2008 Holiday Surf Gift Guide
by Paul Costales

With December in full swing, it is time to propose a few surf-related gift ideas for all the surfers in the house. Whether you are looking to stoke those frothing groms, your nose-rider mom, or that surly "it was better before leashes" old dude, we'll find something to suggest.

Surf Books
Several recent surf books have come out worth considering. There is a David Rensin biography of Miki Dora entitled, "All For a Few Perfect Waves", which would be good for any California surfer of the 50's and 60's. There is also Shaun Tomson's, "Bustin' Down the Door", which details the surfing revolution of 1975. For more recent surfers, a new book by Kelly Slater, "For The Love", came out in hardcover in October. In April, Gerry Lopez released, "Surf Is Where You Find It." These books all have high ratings on Amazon.

Tide Watch
We've been rocking the Rip Curl "Rincon" Oceansearch tide watch on our wrist for the last two years. Checking in at $150, it is pretty pricey, but the features are excellent. It has 15 years worth of tide data for 100 or so beaches, of which Rincon is the default. The tides are accurate and easy to read. You also get a heat timer, chronograph, alarm clock, dual time zones, and easy DST switching. The interface is a little clunky, and it needs to be rinsed out a lot, otherwise saltwater builds up and the buttons stick. We got this watch at Surf Country in Goleta, but you can get it at most surf shops. Don't limit yourself to the Rip Curl tide watches though, as both Freestyle and Quiksilver offer tide watches that are rated highly and can be procured at your local surf shop.

Surf Shirts
Trying to consider local surf items that aren't budget busters (like a hand shaped 5'6" bat tail quad for little Jonnie) a good solution might be a simple T-shirt from a local surf shop. Nothing quite represents rolling around your town (or those towns of the less fortunate ocean-less folks), than a shirt boldly supporting your local shop. We'd suggest shirts from Channel Islands, A-Frame, Rincon Designs, Beach House, and Surf Country. Of the shapers, you could get shirts from Merrick, Yater, Beatty, Progressive, J7, and many others. Also of note are the shirts by Haskells Designs and the Rincon Pit Crew. Any of these shirts are sure to fire up the local surfer as a gift.

Go Pro Digital Hero Camera
Go Pro has launched their 4th generation surf camera this month, and checking in at $150, it is their most powerful yet. This one cranks a 5 Megapixel CCD and can handle a 4Gb SD flash card. It will take video for over an hour of your session or a photo every 2 seconds. Instead of strapping onto your wrist like the previous Hero's, this one is meant to mount to the front of your board and shoot you while you surf. They mount either with a specially installed FCS fin plug on your deck or a stick on mount. We just got this camera a few days ago and look forward to capturing some footage for a future column.

Surf Photos
A lot of local professional photographers sometimes also dabble in surf photography when conditions are going off. The swell of December 4th last year is a good example as many professional photographers were capturing the waves. Names of those submitting photos during that swell are, Tom Poss of Spectral Photography, Tim Halberg, Cody Duncan, and David Powdrell, among others. We're not sure if all of these photogs sell surf prints, but we do know that Tom Poss does on his Spectral Photography website. It is possible some photographers could arrange for a photo shoot of your surfer.

Surf Stronger
Surf Stronger is a DVD to work on your core training so you can schralp a little harder on your next go out. Checking in at $30, this DVD is for those looking to get in shape for surfing or to make their surfing more dynamic. Get them a gift that they can use as a New Years resolution also.

Surfboard
We were holding out on this item because, we'd rather your kids earn a brand new board from mowing lawns, but if you have already set a bad precedent in previous years and have to keep upping the armament, then a surfboard would be the nuclear option. Before you go all Kim Jon Ill however, you've got to seriously consider if you can gauge the recipient's needs. Surfboards are like bikes times 10, in terms of size, style, options, colors, brands; you name it. If you are going to have a brand new board made, the rider should probably be involved. Of exception are some of the soft-top boards, which are good to learn on, those don't require many options and can be bought off the shelf rather harmlessly.

Did we miss anything obvious in our surf gift run-down? Take exception to our portrayal of Southeast Asian military security? If so, hit up the comments.

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