Hey kids, it’s that happy time of year again when you are about to adventure out to find the perfect holiday gifts for all those special somebodies in your life.
Every year at this time, I offer up some, what I think are, great suggestions to help those of you who are looking to buy for a surfer, or surfers, on your list.
A lot of this is material that I have offered up in the past, but I am figuring that many of you will be seeing this for the first time or might just need a memory jolt. So, you might have seen some of this in past years if you are a long-time reader of my ranting, but read on anyway, cause there is some new stuff in here too. Faaa la la la laaaaaaa and away we go…
Starting off with small inexpensive items and stocking stuffers. You can never go wrong with surf wax, surf videos, surf magazines, surf leashes, surfboard fin sets and ding repair kits.
This is basic surf survival stuff that a surfer always needs and never can have too much of. Although it is good to know what water temperature to get the wax for and how long the surfboard is that you might be getting a surf leash for.
Other related stuff would include sunblock and sunglasses.
Very popular and still not expensive choices would also include T-shirts, hoodies, hats, calendars and lightweight board socks. You can find these items at local surf shops or online.
One of my favorite things to get are vintage Hawaiian shirts. And we have a perfect resource right here in Costa Mesa: Dirt Cheap Hawaiian Shirts on 17th Street.
The owner is Nik, cool dude and longtime OC surfer. He carries tons of classics in all sizes. I get all mine there.
Moving on to a little bit pricier picks, we would have wetsuits for one thing. This time of year, it is colder, both the air and the water, and every surfer needs a wetsuit. Two is even better.
These are a bit harder to buy because you will need the exact details on what your surfer needs, as well as his or her sizes. So, I would recommend either finding that information out or going the gift certificate route. Either way, it would be a needed and welcome gift.
Surfboard travel bags fall into this area, too. Most surfers travel and you need to have a good travel bag to do that. Some surfers use them just for long driving surf trips and some just to go surfing locally on a daily basis. Protection for your board is mega important to any serious surfer.
For those surfers who ride stand-up paddleboards, or SUPs, a new paddle is a great gift. The paddle is just as important as the board for these riders. We have a fantastic paddle maker right here in Orange County, Quickblade Paddles in Costa Mesa. They make, in my opinion, the very best.
Getting into the more expensive area, there would obviously be a new surfboard. This is a serious gift.
Also, the most personal and hard to get right.
You need to know exactly what your surfer rides and what they might want in a new board. Unless you surf with them or listen to them talk about what they might want, it is very hard to plan this one out correctly.
So, how do you do this? One way is to talk to their surfing friends, who more than likely will know the right thing. Another way is to just out and out tell them you want to give them a new board and have them aim you to the right place.
Or, the good ol’ gift certificate.
I would just like to inject into this the fact that I got my first board as a Christmas present. The thrill of finding it in our living room on Christmas morning was amazing.
But I was a little kid and a beginner and really had no idea of what I wanted, other than a surfboard. It’s really best to make sure that it’s the right one if you plan to make it a surprise.
One last thing that I would like to toss in is that this year the Ritz-Carlton Oahu, Turtle Bay, in partnership with SURFER magazine, is bringing back the infamous SURFER lobby bar for the opening of the Eddie Aikau invitational big wave championship. This will take place Dec. 5 to 14 and offers all kinds of cool activities for the competitors and for guests alike.
Could be an amazing once-in-a-lifetime kinda vacation that would make an amazing gift for any surfer.
That’s all the space I have, hope it helps ya. Cowabunga and big “ho ho hooooo.”