🏄‍♀️ Where on earth do I leave my stuff when surfing alone? 🫣

👋 Happy National Hermit Day! This sounds very attractive after the week we've had in surfing, news-wise. But we're going to keep our chins up. Just not too high. We don't want to get surfer's myelopathy. And we'll leave the topic of “Must we partake in surf culture if culture sucks?” until next week.

Also, it's National Cat Day! 🐈‍⬛

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• Where on earth do I leave my stuff? 🫣

• Sucks to be a beginner, sucks to be a crusty 🤕

• Horses be surfing 🐴

• From fresh piercings to toasty hoods 🧙

• Semi-sucky surf news roundup 🗞️

^{MINI SURFODRAMA}

 😱 Where on earth do I leave my stuff when surfing alone? 🫣

Whenever I go surfing and cycle to the break, I end up watching the spot where I left my towel a little bit too much. And I don't even bring a phone.

So I totally understand why we're constantly looking for new ways to protect our possessions when we go surfing alone. And why we keep returning to this topic.

One of our Girls Who Can't Surf Good members lives close enough to walk to the beach, but she still needs somewhere to leave her keys, phone, and clothes while she's surfing.

So she asked the group for advice. And advice she got!

We're going to start with the most popular yet unexpected answer: don't bring it in the first place.

Leave the phone at home. "You don't need it," one member wrote. "That's a trick your mind plays."

Walk down already in your wetsuit. Leave your valuables behind. If you need to bring a house key, consider a secure key safe or leaving a spare with someone you trust. Some members hide theirs around the house or garden, although obvious hiding places aren't exactly burglar-proof.

One member doesn't even bring a towel: "I figure the walk back home will dry me up a bit!"

Okay, but what if you really need to bring some stuff with you?

🔑 Keep your key on you
If you can't leave your key somewhere secure at home, take it surfing. Suggestions included:

• A key on a lanyard tucked inside your wetsuit.

• A wetsuit with a secure key pocket or built-in key tether.

• An elastic band around your wrist.

• A flat waterproof pouch with your key and ID, "stuffed down my backside, covered by my suit."

• A lockbox attached to a secure fence, pole, or your bike, where permitted.

Lockbox on a bike? Why didn't I think of that?

Just remember that lockboxes aren't theft-proof either, so where and how you attach one matters.

🤢 Make it look like nobody wants it
If you absolutely must leave something valuable on the beach, some members suggest making it look like something nobody would want to touch.

• Put your phone and keys in a fake soda can or a Pringles can.

• Hide them inside a clean diaper.

• Lay a bra, underwear, or a tampon on top of your pile. As one member put it, "a piece of clothing that a thief won't want to touch lol."

Alternatively, make your belongings look as boring as possible.

Use an old, raggedy bag with inside pockets that take a minute to dig through, or just a plastic bag so it doesn't "look too flash."

Some members stash their bags behind rocks, in the dunes, or in beach vegetation. Towels with hidden pockets came up too.

Of course, none of these tricks actually makes your belongings secure. A determined thief can simply walk away with the entire bag.

🙋‍♀️ Ask someone to watch it
Plenty of surfers just ask.

Find a friendly family who looks like they'll be on the beach longer than you'll be in the water. Or ask a local surf school or rental shop whether they'll hold your bag, and come back with a tip or a coffee.

If you're renting a board, the shop may already offer somewhere to leave your belongings.

One member surfing in Peru asked the women selling snacks on the beach to watch her things, then bought a snack from them when she got out.

Of course, leaving your stuff with someone you know or an established business is generally safer than trusting a complete stranger.

🦘 And then there's Australia
Our original poster is on the Gold Coast, and the Aussies in the group had the most relaxed answer of all: just leave it on the beach.

Members from Victoria to the Sunshine Coast said everyone does it and they've never had a problem.

"If someone wants my stuff bad enough, good luck to them," one wrote.

Fair warning: that depends a lot on your beach.

A member who lives in a tiny surf town said she leaves everything out, then added, "Take that with a grain of salt."

And just because nobody's stolen your stuff yet doesn't mean nobody ever will.

📱 Phone or no phone?
This was the one thing the group didn't agree on.

Some members won't go without a phone in case of an emergency or because they need to call for a ride home. Others think it's the main reason we worry about our stuff in the first place.

If you really need your phone, you could use a properly rated waterproof pouch designed for water sports, provided it's securely attached and suitable for surfing. Just don't assume every pouch advertised as waterproof can survive a proper wipeout.

Or bring an inexpensive backup phone you wouldn't miss quite so much. An Apple Watch with cellular connectivity can also be useful for emergencies, provided you have service.

Ultimately, whether to bring a phone is a personal decision. If you're surfing alone somewhere remote, being able to contact someone in an emergency may matter more than leaving your valuables at home.

🌊 The short version
Bring as little as possible. Keep your key somewhere secure, preferably on you. If you have to bring valuables, use proper storage or make them look boring. Or gross.

And if you're in Australia, apparently you can stop worrying. 😜

For those of you who drive to the beach, we covered where to hide your car keys and other valuables in an earlier story.

As for me, I really want to try that lockbox on my bike now.

^{SURF SCIENCE}

🤕 Sucks to be a beginner, sucks to be a crusty

Good news: surfing is great for you. Sucky news: it comes with some medical conditions I'd never even heard of until now!

🏄 For the crusties: liposurfomas
If you've surfed for decades, you may know someone with soft, symmetrical lumps on their lower chest or upper abdomen. Researchers from UC Irvine and Albany Medical College, including dermatology professor Dr. Jeffrey Klein, have given them a name: liposurfomas.

They're benign fatty and fibrous growths thought to be caused by years of low-level pressure on your chest from lying on a board while you paddle.

The study, published in JAAD Case Reports in 2024, described seven patients. The growths appear to affect longtime shortboard surfers, and they tend to get bigger the more you surf.

The concern is that they can be mistaken for more serious growths, including cancer, potentially leading to unnecessary worry and treatment. Of course, any unexplained lump should still be checked by a doctor.

Liposurfomas can persist if you keep surfing, although they may shrink during prolonged periods out of the water. They can be removed with liposuction or surgery, or you can manage the discomfort with a wetsuit that has foam padding over your chest.

And they're not the same as surfer's knots, which are rock-hard, callus-like lumps that longtime longboarders can develop on their knees and feet from knee paddling.

As someone who's had a lipoma (not related to surfing) removed multiple times because it kept growing back, all I'm going to say is watch out for the scarring if you have one removed. Laser treatment can help make scars less noticeable.

🏄‍♀️ For the newbies: surfer's myelopathy
Honestly. Couldn't we just keep this one quiet if it's so rare?

Surfer's myelopathy is a spinal cord injury that primarily affects first-time and novice surfers.

Researchers believe it can occur when you spend too long lying on your board with your lower back excessively arched, potentially interrupting the blood supply to your spinal cord.

That can cause sudden lower back pain, numbness, leg weakness, and even paralysis.

It's rare. First described in 2004, fewer than 100 confirmed cases had been documented in the medical literature, according to a 2025 presentation by Queen's Health Systems.

A study at The Queen's Medical Center in Hawaii examined 19 patients between 2002 and 2011. All were novice surfers, and 17 were surfing for the very first time.

They were between 15 and 46 years old. Every one of them experienced sudden lower back pain, followed by numbness in both legs and paralysis that developed over 10 to 60 minutes.

Recovery varies considerably. According to a Hawaii Department of Health summary, only 14% of reported patients had fully recovered by the time they left the hospital. However, outcomes weren't reported for another 22%, and recovery can continue after discharge.

With wave pools introducing a whole new generation of beginners to surfing, researchers are encouraging surf schools to raise awareness of the condition. There's currently no evidence that wave pools carry a different risk from the ocean.

How to protect yourself during your first sessions:

• Sit up on your board while waiting for waves instead of spending long periods lying with your back arched.

• Get out of the water immediately if you experience sudden, unusual lower back pain. If you also develop numbness, weakness, or bladder problems, seek emergency medical care.

• Work on your core strength before starting surfing. Researchers suggest it may help, although its effectiveness in preventing this injury hasn't been established.

So, beginners, don't overdo the cobra. And crusties, what's the point? You won't take any advice anyway. 😜

And everyone else, enjoy the bit in the middle. There's always a random surf injury, of course.

^{PIC OF THE WEEK}

🐴 Horses be surfing

I love horses. I love surfing. I love riding horses in the surf. So obviously, I absolutely love this photo. 🥰

It features Lorelei, a member of Girls Who Can't Surf Good who runs Joyride Surf Retreats and teaches surfing around Hossegor in southwest France.

Lorelei always tells her students to pick a fixed landmark on the beach so they can keep track of their position in the water and avoid drifting with the current.

During one particular session, her student asked: "Does a horse count as well?"

A horse?! On the beach? Unheard of!

Unfortunately, horses have a rather annoying habit of moving, so they make terrible landmarks, obviously.

When Lorelei came out of the water, a woman approached her with a photo she'd taken of her daughter riding a horse along the beach, at the exact moment Lorelei was surfing past.

So there you have it. A little surfing lesson, a little horse, and a perfectly timed photo.

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

💬 3 things we’re figuring out this week

🥶 What’s the warmest 4/3 hooded wetsuit for cold water? Community top picks: O’Neill Hyperfreak got the most love for comfort in the cold, followed by the Xcel Comp X. Billabong is stretchy and well priced, especially on sale, and C-Skins and the Finisterre Shearwater 4/3 also got shout-outs. Two smart tips: buy the hood separately, or get a thermal hooded rash vest so you can wear it with more than one suit. One member’s rule of thumb: below about 59°F (15°C), wear a 4/3 and boots, and below about 55°F (13°C), add a hood and gloves.

💎 Can I surf with a fresh piercing? Community opinions were divided. One former piercer suggested waiting at least 48 hours, but professional aftercare guidance recommends avoiding ocean swimming until a piercing has healed. Seawater isn't sterile saline, and healing times vary depending on the piercing. Best to check with your piercer before paddling out. One member gave up eight of her 10 piercings to keep surfing! And remember to check local water-quality advisories, especially after rain.

🏄‍♀️ Where can I spend a month longboarding small waves in February, in English? Community top picks: Not the North Shore of Oahu, which is huge and heavy in February. Try Oahu’s South Shore around Waikiki and Ala Moana for baby waves instead. In Australia, Byron Bay is good but very busy, and Noosa came up as a longboard haven with its own festival. In Sri Lanka, members recommended Marshmallows and the little village of Madiha. For bonus lessons in Spanish, there’s La Saladita in Mexico and Santa Catalina in Panama, where a member who lives there says February is the best time.

👉 Join us for more recs, chatter, and support

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ Surf doctors, a kite surfer flies, Timothée wipes out, women in surfing speak out, and an expat local loses it

🩺 New Jersey doctors have been healing in the DR for 20 years
Waves of Health runs free clinics for 1,000+ patients per trip, and still squeezes in a surf day at the end.

🪁 A kite surfer jumped higher than anyone ever has
Lewis Crathern, 41, flew 42.6 meters (almost 140 feet) in a storm in West Sussex. “The bad weather in our sport becomes the good weather.”

🫠 Timothée Chalamet tried surfing and swore off it for good
The Dune star posted a video of himself wiping out on a lake (how is this surfing again?), with the caption “Surfing movie never.” Okay.

✊ Women in surfing speak out, a criminal investigation opened
Prosecutors are investigating the alleged rape of a minor at Teahupo’o in August, and the WSL has hired an outside expert to review its conduct policies.Meanwhile, women including Holly Beck are speaking about decades of misconduct, while Lucy Small is questioning the industry's longstanding culture of silence.

🤬 An Aussie pro got death threats from a “local” who dropped in on him
Lennix Smith filmed an expat surfer in Indonesia threatening to kill him after dropping in on his wave.

👉 Read the full news roundup

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With stoke,

Zuz & The Wipeout Weekly