Oh yeah...Leave it to Hawaii to recognize the power that surfing can have in a young person's life. Seriously, there is nothing that separates surfing from other sports except the absence of a ball (not to say it doesn't take real balls). There's fitness, team work, focus, and a heck of a lot more future in it than curling or even gymnastics. Why shouldn't there be a super star surf team at every (coastal) school competing for county and regional titles? Lots of surf kids have no school approved outlet if they don't buy into the basic list of common sports and such.

Countless kids live their surfing life like an outcast without a real home...a real place to belong while football and baseball players enjoy all the spoils of high school existense. Is that fair? I think not. If sports are about athleticism and competition, then surfing is for you and your kid.

Good surfing happens through creativity, passion, and confidence. But before these forces spark your shred engine into gear, you have to be flexible and strong. That’s easily done for the umpteen teeny boppers hopping 5 feet off of every lip and chunk of chop in their path, but it gets more challenging if you are little farther along in your years (a little longer in the teeth if you will). If you want to push your surfing to the next level, you might want to check out Surf Stronger.

Folks often write in with questions about what exercise is best for surfing. I usually respond with something like, "Go surfing...a lot." But I doubt that's the answer their looking for since many are landlocked or short on free surf time. One alternative is riding a bike. While mountainbiking is the ultimate, any cycling will tighten those knee muscles and blow out all that gunk from your pipes. Add weekly laps in the pool and some push-ups, and I promise you will be ship-shape for your next session.

San Diego is one of the coolest surf cities in the world. The people are awesome, and the surf gets downright world-class. If you've ever surfed big, clean Black's, you know what I'm saying. Windansea gets solid too, but according to allegations, local Windansea thugs (an alleged gang called the Bird Rock Bandits) practiced decidely non-surf behavior in the form of violent localism.

This angry and violent group have been implicated in the beating death of local surfer, Emery Kauanui (related to a bar altercation). Although the Bandits have stated that the death was an accident, others maintain that this was nothing more than organized gang behavior. What do you think? Read this article and decide for yourself. Does localism have any place in surfing? Are visiting surfers just asking for it? Is this just a fight gone wrong?

This footage from Damaged Goods 2 shows World Champion Mick Fanning in tip-top full-blown freak-a-zoid laser-sharp blastastically explosivo mode. If you want to see modern high performance surfing at its finest, take a gander at this.

This is just a glimpse of what three fins, a strict fitness regime, and a seething internal cauldron of talent will get you. Focus on the lines Fanning draws across the wave face...No wasted movement, no jiggles or wobbles. He buries the rail on each turn and stays centered over the board's mid-point at all costs. Surfing is an exciting place to be.

Here's the scenario: the world's best surfers have descended upon the tiny country of Tahiti They arrived with fire in their eyes and a little vomit in their throats while contemplating the massive board gobbling reef break called Teahupoo, site of the Billabong Pro.

Days have gone by and the frenetic energy has built to a fever pitch over beer and chess games as the surf lies dormant. Meanwhile, Slater sits on an insane two wins in the previous two contests. Fanning wants nothing more than to defend his 2007 championship title. Irons looks for redemption in the gnarly nastiness in which he is most comfortable, and the surf media sits idly, hungering for some reef rash and ripping.

Let's face it folks. Everyone dreams of being a surfer. I'll bet landlocked office staff are imagining their cubicle partitions as throttling barrels at this very moment (Let me hear you say "yeah!" if you are). But circumstances like geography and life sometimes get in the way of living out your exotic aquatic dreams. Don't worry...simply make your home into a tropical surf locale and get your party on. Check out this little "how to" article that details exactly how to take your inland home from the landlubber doldrums to a raging surfing festival of fun in one fell swoop.

MTV is actively searching for teenagers and young adults who are very competitive with their closest friend/s in surfing. They'd like to hear from anyone who would like to share their story, as long as it is current. They are looking for stories that tell of friends whose relationship is struggling because they are fighting over some competitive situation (a rivalry or bitter battle for success). Since this is for MTV's True Life series, your story needs to have conflict (and be true, of course).

Basically, this is casting call for surfers in the MTV age range (16-25) to share their stories and ultimately participate in a documentary project that would follow them as they confront the friends with whom they are competitive. Post your story in the forums and maybe you'll be the next True Life story on MTV.

Yeah, George Bush is sending you all some serious tax rebate action, but just how should you spend all that tax rebate cash? Don't just waste it on some soul sucking laptop or pay a bunch of boring old bills. Instead, peruse a few of these surfboard reviews and find a whole new way of life. These boards have been tested in the field and pushed to the limit to make your purchasing experience fun and easy. Check out the reviews here.

Sadly, you can't stay in the water forever. But you can get some of that surf stoke on land via the new wave of carving flex boards on the market. Loaded Skateboards is leading the pack with eco-friendly surf-inspired models drenched in innovation and dripping a trail of stoke all over the asphalt. I tried out the Loaded Pintail recently. Read the review.

Surfing's Greatest Misadventures
From horrific shark encounters to strange wanderings in exotic lands, this collection of well-written surf tales is loads of fun and sometimes a bit scary. The stories are short blasts of adventure and description that show sometimes even the most ill-fated missions make for stories worth telling. In fact, it seems that the most painful stories are the most worthy of reading. One story in this book tells of the earliest days of Trestles when a handful of surfers bobbed in the lineup, dodging bullets from the military. It is at once tragic and fun. With the advance of concrete and wire that is currently threatening Trestles, stories like this are priceless. Bethany Hamilton's horrifying brush with death allows the reader to experience the tragedy of fate and triumph of the spirit through a wonderfully written piece by one of my favorite surf writers.