New here, so pardon if this question is asked all the time.

I live in LA and spend a lot of time at Zuma and also go up and down el segundo and redondo. The problem with el segundo is all the tar on the beach, so sick of stepping in them and it being a total pain to get off.

I love zuma when it's not blown out, or too gnarly. The waves get pretty big, especially when your just a head floating above the water, but such a great face to slide down and get some barrel action. I've had some gnarly crash-outs there, but you get some really great rides. Kind of a pain to get out somedays, but fun.

El segundo and redondo are much easier, not such a hassle to get out. I love taking my ebike out and stopping up and down the beaches when I find a good break.

I don't use fins as I find them to actually be harder than just going barefoot. I'm 6'1", so I can usually just stand and find a perfect place to jump into the wave.

I also was using a Womper that I rigged with a nylon strap so it was easier to keep track of, that thing is a cheat code. Unfortunately I lost it last time at the beach, and just bought a much smaller handplane made of recycled plastic. Haven't had a chance to use it yet tho.

So where are other great spots to BodySurf? Would love to hear other beaches. I'm going to cancun over xmas and was wondering if they have any suitable waves for BS'ing?

Sometimes it’s an unbelievably perfect wave & yes I’m using the small yellow Speedo handplanes & tracking.

I like to bodysurf at Makapu'u, and at Brenneckes. and at Pounders.

where else would I like to bodysurf in the great state of hawaii (or elsewhere in the world?)

I grew up surfing my entire life having grown up in Southern California and Baja California. I was fortunate enough to have my health and living by the coast that allowed me to be in the water at least a few days a week.

In 2020, I experienced a nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone. A routine blood test revealed I had Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), and the initial outlook was grim. What followed was a series of life-changing events that forever altered my physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Because I was severely immunocompromised, I was banned from being in saltwater for over two years. When my doctors finally gave me the green light to get back into the ocean, the orders were strict: go easy and only submerge up to waist-deep water.

Due to the toll chemo took on my body and severe bone deterioration, traditional surfing was no longer possible. I was restricted to swimming with fins as part of my recovery. While laying in hospital beds, I remembered watching Jamie O’Brien videos, showing the pure, & contagious, joy of every aspect of the ocean- especially bodysurfing.

What started as physical therapy swim sessions quickly turned into bodysurfing sessions. I discovered that bodysurfing is truly the purest form of experiencing mother ocean.
To this day, I still can’t surf on a board and am considered disabled from everything my body went through. However, I am the luckiest man alive. After fighting leukemia, I’m more grateful than ever just to be immersed in our beautiful ocean 2 to 3 days a week.

Thank you to this community for keeping the stoke alive. Stay stoked, stay grateful, and stay kind! 🌊💙🧡🙏🏽

I would love some insight on the best tide for moderate (probably small to moderate) swell at point panic. Not much juice right now but it looks like a small uptick in size is coming. I just have a couple of days on Oahu and hoping get a few waves. Thanks in advance.

I grew up next to the beach in the low country, so I went to the beach all the time. When I was around 7 a lifeguard was bodysurfing. I was in the water near him watching with curiosity. He ended up teaching me with a 3 minute lesson.
I am now 40 and only get to the beach 1 week out of the year. I just got back from my Myrtle beach vacation and just can’t stop reliving the time in the water. Ocean storms brought riptide and big waves for days!!! The connection with the ocean. The beauty of the waves. The power that you become a part of. It’s the most alive and happiest I can feel. You can really sense the beauty of god. It’s a full body workout and a full soul cleansing. I miss that wonderful ocean already.
Now I have to get ready to go back to work life…it seems pointless and depressing. The world has gone in such a way that disconnects us from what the world really is. We aren’t supposed to have all these fancy toys, bogus things, and ridiculous sized houses. A wave in the ocean is the only Amusement park anyone needs. Until next time, May the next wave be bigger than the last!

Hit a wedgey beach break in the pm two days ago, surfline said 2-3 ft and fair but it really turned on once I was in the water. Tide was going out but it seemed to hit a sweet spot for an hour. 6-7 ft three- 4 wave sets rolling in every 15-20 mins or so. There was a group of kids yelling in Spanish. I don't speak Spanish but they seemed like they were having fun. Good vibes all around. It's 2-3 ft and fair again today, but lets hope for some of that same magic.

Just wanted to say I'm so glad I didn't get sucked into a surfing-only mindset. I love the ocean and there's so many ways to experience it and to experience waves. I got stung by a sting ray last month and I wasn't even mad. Yeah that shit hurt but you know, I stepped on the guy. Just wanted to encourage yall to jump in the ocean sometime soon.

I've only been seriously bodysurfing (i.e., learned one can use fins and catch waves in deeper waters) for about 8 months now, and I'm about to ride along peelers, shoot through barrels, and play about dolphin/porpoise style, but I've not quite figured out how to do that spin/roll maneuver.

So I figured I'd reach out to you, my most excellent fellow waves lovers, and see if I can find the tip(s) n trick(s) that I need to roll my head around it (pun intended).

Cheers! 🤙🌊🍻

Edit: Thankie, Dudes! Will keep on keepin on until I get 'er down 🤘

Anyone got any experience bodysurfing in wave pools? And if you found any value in them? I’m in the UK and the wave drought has been brutal (surfed maybe 4/5 times since June) on every front… To the point where a £65/£70 per session price point is becoming more and more justified 😅

Any insight or advice for best wave type regarding wave pools would be heavily appreciated, yeewwww 🙏🏼💙

Yes Wedge can get very very clean.

I have DaFin flex and I’d like to try some Yuccas. Which flex is similar and for a US size 10 what size should I go with for wearing with a 3mm or 5mm bootie? Thanks.

Mohammedia, Morocco 📍

going on a road trip in the Basque region. Would love to get in the water and meet some locals. Anyone know any areas I should check out?

On the off chance the chap on Gilli T with the drone has Reddit or is known by someone that does, I'd like to talk to you about footage you might have had about a random stranger catching his first of many waves surfing today.

I can only seem to find MS vipers at stores. I really liked my old pair of v5 vipers

Anyone know anything about these? They look intriguing but I am curious how well they perform.

https://www.dukeswimfins.com/

I'm pretty sure that that was the name of it. I grew up in HB and in the mid 80s and I had one and loved it. It was about 20" long and was made completely of hollow yellow plastic with a handle formed in the front. You would ride it with both hands on the handle and your elbows resting on it with your chest out of the water as your body hung off the back.

It was great because you could also grip the handle with your hand and almost use it as a paddle when swimming with it.

I would love to find one again or something similar.

So for the holiday weekend I came down to the shore for the first time in yearsss maybe since i was 16, now 22. And got in the water for the first time since then today and I genuinely couldn’t get out. I was having a blast and with how my mind works I wanna know all I can and of course there’s a sub for it.

How are y’all LITERALLY using your body to surf. This whole time I just thought you catch a wave right before it breaks and swim with it

It was choppy, overhead, trade swell storm surf today but it's sunny and there were these sick corners popping up here and there so I swam out to try and find a couple.

I spent most of the time fighting the swirl and rips and watching the ones I wanted break fifty feet in whichever direction I wasn't. But I got a few fun whompers and enjoyed myself.

Finally I got lucky, a couple bumps converged, and I was in the right spot for a well overhead bowling teepee section with just enough taper to the wall that I thought I could lock into a proper barrel before it closed out on the inside.

It was a very good wave. And, on the inside, it went totally square on the sandbar and, literally, sucked dry in front of me. I did a full-on faceplant half-scorpion into the sand at speed.

Then it sucked me over the falls and slammed me back onto the bottom, again. Very luckily I landed totally flat on my back, and there was some water under me at that point, so it absolutely fucking sucked but didn't injure anything.

Fun hobby. I can't understand why more people don't do it.

The gorgeous specimen in pink is u/vorn_star. He put the whole trip together.