Surfers Start Up: A Beginners Guide to Surfing

God went surfing with the Devil

Its heart warming to know that despite the difficulties in ravaged Gaza Strip, a band of Palestinian and Israeli folks refuse to let the bombs and embargoes stop them from going surfing. While the surf scene is reasonably developed outside of Gaza, in the strip everything is difficult to get hold of, but that seems to drive the small band of surfers there on to do more. The whole things been documented in a film "God went surfing with the Devil" by Alex Klien; and I'm going to try and track down a copy to watch, its got to be a different kind of surf movie, and the sort of film that shows how fanatical us surfers are in the face of adversity. If anyone has seen it already, let me know, I'd be interested to know what you thought of it.

Sipping Jetstreams By Dustin Humphrey; the Book not the movie!

I just shelled out £60 on Sipping Jetstreams By Dustin Humphrey; the Book not the movie, now thats a pile of wedge for a book, but when the retail price is £100+ I'm not complaining. The book features Dustins Photography, focusing on the places and faces making the movie of the same name took him. Its not page after page of waves, probably only a 3rd of the book is surfing, the rest captures the essence of surf travel and adventure, it's a stunning book that had me inspired to head out with the camera, from grainy black and white shots of hands, faces, and camels, alongside full colour surf shots. If you love photography and love travel, I'd recommend you check it out.

And to nick the forward by Joel Patterson, as I think it expresses a lot about the feel of the book, "Travel keeps you young. It does this by simply putting you in situations that make you feel like a child again. Magically lost in a moment of discovery. Beautifully confused. It could be the first time you awaken to the 5:00 a.m. call to prayer from the local mosque on Morocco's far Atlantic shore, the first time you feel the weight of the Egyptian sun on your shoulders, the first time you paddle out over the shallow reefs of the Caribbean, or the first time you realise that people living in squalor can achieve happiness as easily as those living in mansions. These are life's opportunities to shed the hustle of modernity, to join the moment, and stop sprinting toward some prefabricated goal. Your heart races. Your metabolism shifts into a lower gear. Everything is new gain..."

Oakley and Surfline Create Free Mobile iPhone App. for Surfers

Oakley and Surfline have just announced the release of an Apple iPhone application that provides free worldwide mobile access to surf reports for today/tomorrow. I've only just started playing with it, but its pretty good based on the first few uses, swells are predicted as open ocean heights, so you've got to interpret them for the breaking wave. The fact that I can use the GPS in my iPhone to simply get the app to tell me what main breaks are close to me is a winner for surf trips to new destinations. While Surfline are providing the Surf reports, Oakley are providing news feeds, photos and videos via tabs in the app, so its a tasty way to stay in touch and get a stoke if your land locked. Hopefully access will stay free and wont become ad laden, but for now I think its well worth checking out for you iPhone/iPodtouch owners, lets face it you can always trash it later. Here's a link to the Surf Report App. on Apples iTunes AppStore.