Surf bans in France and around Europe persist, but that doesn’t mean you need to throw in the towel. Stay stoked with a little help from Southwest Surf House and the following tips.
Since the surf ban in France was introduced, our boards have been collecting.
Instead of spiralling into a pit of negativity though, we’ve been staying super positive. Now, you might wonder how on earth this is possible, given we aren’t allowed to do the one thing that we love. But to tell you the truth, it’s actually been kinda fun.
We’ve gotten on top of all those jobs that we were constantly putting off and tidied up around Southwest Surf House for your return. We’ve even managed to maintain our stoke for surfing, which has been surprisingly easy thanks to the following tips.
If you could do with an injection of stoke, read on below and remember to stay strong. It won’t be long till we’re back in the water!
Plan a surf movie night
Surf movies are a great way to remind yourself of the joy of surfing. You can put one on and be instantly transported to a dreamy tropical location or lose yourself on a faraway surf trip. Aa lot of these surf movies are also available online, which is cool. Titles such as Kai Neville’s Lost Atlas, Billabong’s Trilogy and even Endless Summer II can all be watched via Youtube. We suggest grabbing some popcorn and cueing a few up for some nighttime viewing. It’s the next best thing to actually visiting our surf camp in Hossegor.
Rewatch classic WSL heats
When you’re all out of free online surf movies to watch, swap over to the World Surf League’s official website and check out their extensive collection of past events. Here you can view entire competitions or pick and choose heats to rewatch some of the more classic matchups. Pipeline showdowns, stellar individual performances and epic surf conditions await. Browse their selection now and take a big swig out of the stoke bottle. These clips will definitely fire you up to hit the waves near our surf camp in Hossegor when the ban is lifted.
Give your surfboard some TLC
If you own a surfboard then it’s fair to say it probably thinks you have forgotten all about it right now. Instead of leaving it in a dark room and making it feel all neglected, why not use this time to spruce it up? Strip of old wax, clean out the fin boxes, patch up any small cracks and otherwise blow the dust off it. With any luck you’ll be able to take to the waves with your (now) clean and tidy sled soon enough.
Implement yoga into your daily routine
Being unable to surf can be incredibly detrimental to your physical health. Before you know it, you’ve swapped your surfboard for a spoon, your wetsuit for a tub of ice cream and started surfing the wave of weight gain and loss of flexibility. This is one ride you don’t want to take, so we recommend scheduling some yoga either first thing in the morning or whenever you have time. There are literally countless free tutorials on YouTube plus plenty of apps you can use. Keep it up and you’ll be fit and firing and ready to book a trip to our surf camp in Hossegor.
Brush up on your surf history
Did you know that one of surfing’s most eccentric characters was air to a multimillion-dollar sugar enterprise? Or that there’s footage of people surfing waves in Portugal sometime between 1926 and 1927? What about the fact that Kelly Slater’s first name is actually Robert? Mind blown, right? If you want to impress your friends or family with the answers to these surfing titbits, sign up to seminal writer Matt Warshaw’s Encyclopaedia of Surf website and cram your brain with the things that matter.
Boost your stoke during these times of uncertainty – book a future stay at Southwest Surf House today
