Vitor Oliveira

When was the last time you were asked to pay to step on a beach? Probably never. But if you have, then you're most likely in New Jersey, where beach tags are required to access its Atlantic sand strips. Most of the world's beaches are free access, meaning everybody can enter, walk, and swim in the ocean. Consequently, this also means that private beaches are rare , with most of them possibly located on private islands. So, why is New Jersey charging residents and non-residents fees to enjoy the sandy zones by the sea? Are beaches a luxury in the Garden State? Yes and no. The Concept Beach tags, or beach badges, are essentially permits that beachgoers must purchase to access specific beaches during the summer months. The idea is simple: if you want to spend a day on the sand, you need to buy a tag and display it visibly on your person or belongings. The cost of these badges varies, with different prices for daily, weekly, or seasonal access and occasional discounts for ...

My name is Andy Steckel. I was born in Pennsylvania and grew up on Long Island, New York, but I have lived mostly in Northern California. I spent many summer days bodysurfing at Jones Beach State Park in Wantagh, New York, with my younger brother and older sister. I loved the weightlessness of flying for a few seconds and then lying in bed that night, still feeling my body bobbing. I also loved watching the surfers glide off Robert Moses State Park Field 5. I tried it myself a few times as a teen but never had a good balance, and I soon happily returned to the more comfortable shallow pool. I moved West for school and spent 30 years as an environmental engineer working on air pollution regulations in San Francisco. I retired in 2017 and started drawing cartoons about things that interest me, like the ocean, nature, climate change, and sometimes politics. I am 63 and still love bodysurfing when I make it to warm waters back East or in Southern California, and I get my breath tak...

River surfing is a growing outdoor activity with hundreds of thousands of participants taking off at all types of inland water streams. Nowadays, it is incredibly easy and inexpensive to create a river surfing wave when it is not readily made available by Mother Nature. Standing waves are fun to ride. They allow inland surfing enthusiasts to enjoy the pleasures of wave-riding thousands of miles away from the ocean. River surf breaks are, therefore, getting increasingly crowded. Whether you're at the Eisbach in Munich or at the Bend Whitewater Park in Oregon, there are some guidelines you need to follow before jumping into the water. River waves have two main limitations compared to their oceanic counterparts: the rideable length is limited, and they're confined to potentially hazardous boundaries. Consequently, there are rules and precautions one must embrace to make it safe and pleasant for everyone. The following directives help ensure the river surfing experience ...

Double-up waves are a striking and relatively rare type of ocean wave and simultaneously a challenge for advanced surfers. A double-up wave is as spectacular as weird and unusual. It somehow defies the common understanding of what a normal oceanic wave is. Why? Because it morphs and eventually becomes two waves. These freaks of Nature are characterized by their immense power and distinctive structure and have a reputation for being both exhilarating and dangerous. But how do these mutant liquid walls of water work? A double-up wave forms when the crests and troughs of two separate waves align and merge, creating a singular and uneven amplified wave. The merging is not merely the simple addition of two waves' energy but a complex interaction that leads to a distinctive wave formation, often marked by a midface step. Consequently, the resulting wave is not just larger in size but also more powerful and unpredictable, making it a challenge for surfers to ride. Sometimes, it...

Belmar police officers arrested a 28-year-old surfer for allegedly failing to display a required beach badge. The unusual incident occurred on Wednesday, August 21, at Belmar Beach's 19th Avenue, a popular New Jersey surf spot, and was captured on video before being shared widely on social media. According to witnesses, Liam Mahoney, a resident of Junction City, California, had just finished his surf session when he was approached by police officers. The officers questioned him about his beach badge, a pass required to access Belmar beaches during certain hours. Mahoney and a woman at the scene insisted that the badge was attached to his beach bag, though it was not displayed on his wetsuit. Tensions escalated, and the situation quickly turned physical. In the video, Mahoney is seen trying to explain his side, but officers attempt to handcuff him. When Mahoney resists, an officer places him in a chokehold, and within moments, the surfer is pinned to the ground with a knee t...

Portuguese surfer Eurico Romaguera and Spanish photographer Jorge Abian dreamed of riding and capturing a very special wave in Ilulissat, Greenland. It was not just any wave, but one created by the calving of an iceberg into the sea, a phenomenon that occurs during the summer melt. Romaguera is a professional surfer from Portugal who blends his passion for waves with his love for the arts and music. He organizes the Gliding Barnacles event in Figueira da Foz. Eurico also travels the world in search of the best waves while immersing himself in diverse cultures and meeting new people. Abian is a photographer, filmmaker, and entrepreneur who has worked across the technology and travel industries. He led the expansion of Tinder and Uber in Europe, managed Trip4Real's acquisition by Airbnb, and founded Land of Ride, an adventure company for athletes. Patience and Resilience The duo embarked on a journey to Ilulissat to fulfill this cold water surfing fantasy. Their adventure,...

One of the things people love about Portland is that it's two hours from the coast and two hours from skiable mountains. What if we drew the coast closer? In the late 1960s, my dad played a small role in the construction of the first artificial wave pool in the United States: Big Surf . Dad met somebody at work named Phil Dexter, who had this wild idea for a surfing spot in metro Phoenix, Arizona. Although Big Surf became a water park with slides and other aquatic attractions, it was originally designed for surfing. At that time, surfing was the most popular sport in America, and Big Surf intended to capitalize on that trend with a pool that held 3.8 million gallons of water and pumped out a three-to-five-foot ridable wave every few minutes. Instead of partnering with Dexter, my dad just found the 20-acre desert land where Dexter built that groundbreaking park - the park that introduced the term "wave pool" into the lexicon. That was my dad's big brush with fam...

Surfers are more exposed to impacts on their heads than one might think. Concussions in surfing are a real thing and have become a major concern among the wave-riding community. What happens when we hit our heads on water or sand? Is it negligible? Does it have consequences? What is the difference between a simple bump on the head and a concussion? Should we immediately seek medical help? A concussion is a type of brain injury that takes place when the brain is shaken inside the skull, usually due to a blow to the head or a sudden jolt. Imagine your brain as a soft organ floating in fluid inside your skull. When your head takes a hit, the brain can bounce or twist, leading to damage to brain cells and temporary changes in how the brain functions. Symptoms of a concussion can vary but often include headaches, dizziness, confusion, memory problems, and sometimes nausea or vomiting. The effects can show up right away or develop over a few hours or days.  Concussions are serio...

Slack tide, also known as slack water, is a brief phenomenon within the tidal cycle. It's the period during which the water is momentarily still - there is no movement either toward or away from the shore. It occurs when the tidal stream pauses just before it reverses direction, transitioning from the incoming flow (flood) to the outgoing flow (ebb) or vice versa. Imagine the ocean's tides as the gentle rocking of a boat. As the boat reaches the peak of its sway in one direction, there's a momentary pause before it starts to move back the other way. Similarly, slack tide is the moment of stillness before the tidal currents pick up speed again in the opposite direction when the boat does not move up or down. "Amongst the First Nation people of British Columbia, this time was called 'xtlúnexam,' and its calm was used within stories to signify that all would be well in the end," notes Tristan Gooley, author of "How to Read Water." In surf s...

Shaun Tomson, the founder of Instinct, announced the relaunch of the surfwear company he founded in South Africa in 1979. The 1977 International Professional Surfers (IPS) World Circuit champion sold the brand in 1994 after retiring from professional surfing. Now, Tomson, 68, plans to re-ignite the iconic Instinct logo and line of products. "Some of you may know the current state of the surfing industry - turbulence, mergers, takeovers, and licensing deals across the spectrum of merchandise and products popping up in all sorts of dodgy places," the South African explained. "I believe there is an opportunity to re-start Instinct, a brand I founded many moons ago that targeted the core surfing market." "I called my company Instinct because the best moments in surfing are riding inside the tube, and the very best tubes happen when you are operating on instinct in a flow state - I called this state of consciousness the 'Inner Rhythm.'" Instinct ...

Joey Buran branded his name in surfing history in 1984 on the North Shore of Oahu. After countless heats and expensive trips to competitions, he found himself perched atop the crowd's shoulders at Pipeline, the first mainlander to win the Pipe Masters . But his honeymoon was short. A year later, he was stuck in bed with malaria after a trip to Indonesia. Paddling out through sets at Pipe was off the table. Mental health struggles and a suicide attempt followed. He eventually made it back on tour and added a few more wins to his name. Over 30 years later, he has coached a handful of national teams, including the U.S. squad, and now serves as a pastor in California. Buran spends his time mentoring others and sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience about the sport, growing up on the beach watching for sets, and the tough life. SurferToday recently asked Joey about the book and career. It's been a while since you surfed on the world tour, but you've stayed close...

The forests, mangroves, and marshes surrounding surf breaks store almost 90 million metric tonnes (Mt) of climate-stabilizing "irrecoverable carbon." According to a new study from Conservation International researchers, these coastal locations are essential climate allies and ideal locations for creating new protected areas. Just five countries account for nearly half the carbon stored: surf breaks in the United States are the most carbon-rich, followed by Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, and Panama. For the study, published today in Conservation Science and Practice, researchers mapped more than 4,800 popular surf spots across 113 countries. The scientists found that immediately surrounding areas within one kilometer of the waves store just over 88 Mt of irrecoverable carbon. That's roughly equivalent to the annual emissions from 77 million gas-powered cars. When the area is expanded to three kilometers, the amount of carbon stored in the ecosystems more than doubles...

Kauli Vaast, the newly crowned Olympic surfing champion, recently took a unique victory lap down the River Seine in Paris, France. He showcased his gold medal with the Eiffel Tower as a dramatic backdrop. The 22-year-old Tahitian surfer, who made history as the first Olympic champion from the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, delighted fans in the French capital by surfing the Seine, nearly 9,770 miles (15,725 kilometers) away from his home waves at Teahupoo. Vaast's victory at the Paris 2024 Olympics was monumental for him and his homeland. Competing on his native reef pass at Teahupoo , he secured the gold medal in the men's surfing event on August 5, defeating Australian surfer Jack Robinson in a thrilling final. Vaast's performance was surprisingly spectacular. He caught the biggest barrel of the day, scoring an impressive 9.50, followed by another high-scoring wave, 8.17. His victory brought pride to Tahiti and established him as an Olympic surfing champion. ...

In 1912, Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968) expressed his dream of seeing surfing in the Olympic Games . But the father of modern surfing was also an exceptional swimmer who had to overcome racial discrimination to be accepted as an athlete. Born in Hawaii, Kahanamoku first impressed the sports authorities when, on August 11, 1911, he completed the 100-yard (91-meter) freestyle in 55.4 seconds in Honolulu Harbor's saltwater, between two piers, surpassing the previous world record by 4.6 seconds. Additionally, he broke the 220-yard (200-meter) record and matched the 50-yard (46-meter) record. In that same year, Duke co-founded the Hui Nalu Club. However, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) was skeptical and did not acknowledge these achievements for many years. Initially, the AAU suggested the judges used alarm clocks instead of stopwatches and later argued that ocean currents assisted Kahanamoku. The Olympic Debut Duke Kahanamoku journeyed across the Pacific and dominated numerous...