What Surfing Really Looks Like Ep 5: Finding the Lip Line

In this video I go over how to position for waves by looking at the lip line. I was struck when I went over this footage about how well you can see the bend of the wave as it comes towards me. It crucial to note that I'm not just waiting for the wave to come towards me but figuring out where the best place for me to be vis a via the peak is. In some cases I move OUT TO SEA to meet the wave. In other cases I have to paddle deeper. And still in others I have to paddle to the shoulder. I don't get it right every time! But when I do I am rewarded. Another point and tip is that you can use GoPro footage like this to diagnose your own tube riding. The session I had after this I didn't film but made many more tubes both backside and frontside based upon my diagnoses from this footage. It's hard to find that balance between being too deep/too greedy and too shallow/not deep enough.

Shot in SW Costa Rica, August 2023 using a GoPro Hero Black 11

Fall Tubes in NY, September 2023

A little mash up of a few tubes I got surfing in NY in September 2023. These are all from unnamed swell events. These are usually better for us than storms that have names because they're closer to land and therefore the interval stays below 10 seconds. All of these days had intervals in the 8-10 second range and wave heights (on the buoys) at 6-8ft from E, NE, ENE, and ESE. Overally the swell was pretty steeply angled from the E and NE due to the early season Noreaster we had that came after Tropical Storm Ophelia. The water is warm but the wind was cold so that is why I'm often in a hood. All the suits are 3mm or 3/2mm. I'm riding my 5'3" Barahona retro fish (yellow) and 5'5" Barahona modern fish (stripes). Filming from land by @mgbruno with my Olympus OM-D 1 and filming from the water by me with my GoPro Hero Black 11 using a handle cam. I paddle into the wave with the handle in my mouth then pull it out of my mouth as soon as I've made the drop. I shoot in 1080p at 30fps just for ease of use editing in iMovie. Song is "Lantern Room" by Torii Wolf from www.epidemicsound.com For more insights into tube riding and my philosophy be sure to become an online clubmember!!!

Philosophical Thoughts About "Paddle Arounds" and Positioning

I made this video for my client, Bastien, who texted me this question: "Hey Dion, I have a line-up related question. Something happened in 62 and happened again in some sessions before. I wait in line for the peak and give some space. The surfer goes for the wave and either the surfer who caught the wave or someone else paddle past me to the peak. I don’t get it because I feel it is pretty obvious I am waiting to go to the peak and was wondering what to do? I always try to wait in line but it seems that there is no structure in Rockaway? Or is it a beach break thing because peaks are not always at the same place? Do I have to be more aggressive and literally stick to the other surfer on the peak? Block the surfer trying to pass me to the peak? I’m trying my best to wait for the other surfers to catch waves before going for one again, or leaving room for even more beginner than me to catch waves. But for some reason it reverts back to unstructured, everyone fights for every wave.”

I told him this was a jackpot question and no way could I answer it in a text. I refer to some stuff in here that you won't get in the exact context of. That's because I'm referring to videos that I post in my weekly interactive Philo-surfy Zines. Subscribing there is like buying me a beer for posting this kind of content!! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!! Happy to hear any of your thoughts. I know that etiquette is a super thorny issue in surfing and in no way do I think that this is the last word on it.

What Is Surfing?

Check this vid to find out my “definition” of surfing. Hint: it’s not merely standing up on a surfboard. In later videos I will expand the concept of surfing even further. More waves more joy!

Correct Paddling Form

Besides wave judgment, paddling is the foundation of surfing. You paddle more than you actually surf! But correct paddling form is deceptive. There's more going on than meets the eyes. Watch the video for the full breakdown. This works on all size boards. Remember that when the nose is going under water you’re too far forward; and when the nose is sticking up too high you’re too far back.

2022 in Review: My Journey from Skinny Fat to Shredded and Shredding

Welcome to 2023 on the CSC blog everyone! Above is a video I compiled of a great majority of the surfing I did in front of a camera in 2022. I left out the SoloShot clips since it’s long enough already. As I have attested below and in my newsletters, I went through a radical diet and fitness transformation in 2022. By May (post Chile trip) I was in major lower back pain and I could tell my pants were fitting tighter than normal. I have one pair of chinos that are the litmus test for whether I’m losing, gaining, or maintaining weight. Do you have one pair of clothing like that? It’s weird it should be all the clothing, but there’s one pair in particular that really tells me what is going on. And in May they were uncomfortably tight. Then I went and got my yearly physical. The scale didn’t lie. 153, almost an all time high for me. I think 155 is the highest I’ve gone. I’m 5’6”. Truth be told, on a person of my height, getting near to 160 is going towards obesity. That may not be a popular opinion in today’s “body positive” social media climate, but it is also a scientific fact that I, for one, am not going to refute or deny. I am also aware that I was not obese during 2022 or any time before, and that I was doing some pretty damn fine surfing. I definitely made progress during the pandemic just by adding a daily yoga practice into my life. But yoga and surfing were not enough to keep me in optimal surf shape. I was in pain. And I had astronomically high cholesterol. So what did I do? I went vegan and hired a diet and fitness coach. The results fall just short of miraculous. Check out these side by side photos of me in January 2022 vs December 2022:

In the first picture I was pretty pleased with how I looked. I had some slight ab definition, and was drinking beer and eating whatever the hell I wanted. But you can see some extra fat around my belly button area, and those shorts are a size 32! In the second pic, the belly fat is gone, and the shorts are size 30. I actually can’t even wear those shorts surfing because they’re a little too baggy for that now. I’m now around 136-141 lbs (weight is something that fluctuates, not a static number), have a six pack, and those chinos that were tight? Yeah those are baggy on me now. Most importantly of all, I FEEL FKING GREAT. And I think you can see the change in my surfing in the video. Pop up is faster. Pumps have more oomph. Cutbacks have more wrap. Snaps have more snap. What’s not to love?

Is this mostly due to the fact that I hired a coach? 100%. I would never have been able to stay motivated enough to follow through. In fact am still with my coach Nathan at www.vegancoaching.com and will be through September this year. I message him every weekday morning at 5a EST (he’s in Wales so it works)! He keeps me positive, focused, and informed about the latest science in diet and fitness. He’s there when I’m feeling depressed about a higher weigh in, and when I’m pumped that I got to a new personal best in my workouts. He gives me a new workout program every 6-8 weeks so that I don’t get bored, and has helped me find affordable equipment online so that I don’t have to spend extra time getting to a gym.

How much do I think I can attribute this to going to a WFPB (whole foods plant based) diet? Some large portion of the 100% I ascribed to getting coaching. Overall this is a dietary pattern that favors sustainable, long-term healthy eating. Why? Because you get to eat higher volumes of food, which equate to lower calories overall. What more food and fewer calories? Yeah, that’s basically the WFPB life hack. It does take some training to get right. While I’m sure there are a few savvy autodidacts that can figure it out on their own, I recommend hiring someone to help you out, at least at first. My first recommendation are the folks at Vegan Coaching (please mention me if you go with them!), but after I’m done with their program, that will switch to me and the team that I assemble here. They’ll be second place! But my aim is to develop surf-specific dietary and fitness coaching to get you to do the best surfing in your life.

Stay tuned to the blog and newsletters for announcements of master classes in calorie tracking, exercises, and plant-based nutrition designed specifically with surfers in mind! If this is something of immediate interest to you, please do not hesitate to reach out to me personally through the site! I can design a coaching program for you to get started that will work with your goals, budget, and schedule. Early adopters will certainly get some percs!