Martyn Saunders, Author at Southern Man Surf Shop 2

Australia’s Three Newest WSL Events

28 March, 202118 March, 2021 by Martyn Saunders

The 2021 WSL Championship Tour will be unique for a range of reasons, but probably most notable among them is the format of the Australian leg of the tour. Rather than the Gold Coast/Bells/Margaret River ritual to which we’ve become so accustomed, this year we’ll, unfortunately, miss out on the first two courtesy of logistical issues relating to the pandemic, government regulations, and all that other jazz to which we’ve also become very accustomed over the past year. Those events will be sorely missed, but of course, the flip side to their absence is that we’ll be treated to three new events, and Rip Curl has jumped right in to sponsor all of them alongside their sponsorship of the new season-ending event at Trestles. Let’s take a look at where they are, and what we can expect from them.

Trestles to Host New Season- Ending WSL Event

28 March, 202115 March, 2021 by Martyn Saunders

Crowning World Champions on the iconic cobblestone point of Lower Trestles in Southern California, the Rip Curl WSL Finals will make history in 2021

It’s been a period of significant change for the WSL. First they had to cancel the entire 2020 Championship Tour because of COVID-19. Then the 2021 season began in Hawaii, which for years has been home to the season-ending events at which the two world champions are found and crowned. That has left an unavoidable hole at the end of the calendar, and the WSL has filled it not just with a new tournament, but with a new event.

Wave Pools – Where and when did they come from?

28 March, 202119 January, 2021 by Martyn Saunders

When the World Surf League announced that in 2018 it would hold its first-ever event outside of the ocean, it set tongues wagging in a big way. Some felt taking the league to Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch would be a brilliant opportunity to see the world’s best surfers unimpeded by the randomness of the ocean, …

Best Sharp Eye Surfboards (2021)

14 June, 202318 January, 2021 by Martyn Saunders

The team at Southern Man Surf and Rip Curl Ulladulla are excited to see Shape Eye Surfboards added to our range in store. With limited space in our store, we spent a heap of time chatting with the guys at Sharpe Eye Australia making sure we get the styles of surfboards right for our customers …

How to position your surfboard – in and out of the water

6 May, 202111 December, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

One of the most fundamental components of surfing, and one which many beginners struggle with, is related to positioning their surfboard. This applies in many different situations – go to any beginner beach and you’ll see new surfers struggling to lug their boards from the car park to the water. Look out to sea and …

What should surfers do to be safe?

18 July, 20227 December, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

There are plenty of activities more dangerous than surfing, but paddling out into the ocean on a piece of fibreglass or foam carries inherent risks. There are, however, certain things that you can do to mitigate these for both yourself and others, and we’ve gone through some of the most important of those below. Always …

What are the Best Surf Schools?

6 May, 202130 October, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

Best surf schools in the world! Beginners’ guide to surfing Read Time: 5 Minutes In the last piece we touched on some of the best places, both within Australia and abroad, to learn to surf. No beginners wave is complete without a good surf school though, so below we’ve run through the best schools at …

Top Ten Resources to Teach Yourself to Surf

18 July, 202218 October, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

How to Surf Beginners’ guide to surfing Read Time: 5 Minutes Following on from our previous piece, in which we began to talk about the process of getting into the water, this article will look at the top resources you can utilise when learning to surf, from enlisting the help of people in the know …

Surfboard Tail Pad & Boardbag. Do you need them?

6 May, 202129 September, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

How to Apply a Surfboard Traction Pad Beginners’ guide to surfing Read Time: 5 Minutes In our last few articles, we’ve spoken about most of the major accessories to your surfboard that you need to know about – fins, leashes and wax. These are the most important to know about and are necessary from the …

Why do surfboards have fins?

6 May, 202111 September, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

Is it safe to surf without fins on your surf board? Beginners’ guide to surfing Read Time: 5 Minutes Now it’s time to explore the hidden piece of equipment which is as vital to surfing as the board itself – the fins. Like a boat without a rudder, a surfboard without fins is aimless, and …

Surfboards: What’s a good beginner’s surfboard to buy?

6 May, 202123 August, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

Surfing: What is the best entry-level surfboard? Beginners’ guide to surfing Read Time: 5 Minutes We’ve spent the last few articles covering the nitty gritty, the detail about what you need to know before you make your first surfboard. We’ve told you about the different materials boards are made with, the benefits and drawbacks of …

Surfboards: How to choose a surfboard?

6 May, 202120 August, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

How to know if I have the right surfboard? Beginners’ guide to surfing In the first few articles we covered the basics you need to know when you’re first getting into surfing – now it’s time to go into a little more detail. Over the next few pieces we’ll focus specifically on surfboards, covering everything …

Is surfing an expensive hobby?

6 May, 202119 August, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

Have to right gear from the start! Beginners’ guide to surfing Reading Time: 5 -Minutes In our previous articles, we’ve covered off a couple of common questions people have when they’re looking into learning how to surf – things like how old is too old to learn, how hard is it, and what do you …

How difficult is it to learn to surf?

18 July, 202217 August, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

How long does it take to learn how to surf? Beginners’ guide to surfing Reading Time: 5 -Minutes In this article, we’re going to take you through the basics that you need to know before getting started with surfing. We won’t lie to you, learning to surf isn’t easy – if you’re going to dive …

5-minute beginners guide to surfing equipment

6 May, 202116 August, 2020 by Martyn Saunders

Surfing: What are the best surfer hacks? Beginners’ guide to surfing Reading Time: 5 -Minutes Welcome to article one of our beginners’ guide to surfing series. Getting started can be an intimidating task, but with these short articles, we’ll give you the information you need to get from beginner to intermediate as quickly and painlessly …