Category Archives: Surfing Products Wave Pools

Surf Fitness – A 3 Step Plan For Your Next Surfing Holiday

I love to surf events. I love to travel. The great thing about these 2 loves is that they go hand in hand. I’ve gone a little bit further than most people though, and made these passions my life. I moved to Australia’s Gold Coast and set up a surfboard rental company that endeavours to bring together, all the services the traveling surfer needs.

The business is based around a long term surfboard rental concept which includes services such as delivery and pickup. This part is great. I make sure I deliver as many boards as I can as it affords me the luxury of chatting to my clients about the passions we share. Usually these conversations are packed with useful tips about the services they’d like to see next year. So I try to listen, improve my business and provide them with those services when they return.

“I wish I was a little bit fitter for this holiday”, so many of my clients tell me when returning their surfboards. This is the number 1 desire of the travelling surfers who use my services. The want a higher level of surfing fitness for their holidays. It makes sense really. When you go on a surfing trip, you end up surfing 2 – 3 times a day, which will probably equates to 4 – 6 hours a day in the water. This you do consistently over a period of 5 – 10 days. It is a lot of surfing. No matter how much you surf at home, you will be surfing more when on holiday.

So how can we condition ourselves for a surfing holiday. (Ie. When on holiday, you will spend much more time in the water paddling than you will at home, your fitness needs to be much higher) In this article we will look at a 3 point plan. The first 2 points should be part of your commitment to general fitness, the last will be to give your fitness a quick boost before your holiday.

The first thing you need to take care of is your general level of endurance. You need to be fit enough to go hard for 10 – 15 minutes minimum, as often this is the minimum paddling requirement for getting through the breakers and out the back.

This requirement needs to be specific to the water though. You need to be water fit. Endurance in the water is so different to endurance on land. Moving through the water is almost a feeling, an art. The worse your feel for the water is, the more energy you’ll burn up when you take to it.

So you really need to get into the water for some form of exercise at least twice a week. This could mean swimming with a swim squad at your local pool, surfing your local break, or do what I did and join the local surf lifesavers. Their training sessions have me in the water all the time. You need to view this as a life commitment (training in the water that is). Get into the water twice a week for the rest of your life, thats the only way you’ll build and maintain water specific endurance.

The second key is flexibility and core strength. These two facets can not be developed quickly, they must be developed over the long term. And by long term, I mean years. So don’t put this off. Start working on your flexibility and core strength today. I know, the exercises can be boring, but it all pays off on the waves.

There is one thing I do to take care of my core strength and flexibility. Yoga. Yoga is so good in this regard for surfers, its almost as if yoga was invented for surfing. My suggestion, get yourself a yoga for surfing dvd and do the program twice a week. Its a little bit cheaper than going to the yoga clinic twice a week anyway.

Also, even the simple act of paddling requires you to over-arch your back, creating a distortion in the development of your back muscles. Yoga sorts all these types of issues out, as well as conditioning your body. My advice, get yourself a surf specific yoga DVD and do it 2 or 3 times a week.

If you take care of the two items above (Ie water fitness and flexibility/core strength) you can give your surfing fitness a real booster by doing a functional training program specific to surfing. The point of functional training is it focuses in on the specific muscle and fitness requirements of a sport (in this case surfing) and trains those muscles in accordance with the needs of the sport.

To embellish, you’re reasonably fit and flexible because of the healthy outdoors lifestyle you lead. However, in recognising the additional load the surfing holiday is going to put on your body, you give it a short and sharp boost right where it needs it, so you can cope better and recover quicker from any session in the water. Which is exactly what you want on holiday as your next session is only hours away.

I hope this helps you prepare for your next surfing trip where ever it may be. We all know training can sometimes be a bit of a drag, just remember how much more fun those surfing days are when the waves, your skill and your body all come together at the same time, so you can catch that elusive perfect wave.

Damian Papworth is the owner of Gold Coast Surfboards [http://www.goldcoastsurfboards.com.au], a company that finds services for travelling surfers’ requirements. From board hire to surfing fitness [http://www.goldcoastsurfboards.com.au/surfing_fitness.html], they’ll sort it out for you. Learn more about using the app for surfing on your mobile.

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Seven Quick Steps to Start Surf Fishing Right Away

If you’ve never surf fished before this article is written for you. My goal is to provide you with a very simple, easy to follow method so you will catch your first fish in the surf. That’s all I want you to be able to do. Just catch a fish, any fish. I don’t care if you have never caught a fish in your life. I want you to see how exciting and easy it is to do. After that I guarantee you’ll be hooked and I will have accomplished my goal. Once you catch your first fish you’ll have the confidence I want you to get. At that point you will have the incentive to learn everything you can about this sport and enjoy many successful hours at the surf line. Join this surf contest event in Australia and experience the wave.

Surf fishing is a neglected sport. You don’t hear much about it. The ironic thing is that it’s probably the the easiest to do and the most exciting. How strange is that?

Okay let’s get started.

Get A Surf Rod And Reel Combo

I want you to go down to Walmart or one of the big sporting good chains. You have go to one of them within range of the coastline otherwise they won’t carry any surf gear. Your budget for a surf rod and reel combo is under $69. You can probably find something for around $49. (A combo is a rod & reel combination)

Pick out any spinning surf rod and reel combo that strikes your fancy. Surf rods are heavier and longer than regular salt water rods. Get something at least 10′ but not longer than 12′ If you can find the Daiwa combo or the Shakespeare combo that’s great. Otherwise most any surf combo will do. Remember this is a beginners intro. Once you get into it you’ll probably want to get more professional gear.

Get The Minimum Required Tackle

This is going to a very short, simple list.

300 yds. of mono filament line 20 lb. Test (if your combo didn’t come spooled with line)
2 or maybe 3 Pyramid sinkers 3oz. weight
1 pkg. of 2/0 circle hooks ( Look at the ready made leaders with hooks on them so you can see how their set up)
1 pkg. of #2 snap swivels

Get Your Gear Set Up

Okay now spool the line on your reel and don’t wind it on too loosely. Wind your line on through a piece of Styrofoam or anything that will put a little drag on it as fills up your reel. We’re not going to deal with a shock leader at this stage. You probably won’t be casting that hard anyway. If you don’t know what a shock leader is don’t worry about it. You can find when you need to know or just look it up. That’s too much to get into at this stage.

With the hook and sinker you can go one of two ways. Either one will get the job done at this point.

Method #1

Make a short 12″ leader for the hook and tie it on your line about 18″ from the end of your line (Remember you saw hooks with leaders at the tackle store). Tie a snap swivel on the end of your line and attach the pyramid sinker to it..

Method #2

Attach a #2 snap swivel to a pyramid sinker and slide in on your line so that it can slide freely. Attach another #2 snap swivel to the end of your line and attach a leader to it with a 2/0 hook on it.

That’s it your surf rig is ready to go.

Learn To Cast

Pick an appropriate location like a park or ball field where there won’t be any people around. You can tape off the hook for safety so you won’t have to take it off. Now I want you to practice casting until you can cast with a basic amount of control for direction and distance. This isn’t a bad idea even if you have some experience. Practice until you can cast 100′ to 200′ with a reasonable amount of predictability. If you can do better that’s great. If you try to cast much further you will need to learn and use a shock leader.

Why You Need To Know About Tides

I need to give you a quick lesson on tides and surf fishing. Find the tide tables for your location. I’ll give you three possibilities. Find them on the Internet, look for them in the local coastal newspaper or ask at the local bait and tackle shop.

Find out when you can go to the beach at low tide. Visit the beach and look for variations in the bottom. Note spots for pockets and changes in the formation of the bottom, basically where you can cast into deeper water or past a sandbar. If you can spot a rip through a sandbar so much the better. These will be your target spots to fish.

Pick The Right Time To Fish The Surf

Okay now you know where you are going to fish and the water you will be targeting. Go back to the the tide charts. Find a time when high tide occurs in the early daylight hours or around early dusk. It doesn’t matter which one you pick. You are going to fish a two hour window before and after high tide which will be four hours of fishing time. Now you know when to go fishing.

Get Some Bait

Now it’s time to start fishing. Head over to the local bait shop. Buy a dozen 3″ – 4″ shrimp. (Get a fishing license if you need one.) Head for the surf and get your gear out. Hook one of the shrimp through the tail about an inch from the end. Cast into the designated spots, get in a comfortable chair and hold on. If something doesn’t happen in 20 to 30 minutes cast into one of the other areas that you scouted at low tide.

From the information I’ve given you, at this level of skill you have the best opportunity of landing something very exciting. There’s a good chance you will use all of your bait catching fish. Any size, any kind just catch something so you can see what it’s like. Plan on releasing anything you catch for now. You can get into keeping some at another time.

It’s not foolproof but it will be highly effective. There’s a strong likely hood you will catch something your first time out. Don’t worry about the possibility that the fish aren’t out there. They are there, just take my word for it.

Randy Meyers is a surf angler who has been fishing the surf for over 30 years. He is the author of Surf Fishing – The quick Start Guide To This Exciting Sport. Randy owns and operates the surf fishing website Surf-Fishanybeach.com. Learn more on how to get an access during surfing competitions.

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Booking Your Holidays Online: Commission and Consumer Protection Authorities Act On Misleading Travel Booking Websites

While it becomes more and more common to book hotels and flights online, consumers are encountering a growing number of problems with online travel services. These services are now among the most frequent consumer complaints according to the European Consumer Centres. Many ski areas offer great group discounts for ski Canada deals so next time you’re heading out invite the whole family or group of friends.

The European Commission and EU consumer protection authorities launched a coordinated screening of 352 price comparison and travel booking websites across the EU in October 2016. They found that prices were not reliable on 235 websites, two thirds of the sites checked. For example, additional price elements were added at a late stage of the booking process without clearly informing the consumer or promotional prices did not correspond to any available service.

Authorities have asked the websites concerned to bring their practices in line with EU consumer legislation, which requires them to be fully transparent about prices, and present their offers in a clear way, at an early stage of the booking process.

Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, said: “The Internet provides consumers with plenty of information to prepare, compare and book their holidays. However, if the reviews on comparison websites are biased or prices are not transparent, these websites are misleading consumers. The companies concerned need to respect the European consumer rules, just like a travel agent would. Consumer authorities will now require the websites to solve these issues. Consumers deserve the same protection online as offline.”

Key findings

What you believe you’ll pay, is it what you will actually pay? In one third of the cases, the price first shown is not the same as the final price.
Is it an offer or is it just bait? In one fifth of the cases, promotional offers were not really available.
Puzzled mind or puzzled price? In almost one third of the cases the total price or the way it was calculated was not clear.
Last cheap room in the hotel or simply last promoted room on that website? In one in four cases, websites did not specify that statements about scarcity (e.g. “only 2 left”, “only available today”) applied strictly to their own website.

Next steps

The 235 websites with irregularities will have to correct the irregularities. Consumer Protection Cooperation authorities will ensure they comply by activating their national enforcement procedures.

Background

An EU-wide screening of websites (“sweep”) is a set of checks which are carried out simultaneously by consumer protection authorities in different countries. These checks reveal whether EU consumer protection laws are respected. If the checks find a breach of EU consumer law, then the consumer protection authorities contact the companies involved and ask them to make corrections. Previous “Sweep” actions have focused so far on: airlines (2007), mobile content (2008), electronic goods (2009), online tickets (2010), consumer credit (2011), digital contents (2012), travel services (2013), guarantees on electronic goods (2014) and consumer rights directive (2015).”

Every year the Commission coordinates the screening of websites for a particular sector, with the help of the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) network which brings together the consumer authorities of 28 countries (26 EU countries, Norway and Iceland). The authorities are responsible for enforcing EU consumer protection laws in the EU.

The results of the 2016 screening of travel comparison and booking websites

The CPC authorities of 28 countries (26 EU countries, Norway and Iceland) checked a total 352 websites comparing offers and prices, mainly in the travel sector.

Out of the total number of websites, 23.6% compared accommodation prices, 21.3% compared tickets prices (air, boat, train, bus), 5.1% compared car rental prices, whilst

44.6% offered a combined comparison of products and services (tickets, accommodation, holiday packages, etc.).

The screening revealed a series of irregularities in online comparison tools. The main irregularities related to the price and the way it was calculated and presented:

in 32.1% of cases, the price on the page of the comparison list was not the same as the price ultimately displayed in the booking page;

on 30.1% of the websites, the total price (inclusive of taxes) or the way this was calculated was not clear;

20.7% of the websites presented special prices, which were not then available as advertised through the actual booking page;

25.9% of the websites gave the impression that certain offers were scarce (e.g. “only 2 left”, “only available today”) without specifying that this scarcity applied strictly to their own website.

Other irregularities identified by the CPC authorities were related to:

the identity of the provider of the comparison tool: 22.7% only gave limited information (e.g. name, address of establishment), while 4% did not provide any information at all;

the user review process: 21.3% of the websites presented consumer reviews in an unclear or un-transparent way (and/or included elements that could question their truthfulness);

the coverage of the comparison: 10.5% of the websites did not provide material information that was important for the comparison.

The least problematic issue was the presentation of advertising and marketing. Only 2.8% of the websites contained this type of irregularity.