What to do in London when things go wrong and you need a surf

To some, surfing looks like activity or hobby loved by teenagers who wear hoodies and say “stoked” and "fully", have no real ambition in life and therefore could care less about sharks... fair call, there are some of those. To those outsiders though, there is no real substance associated with the subculture, which is therefore, in their minds at least neglected to the thrill seekers and lunatics.   

On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are the young at heart who recognise surfing as a “lifestyle” or “way of life”, to them I say right on, but they don’t help the stereotype, to these guys the world is one with their souls when they float along and ride the salty vibrations. Once upon a time, perhaps a teenage Devilears may have been guilty of this kind of thinking, unfortunately I reckon the barrier to entry in vocab and etiquette is higher than cost of equipment, stopping loads of people who would be keen to start out, but don’t really care for the whole philosophy. 

I see a meeting of worlds is necessary, SO we need a solution for the normal person, intrigued by the sport/lifestyle/whatever, that wants to build some enthusiasm and get excited for the water...

So as a side note, what is a South African who is dying for a surf doing in London? And more importantly, how is he surviving with over a month since his last taste of salt water?

The answer is Amazon.com and perhaps less surprising, stair surfing

Over the last 4 weeks I have sunken some of my pounds into my sanity, (which I think is a fair investment) into the following:

Sunny Garcia’s Surf - Shocking, but hey, it is 10 years old

Kelly Slater’s Surfer Pro – Brilliant, like dude

Tarzan Untamed – Hasn’t arrived yet, but I have high hopes

Rise of the Silver Surfer - Could perhaps have more surfing in it

Surfs Up (the game) - Hours of surfing fun! Highly recommended

Stair surfing is entirely different... pictures will follow shortly, at present I’m resting my ankle from a small collision with a wall and then a door and then a brief roll down some stairs and then a bicycle, hazards that are generally not associated with regular surfing

So what am I saying, that in some way actual surfing can be substituted by a few tv games... NO... get in the water people... but if you want to have a laugh and get super excited about waves and salt but are scared of surfers, try one of these, I reckon the Penguin one will sort you out, and then GET IN THE WATER,!