Tag: holly beck

Learn About High Performance Twin Fin Surfboards with Holly Beck

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Up until recently I would have told you that I don’t really like twin fins. Any time I’d ever tried a “fish”, it was fun, but just not as high performance as I wanted a board to feel. Sure, they paddled well and went fast down the line. They were also very loose. So loose, that if I wanted to do a quick bottom turn and hard “off the top” turn, the board would just slide out on me. I felt like I always had to hold back and surf more conservatively.

Of course, time passes and my pro surfing career is now 10 years in the past. I, along with my surfing, have matured and my prime focus isn’t quite as much about smashing the lip as enjoying the feel of the ride, including riding a variety of different surfboards. Lately I pulled an old twin fin out of the back of my quiver that I’d owned for 20 years but never really liked much. It’s not quite as wide as a Lis “fish” (for what that means see below), but still qualifies as a fish. I found that relying on more front foot pressure to control the rail made it more surf-able and actually fun, even in hollow waves. See video below.

Around the same time I’d been surfing a bigger hollow high performance sandbar wave in Nicaragua and there was a French pro out absolutely ripping. He looked to be riding something alternative and I asked him, “what are you riding?” It turned out to be a “Plan B” by Pukas – a round tail, narrower twin fin. I immediately sent the link to my shaper in Costa Rica – Randy Walker – and asked him to make me one. He did some of his own research, tweaked it a bit, and the result is the board I’m riding in the first video. It has become my favorite board to ride. Even though I had ordered it with the hollow beach breaks of Nicaragua in mind, it seems to also work really well in the long sloping walls of Pavones near our retreats in southern Costa Rica .

If you’re interested in what it means for a surfboard to be a “fish” and the differences between a traditional fish and the modern version, keep reading!

The Original Fish Design

You of course will have heard of a “fish”. This board was designed by San Diegan surfer/shaper Steve Lis in 1967. It was originally designed as a kneeboard, but began to be surfed standing up. The standard features are a shorter length, wider tail, and two fins set wide apart (compared to a standard shortboard). These boards paddle well and feel very fast and loose. They have to be ridden a little differently than a high performance shortboard because if you push on the tail hard, you’ll likely slide out. Here’s a video snippet from the film “Hydrodynamica” showing the fish in use. Click here for Vimeo video.

The MR Fish

Then along came Mark Richards. He wanted a board that would be a hybrid of a single fin and a fish. During the 1976/77 Hawaii season, he redesigned the fish, creating a board with a narrower tail and the two fins closer together, then went on to win a world title on it. Of course in 1980 the three-fin “thruster” design came along as an even better options, and twin fins were relegated to shadows until the hipster movement brought them back into the spotlight.

Here’s a full 15 min documentary on Mark Richards and original high performance twin fin:

 

Books to Inspire Your Next Surf Adventure

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Need some new reads to get hyped for your next surf adventure? SWA Instructor Coco has shared her favorite surf-centric books!

 

In Search Of Captain Zero

a surfer’s  road trip beyond the end of the road

By Allan C. Weisbecker

My favorite surf book ever. This book really captures the essence of surf travel and it opened up my mind to the wild magic of Mexico. 

On his journey from New York to Central America in search of a long lost friend, Allan finds himself in some wild places, surfing empty waves and gathering clues of his dear friend Captain Zero’s whereabouts along the way. This book is hilarious and entertaining from beginning to end and it really inspired me. I still dream of driving through Mexico and Central America! Maybe one day. As far as I know Captain Zero is still living there in Mexico- my sister ran into him a few years ago in Panama and they surfed together.

Bustin’ Down the Door

By Wayne RABBIT Bartholomew

I read this book while living in Hawaii. The author, “Rabbit”, is an Australian surf legend who writes about his adventures in Hawaii in the winter of 1975 where he was almost chased out, first by locals, then by huge waves crashing through his front door in the night.

After reading this book I moved to Australia and eventually met Rabbit at Southern Cross University where I was studying Sports Management “surfing studies”. I remember during his open discussion he asked the students if we could leave our desks and sit in a circle on the floor instead. Legend indeed.

Barbarian Days A Surfing Life

By William Finnegan

“The particulars of new places grabbed me and held me, the sweep of new coasts, cold, lovely, dawns. The world was incomprehensibly large, and there was still so much to see. Yes, I got sick sometimes of being an expatriate, always ignorant, on the outside of things, but I didn’t feel ready for domestic life, for seeing the same people, the same places, thinking more or less the same thoughts, each day. I liked surrendering to the onrush, the uncertainty, the serendipity of the road.” — Finnegan

This quote taken from Barbarian Days really sums up the excitement of surf travel. Never knowing what is around the next corner, traveling to new places, exposing yourself to new cultures, and embracing the unexpected. I read it in a just a few days! After reading I starting thinking about surfing bigger waves and began training a few weeks later too!

How to Survive Closeout Tubes

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How to Survive Closeout Tubes

I posted this video to my Instagram account and received many questions. “Why?” “How did you survive that?” “Was your board in one piece afterwards?”

The most common question was, “how did you fall in order to not get hurt?” Well… let me explain.

I grew up in Los Angeles’ South Bay, an area with plenty of surf, but unfortunately mostly beach breaks without a lot of shape.

The waves in that area break close to shore, get hollow, form plenty of tubes, but it’s rare to make it out of the tube. As a teenager, I developed a love for the vision you get from standing inside of a hollow wave, regardless of whether the wave let me out still standing. I got used to the crunchings that inevitably followed sending course sand deep inside my wetsuit, scalp and ears. I learned to survive closeout tubes and actually really enjoy them. Any pain that resulted was all worth that blissful momentary vision.

Since then, I’ve moved to a much more shapely Central American beach break near SWA retreats in Nicaragua where coming out of the tube is a whole lot more common. But, I still haven’t lost my love for a good crunching close out. Sometimes, if I know there’s no chance of making the wave, I actually feel more relaxed. I can just stand there and enjoy the view. This day there were a lot of good waves, but also a lot of really excited local kids scrambling to take every one. I got a little annoyed and paddled further south, deeper than anyone, to wait for my good one. This big lump came in, I saw it doubling up, knew there was little chance of making it, but felt like I needed to prove my point so the kids would back off. Plus…. I really wanted that view!

If you’re going to go for closeouts, or even are just trying to learn how to get tubed, knowing how to fall definitely helps.

First let me say, the safest place is inside the tube. If you takeoff on a bigger hollow wave, and decide to straighten out towards shore (instead of pulling in), there’s a good chance the lip will land on your head, on the back of board, etc. The power from the lip landing on you as it falls is something you want to avoid. Alternatively, if you take off and try to pull out through the face, the wave will likely suck you up and “over the falls” which again can be more dangerous.

The key to falling as safely as possible is to jump off from inside the tube.

If it’s a small wave, I typically won’t jump off at all, but just ride as long as possible and let it knock me off as it will. If it’s a bigger one however, I will jump. There are two options:

1. Kick the board out in front of you and kinda just sit back, falling off behind the board. In theory I think this is a good idea, but in practice it’s not what I typically do.

2. Jump forward. Usually most of my momentum is going forward, hoping to make the tube, so I find my body wants to go forward as well. Therefore, I usually jump off forward and slightly to the falling lip side of my board, trying to fall as flat as possible (to not have an elbow or leg sticking out that will slam into the shallow bottom). Imagine diving forward into a body surf position. Typically I’ll do a little twist as I dive so that I land more on my back. That way if you do bounce off the bottom, it’s your shoulder or back that hits, instead of your face/elbow. That’s what I remember doing on this wave and while I did bounce off the shallow sandbar on my back, I wasn’t hurt. My board was miraculously also in one piece and I happily paddled out for more!

If you want to get coached to surf hollow waves, join me on one of our advanced tube riding retreats. More info here.

To see the best waves (including plenty I came out of) from the swell, click Play below.

Watch Holly Beck Surf The Boom in Nicaragua

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We are gearing up for one of our favorite retreats of the season, the Advanced Tube Riding Clinic in North Nicaragua! Here’s a highlight from Holly surfing the beach break from our most recent tube riding clinic.

At these retreats our goal will be to help you develop the skills needed to get your first tube ride. We’ll be getting up early and paddling out at sunrise, then coming in for breakfast, and paddling out again! If the tide and wind are good, we’ll surf four or five hours per day. This retreat is about surfing our brains out!

Advanced Shortboarders in Nicaragua Scoring Waves

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holly beck, advanced shortboard retreat, surf with amigas, north Nicaragua, surf coaching, surf yoga retreat

We hosted an advanced shortboard retreat in North Nicaragua with the goal of teaching our guests how to get tubed. You will see a couple of long boarders as well who wanted to come and join in the fun without the pressure of getting tubed. This is the highlight video of the week with everyone included. There are waves for everyone in North Nicaragua and we scored an awesome swell and conditions all week.

Release Baby Sea Turtles in Nicaragua in November and December

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Surf With Amigas has been sponsoring the Waves of Hope sea turtle conservation program since 2012. We just committed to another year doing our part to give back by supporting the program that buys baby sea turtle eggs from poachers turned conservationists to ensure there will be turtles in the lineup for years to come!

See below for the video we made way back in 2012 in our first year of the project. All the info is the same! If you’d like to participate in the release of baby turtles, join us for a retreat in Nicaragua.

Girls Day Out Boat Trip

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girls day out, surf trip, boat trip, costa rica, surf with amigas, holly beck, surf instructor, adventure

“It’s not the destination its the journey”.

You may have heard the saying “its not the destination its the journey”. It has always kind of annoyed me because the journey normally means long plane rides, delays, layovers, canceled flights etc., and I just want to get to the destination already and skip the “journey” part. But, it doesn’t have to be that way at all. It’s good to think of the journey as an adventure and wherever I end up, even if its not the place I had intended to go, as the destination.

My latest surf adventure in southern Costa Rica was by boat with 3 girlfriends, a cooler full of beer, a comically large quiver of surfboards, and a desire for right hand point breaks. We left not so bright but very early (4am) and loaded up the boat with all of our boards. We brought long boards, mid length boards and short boards. The great thing about traveling with a boat full of women is that we are always prepared with stylish surf costumes, which explains the plethora of bikinis, leggings, rash guards, surf hats, and some surf sun glasses. Oh, and just in case, the snorkel mask and fins.

Continue reading “Girls Day Out Boat Trip”

The Waves Await – A review of SWA by journalist Pam LeBlanc

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Pam LeBlanc is a journalist for the Austin Statesman. She joined us on a retreat this past summer to learn to surf and wrote about her experience. An excerpt from her exciting story is below, along with a link to the full article. Enjoy!

surf instructor, surf camp, learn to surf, costa rica, womens, surf yoga retreat
Surf instructor Chloe demonstrates the nose ride on a long left.

The waves await

On the last day of surf camp, we head across the muddy gravel road in front of our cabins to a stretch of beach where the waves break big.

There, the ocean curls over into industrial-size rolls of carpet, crashing in rapid-fire explosions of greenish-gray spray. The roar drowns out the squawking of the scarlet macaws, and I can’t draw my eyes away. Those waves look huge to me, much bigger than the “cute” ones we’ve been practicing on all week, even though I know that for seasoned surfers they’d present no problem.

Surfboards in tow, 10 other women and I stare out to sea. Then we wade into the surf. We dash out, a few at a time, between the biggest sets, springing onto our boards and paddling furiously, jumping off and “turtling” them overhead to get through bigger waves.

It takes 30 minutes for all of us to work our way safely past the break. Then we sit up, watching intently for just the right set.

After a week of practice, now comes the test……

Post session view review

Making waves

Before the first ocean session at all-women’s Surf With Amigas camp in southern Costa Rica, we gathered beneath a covered pavilion for some dry land briefings. We learned the parts of a surfboard, the basics about wave formation and how to get up on a surfboard. Instructors broke the pop-up technique into steps, and we practiced on yoga mats.

Then we headed to the beach in a van loaded with colorful boards, music pulsing out the windows. For the next five days, our group broke into two — beginners like me and more experienced paddlers. We visited two nearby beaches, and one day rode a boat to catch a wave off the Osa Peninsula. We paddled into swell after swell, missing some and catching others.

Gradually, things got easier. I grew comfortable hopping onto the board and easing myself into the standing position. I didn’t always get it, and fell off pretty quickly when I did, but I swooned every time I felt that sweet push when I caught a wave just right. After a few days, I could turn down the line, riding a small wave as it broke toward shore. The other campers and I cheered each accomplishment, and at the end of every session we snacked on fresh watermelon and pineapple.

“These trips are confidence-boosting, girl power.”
Lucy Schwartz, 27

Then we headed back to our cabins, no-frills, cement-floored shelters without air conditioning or hot water but with plenty of charm.

Sure, we all went nuts when a local woman stopped by to paint toucans and palm trees on our fingernails, we descended like vultures when organizers pulled out an array of teeny-weeny bikinis available for purchase, and we staged the greatest slumber party of all time one night when we made chocolate from scratch, sipped wine and braided each other’s hair.

But make no mistake: This was no frivolous get-together. We came to surf.

Costa Rican wildlife

To read more, click the link below for the full article:

http://specials.mystatesman.com/surf-camp/

Last night bonfire with new friends.