When it comes time to buy a leash, there are a lot of options available to you—not just in brands, but also in sizes and styles. What you buy depends on what type of waves and board you are riding. Too short of a leash can snap your board back at you dangerously. Too thin might end up breaking. But too big of a leash will create the unwanted drag, slowing you down while paddling and riding waves. In general, when riding smaller waves, try to use a leash that is roughly the same length as your board. Remember...

The H4 Fin SetFCS Builds the Future The surf media has written thousands of pages on the various attributes of surfboard design, but much less attention has been given to the part of the surfboard that actually steers it. Fins are an essential part of what makes surfboards work, but we have only recently begun to explore their potential, in terms of design, materials, and other features. For the most part, the fins on   today’s surfboards are pretty much exactly the same as the fins that were on surfboards 30 years ago—whether you are riding single fin longboards, retro...

When a surfboard works, people usually know about it. Word spreads quickly on the coconut wireless, and the best shapers always have stacks of board orders piled up in their shaping bays. But once in awhile a board gets more official recognition than simple popularity. Occasionally, the industry acknowledges excellence and forward thinking—and in Australia, that acknowledgement typically comes in the form of a SBIA award. The SBIA awards are an annual Australian award that recognizes excellence in the surf industry, with categories like brand of the year, marketing campaign of the year, wetsuit of the year, and sales rep...

It was around seven years ago, on a surf trip to the Coffs Harbour region of Australia’s NSW, that I first started noticing TCSS logos. And no wonder. At the time, The Critical Slide Society was a fledgling enterprise started by two local boys, Jim Mitchell and Sam Coombes. In fact, it was more of a movement than a brand. TCSS started as a blog, and slowly grew into a community. But then things started to gain momentum, and suddenly, less than a decade later, TCSS is a multi-million dollar surf brand. The irony, of course, is that TCSS is...

We're stoked to carry Octopus Deck Pads at Hawaiian South Shore! This brand is solid. If you're not familiar with them yet, allow Nate Tyler, Chippa Wilson and Dion Agius to introduce themselves below... OCTOPUS is a technical surf company with a modern aesthetic. We build products that reflect the performance requirements and sensibilities of our team riders. (the) OCTOPUS was founded in 2014 by our group of friends because we wanted to create a new project / experiment / surf company that was owned and run by surfers.  No big investors.  No one to answer to.  No rules to...

Surf industry pioneer,, Jack O'Neill at his cliff-side home in Santa Cruz,Ca - http://www.sfgate.com/ When Jack O’Neill introduced the wetsuit in 1952, he couldn’t have known the impact his new product would have. All Jack wanted was to surf for longer periods of time in San Francisco, where the average water temp was in the mid-50s. But 60 years later, wetsuits have advanced to the point where we can surf water in places like Iceland and Alaska, all the way down to the slushy freezing point. Wetsuits are made by dozens of surf companies and boutique brands specializing in high-quality...