Change your wax frequently. It helps to identify weak spots in the board when the wax is off.
Dull the nose or your board, preferrably BEFORE it’s glassed. Those sharp things are dangerous.
Monitor your body weight. It makes a huge (no pun intended) difference on performance, endurance, enjoyment, and looks from girls. I can feel five pounds, easily. When I went from 205 to 184, I flew. Yeah, I actually flew, and I don’t even have wings. Now that I’m 194 I’m bogging a bit more. But I’m on the way down again.
Ride lots of different equipment.
Share your boards, even if they are new. When I was a young boy and teenager, it was perfectly normal to walk up to a total stranger and ask to try his board (mostly in the summer when people were just hangin out at the beach). Now people give you a funny look and find a polite way to say no. Not cool. Let them try it. Offer it. And if it breaks, so what?
If you see me out, I’ll let you try my board, as long as I have ridden it the first time.
Don’t pee in your wetsuit.
Forget that last one. I’m kidding. You think I’m going to go in to use the restroom? Ha. If whales can get away with it, so can I.
Make at least one board in your life, from start to finish, alone. It will be a piece of crap, but you’ll be proud of your accomplisment.
Don’t smoke and glass at the same time.
Wear safety goggles when doing anything that could cause an eye injury. ALWAYS, even if you look like a dork mowing the lawn in safety glasses. I ran over a piece of plastic (a cup) and it exploded, nailing my eye. I got lucky. So, when shaping, glassing, use goggles.
Don’t mix up the catalyst with visine.
Don’t buy a used car from a friend.
Oh, wait, surfing. Sorry.
Share waves. I’m not just talking about giving waves away. That’s cool, but let people shoulder hop once in a while. It’s fun to ride a wave with a stranger sometimes. Encourage them to go too. You’ll make a friend.
Most importantly: Fight for the ocean. Environmentalism should be everyone’s fight. It was started by Republicans (Teddy Roosevelt) and continues through the Democrats and the Green Party. That means it’s EVERYONE’S fight. And, in my opinion, urban runoff is our biggest threat in California, sewage injection wells in Florida, coastal access everywhere, especially in California, the East Coast, and Hawaii. I can’t stand it when you can’t get to the surf. Opening up the Ranch and other areas will spread us out.
I joined Surfrider. You should do something similar.
Boycott Hollywood surf movies like Blue Crush, Point Break, etc. I’m a hypocrit on this one, of course, but I’m getting better. I think the spread of surfing should be done by people, not films. I’m not saying to stop the growth of surfing, but if you want to spread the joy, TAKE SOMEONE SURFING. The people at the surf mags want surfing to grow exponentially because it means more surf trunks sold, which means more money for everyone in the industry, but it causes premature crowding. You can build a new baseball field, but a new surfspot???
Rant, rant, rant.