring out this week

🇪🇺 Where in Europe can I post up for a week or two of mellow longboard waves and good cafés in September? Community top picks: Baleal and Peniche in Portugal, Saunton Sands and Croyde in north Devon, El Cotillo and Corralejo in Fuerteventura, Caleta de Famara in Lanzarote, Imsouane in Morocco.

🌴 Relocating to Guadeloupe or French Polynesia with two small kids, any family-friendly cruisy longboard spots? Community top picks: Le Helleux and Port Louis in Guadeloupe, Papenoo in French Polynesia, Marie-Galante.

🏝️ Surf camp in Central America or South America for an intermediate and her beginner friend? Community top picks: Witch's Rock and Pura Vida in Costa Rica, Sardina and Chica Brava in Nicaragua's Popoyo, Pure Surf and Surf Bikini in Nosara, Corky Carroll's in Costa Rica, Longwave in Peru.

👉 Join us for more recs, chatter, and support

^{THIS WEEK’S WEE SURF SHOPPE FIND}

 🦈 The only sharks we ever want to meet

El Niño is coming. There’s a talk of a sharky summer. Here are three sharks that won't ruin your surf.

🦈 Feels good on your feet shark bath rug
Designed, redesigned, and redesigned again until the manufacturer landed on this exact shark. Ultra-absorbent, extra-soft microfiber. Step out of the shower, onto a shark. Why not at $18.

🍷 'Wine O'Clock Shark Ride' framed cat canvas
A sophisticated cat. A glass of red. A shark. The best gift for a surfer, possibly ever. Whimsical incarnate, framed and ready for the wall. I hung mine in the bathroom. $25 and totally worth it.

🍣 Fun as hell ceramic shark cheese/sushi/fruit plate
Looks like a shark. Has a dipping bowl. Tail doubles as a chopstick rest. Cheese, sushi, fruit, whatever the occasion calls for. The plate is the party. $36 right now.

👉 Check out The Wee Surf Shoppe

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ Carissa goes back-to-back. SoCal has a brutal ocean week. Hunter Jones loses to the pier.

🏆 Carissa Moore goes back-to-back
Carissa Moore is very much back, winning the Surf City El Salvador Pro at Punta Roca for her second WSL Championship Tour victory in a row.

🌊 The ocean was not in a chill mood this week
Between king tides, elevated surf, dangerous rip currents, coastal flooding warnings, multiple rescues, and three deaths, California had a brutal ocean week.

🏄‍♂️ Hunter Jones tried to shoot the Malibu Pier and lost
YouTube surf creator Hunter Jones attempted to thread the pylons at Malibu Pier this week, and… didn’t make it through.

👉 Read the full news roundup

^{ALL THINGS THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY}

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⬆️ Aaaaaaand that was the last wave of the week!
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