This has been a splinter of a dream in my head since I started surfing. I’m always humming a tune when I’m sitting in the lineup, sometimes (to the annoyance of my fellow surfers) a bit more than humming when I get to that really good part of the song. I’ve always wished I could actually pack some tunes with me to provide a personal soundtrack for my excursion. Technology has finally caught up with my desires, and tomorrow I’m going to paddle out with my spankin’ new totally waterproof mp3 player for the very first time.
I’m stoked, to say the least.
I know there are some purists who will think this is over the top. I understand that. I used to feel that way about guys snowboarding with earphones. Until I tried it.
Music has always been a soundtrack to my life, and certain songs have always triggered certain memories in me. Since I nearly always ride alone, I’m not taking away from the social aspect of it in any way… It is a perfect complement, at least to me.
Anyway, I’m stoked, and I can give a review tomorrow, if anyone is interested.
yep it’s always been a dream of mine also to listen to music while surfing. i can’t believe it’s actually possible now.
i’ve always fantasised about surfing long overhead glassy tubes in the rain by myself listening to hendrix’s ‘1983 a merman i shall turn to be’ & ‘moon turn the tides gently, gently away’. if you know those songs you’ll know what i mean, underwater atmospherics, haunting guitar, birds & seascapes, pure surf music for me.
i’d love a performance report when you can shwuz. i’m sure it’ll be sensory delight. maybe it’ll take a little getting used to. have fun.
I bought a dozen or so of these Speedo FM radios on a mainland trip from TJMAXX that swimmers use to kill the boredom swimming laps. Omiyage for the homies ($10 a pop)
Gave them away as christmas presents and used one in the water once to play around. The crew didn’t like it. Makes you seem stuck up I guess.
I kind of don’t like the fact that you can’t hear anything with the water proof ear plugs jammed in.
Like when I’m shaping and sanding with my FM radio noise protection cans on it’s can get dangerous getting lost in the tunes versus paying attention to where the spinning blade and disk is going…
Be nice to have a open air solution
but you’d be polluting the line up air with your musical preference.
I used to ski the Whistler bumps and trails with my walkman and some portable speakers going off in my backpack.
It’s a wonder I never started an avalanche.
Nice ride back up on the chair though.
Kind of like the stoners paddling out at Rocky Point in the early 70’s singing Missisippi Queen or something like that. There were a couple longhairs doing that back then who we though were psycho when they were just high on the experience and something else too.
I always have tunes from 5 summer stories going off in my head during a good session like the track from BK’s/Surf Muscle’s segment (Love you baby?)
It’s YUP/GUP/SUP city now as I see alot of folk using those clear ipod holders in the water now…
Here’s young Matt Martinez last year at O-Beach (White Plains). The kid’s good.
Just remeber it YOUR trip to mess up, no one else’s. Ive got an otterbox for my Ipod shuffle, and take it on paddles. Just melts the miles away. Sunrise/sunset sessions with a little laid back G. Love/Doobie Brothers/Santana… It doesnt get anybetter. I’ll usually just stroke with one earplug in so I cna still hear the dolphins breach
It was pretty cool. No, strike that. It was really f-ing cool!
The sound quality is about what you could expect from those little bud earphones, no bass at all, but not bad otherwise. Duckdiving was a trip, as the water came in and filled any airspace around the outer ear canal as well as transmitting it directly through my head from the outside, making sound transmission at least double. I’m used to shaking my head to clear the water from my ears after duckdives, had to learn to stop that since my ears didn’t have any water in them!
Other than the earplugs in my ears, which I got used to pretty quickly, I couldn’t even tell that I was wearing anything extra with me. The wires went under my rashguard and up the back of my neck, and didn’t get in the way once, and the armband with the player went under my rashguard sleeve, and was like it wasn’t even there. They say it only weighs an ounce, I sure couldn’t feel the extra weight.
Even with the volume at a comfortable and enjoyable level, I could still hear the waves breaking and my hands splashing as I paddled, so it didn’t take anything away from the “marine experience”, at least not for me. I wanted to stay out for the whole playlist, but I wore out before it did in about 4 hours, even skipping a few songs. Interestingly, the music that I like to chill with before and after sessions didn’t translate to during-session as well as I thought it would. I wound up skipping right through Jack Johnson and Bob Marley, but really digging on Blind Melon and Pearl Jam, Green Day and Tool.
All in all a great first session with it… Although I had a bunch of messages from the wife upon coming in. She’s used to me surfing for about 2 hours at a time, so she got worried when I lost track of time and stayed out twice that long!
I have one of those and to be honest, its cool only sometimes… Like when I’m just paddling down the coast or in tiny waves if the mood permits… What I found is the songs that I load come up only occasionally matching the situation at that very moment… For example… The theme from the Endless Summer came up as I was paddling down from Laniakea to Chuns on a pristine morning… Awesome! That was an incredible cool thing… Once on a wave the chances of a song perfectly matching the waves tempo is pretty rare… I rarely use it now when surfing. Like Benny said, the sound of the ocean is way better IMO. The underwater music after a wipeout is a pretty darn cool feature though!
I do use it on some of my downwind paddles… I also figured out for me that slower songs match the mood of the ocean more… For me the Jack Johnson type stuff really made the match… But then again, its all personal preference but nothing can beat mother natures songs to you which are always a beautiful live performance…
I’m adding… When I used to burn weed years ago I would of loved that thing! Hahahahaha!!!
jeeze, jack johnson, definetly the wanna be coastal inlander flavor of the month. here where I live 2.5 hours from Ocean city MD and 3 hours from my beach house all the preppy stoners and wanna be beach bums listen to him like a cult. Personally while i don’t go out of my way for his music i will listen to it in his surf films or if it comes on the radio. Hey the guys doing pretty damned well for himself I am not gonna be hating on him.
Haha! Jack is a good guy. Does a lot for our community here… He still seems the same to me even after his success… He was jogging the beach while I was going out at Pupukea yesterday with zero fanfare… Maybe that’s just here… His brothers are cool too… I like his music but I also like a hundred other bands and musicians too… I think I’ll bring up the cult thing if I talk to him…Hehe!
yea it’s insane when he had a concert in Columbia MD, probably an 1 out of 8 of the kids in school went to it. I don’t doubt he’s a chill person. When i used to frequent bodyboarding forums there was a kid who jack’s wife taught at his school and he said jack would even volunteer to chaperone field trips and stuff. I guarantee you don’t find too many big stars that would do stuff like that.
Its funny. When I go hiking/climbing, I really enjoy the morning sounds of the forest. But on long mileage days, nothing beats a book-on-tape to melt the miles away.
So if you’re wise, load one up that you need for school, and get some studying done at the same time.
