There is no substitute for good surf lessons. Surfing is a physically demanding sport, so don’t think you’re going to get in the water and rip it up right away. The pros make it look easy…so don’t be fooled…it’s hard! Be determined and don't give up.
Swimming is one of the most useful ways of getting into shape for surfing. You’ll quickly learn after that very first session just how "I-shape" your arms need to be. Swimming works most of the main muscle groups needed for surfing and it builds up that stamina. Cycling, running and general workouts in the gym will all benefit you in the ocean too.

Always spend some time looking at the break you are planning to surf. Ten minutes watching from the shore is invaluable when it comes to a great session, and your safety. You can see far more of what is happening from there than you can from the line-up. Where the best break is, which way the waves are peeling, where the rips are and so forth.

As a rule of thumb: if you are unsure of the conditions DO NOT GO OUT!! It is far better to watch from the shore than to go out in a condition that is too powerful for your ability.

Flags:
Warning flags are generally only flown when the lifeguards are in action. This is normally from Easter to September/October time, so for the rest of the year rely on your common sense.

Red Flag
This one states the obvious: Do Not Enter The Water! It may not look too bad sometimes but the lifeguards have specific local knowledge and they know the point of no return. And believe them, they don’t want to go into that roughness to pull your worked butt out! If you do go in it is entirely at your own risk. Experienced surfers often do so but they usually have local knowledge and they ought to know their own limitations.

Black and White Flags
These are normally placed on either side of the swimming area and they create a space where learning and inexperienced surfers can get to grips with their boards.

Red and Yellow Flags
Swimmers and body boarders only are allowed in this part. Take your surfboard into this area and you will soon be hauled out of the water by one or more irate lifeguards.

Black Ball Flag
This flag means "no surfing".

Nose
The very front tip of the surfboard is called the nose. Long boarders use the nose more often than any others for "hanging ten" or doing tricks where they ride on the nose for periods of time.

Tail
The end of the surfboard is referred to as the tail. The tail is where items such as a traction pad is placed. This is where you want to apply lots of surf wax. The tail is the part of the board used for steering by the back foot.

Leash
The leash is the piece of equipment or "rope" like apparatus that is attached to your ankle or calf. The leash keeps the board attached to your body to avoid loss.

Fins/FCS system/Skegs
Fins, or sometimes referred to as a FCS (Fin control system) or Skegs, are the parts on the rear, underside of the board. They help the surfer maneuver the wave and turn appropriately.

Rails
The rails are the sides of the board. This is the part of the board the surfer grabs when he/she is starting to stand up.

Stringer
The stringer is the center part of the board that keeps the board strong; helps to keep the board from breaking in half.

There are four different variations:

-Cold water wax <58 degrees
-Cool water wax 58-64 degrees
-Warm water wax 65-75 degrees
-Tropical wax 70+

Basically, cold water wax is for water below 58 degrees, cool water wax is for water above 58-64 degrees, warm water wax is for 65-75 degrees, used more in a dry climate, while tropical wax is typically for 70+ degree water to be used in a more humid climate.

Steps:

1.
Understand that different kinds of surf wax are made to work in different water temperatures. Buy surf wax that is suited to the water conditions you surf in.
2.
Rub wax onto the "deck," or top, of your surfboard using 3- to 6-inch circles. Pay particular attention to the parts of the deck where your feet will be, and wax the board all the way to the tail.
3.
Note that you don't need to wax the extreme front of the deck, (unless you are going to "hang ten" on your longboard) but put some wax at the spot on the top side of each "rail," or side of the board, where your hands grab the board to sink the nose when you duck dive (which of course, good luck with a 10’ log!)

Tips:

• You can use traction pads on the deck as a substitute for wax. Once it's on, you don't have to bother reapplying it.
• Put a heavy coat of wax on your board every time you go surfing while you are learning.
• If you are wearing a wetsuit, you can tuck a small bit of wax into the calf of your wetsuit so that you will have it handy if you need to rub a little onto your board while you're in the water.
• Once you have a thick coat of wax on your surfboard, you can use a stiff comb to rough up the wax for an even better grip, without having to apply more wax.

The first thing the shaper starts out with is foam blank. Depending how long your board is, there are several sizes of foam blanks. The shaper uses a power planer, a special tool for shaping, to cut the foam down to its rough shape. The shaper uses sandpaper of varying grit to add the bottom contours and smooth out the shape taking any rough spots out. The finished is formed as true as possible, with no uneven surfaces. Both side rails on the board are evened out and shaped the same. If there are any uneven spots on the finished shape, it will affect the way the board rides once in the water, so this attention to detail is essential.

After the blank is shaped, usually it is painted with a water-based white paint. This is done because through time, as the board gets older, it will start to turn brown and the paint helps to keep the board’s fresh, white look. This brown look is due to the sun's ultraviolet rays deteriorating and aging the blank.

The next stage involves making the board waterproof and adding strength. To make the blank so it won't soak up the ocean, a polyester resin is used. This resin is fairly strong but is mainly used to hold the fiberglass in place. The fiberglass is what actually makes a board strong and a combination of four and six-ounce (weight per square yard) fiberglass is used. The fiberglass allows to board to become strong enough to hold the surfer’s weight and to withstand the power of the surf. (If this part is not done correctly, the result is you walking with 1/2 a board and your buddies with a whole one).

The first step in the procedure involves covering the bottom of the surfboard with one layer of fiberglass. Since the bottom of the surfboard does not need to hold the weight of the surfer you can use 1 layer of fiberglass to cut down on weight. Usually one layer of 4-ounce cloth is used to keep the weight to a minimum. Once the fiberglass cloth is cut and laid on the bottom of the surfboard it is ready to be covered with resin so it will hold the cloth in place and make the board waterproof. The resin is put on with a squeegee to help ensure a smooth application and to remove excess resin buildup on the board. After the resin sets (dries) they then do the same procedure to the deck (top) of the surfboard, but with multiple layers of fiberglass to help support the weight of the surfer. This is where, in some cases, a wooden "stringer" is added to the board for added strength.

After the deck of the board sets, they attach the fins to the bottom of the board. If a FCS system is used, then the fin system is put into place at this time. The fins are then held in place by wrapping them in multiple layers of fiberglass and using resin to set the fiberglass.

After the fins are set up, the board is now ready to sand. The sander will take off all the rough edges that the glassing process has left and will try to return the board to as close to the original shape of the shaper.

The sander must be very careful not to sand too much or he will sand right into the foam. Once the board is sanded smooth and true to the original shape, a spray finish is applied to the board to help seal it from the water and to also add a smooth sheen to it.

The board is set aside to dry for a couple of days, and then it’s ready to be ridden.

The easiest way to repair a "ding" is with a "ding repair kit," and yes, we do sell them at Sun Diego. Remember…treat your board like you are the "doctor" and the board is your "patient"…it’s fragile…you gotta be gentle with it…(ok, enough, you’ve got the picture).

1. Buy a ding repair kit
Inside the kit you will find everything you need to fix your board:
-Fiberglass resin filler and catalyst hardener or Solarez
-Cleaning stuff to remove sand and wax
-Small sheet of fine fiberglass (not the cheap stuff you use for cars)
-Sandpaper: one rough bit, one fine or superfine (100grit+)
-Razorblade, (or you might need a sharp knife/Stanley knife)
-Thick piece of flat plastic/glass
-Paper filter mask (THIS IS IMPORTANT...see below).

2. Clean the wound
Carefully clean the ding itself and the area in a one-inch radius around it: all the dirt, wax, tar, steel spikes, gum, whatever, have got to go (I know, each speckle represents fond memories, but let it go man!) If there are any bits of fiberglass tissue flapping loose, amputate them carefully with your scalpel (knife, razor blade, teeth, whatever...).

3. Preparation
Carefully sand the area for about 1/4" around the ding to make the surface rough enough for your resin to 'take'. Make sure the ding's totally dry too. IMPORTANT NOTE: Whenever you sand, wear a filter mask-one of the cheap disposable ones will do, but fiberglass dust is an irritant and will screw up your lungs at least temporarily (yup worse than smoking…and no it won’t give you that special feeling if you inhale it). That evil fiberglass could damage those pretty pink lungs of yours permanently if you inhale enough of it. That’s why you see pro shapers ALWAYS wearing a full filter mask and goggles, and it's not because they have a gas mask fetish, it’s because they want to live another day to surf Mavericks…. or Blacks…or uh, Tourmaline?

4. The Healing (part A)
Mix your resin and catalyst (this is the stuff that makes the resin harden and cure) and/or filler powder (tip: we +recommend getting Solarez filler-you don't need to mix it, just squeeze it in, flatten it off and park it in the sun). Make sure there aren’t any bubbles when you pour it in (or you will look like you have permanent wax on your board). Put the thick bit of clear plastic on top to keep it flat. If it's exothermic resin, make sure it doesn't melt on! If using Solarez, after putting it on the board, cover it with plastic wrap to keep it flat and let it harden.

5. Bandaging
Cut a couple of pieces of one-one just a fraction bigger than the ding, the other about 1/4" bigger all around.
-Mix up some resin with no filler powder
-Roughen the ends of the patches a little bit
-Put the small patch over the hole
-Then the resin
-Then the bigger patch

6. The Healing (part B)
Once the resin is completely dry, start sanding down the patches, using the rough (80-grit) paper…and I don’t recommend it for getting that dead skin off your back…although it does feel nice. Sand it almost totally flat, but don't stray too far onto the area around the ding or it'll go soft. (If there's a design on the board you want to fix up, now is the time). Then slap on another thin layer of resin.

7. The Rebirth
Once the final coat of resin has dried, start sanding down the patches, using first the rough and then the finer sandpaper (pour on some water and finish with wet 'n' dry to get it totally silky and sacred.)
After your newly fixed ding is repaired, take it to its favorite break and promise you'll treat it good from now on!

Prevention's better than cure...
When you get thrown onto rocks, you'll probably be sorrier for yourself than your stick. But a lot of the other battle damage is preventable with a bit of thought...

* If you can, transport your board inside your car/van to avoid vibration damage (and theft when you park up for lunch)

* If you have to use a roof rack, put your board in a padded board bag and use plenty of padding on the bars.

* If you have travel by train, bus or plane with a board, pack spare clothes and towels around your board in the bag. Saves on space and keeps it safer. Or, get a hard case if you’re loaded enough.

* If you're going by plane, mark it FRAGILE and TOP LOAD ONLY, everywhere and in several different languages. They'll ignore it, of course, but it means you can get back at them if they do mess it up. Virgin, Delta and Quantas are good with this kind of thing; American Airlines and TWA will kill your board on sight (uh, so we hear).

So that’s it…

Oh, and if you don’t want to repair the ding yourself…here are some San Diego local shops:

Joe Roper's Surfboard Repair
740 Felspar St
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 274-3464

Resin Works
11120 Roselle St
San Diego, CA 92121
(858) 625-0266

Ding King
591 Westlake St Ste D
Encinitas, CA 92024
(760) 753-0316

Dropping In

This is probably the most annoying thing that anyone can do to a surfer. If you are already up and riding a wave it is so irritating when somebody drops into the same wave right in front of you. Collisions and board damage are not unusual, neither are being sworn at, having your leash cut, or even hit.

The general rule of wave priority is that the wave belongs to who ever is closest to the point at which the wave is breaking. If the wave is starting to break to your right, check that way before you take off. If somebody else is about to drop in on you shout "hey, hey", "no", "my wave" or any other form of language you prefer, but let them know you are there and that you consider it to be your wave.

Wipeouts

When you are out from the shore you are bound to find yourself caught in the impact zone…that place where the waves are breaking. If you are about to be nailed by a big set of waves, don’t just dump your board and dive. This is called "bailing". If there is another surfer close behind you they are not going to thank you for letting your board fly into their face.

! Always try to duck-dive or hang on to your board. If it is just too much for you, check that there is nobody behind or inshore of you before you bail. If you are struggling that much it is probably best to head in and surf on a smaller day!

Although nobody knows exactly where and when surfing began, there is no doubt that the ancient sport was perfected by the Kings and Queens of the Pacific sometime before the 15th century A.D. Ancient Hawaiian lava rock carvings and hieroglyphics found by archaeologists indicate that surfing was indeed common among the islanders.

Historians have concluded that surfing was the main sport of the Kings and Queens of Hawaii. The most renowned and powerful chiefess in Hawaiian history, Kaahumanu, the Queen Regent and favorite wife of the great King Kamehameha, was an enthusiastic surfer herself. Besides being a favorite pastime of the royals, the ancient sport of surfing also played a vital role in Hawaiian courtship rituals, where women were asked to accompany the men on their giant surfboards. The royal families had their own prayers, chants, board shapers, wood, and private beaches where they alone could surf with others of similar rank. These Royal Hawaiian surfers often exhibited their finest wave-riding style in fierce competition. This was in fact a major part of the game to early enthusiasts, and the betting that accompanied every contest was no doubt an important incentive for the practice of the sport. When the waves were at its largest, all bets were in - personal property, personal pride, ego, and even romance - were all on the line and the winner took all. No commoner dared to drop in on these royal wave-riders because of fear of losing a limb or having a near death experience.

The ancient boards of these Royal surfers were made from solid planks of wood, often weighing more than 100 pounds. Hawaiians were very spiritual about their surfing, and even had an appropriate word, hopupu (ho-poo-poo), which referred to a state of being extremely excited or "stoked" about surfing.

Eighteenth and nineteenth century explorers wrote of seeing this so-called "surfing" phenomenon, which was already widespread by the time Captain Cook explored the Pacific in the 1770's.

Christian missionaries through much of the 19th century suppressed surfing in the Hawaiian Islands and considered it to be a frivolous activity. Although the spirit of surfing was suppressed with the Arrival of Captian Cook, it didn’t diminish completely. The flame did die down a bit, but a fortunate combination of circumstances preserved the Polynesian pastime that disappeared completely in other early cultural environments such as Tahiti and New Zealand. Luckily, a spark remained to smolder through the dark century of Hawaii's transformation. It was nearly one hundred years after the abandonment of the taboo system, when what little that remained of the old world was almost unrecognizable, that a new, fresh element changed Hawaii and brought the sport of surfing back to life.

It wasn’t until the early 1900's with the arrival of Duke Kahanamoku, a two-time Olympic swimming champion, and considered today to be the "father of surfing" did we have the beginning of today’s modern surfing. The Duke became a great ambassador for his native Hawaii, and for surfing. The international surfing revolution began in the summer of 1915, at Freshwater Beach in NSW, Australia. While visiting Australia, The Duke paddled out through a large surf break. Turning around on his solid board, fashioned from local timbers, he caught a wave, stood tall and surfed back to the beach. The locals were doubly amazed when The Duke returned to the sea with a local girl, Miss Isabel Letham, on his board. Isabel became Australia's first surfer, riding back to the beach in tandem with The Duke.

Surfing began in California in 1907 when George Freeth was brought to Redondo Beach, California, to demonstrate surfboard riding as a publicity stunt to promote the opening of the Redondo-Los Angeles railroad. Henry Huntington, who so graciously gave his name to world-renowned Huntington Beach, owned this railroad. Freeth stayed in California and eventually became the first lifeguard, bringing the art of surfing to the United States.

So it seems that right from the start surfing and commercialism went hand in hand as both the sport and the tourist/travel industry evolved over the years. So basically the "soul theory of surfing evolution" is non-existent. But despite this capitalist drift, surfing is and always will be a sport of intense physical and cerebral excitement and the shared experience of riding waves is what's most responsible for its revival.

By 1912 surfing was beginning to expand from the Redondo Beach area with places like the Palos Verdes Cove, San Diego, and Dana Point being ridden.
Duke Kahanamoku continued to amaze onlookers with his incredible talent and helped spread the trend of surfing. But surfing itself was looked at in a very different way because of one June day in 1925 at Newport Beach. Duke was at the beach, enjoying a picnic with his friends. He suddenly looked at the horizon to see a large yacht, the Thelma, capsized in raging offshore surf. Duke, being the heroic man that he was, wanted to help the stranded people. With his surfboard in hand, Duke ran into the water, paddled out into the treacherous surf, and managed to save eight people, battling his way out and back through churning white water, three different times. Of the twenty-nine people on board that day, seventeen died. Newport's police chief call Duke's performance "the most superhuman surfboard rescue act the world has ever seen". To this Day The Duke is remembered as not only the "father" of modern surfing, but he is also a hero.

By the late 1920's the word had spread so rapidly about this growing trend of surfing, that tourists from around the world flocked to Hawaii to experience the world's most famous surfing beach -- Waikiki. From the early 30's surfers weren’t content anymore with simple wave riding - the surfer’s ambitions out-raced the equipment they had to work with. Ever since then the surfboard was the focus; pushing technology and design to provide boards that could match the surfers skills. Leading the field was a man named Tom Blake. Blake’s innovation was to add a small fin at the bottom rear end of the boards. This allowed the surfer to pivot and turn more freely and with more lateral stability.

The 1930's also sparked a move to lighter balsa wood and plywood boards which remained the case until the use of modem day synthetic foams. Surf life-saving paddleboards were already common-place while Californians were taking their more maneuverable "Malibu" boards to Australia. Soon afterwards, a surf-riding culture developed down-under.

When it comes to the golden Age of Modern Surfing, we're talking about the fabulous fifties. All along the Southern California coastal communities, from Santa Barbara to San Diego 1000's of groms took to the waves and beaches like never before. Because of the post war prosperity and the commercialization of board manufacturing, almost any kid could mow enough lawns, deliver enough newspapers, or collect enough bottles to get him or herself onto a good lightweight board. In the early 50's, as Greg Noll recalled, the entire surfing population consisted of maybe a few hundred people, and most of them were riding redwood boards, paddleboards, or balsa/redwoods.

Most of the big names of the surf industry were born during the fifties: Hobie, Greg Noll, Hang Ten, James, Clark and Walker, and many others. What’s unique about surfing in this time period, is that since there were no established behaviors of the past, and most of the people surfing were roughly the same age, the only benchmark for behavior was to be as outrageous as possible both on and off the waves. Since surfing was an extreme type of sport, extreme behavior was part of the deal. “Surfing evolved because we all challenged each other to go further than the last time,” recalls Greg Noll.

1959 was an epic year for surfing. With names like Dora, Noll, Edwards, or other heavyweights of the past, they did in fact impact surfing in a big way but not quite like one particular person. The name that impacted surfing like no other was actually a woman, Kathy Khroner! Yep, that's right, but most of us new of her by the name “Gidget”. Before we knew what was happening, the name “Gidget” was popping up everywhere, and a steady stream of "beachy" movies were unleashed on the American public. Who could forget such classics as “The Beach Girls and the Monster”, “How to Stuff a wild Bikini”, or “Beach Blanket Bingo”. About the only good thing that came from these corny cinematic embarrassments, aside from providing some part-time employment for Mickey Dora, Munoz, Johnny Fain, and Tubestake, was the new style of music they featured. The surf guitar and the screamin’ re-ver-bin surf sound was born to bands like The Ventures, The Sandals, and Dickdale and the Deltones. We still must pay homage to the great film makers of the time as well as the musicians.

We can’t forget Bruce Brown's film "The Endless Summer" which had a sequence of Mike Hynson and Robert August giving surf lessons to the throngs of laughing Ghanian kids, which has to rank as one of the greatest social icebreakers ever captured on film. Another master of the Surf Arts, was a fellow named John Severson.

John was, and is, a Hall-of-Fame surf culture artist. Severson is noted for surf
movies, surf posters, prints, paintings and aloha shirts .His films included SURF SAFARI, SURF FEVER,
BIG WEDNESDAY, and PACIFIC VIBRATIONS. John, well known as the creator of the internationally acclaimed Surfer Magazine, was quite instrumental in the surfing world.

Along with the new trendy surf beat came even more trends: surf fashion. Everyone wanted to at least look like a surfer even if they couldn't be a surfer (some things never change!) Beyond the faded levis, huarache sandals, and pendleton shirts, the first true fashion created for surfers were the baggie surf trunks which were worn long to keep the mean wax rash from your legs. Hang Ten was the first company to mass-produce these surf trunks. They advertised in Surfer magazine and sold their trunks in all the local surf shops. Mike Doyle was one of the first models for the company. As Mike remembered, surfers were into anti-fashion, so true to style as soon as Hang Ten became popular with non-surfers they stopped wearing their trunks. But by then surf posers were everywhere.

It was the early 1960' s that saw the introduction of surfing in Europe. Traveling Australian lifeguards revolutionized wave sport with their arrival complete with their boards. Soon all the countries with an Atlantic coast were developing their own surf culture. With the help of movies such as Gidget, the women's revolution in surfing began to take off. After winning the 1965 U.S. Surfboard Championships, Joyce Hoffman was world champion in 1966-67. She grew up right on the beach in San Juan Capistrano, California. Walter, her father, was totally involved in surfing, and her Uncle Phillip would go anywhere to ride that perfect wave. Joyce totally dominated the women's surfing scene in the mid to late 60's. Joyce was honored as one of the original eight inductees into the International Surfing Hall of Fame, which pays tribute to the many individuals who made surfing what it is today.

Surfing was the fastest growing sport in the world during the 1960's. There was an insatiable appetite for anything surf-related all across the country and for the surfers themselves there was competition surfing and the beginning of today’s "surf contests". Tough work, glamour status, world travel, a bit of controversy, and by the end of the 60's a paycheck as well. Mike Doyle became the first to win a contest paycheck at the Duke Invitational in 1969. He walked with a $1000 check for a few days of surfing. But despite the feeling by many of the competitors that some of the events were bogus, surfing contests were immensely popular and 1000's of spectators would spend days watching these amazing surfers.

Movies, music, world conquests and contests; that's what surfing was about as the decade came to a close. The sixties brought major cultural and social changes to everyone both young and old. Surfing had by this time lost a lot of its original innocence, partially because of the mass commercialization of every facet of the sport, and surfing itself had become a major international sport that was no longer dominated by the Hawaiians or the Californians like it had been for so many years. The traditional longboard surfing style had been replaced with a newer, more-aggressive wave attack, and slash-type of surfing style. These maneuvers were only made possible because of the smaller and lighter weight wave riding vehicles. In just a matter of years the size of boards had gone from 10ft. to 6 ft.

From the early 10-12ft unwieldy longboards of the 1960's, design has moved a long way. Modern shortboards often only weigh 5-6lbs and can turn on a dime. Longboards too are a far cry from their ancestors both in terms of weight and handling.

Surfing has gone through some tremendous changes throughout the years, and we owe it all to the people who got us here, the true heroes. Since the Duke there have been only a handful of surfing heroes. In the 50’s it was Phil Edwards. In the 60’s it was Nat Young. During the 70’s it was Shaun Thomson owning backdoor pipeline. The 80’s was Tom Curren’s fluid style and awesome tube rides. In the nineties Kelly Slater has owned the show. So what's ahead for this decade? Stay tuned...