Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Surfing

Surf/skate book recommendations?

EnormousTalkingOnion — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:18:37 -0800

Are there any great books about surfing or skateboarding?

Help me track where I spend my surfing time

Solomon — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:41:47 -0800

I'm looking for a Firefox extension (compatible with 3.5) that will show me how much time I spend on a given website per day/week. I do not want:

To block sites at a specific time/for a specific period.

A desktop application (I want the extension to run solely in Firefox, so I can use it in Firefox Portable).

The extension to report my surfing data back to a website. I strongly prefer the data cached locally, but I'm prepared to be flexible on this.

To have to start a timer counting manually when I visit a site. I want it to be completely transparent until I view the data.

I've looked at Pageaddict, which doesn't work on Firefox 3.5 and is apparently abandoned by it's owner, 8aweek, which is no longer supported, Leechblock, which doesn't offer the functionality I want, Timetracker, which shows only the time spent for the browser as a whole, not for specific sites & MeeTimer, which isn't updated for 3.5, and doesn't appear to offer fine-grained enough control over sites. Pageaddict and 8aweek appear closest in functionality to what I want.

I want to be able to see at a glance that I've spent 3h47m on Metafilter this week and visited 41 times. Is there an extension that will allow me to do this?

Surf's Up?

GleepGlop — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:16:59 -0800

I'm going to be surfing on my next vacation and I want to get a jump on practicing. Where can I buy one of those inexpensive mass-produced beginner soft foamy boards in Canada, and worse-case scenario and there are no spots with waves that I can find where I live on Georgian Bay, is it possible to practice popping up just paddling out on the water or do you need to be propelled by a wave for that to work?

West Maui December Surfing

GleepGlop — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:02:31 -0800

West Maui (Kaanapali beach) in late December. Is the surf going to be appropriate for a beginner? My family and I are going to be staying at the Hyatt in West Maui in late December and I hear that the waves can be epically huge in December on the North shores of Hawaii. What will the western shores of Maui be like? I couldn't get a straight answer out of the concierge.

Do I spend too much time online at work?

Anonymous — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:55:36 -0800

How much time do you spend online at work? Am I spending too much time online? My job isn't that challenging, and though I'm working towards (and slowly getting closer to) an improvement in position that I'd really love, I find that I have a lot of free time between tasks to read online. I could read work-related information, but instead I peruse RSS feeds and use social media.

The amount of time I spend online depends on how busy I am. Some days I might spend 4 out of 8 hours messing around online, and some I only have time for an hour at lunch. I'd say I average 2 hours, though most of it is in 30-second to 5-minute bits.

My direct manager is a friend, and also tends to be online a lot (and even uses one of the same popular social media sites as me).

I'm getting my work done, and have the highest ratings on my performance reviews. Still, it makes me a little nervous and I'm wondering if I'm actually not spending more time online than everyone else, and we've all just learned to hide it well.

Surf lessons in LA

insectosaurus — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:41:36 -0800

LA filter: I want to learn to surf this summer. Where can I find reasonably priced, good quality lessons? Should I opt for group or semiprivate lessons? I've never been surfing, and I'm planning to take a couple lessons this summer and see if I like it. Please share your recommended (or should-be-avoided) surf schools. I live near Santa Monica, but I don't mind driving to a different LA-area beach for a better instructor/lesson.

Price is important to me; a quick google search showed everything from $80 - $160 for a single lesson. I'm willing to pay a little more for a better lesson, but cheaper is definitely better.

Should I opt for a group lesson (cheaper) or an individual/semiprivate lesson (more individual attention)? I have a friend who might join me in a semiprivate, but she's not sure yet. I learned to snowboard last year by taking one group lesson then practicing on my own for a couple days, but I'm pretty bad at it still. I think I'll learn at a fairly average pace - I don't tend to be particularly slow or quick when learning new physical skills. I am reasonably strong and comfortable swimming in the ocean. So, private or group lessons?

I can get a better deal by signing up for more than one lesson at once. Should I? If so, how many? I can probably afford a maximum of three lessons this summer, depending on cost.

Any further information you think would be helpful to a novice surfer would be much appreciated. Thanks!

East Coast Surfing

gonadostat — Sun, 24 May 2009 07:37:42 -0800

Where is the best place to learn how to surf on the east coast? I have no significant experience, but three days of vacation at the end of next week and would like to go somewhere warm to take some surfing lessons in the eastern time zone. Any recommendations for geographic locations and/or instructors?

surfer-filter: First timer looking for noob advice and tips

brenton — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:38:10 -0800

surfer-filter: First timer looking for noob advice and tips. My complete surfing history: Two years ago, a friend took me surfing and on the first try I rode a wave until it ended. Then I got out of the water. Today I was given a 6' board, and I'm going into the water without an instructor or surfer friend. I feel fairly safe doing this since I live by the Carpinteria State Beach, just about the most mild and tranquil beach ever. Never big waves or currents, all sand, and it doesn't really have other surfers for me to get run over by (though I do see them sometimes). Also, I go swimming by myself here, and I see others swimming by themselves, I don't imagine it's much more dangerous to take a surfboard with you.

So I'm just wondering if anyone can give me some basic advice for my learning to surf. How should I approach this? What else do I need besides the board? Special stretches to do beforehand? Special foods to avoid? I'm looking for any and all tips.

I'm sure everyone is going to tell me I'm going to die and give me safety advice. Okay... I'll listen to, and appreciate, such advice. But I'd also like some non-safety advice, you know, just tips on how to get started, things to be aware of, basic stuff like that.

(By the way, I already know a bigger board would be better, but let's assume for the sake of this question that I'm going to keep the 6' board and that I'll be able to get up on it. If that turns out to be a false assumption, I'll deal with that later. :D )

Help me fall in love with the Internet again

cloudsandstars — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 18:26:45 -0800

I have reached the end of the Internet. Well, my Internet, anyway. Please recommend some sites that will refresh my surfing experience. I feel like I visit the same 5-10 sites over and over. As you can imagine, it's getting really boring (with the exception of The Meta, of course, which is always marvelous).

So, what cool sites would you recommend for me to try? My interests are eclectic, so I'm open to pretty much anything. Tell me which sites you find wonderful and why.

Thanks in advance!

How to surf anonymously?

randomthoughts — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:47:37 -0800

Are there any sources via programs, web browsers, firefox add-ons, or web services that allow someone to truly surf anonymously? For those of us concerned with privacy? Searching Google does satisfy my quest.

Would any sources allow:

1. Hide current IP address
2. Block or Clear Out History, Cache and all traces of web browsing.
3. Protect data and IP information.

I have looked at Anonymizer but can't find any reviews about the program that are current. All reviews are from 2007.

The Free Network Project is more for communication and content distribution.

Fly fishing in South East Asia

roofus — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:05:01 -0800

South-East-Asia-Fly-Fishing-Filter: Any recommendations for beach resorts in South East Asia that offer guided saltwater fly fishing? Bonus marks for:
1. Somewhere that's a relatively short hop from Singapore
2. Decent surfing
3. Both surfing and fishing in February

DIY Secure VPN/SSH connection?

BoldStepDesign — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:29:28 -0800

I've been unsuccessful in getting an old pc up and running with Ubuntu or some other *nix OS. I am wondering. Is it possible to use VPN or ssh from my computer to my Dreamhost account to create a secure tunnel to their servers into to the internet? I'm using 0.00 gb on my account for bandwidth. Sound doable? Basically:

Me @ coffeeshop -- secure tunnel -- > Dreamhost -- > Out to the net.

-=--
If not can I do this running a VPS? (Virtual Private server), if so suggest some cheap hosts please.
-+--

ID this surfboard?

MaudB — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:26:44 -0800

I'm looking for the provenance of this old, mid-size ("fun shape") Gordon & Smith surfboard. I bought this used G&S board a while back and have gotten so many compliments on it that I want to learn more about it. One guy who saw it recently said, "I think that's a Skip Frye!" I had to look up who that was.
I want to know what year it was made and anything else about its birth, relatives, etc. I've emailed the company twice but haven't gotten any answer from them.

Surfing Mylopathy Database

Mr_Zero — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:54:59 -0800

A while ago I asked about getting help for an acquaintance who had experienced Surfer's Mylopathy. I would like to get your thoughts on how to keep track of the Surfer’s Mylopathy injuries. Since Peter’s story has hit the Internet the family is being contacted by many more SM victims. The 20 or so cases that they were told about by doctors appears to be significantly higher. When other victims contact them they want to be able to keep track of their progress. Is there an online database application that victims could enter their info into? Initially they would like to track;

First Name, Last Name, Home Address, City, State, Zip, Age at time of injury, Exact location of Injury on the spinal cord (example T-10), Asia rating over time, etc.

They would probably have to add some fields in the future. Ideally the individual victims could enter their own info but the family would like to be able to moderate it so if any idiots post stuff they can remove it.

Oregon coast adventure

PercussivePaul — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:54:08 -0800

Camping, surfing and hiking in the Oregon Coast? It's a road trip! And we're leaving tomorrow! Our plans have changed at the last minute. We're leaving from Vancouver BC, driving south for a few days, then looping back up to Portland. I've seen the zillions of previous threads on this topic but have a few specific questions about what to do as we go down the coast.

1. We're planning to camp on the coast. Anything we should know? I expect we'll find state parks everywhere but it also appears from this thread that you can camp on the beach legally. Anyone done this? Know any good spots?

2. We want to spend a day or two surfing. We're beginners and would need to rent gear. Where could we go?

3. Is there good hiking near the coast? We're thinking of doing a nice big hike, maybe even an overnight hike. What are the best spots?

Thanks!

Connected to Ask.Me ... Waiting for reply

Gyan — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:50:21 -0800

I can't connect to a couple of sites from any browser. One of them being Wikipedia. In FF3, I type "en.wikipedia.org" and press go. The status bar gets stuck on "Waiting for en.wiki.....". It never actually times out (at least, not within the first couple of minutes before my patience runs out). Similar outcome in IE6. This occasionally happens with Metafilter as well. The first time this happened was 6 months ago. It soon got back to normal and remained that way till mid-June. Oddly, when Wikipedia is OK, Metafilter doesn't load, and vice versa. But mostly it's Wikipedia which is down for the past 2-3 days. I can ping both sites successfully. My hosts file has no entries besides localhost. I'm using OpenDNS alongwith my ISP's.

I'm in Mumbai, India on Metro Ethernet and my (local) ISP techs know squat except their script. OS is XP SP2. No other site gives me problems, except for one, but that seems a server-side issue.

Surfs Not Up

chrisalbon — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 08:50:54 -0800

How much would it cost to fix this (1,2,3,4) hole in my surfboard? I have this hole in my surfboard and was wondering if someone in the hivemind could guesstimate how much it would cost to repair.

I know nothing of surfboard repairs and before I drive across the city to the surfboard shop I wanted to have some ballpark number for the repair costs.

Thanks so much!

No Web Surfing Has Given me the Shakes and Dry Heaves

davidstandaford — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:02:40 -0800

Any advice on coming to terms with not being able to surf the internet or keep up with the news for the next year? For a variety of reasons (mostly extreme lack of time and intermittent internet access) I've realized that I'm going to have to give up using websites and blogs to keep up with current events, technology, politics, and culture.

So far, I've used my limited time on a computer to do my best to get through a few of my favorite sites in my RSS reader, but I think it will be better to just go cold turkey and I'm having a hard time convincing myself to do this.

I used to enjoy being well-informed on a variety of topics and it's frightening for me to think I won't know what's going on with the Presidential election/the iphone 3g/the latest kottke links/etc.

Any advice on how to cope with this and to convince myself not to use my scant/valuable computer time checking news/blogs?

I'm not looking for a technological fix via a firefox extension or something like that because I'm using a variety of computers. I haven't deleted my bloglines RSS account, but I guess that is the first/best step to take, but anything in the reader is also available online so it's more about convincing myself not to want to check the sites.

Overall though, I'm just looking for a way to deal with the mental anguish (exaggeration) of being almost completely uninformed for the next year.

P.S. It's not that I have no intellectual stimulation... I'm doing a year long academic program that has brought about these circumstances, so I'm trying to convince myself that learning all this other useful/important stuff can take the place of how I used to spend my time reading stuff online.

Thanks for the help!

How to get started with surfing in the UK?

tomw — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:40:52 -0800

How to get started with surfing in the UK? I want to get into surfing. I did it once, about 15 years ago. Now I'm willing to spend some cash if needs be. I'm based in Oxford so I'm looking for suggestions on where to go, how to get started, is it worth going to a 'surf school' (I've heard it's not).

Thanks in advance for the beginners tips...

How to become a better surf hopper-upper?

shivohum — Sat, 31 May 2008 08:34:34 -0800

I went surfing for the first time recently, and had a hard time doing the "hop up" on the surfboard -- my feet always tended to be too close together, and I just lacked agility. What are some exercises I could do that would strengthen the relevant muscles and/or otherwise make me a hop-master? Thanks.

Need specialist to treat Non-Traumatic Myelopathy

Mr_Zero — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:18:35 -0800

I need to find the best doctor to treat Non-Traumatic Myelopathy in a 19 year old male. A friend's son was taking surfing lessons at Waikiki Beach during their family vacation. To make a sad story short he began to experience severe back pain and it became bad enough that they called an ambulance and had him admitted him to Queens Hospital in Honolulu. He is now in intensive care suffering from a Non-Traumatic Myelopathy. It is a condition caused by the spinal cord being deprived of sufficient blood supply while paddling a surfboard. Because you arch your back to get your arms out the water to paddle. Or in other words a stroke to the spinal cord. The injury causes paralysis involving both legs and there are only 14 well documented cases for research. (since each case is different they are in unknown territory) There is not any surgery available as there is no damage to the spinal column.

Looking for advice about Spanish immersion programs (and more) while in Oaxaca, Mexico

iamkimiam — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:02:03 -0800

Traveling to Oaxaca with a friend for a 2-4 week Spanish immersion program this June/July. We are looking for some advice about Spanish language programs, homestays/lodging, and transportation. We are having a very difficult time finding a good learning program—there are so many to choose from and we don't quite know what to look for and how to determine which ones are good. We are both in our 30's, female, both semi-fluent in French (if that helps us any), but looking for an intensive Spanish immersion program in Oaxaca. We want to learn as much of the language and about the culture as we can during our short stay.

Have you had experience with programs in Oaxaca (state or city)? Did you do a homestay? What do you recommend? What should we know?

Also, any information about transportation and/or beginning/intermediate surfing in the area would be much appreciated!

Where to learn to surf in Asia.

Jackson — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:18:53 -0800

First-hand surfing advice. My 29 year old son lives in Hong Kong and is looking for a place in Asia to spend two weeks learning to surf preferably within the next few months. He's reasonably athletic, but a complete beginner. He's thinking Bali, but is open to any location. He's searched Google and found lots of possibilities, but he's looking for first-hand recommendations from someone who has done something similar. He's ready to spend what it takes, so low cost is not a requirement.

SHRED

allkindsoftime — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:36:49 -0800

Surf's-up-filter: I need the body of a surf god, for mainly functional purposes (although I'm sure the side benefits will be great, too). Recently picked up surfing again after about a decade off, for the most part, and I've realized I am completely not in shape - after getting out for 3 or 4 rides in rough surf I am toast for the day - and that's on a long board, sadly enough.

I run about 6 miles a day so I'm in great aerobic shape, but my upper body strength has completely dropped off - no lifting or anything in the last few years. I'll likely be back in NYC for the next year, where my window for surf is relatively small, but hoping to move back to California after that, doing grad school somewhere near enough to the ocean to surf every morning. I want to be in shape before I get there though.

So, for one year in the city, with limited time to devote to actual surfing, what are the best work-out tactics / diet-tricks to be in peak physical condition to start shredding when I move back west?

So far I plan to look for a lap pool and start replacing about half of my running with swimming, so suggestions for a cheap, decent pool in the city are welcome. Beyond that, dropping some of the perpetual junk food from the diet and getting more fiber / protein and fruits / veggies. What are your top tricks for getting ripped to ride?

Thanks wave-riders.

Why Am I getting 404 errors for legitimate web pages while casually browsing?

smersh — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:58:12 -0800

While casually surfing, why am I getting 404 errors for pages that definitely exist (like google and facebook)? How can I stop it? While casually surfing, I get at least five Hostgator 404 errors a day, for pages that definitely exist. Pages on google, on major websites like ign.com, facebook, etc.

I'm in India, surfing on a MacBook Pro, Safari, Leopard (though I've seen it on Firefox and on OS 10.4). I think it has to do with my ISP, but I'm not sure. It could be my wireless router (Airport Express).

My annoying remedy is to change my DNS Server information to OpenDNS when a page doesn't work (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220). But, I get the same 404 page errors at the same frequency.

The switching of DNS servers ALWAYS helps immediately, but never long term. That is, it'll allow me to see the page/site right away, but another legitimate page will give me a 404 some time later.

Please help me. I'm really hoping that my configurations are doing this somehow, but I don't know how.

thanks!