We crowded around the TV in a sweaty demountable and watched footage of the high school surfing team. I saw stringy boys in black wetsuits ride wave after wave; I was waiting for footage of me, which arrived unexpectedly spliced into the year ten boy’s semi-final, although I wasn’t surfing. I was emerging from the water and onto the shore—like girls I had seen in Tracks … [Read more...]
(It’s Great To) Suck at Something – Karen Rinaldi reveals why being a surfing kook is better than just okay.
Over the past 15 years, surfing has become a kind of obsession for me. I surf eight months a year. I travel to surf destinations for family vacations and seek (forgiving) waves in the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. I have spent thousands of dollars on boards of all sizes and shapes. In the sport of (Hawaiian) kings, I’m a jester And yet — I suck at it. In the sport of … [Read more...]
Surfing in the land of ice and fire – exploring Kamchatka… Siberia’s wildest region!
In the sixties, adventurous surfers stowed away on ocean liners to discover the exotic waves of the Hawaiian Islands. What a blast that must have been? Even if you got caught. In the seventies, the next generation of surfers with wanderlust took cheap flights to Indonesia to discover destinations like Bali’s Uluwatu and Kuta. Wave-mad hippies like Rusty Miller and Stephen … [Read more...]
Who was Europe’s first surfing woman? Introducing the wonderful Witch of Newbury.
It’s a fact of life that many men are threatened by powerful and skilful women. Nowhere is this more so than in sport. While women’s sport might just be entering a golden age right now with women’s soccer, rugby, basketball, Australian football, cricket, surfing etc. emerging from the shadows to not only provide fun and exciting fitness alternatives for women but also to … [Read more...]
No Respect!
After a week in Sydney visiting a sick Mum in hospital I was excited about getting back to my home beach today. First impressions on checking out the break were hopeful rather than encouraging. Two to three foot looked fine after the dead flat I had left a week-ago. The howling off-shore, on the other hand, promised to make paddling hell. The day itself was dark, cold and … [Read more...]