Four-year-old dog named Efruz ‘loves the sea’, according to his owner, and often perches on a surfboard to ride waves
Clad in a yellow vest, little Efruz balances himself on the front of the surfboard as waves foam around him and his companion as they skim over the Pacific waters off Peru.
Efruz is a four-year-old Jack Russell terrier and he is a common sight these hot days of the southern hemisphere summer.
Continue reading...Khai Cowley, 15, was killed by a suspected great white shark off Ethel beach on the Yorke Peninsula
A teenage boy killed in a shark attack off the coast of South Australia has been remembered as a talented and dearly loved member of the surfing community.
The 15-year-old, identified by friends and a family member as Khai Cowley, was mauled by a suspected great white while surfing off the remote Ethel beach on the Yorke Peninsula west of Adelaide about 1.30pm on Thursday.
Continue reading...Volcanoes, northern lights and midnight sun are all on offer at this haven, which locals want to preserve
“Look at this wave,” says Mathis Blache, pointing to the sea from the shore’s black rocks as a swell rolls in. “It’s just perfect.” Despite air and water temperatures in the single digits, the 27-year-old student and surfer points out two other surfers – and a couple of seals – delighting in the conditions at Þorlákshöfn in south-west Iceland.
This spot, where surfers can enjoy either the midnight sun or the northern lights depending on the time of year, has in recent years become the heart of Iceland’s rapidly growing surfing community.
Continue reading...There is no clear explanation for the sea mammal’s behavior, say authorities, who has been seen riding and gnawing surfboards
A California otter is making headlines for her unique, and worrying, interactions with surfers.
In recent weeks, Mark Woodward, a photographer who goes by Native Santa Cruz on Twitter and Instagram has been sharing photos and videos of southern sea otters riding on surfboards they’ve commandeered. Authorities are particularly concerned about one sea otter, known as 841, who was involved in multiple incidents and can be seen in a video relentlessly gnawing on a board that the aquatic mammal scared a rider off of.
Continue reading...More than 2 million tourists visit Australian coastal town annually, but a spate of injuries blamed on surfers not wearing leg ropes is raising tempers
Amid the perfect blue rolling waves of Byron Bay’s beaches, a menace lurks.
It’s not sharks or stingers that are spoiling the vibes at perhaps Australia’s most famous tourist town, but out-of-control surfboards.
Continue reading...Man charged after 45 year-old former champion found unconscious on ground on NSW mid north coast
A man has faced court over the death of the former surfing champion Chris Davidson who died after being punched outside a pub on the NSW mid north coast.
Police said they were called to Sportsmans Way at South West Rocks just after 11pm on Saturday following reports a man had been punched in the face, fallen and hit his head on the pavement.
Continue reading...Women and girls have challenged conservative attitudes in the hallowed surf spot of Arugam Bay
Growing up in a small fishing village along the east coast of Sri Lanka, Shamali Sanjaya would often sit on the beach and look out at the boisterous waves. She would watch in envy as others, including her father and brother, grabbed surfboards, paddled out into the sea and then rode those waves smoothly back to shore. “I longed for it in my heart,” she said.
But as a local woman, surfing was strictly out of bounds for her. In Sri Lanka’s conservative society, the place for women was at the home and it was only the men, or female tourists, who were allowed to ride the hallowed waves in Arugam Bay, considered Sri Lanka’s best surf spot.
Continue reading...‘This is Josh Mulcoy, the godfather of cold-water surfing, catching a wave in Alaska. The place is so windy and wild, it’s known as The Cradle of Storms’
The Aleutian Islands are fabled in surfing. Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, they’re a raw chain of islands connecting Alaska to Russia. The area is known as The Cradle of Storms because it’s so windy and wild.
Most of the islands are made up of tundra and there are big active volcanoes. This island, Umnak, is home to a very small Aleut community. I went there in 2013. The planning alone took two years. You need to be completely self-sustained. You need to charter a small plane and have enough food and supplies for your entire stay, with the means to charge all your equipment.
Continue reading...World Surf League events are due in Victoria and WA but federal health minister says position on coronavirus vaccine is ‘pretty clear’ following Novak Djokovic visa saga
Surfing great Kelly Slater could be the next big name in sport to be refused the right to compete in Australia, with the federal health minister saying the 11-time champion will not be allowed into the country if he is not vaccinated against Covid.
Slater, who has not publicly disclosed his Covid vaccination status, has aired some controversial views on the Covid vaccine, including an Instagram comment in October that claimed he knew “more about being healthy than 99% of doctors”.
Continue reading...Nancy Meherne is determined to keep surfing as long as she can ‘do a little jump’ to get on the waves
Nancy Meherne lives a simple life by the sea, gardening and riding the soft, mellow waves at Scarborough Beach just a couple of blocks from her house.
The 92-year-old’s now pumice-like board was made in New Zealand in the 1970s by a factory that churned out gumboots and other rubber and foam products.
Continue reading...El Salvador’s top surfer, who had been preparing fo the sport’s Olympic debut this summer, has been struck and killed by lightning during a training session.
“A great athlete who has represented our country has left us,” the Salvadoran Surf Federation said in a post paying tribute to Katherine Diaz on social media. “See you soon, great warrior. El Salvador is in mourning.”
Continue reading...Board belonging to big wave surfer Danny Griffiths believed to have made the journey via New Zealand
An Australian surfer has found a surfboard he lost four years ago after it floated at sea for thousands of kilometres, from the bottom of Australia to the top – potentially via New Zealand.
Danny Griffiths, a big wave surfer, lost his favourite board after he crashed off a wave at the very southern tip of Tasmania. It was found, covered in barnacles, by two brothers near Townsville in north Queensland, more than 2,700km away.
Continue reading...When the opportunity to host a world championship tour event came knocking, Lennox Head said no
Hosting a world championship tour event is an opportunity most cities, let alone towns, would jump at – even bid large amounts of money for.
But the village of Lennox Head in the northern rivers region of New South Wales is quite happy to skip the glitz and glamour in the time of Covid.
Continue reading...In the intimidating and macho world of big-wave surfing, Brazilian Maya Gabeira is breaking male and female records – and challenging the sport’s testosterone-fuelled identity
The thing that struck Maya Gabeira was the sound. “I had never heard anything similar: it was the first affirmation that that was the biggest wave I had ever ridden,” she says. “It was just ‘phwoooaaaarrrrrrr.’” She mimics a bomb exploding in her hands. There was also a continuous “Brrrrrrrrrrrrr,” she says, like a deep engine humming – the sound of tonnes of water falling, falling, falling from a great height. “It almost vibrates inside your body.”
The Brazilian big-wave surfer is reflecting on the events of 11 February 2020, when she rode a monstrous 22.4m (73.5ft) wave at Nazaré in Portugal. It set the world record for the biggest wave ever surfed by a woman. It was also the biggest wave surfed by anyone, male or female – the first time this feat has been achieved by a woman.
Continue reading...Wright himself was filming the incident, then jumped a fence, dived into the water and pulled the woman to safety
An Instagram video has caught an Australian pro surfer heroically stepping in to rescue a woman being swept away by strong currents in Hawaii.
Mikey Wright was looking out over a beach, thought to be on Oahu’s north shore, when he saw a beachgoer struggling in the surf.
Continue reading...Mikey Wright has been filmed saving a beachgoer who was struggling against a current at a beach on Oahu’s north shore. The Australian surfer, who was in Hawaii for the Pipeline Masters event, posted footage of the rescue on Instagram with the caption: “hold my beer”. Although other beachgoers could be seen trying to help and reach the struggling swimmer, the current was too strong until Wright stepped in.
Continue reading...Seven years ago, she was nearly killed in pursuit of the sport she loves, but she defied expert’s predictions and made a stunning comeback
In the photographs of her record-breaking ride, the Brazilian surfer Maya Gabeira is a tiny blade on the water, cutting a line of white spume down the deep ridge of the vast grey wave that climbs behind her. The wave in question measured 22.4 metres (73.5ft), the highest ever surfed by a woman, the first to be measured and verified by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and a couple of feet greater than the one surfed by her nearest rival. It is also the biggest wave measured this year, surfed by man or woman.
Gabeira, who broke her own previous Guinness world record of 68ft, attributes her achievement to what she calls “taking a critical line”. In short, she takes her board to the fiercest and tallest part of the wave, “where the most powerful energy is, where it is actually breaking”. This, she says, is how “you put value into your wave”.
Continue reading...Surfer tackles huge swell off Co Sligo – after checking lockdown rules allowed it
It’s been compared to the monstrous big waves of the Pacific. But for Conor Maguire, an Irish surfer, who has claimed what may be his country’s largest ever swell, it was almost on his doorstep at Mullaghmore in County Sligo.
The biggest question for Maguire was not whether he wanted to try it, but whether it was socially acceptable to go out in the midst of a national lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...More than two years after disappearing in a huge swell at Waimea Bay, Doug Falter’s board was found near the remote island of Sarangani
When big wave surfer Doug Falter lost his board in a wipeout in Hawaii, his best hope was for a local fisherman to pick it up. He never imagined it would be found more than 8,000km (5,000 miles) away in the southern Philippines.
But more than two years after watching his pale blue custom-shaped board disappear in the huge swell of Waimea Bay, Falter was alerted via social media that it had been found near the remote island of Sarangani.
Continue reading...Photojournalist Zohra Bensemra met Sambe, who is inspiring girls to take to the waves in Dakar, and has documented her family and surfing life
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