🏄‍♀️ Do you even know why you surf? 🤔

👋 Happy Surf Day! Welcome to the most existential edition of The Wipeout Weekly ever. Because today we ask: why do we even surf? 😜 

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• Why do we even surf? 🤔

• Let’s get scorpioned, not 🦂

• Jaws, Pe’ahi & Atom Blaster 🌊

• Who should surf skate 🛹

• Surf news–round the globe 🌎

• North Shore surfer girls 🏄🏻‍♀️

^SURFODRAMA

😱 Do you even know why you surf? 🤔

“Surfing with intention.” That was the original title for this story. But… “Do you even know why you surf?” feels more honest. Because knowing why you surf can save you a whole lot of trouble.

Surfing is frustrating. Surf funk can be very real. And surfing progress may seem insurmountable at times.

Maybe planning for progress is in direct violation of the surfing spirit. We just wanna surf—not necessarily well—and have fun, right? But what if the fun turns into frustration? Argh.

For example, I’m impatient because I expect progress to occur magically, without me putting any effort in.

I lack intention because I don’t even know why I’m surfing at times. Ocean feels nice, oh look, there’s a dolphin…

The end result? Random periods of overwhelming frustration—not with surfing as such, but with my attitude toward surfing.

Now, take the surfers who do know why they surf.

Knowing why you surf can change your entire perspective on getting up at 4am, driving to the break five hours away, when the water temp is 47°F/5°C, and spending 10 minutes wriggling into a 6mm front-zip wetsuit that’ll take you 20 minutes to wriggle out of when you're done.

Like Sharon, who said: “Surfing is the thing I do for me. It’s me and the sea.”

Or Taylor: “I surf because being in the water feels more natural than breathing to me. I feel a flow state in the water that I haven’t replicated elsewhere.”

Or Teresa: “In the beginning it was because I wanted to escape from mundane life, chores and work. A lot of the time it is still about this escape. But it's also because of the rush afterwards.”

There are surfers for whom surfing serves a completely different purpose:

“Because my ex said I wouldn’t.”
“Because my daughter thinks I’m brave when I do.”
“Because I don’t want to die at work.”

And others:

“Because that’s where my friends are.”
“Because I don’t like running.” (I kid you not—a real reason.)
“Because I’m a surfing influencer and I need content.” (I kid you not—a real reason.)

But the one answer that keeps coming up: “It’s a challenge.”

And challenging yourself, learning something new—even if it’s incredibly hard and the increments are painfully small—makes you grow as a person. Who doesn’t want that?! 🥰

You know what the best thing about knowing why you surf is?

Once you know why you surf, every decision becomes easier.

If you surf because bobbing in the ocean brings you peace of mind, you don’t have to stress about hitting four sessions a week.

If surfing is life, you’ll find a way to get coaching so you can surf bigger waves and feel more than just casual.

If you got into surfing to connect with your partner, your kid, or a family member, you’ll make time to surf together.

It seems that whatever your reason, once you know it — you’re already a better surfer for it.

If, like myself, you can’t quite put your finger on why you surf, there’s always this quote fro Bodhi in Point Break (thank you Lena!)

“Surfing is where you go to lose yourself and to find yourself.”

^{WAVE OF THE WEEK}

Jaws or you’re going to paddle into that?! 😦

In Riding Giants, Laird Hamilton, the ultimate big wave surfer and tow-in surfing inventor recalls when Gerry Lopez sat him down and said: “Hey, young man, come over here, I’ve got something to show you.” And then the Jaws tune starts, and you know what is coming.

Jaws is located on the north coast of Maui in Hawai’i and can only be accessed by sea, and it’s not an easy ride for half a mile either. Pea’hi means to “beckon” in Hawaiian, and before it became Jaws it had another name” atom blaster. Because, according to Gerry Lopez, when it broke it looked like an atomic bomb.

🌊 Jaws in surf history

Matt Warshaw writes about Jaws in The History of Surfing: “Jaws was marginally less terrifying (than Mavericks), just for being set in the tropics. It breaks less than Mavericks, Waimea or Todos Santos, and the water surface can easily be turned into a meringue of whitecaps by Maui’s renowned valley-funneled offshore winds. An entire winter season can pass without Jaws hitting peak form”.

But under the right conditions it produces a perfect, hollow wave, which even if miniaturized, would still also be absolutely spectacular.

🚣 Before tow-in

Before the North Shore crew of Laird, Darrick and Buzzy arrived, as early as late 80s and early 90s by a group of sailboarders (windsurfers) including Mike Walz, Rush Randle, Mark and Josh Angulo, and Dave Kalama, charged Pea’hi.

Until tow-in surfers visited Maui and Jaws no one actually knew how big it could get, because before tow-in surfing that size would not have been rideable.

According to the Encyclopedia of Surfing, Jaws begins to break only at 12 foot and doesn’t assume its perfect form until about 20 foot, which only happens a few times a year. Getting to 40 feet, it’s a rare occurrence. It was the first surf spot where a 35 foot wave was successfully ridden by Dave Kalama. It doesn’t seem like much with all the Nazares and all, but it was a massive deal in 1994.

🏄🏻‍♀️ After tow-in

In 2001, a world record-first obsessed South African surfer Chris Bertish paddled out into Jaws. Five years later, Mad Dogs from Brazil (Danilo Couto, Marcio Freire, and Yuri Soledade) repeated the feat. And by 2012 everyone and their cat were like tow-in surfing at Pea’hi is old news, it’s all about paddle-in surfing.

Should you be lucky enough to be on Maui when Jaws breaks, the best viewing, is from the Pe’ahi Overlook, located at the end of Hahana Road, a mostly unpaved road leading north from the highway between mile markers 13 and 14.itself is a great place to hang if you're solo-traveling. But busy. So so busy.

^{WORD OF THE WEEK}

🦂 Let’s get scorpioned! Wait, better not.

There are many types of wipeouts: ragdoll, log doll, even a yard sale. But the scorpion is a wipeout you won’t forget. Have you ever been scorpioned while surfing?

🦂 Why do we call it a scorpion?

Scorpion describes a painful wipeout where the surfer's back arches and their head nearly touches their feet as they are knocked off their board, resembling the shape of a scorpion. Imagine, your legs go over your head, your toes kiss the back of it, and you’re never the same.

While not causing instant injuries, a scorpion position may lead to silent damage, and lead to hyperextensions, herniated discs, spondylolisthesis (means spinal slippage where one of the vertebrae in your spine slips out of place). I actually originally read it as spinal spillage which was way more fun. You can also experience long-term pain without obvious trauma.

🩹 How to avoid and recover from a scorpion

In short, don’t get scorpioned.

Well, it’s not something you can ever fully control.  You can only become a better surfer. The “scorpions” can happen fast and for different reasons—pearling, late drops, over-the-falls, or even just losing balance can get you scorpioned.

From the community of scorpion veterans, here’s what actually helps in recovery:

• Move. Walk. Swim. Don’t just lie around—that makes it worse.

• Core, not crunches. Inner core, glutes, Pilates. Your real surfing muscles.

• See someone. Don’t wait 6 months limping around pretending you’re fine.

• Listen to your pain—but don’t obey it blindly.

And finally–don’t get scorpioned!

^{SURF SKILLS (KINDA)}

🛹 Who should surf skate?

This is a question that comes up often on Reddit: “Should I get a surf skate to practice surfing on land?”

There’s no short and sweet answer. So let’s go down this rabbit hole, shall we? We cover what surf skates are good for, what they’re bad for, and if it’s worth considering one based on your skill level.

👉 Read the full story

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY SURF NEWS ROUNDUP}

🗞️ Whales visit. Sharks bite. Rips pull. Half Moon Bay rises.

🐋 Whales crash surf sesh in Coolangatta
Three whales—two big and one wee—joined a paddle surfer for the most magical lineup cameo on the Gold Coast, captured in stunning drone footage that proves the ocean always has surprises up its sleeve.

🦈 Shark bites surfer after seal pulls a fast one
A South Australian surfer was bitten twice by a bronze whaler after a seal allegedly used him as a decoy during a high-speed chase near Kangaroo Island–a wild twist that reminds us mistaken identity isn’t always accidental.

🛟 Ripped away: Surfer saved half a mile out
Longtime surfer Ben Fraser was pulled out to sea by a strong rip near Porthcawl, Wales, UK but kept calm and waved for help–a passing dogwalker called it in, and the RNLI crew rescued him just in time.

🏄🏻‍♀️ From Mavericks to the Eddie: Meet Zoe Chait
At just 19, Zoe Chait has been invited as an alternate to the Eddie Aikau Invitational–three years after paddling into her very first wave at Mavericks. Something tells us this won’t be the last we hear of her.

👉 Read the full news roundup

^{WEE PROMO CORNER}

🦂 Photographing surfing wahines

Meet Amelia Gray, one of our own Girls Who Can’t Surf Good, who photographs surfer girls on the North Shore.

When Amelia overheard an uncle say that “women shouldn’t be able to surf the Eddie” (the legendary big-wave competition on the North Shore), it became a turning point for her. Because in ancient Hawaiian culture, women were always surfers—taking on waves as big as buildings.

That’s why Amelia started Wahine on Waves, a project capturing the relationship between powerful women and their journeys in surfing.

So if you’re on Oʻahu and looking for a surf photo session, check out Wahine on Waves and quote GWCSG for a 15% discount.

_{P.S. If you’d like your product or service featured in our newsletter—for free—just reply to this email and pitch us. We especially love female founders of surf and surf-adjacent businesses. (Boys can apply too!)}

⬆️ Aaaaaaand that was the last wave of the week!
If a friend forwarded this and you liked it, hit subscribe & join us! We will see you all next week! 🌊

^HOUSEKEEPING

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