🏄‍♀️ What’s with the piers? 🎣

👋 Happy National Hamburger Day! And also National Brisket Day, apparently. We’ve never written about what surfers should eat, and we will not start now. Wait… there are dozens of articles dedicated to the subject? Okay, now we do want to know. Maybe we’ll do a meta-analysis for the next issue. For now, eat what makes you happy. 🥰

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• What’s with the piers? 🎣

• Saying “no” to Cyclops 🌊

• Should I wax or should I go now? 🧽

• Do squirrels surf? 🐿️

• From Mallorca to Cabo 🇲🇽

• Surf news roundup 📰

• Summer’s a-coming, get yer bikinis out! 👙

^SURFODRAMA

😱 What’s with the piers? 🎣

Have you ever wondered: what's with the piers? Or: will I get a fish hook embedded in my head if I come anywhere near one? Shooting the pier is a badge of honor, for sure. It's all worth it, or so we're told. But why are surfers flocking to these bridge-like structures, and who put them there in the first place?

Walk past any working pier on any half-decent day and you'll see the same thing: a clump of surfers stacked up within twenty feet of the pilings, paddling for the same handful of waves, while above them a fisherman or five, muttering that surfing should be banned. Both groups think the other is in the wrong spot, and both groups are technically right. So why even bother?

🌊 The waves really are better
No doubt about it, and there's actual physics behind it.

This is the part most beach goers (and fishermen) miss: a pier isn't a neutral structure that surfers happen to congregate around. It actively shapes the wave.

The pilings interrupt the sideways flow of water along the beach. Sand that would otherwise drift past gets dumped, building up a sandbar in the lee of the pier. Sandbar = shallower water = a more predictable break. One Florida surfer on a Reddit put it: "Where I'm at in Florida, the sandbars without a pier are terrible. So basically, find a pier or a jetty."

There's a second thing going on too. It's called the "pier bowl." Wave energy hits the pilings, bounces back, and meets the next incoming wave. They combine, and the result is a steeper, peakier wave usually 20 to 50 yards off the pier. It's not directly next to the pier, but it's near it. Surfers paddle out at the pier and then work over to the bowl because that's where the actual peak forms.

Add in the rip current that almost always runs alongside the pilings (handy for paddling out), the slight wind shelter the structure provides, and the fact that you can objectively tell how far out you are because there's a literal landmark next to you. Plus the piers just rock. So, of course people pile in.

🏄🏻‍♂️ "Piers were built for surfers"
Here is where things can get awkward. Spend any time around a busy pier break and you'll meet at least one local who acts like the pier exists for their convenience and it's the fishermen who showed up uninvited. Check again. It's actually backwards.

Piers were built for fishing in the first place, for boat docking, for cargo and passenger offload. At some point they became a tourist attraction as more dining spots and amusement parks set up shop. We have working piers, and fishing piers, and pleasure piers. But even the latter doesn't mean that pleasure equals surfing, and therefore we own them. The fact that the pier happens to also build a beautiful sandbar is just a happy accident.

And we don't apologize either. I've never read a more honest statement from a guy in a thread about pier conflict: "I remember getting a hook in my foot surfing south side Crystal Pier and having to pull that shit out. The pier usually causes the wave to wedge up or form better, and because the inside surfer gets priority, we usually try to get as close to the pilings as possible."

Translation: I know they're trying to fish here. I know I'm going to get hooked. I'm going as close as I physically can anyway, because the inside surfer wins the wave.

That's the attitude, and it's why fishermen are pissed.

🥶 The cold war
The surfer/fisherman thing has been going on at every pier on every coast for as long as both groups have existed. Which has probably been true for centuries. There were probably fishing piers in ancient Hawai'i, and there are fishing piers in Hawai'i today.

The fisherman says: I'm told I need to fish from this specific spot and I'm not allowed to move. My line goes where it goes. In many coastal cities you're not even allowed to fish from the beach anymore, the pier is the only legal spot. So if you, little rubber man whizzing under the pier like a madman, get hooked, that's on you.

The surfer says: Good waves are scarce. You can fish further down the pier where I'm not surfing. Also, your tackle attracts sharks, and your bait churns up the water, and frankly we were here first this morning.

The honest answer, articulated in that same Reddit thread by a guy who does both: "Fishermen are casting where they think they're most likely to catch a good fish, and surfers are surfing where they think they're most likely to catch a good wave. Unfortunately that often tends to be the same spot."

It’s a geo-colocation problem, not a people problem, we’d like to think.

🥰 Is there a truce?
Apparently there are a couple of rules that make this situation a bit more workable.

The 30-foot rule. Several fishermen in that thread proposed it independently: if surfers would just stay 30 feet off the pilings, and fishermen would stick to underhand casts, nobody would get hooked.

Time-of-day separation. The most diplomatic surfer I've come across said this: "I surf when the waves are good and fish when they aren't." If you've got a flexible schedule, you can avoid most of the conflict just by paying attention to what the swell is doing.

So, if you surf piers, do it knowing you're a guest, not the host. The structure was not, in fact, built for you. The wave you're enjoying is a side effect of fishermen's infrastructure. So, stay a respectful distance off the pilings when there are lines in the water.

But the etiquette runs both ways. If you're at a beach break learning to surf, and you see a fisherman's line too close to your face for comfort, send them to the pier where they belong. The beach is yours; the pier is theirs. Everyone has somewhere to be.

^{SURF SPOT SPOTLIGHT}

👁️ Saying “no” to Cyclops 🌊

In 2002, somewhere off the south coast of Western Australia, a local diver named Greg spotted something. He was working the water for abalone (or fishing, depending which version you trust). What he saw was a wave that didn't break the way waves are supposed to break (more on that in a moment). He went out, he surfed it, and he told a few mates. They called it Greg's Knoll.

A few months later the Billabong Odyssey crew showed up, and renamed it Cyclops. If you haven't heard about the Billabong Odyssey, it was a sponsored 2002–2003 expedition by a crew of big wave surfers hunting the planet's biggest waves. They made a documentary about it. Currently available to stream…nowhere.

👻 What makes it a nightmare
Cyclops sits off the Esperance coast in the far south of Western Australia. Seven hours from Perth by road, then boat-only access, then a long beach run. From Margaret River, the nearest world class surf town, it's a 2,000-km round trip. It is close to…nowhere.

The wave itself behaves weird, like physics doesn't apply. Swell drops from 50 metres of deep ocean to 30 centimetres over a granite ledge in about 2 seconds. And boom, it detonates. It doesn't break, it simply explodes. The lip folds back over itself in an oval barrel that looks, from above, like a giant eye opening and closing. Hence the name. Surfline once called Cyclops 'surfing's closest version of an inkblot'. Apparently different swell directions produce shapes that we're not familiar with.

The wave rarely holds anything bigger than 8 feet, the tide window is narrow, and the reef is sharp. Fun. Wait…Oh, and great whites. The neighbouring seal colony is, as photographer Jamie Scott put it, 'not the greatest idea' to hang off a jet ski near.

And photographer Ted Grambeau, who documented many early sessions there said about Cyclops: “I would consider this arguably the world’s most dangerous wave that has ever been surfed. To me it is the definitive line of what is possible to surf (and survive) and not (survive). The more likely outcome is severe injury or death! As an empty wave it’s one of the most intoxicatingly beautiful distorted waves on the planet.”

👎 The surfer who said no
Mark Mathews, one of Australia's most famous heavy wave surfers, surfed Cyclops years ago and refuses to go back. From his Stab interview in 2016: “It's borderline impossible to surf. If I'd fallen at the bottom I don't think I'd be surfing anymore. I vowed never to surf it again after that wave.”

So that's Cyclops. A wave that surfers go to once, survive, and don't talk about again. We won't be going at all. Surfline has a great collection of photos though.

^{SURF RECS}

🧽 Should I wax or should I go now?

Rental surfboards. Hit or miss, right?

The real-life scenario of a rental board where wax was melted into pooled trails on one rail and worn down to nothing in the middle got us all divided about what our expectations should be.

It's the shop's job. You're paying for a service. Renting a car doesn't come with "do your own oil change first." Surfboards should be no different.

It depends. On country, price point, type of board, duration. A $10 half-day foamie rental in a tourist town isn't getting the white-glove treatment. A multi-day longboard rental at a higher-end shop probably should. Don't expect perfection. We should expect "rideable", but perhaps not perfectly waxed.

It's the renter's job. The hygienic argument: people sweat into wax. Strip-and-rewax is hygienic, plus you get to set your own stickiness. Honestly, we never even thought about wax as being unhygienic. You learn something every day.

Solution? If it's a longer surf trip and rental, get used to carrying a surf comb (or a dough scraper), and have both basecoat and temp-appropriate wax handy. Decent surfboard rental places will almost always provide you with extra wax.

^{PIC OF THE WEEK}

📸 Do squirrels surf?

Flat Malibu? Oh yes, it happens more often than you think. Still, it remains iconic.

Here pictured: Malibu, flatso as a pancake, with a squirrel facing The Third Point, by Renu Urvashi Sagreiya (@dreamdolphin97 on Threads). The photo was taken on the grounds of the historic Adamson House in Malibu, with the Malibu Pier and Surfrider Beach in the background.

If you ever visit Malibu, the Adamson House Museum is a must-stop, both for its incredible tile collection and to justify the Surfrider Beach parking fee. It's the former home of Rhoda Adamson, completed in 1930, set on what's known as Vaquero Hill. The estate borders Malibu Lagoon State Beach, which is worth a walk-through on its own.

The squirrels, as far as we know, do not surf.

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

💬 3 things we’re figuring out this week

🏝️ Surfing Mallorca over the weekend, flat-water question. Community verdict: barely any wind in the Mediterranean right now, no waves to count on. Better bets: Alcudia for small ones in August, Buena Onda in Palma for local intel, or pivot to windsurfing in Port d'Alcudia later in summer.

🥖 Late-June trip to Biarritz and San Sebastián, looking for gentle, beginner-friendly waves. Community top picks: Zarautz over Zurriola (multiple peaks, more space, easier wave), Hendaye if the swell's too big elsewhere. Also flagged: Joyu surf house in Biarritz, Gipsy Riders for guided sessions.

🌵 What to wear surfing Cabo right now, bikini or wetsuit? Community verdict: water's running 83-84°F, bikinis are fine, but the sun will destroy you. Long-sleeve rashguard, surf pants, hat. East Cape warm, Pacific side cold.

👉 Join us for more recs, chatter, and support

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ Perfect 10 air. Mystery sea creature. WSL dating app. Surfer statue finds home.

🌊 Yago Dora lands insane perfect 10 air at the New Zealand Pro
The Brazilian world champion delivered a full-rotation aerial with two seconds of hangtime, and got a perfect 10 from all five judges.

🚨 WSL competition halted after photographer bitten by mystery sea creature
Surf photographer Ed Sloane was attacked at Manu Bay during the men's semi-finals prompting the WSL to issue a "code red" and evacuate the lineup.

💘 The WSL has an official dating app now The WSL partnered with SURF Dating as the official dating app of the 2026 Lexus US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, because of course it did.

🗿 Female surfer statue finds new home after massive backlash The proposed 18-foot female surfer statue was relocated from Pleasure Point to Capitola Esplanade after months of public backlash, with installation possibly happening in 2027.

👉 Read the full news roundup

^{THIS WEEK’S WEE SURF SHOPPE FIND}

😎 Summer’s a-coming, get yer bikinis out! 👙

Surfing in a bikini can be fun for some. But not for everyone. For those of us who want to embrace the warmer water, but aren't quite willing to give up the comfort of keeping all our bits together and our thighs and knees protected, we have just the ticket.

Looks expensive, feels expensive front zipper summer suit
It has UPF 50+ protection, a front zipper, and "wireless support with removable pads," which typical summer suits usually don’t. Comes in a selection of colors and designs, but we recommend going darker, otherwise the pads shine through. Fits like a glove for $25.

"Only borrowed would be cheaper” swim leggings
If your pop-up isn't yet perfect, a pair of these can save your knees from getting bloodied and scabbed. Tested and trusted at $22.50. Yellow not recommended, just trust us.

A pretty flowery wet bag
Do you need one? Probably not. What is wrong with just chucking your wet suit in the trunk and letting it dry naturally? Included here because we like things to come in threes. Doubles as a makeup bag, a diaper bag, or whatever else you can think of. Under $10.

👉 Check out the Wee Surf Shoppe

^{ALL THINGS SURF DIRECTORY}

☎ We’re still calling all non-profits!

Last week we put out a call for surf non-profits to add to the directory. Thank you for all your contributions so far!

Still open, so hit reply if you know of one.

👉 Check out the directory

^{ALL THINGS THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY}

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⬆️ Aaaaaaand that was the last wave of the week!
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