The magical soul of surfing

This is the most moving surfing film I've ever seen. It features truly beautiful footage of big, incredibly powerful, nearly-unridable waves and a "you are there" experience alongside the venturesome people surfing them. Watch it again and again, and feel slow-motion explosions as amazing rides eventually start to come apart in the teeth of monumental ocean force. Wow. And wow again. And maybe even one more final last wow.

Note: this video moved, here's a working version:


More Surfing Videos

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Glowing surf, WTF!?

Strange beauty is common in the ocean, and glowing water is right at the top of my list of eerie yet fantastic ocean sights.

Churned by surf, fish, or boats, glowing ocean waters are the result of microbes that glow when disturbed, in the case of the photo at right, a red tide in California.

Click here for a fun video of surfing bioluminescence.

Thanks to DEEP BLUE HOME

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Great surf video

You won't believe this one



Un film de Karim Rejeb, Production Anticyclone

Thanks to Deep Blue Home, where Julia posts the best stuff ever...

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Extreme ocean video with a mini-quadrocopter

Now you can use this:














To make this:

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5 mile long surf ride

In the aptly-named Turnagain Arm in Cook Inlet, Alaska.

This ride is on a tidal bore, when conditions drive an incoming tide to collide with outgoing current and create actual surfable waves.

Scott Dickerson of SurfAlaska.net captured the image and shot video (both shown in this post) from a motorized paraglider. For more go to this post on his website.

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Surfing elephant

Accenture - Surfing Elephant (Серфинг слона)
Check out this guy's moves.

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Why we surf

Beautiful words from Florida surfer Dan Reiter on why we surf.

"We surf because we love the feeling of motion. The push and pull of the sea, the breathless drop into the deep, round lean of a bottom turn; the speed of the high line, the glide along the shoulder; the transcendental, weightless discharge of the barrel — these things fill us with an animal joy. To fly, pelican-like, over the shimmering surface of the sea, to soar through section after section as the sky unfolds and the universe courses through our bodies is to feel as one with the whirling cosmos. The power of the ocean compels us onward. It is a bodily lightness, and yet a connection to the water at the same time. When we surf, we are literally pouring forward, a sensation that cannot be replicated on dry land.

We surf to maintain balance, both in our bodies and in our souls. Though it might seem a stretch to compare surfing to yoga or martial arts, the act of riding a wave, of paddling, duck-diving, even the simple feat of sitting on your board without tipping over requires a certain symmetry and stability that can only be trained, and which grows more natural with time. In fact, surfing is very similar to the martial arts, in that the masters of both display a sense of equilibrium, a consciousness of form, and a physical artistry seldom displayed in other sports."

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There's big money in ocean waves

And it's not just in ocean energy. Protecting a high-quality surfing wave makes good business sense.

Here's a study of a surfing spot in Spain and it's value to the local economy. Once people read this, we'll probably see a rush of projects to make new surfing waves in small coastal towns around the world.

Thanks to the Save the Waves Coalition, we now know that saving the wave pictured above, in Mundaka, Spain, is good business. Surfing adds $4.5 million to the local economy and supports 95 jobs in a town of 1900 people.

Oh yeah, let's not forget that surfing is good clean fun.

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International surfing day, give back to the beach

Here's a great story, today (June 20) is International Surfing Day. Check out this plug on Patagonia's nice blog for employees, friends, and customers.

What is International Surfing Day? Here's the word from the source:

The goal is simple: take the day, or at least a part of the day, to go out, catch a wave or three and -- while you're at it -- help clean up your favorite beach. In conjunction with the Surfrider Foundation, we'll be organizing a handful of official beach cleanups, but that doesn't stop you from beautifying your own stretch of sand.

So that's it. Now get outta here and celebrate the day of the Universal Stoke--at the BEACH! Here's a fine video to get you in the mood.

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