Different Personal Water Propulsions to keep you thinking and creating

Tech
First off, this may be the future of our sport, as we know it. Have you ever thought while you were out surfing and missed a wave because you couldn’t paddle fast enough to catch it? I know I have missed a few good one for this reason. Well, there may be a solution to our problems. There is a company out of San Diego California that has made a product or as they call it an ‘Aquamotive Technology’. This little jet is built in to the belly of your board and provides you with that extra push you want sometimes, or it will just help you paddling and can even give you a break from it. Yes, your thinking this is crazy and wouldn’t be good for surfing at all. There are a few moments that I see this technology coming in handy: Big wave surfing, strong offshore winds, heavy currents or winds. This board could get you back or keep you in that section of the sand bar when the rip current is killing your arms. It could get you into that huge wave you’ve been looking for with out getting crushed under the lip. I am sure this won’t take over every board in our quiver, but it would definitely be fun to try out and have for those days where your board or arms have just had enough. Check out this video and you’ll see how fun this could be for beginners all the way up to pros.



Body Surfing
Have you ever broke a board and still stayed out in the water to have fun in the waves? Have you ever broken a leash and had to swim you way in or body surf? What about body surfing the shore break because you know you’ll break your board if you try to surf it? Well, why not get a set of body surfing fins and go have some fun in the surf. I have done this a few times and it’s always a blast. You find your self in spot’s you usually don’t get in on a surfboard, like riding the foam ball in the barrel or maybe just getting barreled. One of the major reasons for doing this is for a great work out and staying in shape. You may just take your fins to the beach and have a swim. Fins are also much cheaper than a surfboard! They will run you anywhere from 40-70 bucks and will last you a long time. This type of surfing helps you read the wave differently and also push you to look at a wave differently. It will help your paddling, swimming, cardio, and overall fitness along with helping your wave knowledge if you’re just starting out surfing. Heck this stuff looks fun, and even pro surfers do it from time to time.

What's Next?

We have all heard of tidal bores and surfing in some crazy river somewhere with mysterious creatures. How about Skeleton Bay in Africa with some crazy long lefts with barrels that last almost a minute? Or a standing river wave that only breaks twice a year? Or some new crazy wave pool in the making? Ask yourself what’s next in the world of surfing, what could we possibly find next to surf? Well, a select crew that Rip Curl has put together to travel the world looking for new waves has found something amazing in a very remote jungle of Sumatra. Wave’s that are unlike any other’s found inland anywhere else in the world, so far. And from my knowledge this is the first ever barreling wave located in a river that is actually possible to stand up in. With what the video shows, I wouldn’t mind going over there and catching a few or just one. So, on April 11, 2011 Rip Curl plans to release the rest of this video with surfers actually riding and getting barreled in a river, and I know that I can’t wait to see the footage. With out further ado here is Rip Curl’s Tip2Tip footage of some Sumatra gold.



Here are a few other videos that make you think about the possibilities that are out there.