It's All About Location Location
Surfers across the world gather at beaches and oceans for one common reason, to catch and ride
the ultimate set of waves. Once surfers conquer easier waves they seem to have a desire to ride
bigger, faster, and cleaner waves. The freedom to conquer such a great force of nature can push
surfers to places they have never traveled to before. Because of this, surfers travel great distances to ride
great waves due to the fact that they hate riding poor waves, it bores them! My uncle, a lifelong surfer from
California, once told me a story about a group of his friends who traveled to Australia because
a huge winter swell was rolling in and they didn't want to miss it. Sure enough, they made the
long trek and surfed the waves of their dream. It's a whole new world once you catch the
fever of catching the ultimate wave. This desire becomes an addiction! Here is a list of the top 4 voted
locations voted on by surfers around the world.
Gold Coast, Australia
Australia has a rich history for offering some the greatest waves and offering some of
the finest beaches, a perfect combination for attracting surfers. One of the more common
spots is Gold Coast Australia, the sixth most populous city in the country. Gold Coast is
located in the southeast corner of Queensland and offers a sunny subtropical climate and
popular surfing beaches. You may ask, what makes this place so much better than all the other
beaches? It's a combination, one the ocean around Gold Coast has a great reef, allowing
waves to form and keep their shape. Also, the swells (sets of waves traveling towards land)
are very consistent. There are six epic breaks along this strand of 43 miles of beach
and ocean. The epic breaks are:
- The Spit
- Main Beach
- Narrowneck
- Palm Beach
- Mermaid Beach
- Snapper Rocks
Mentawai Islands, Indonesia
This surf heaven is a combination of about seventy to seventy five islands and islets off the
western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, one of the most consistent destinations for surfers
seeking smooth and consistent waves. Great waves are produced because there are four main
islands- Siberut, Sipora, North Pagi, and South Pagi- that block many of the swells that would
otherwise reach the mainland. Therefore these four islands became notorious destinations
for surfers seeking gnarly waves. Since these are islands, the only way to access these
waves are by ferries or by charter boats. Surfers typically travel to these islands during
the months of June - September because this is when the biggest swells come rolling in.
There are five amazing breaks along the shores of the Mentawai Islands:
- Bankvaults
- Lance's Left
- Lance's Right
- Macaronis
- Gilligan's
Costa Rica
In Central America, nestled between Nicaragua and Panama, is the little country of Costa
Rica. This South American country's west border happens to be the Pacific Ocean and its east
border the Caribbean Sea. These two oceans make Costa Rica a key destination for those seeking
glassy waves. Primarily though, the best surf can be found on the west border due to the fact
that the Pacific Ocean always pumps out gnarly swells. Many surfers travel to this little
country because it produces consistent waves year round and also because of the many great
surf spots. Some of the sickests breaks include the following but aren't limited to:
- Ollie's Point
- Witch's Rock
- Playa Grande
- Tamarindo
- Playa Negra
- Mal Pais
- Hermosa
- Dominical
- Cabo Matapalo
California
Surfers seeking waves in North America know where they're going to go if they want to
ride gnarly and glassy waves. It's none other than California. Surfers love California because
it offers very diverse waves. If surfers seek big waves they know they can find these types of waves,
but if they're looking for more average sized waves they also know California can offer these
waves. Also, there are many great surfing spots from the very northern part of Califorina to
the very southern part of California, making the convience factor that much easier. Some of
the great surfing breaks include the following:
- Maverick's
- Santa Cruz
- Half Moon Bay
- Steamer Lane
- Malibu
- Rincon