Lonely Planet explores the world's most righteous spots for riding waves in Epic Surf Breaks, the latest addition to its popular Epic series. From Java's G-Land to Hawaii's North Shore and on to Bells Beach in Victoria, Australia, surfers of all levels are sure to be thrilled. With stunning photography and gripping first hand accounts, there's no denying this ride will be epic.
Covering famed surf spots all over the world, this unique full-color gift book and travel guide invites you to discover such unexpected gems as the Amazon and the Gulf of Alaska. From the frigid waters off Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula to Nazaré, Portugal, where in 2013 Garrett McNamara broke a world record for surfing the tallest wave (78 feet!), highlights also include: North Shore, Oahu, Hawaii Gold Coast, Australia Malibu, California Faroe Islands, Denmark Cocoa Beach, Florida Hossegor, France Grajagan, Indonesia Montauk, New York Thurso, Scotland Jeffreys Bay, South Africa And dozens more! Fifty Places to Surf takes readers on a wide-roving adventure, divulging the details that make each venue unique—and plenty of tips for those who aspire to surf there. Author Chris Santella writes in his introduction, “Surfing means different things to different people. For some it might mean longboarding mellow chest-high waves in board shorts, followed by a great sushi dinner; for others it may mean donning a six-millimeter wetsuit to brave near-freezing waters and triple overheads. Fifty Places to Surf Before You Die attempts to capture the spectrum of surfing experiences—from beginner-friendly to downright death-defying.” Featuring interviews with seasoned surfing experts such as pro surfer Joel Parkinson and Billabong executive Shannan North, Fifty Places to Surf Before You Die is an essential travel companion for surfers of all levels who are looking to catch that perfect wave.
100 Best Surf Spots in the World will include top surfing destinations ranging from Sunset Beach and the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia to Malibu, California and Oahu, Hawaii. Lesser-known destinations such as Metigama, Sri Lanka and Aviero, Northern Portugal take readers to every corner of the globe in search of the perfect wave. Other countries that make the list include: South Africa, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Morocco, New Zealand, Japan, Indonesia, and Fiji. Each destination will include brilliant full-color photography of both the area and the breaks; location map, an introduction to the area, notes on the surf and why it ranked, a personal anecdote from the author while there, and a quick-reference chart including such items as skill level required, nerves needed, and surfable days.
**Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography** Included in President Obama’s 2016 Summer Reading List “Without a doubt, the finest surf book I’ve ever read . . . ” —The New York Times Magazine Barbarian Days is William Finnegan’s memoir of an obsession, a complex enchantment. Surfing only looks like a sport. To initiates, it is something else: a beautiful addiction, a demanding course of study, a morally dangerous pastime, a way of life. Raised in California and Hawaii, Finnegan started surfing as a child. He has chased waves all over the world, wandering for years through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa. A bookish boy, and then an excessively adventurous young man, he went on to become a distinguished writer and war reporter. Barbarian Days takes us deep into unfamiliar worlds, some of them right under our noses—off the coasts of New York and San Francisco. It immerses the reader in the edgy camaraderie of close male friendships forged in challenging waves. Finnegan shares stories of life in a whites-only gang in a tough school in Honolulu. He shows us a world turned upside down for kids and adults alike by the social upheavals of the 1960s. He details the intricacies of famous waves and his own apprenticeships to them. Youthful folly—he drops LSD while riding huge Honolua Bay, on Maui—is served up with rueful humor. As Finnegan’s travels take him ever farther afield, he discovers the picturesque simplicity of a Samoan fishing village, dissects the sexual politics of Tongan interactions with Americans and Japanese, and navigates the Indonesian black market while nearly succumbing to malaria. Throughout, he surfs, carrying readers with him on rides of harrowing, unprecedented lucidity. Barbarian Days is an old-school adventure story, an intellectual autobiography, a social history, a literary road movie, and an extraordinary exploration of the gradual mastering of an exacting, little-understood art.
“I don’t normally read books about surfers, but this is like Truman Capote, with shorts.” —Lee Child “Andy Martin, to his immense credit, knows that surfers are misfits and accidental comics, as well as great athletes.” —Matt Warshaw “A sublime mixing of stoke and sorrow, hedonism and the macabre—skillfully and deftly penned by someone who had, and still has, intimate access to many of the key players." —Tom Anderson, author of Riding the Magic Carpet: A Surfer's Odyssey to Find the Perfect Wave This is the true story of Ted, Viscount Deerhurst, the son of the Earl of Coventry and an American ballerina who dedicated his life to becoming a professional surfer. Surfing was a means of escape, from England, from the fraught charges of nobility, from family, and, often, from his own demons. Ted was good on the board, but never made it to the very highest ranks of a sport that, like most, treats second-best as nowhere at all. He kept on surfing, ending up where all surfers go to live or die, the paradise of Hawaii. There, in search of the “perfect woman,” he fell in love with a dancer called Lola, who worked in a Honolulu nightclub. The problem with paradise, as he was soon to discover, is that gangsters always get there first. Lola already had a serious boyfriend, a man who went by the name of Pit Bull. Ted was given fair warning to stay away. But he had a besetting sin, for which he paid the heaviest price: He never knew when to give up. Surf, Sweat and Tears takes us into the world of global surfing, revealing a dark side beneath the dazzling sun and cream-crested waves. Here is surf noir at its most compelling, a dystopian tale of one man’s obsessions, wiped out in a grisly true crime.
The inspirational story of one woman learning to surf and creating a new life in gritty, eccentric Rockaway Beach Unmoored by a failed marriage and disconnected from her high-octane life in the city, Diane Cardwell finds herself staring at a small group of surfers coasting through mellow waves toward shore--and senses something shift. Rockawayis the riveting, joyful story of one woman's reinvention--beginning with Cardwell taking the A Train to Rockaway, a neglected spit of land dangling off New York City into the Atlantic Ocean. She finds a teacher, buys a tiny bungalow, and throws her not-overly-athletic self headlong into learning the inner workings and rhythms of waves and the muscle development and coordination needed to ride them. As Cardwell begins to find her balance in the water and out, superstorm Sandy hits, sending her into the maelstrom in search of safer ground. In the aftermath, the community comes together and rebuilds, rekindling its bacchanalian spirit as a historic surfing community, one with its own quirky codes and surf culture. And Cardwell's surfing takes off as she finds a true home among her fellow passionate longboarders at the Rockaway Beach Surf Club, living out "the most joyful path through life." Rockawayis a stirring story of inner salvation sought through a challenging physical pursuit--and of learning to accept the idea of a complete reset, no matter when in life it comes.
This mammoth book is the largest collection of surf-spot information ever compiled, with detailed analysis of the surf spots, swell forecasting and more.
Matt Warshaw knows more about surfing than any other person on the planet. After five years of research and writing, Warshaw has crafted an unprecedented history of the sport and the culture it has spawned. At nearly 500 pages, with 250,000 words and more than 250 rare photographs, The History of Surfing reveals and defines this sport with a voice that is authoritative, funny, and wholly original. The obsessive nature of this endeavor is matched only by the obsessive nature of surfers, who will pore through these pages with passion and opinion. A true category killer, here is the definitive history of surfing.
Discover the untold story of African surf culture in this glorious and colorful collection of profiles, essays, photographs, and illustrations. AFROSURF is the first book to capture and celebrate the surfing culture of Africa. This unprecedented collection is compiled by Mami Wata, a Cape Town surf company that fiercely believes in the power of African surf. Mami Wata brings together its co-founder Selema Masekela and some of Africa's finest photographers, thinkers, writers, and surfers to explore the unique culture of eighteen coastal countries, from Morocco to Somalia, Mozambique, South Africa, and beyond. Packed with over fifty essays, AFROSURF features surfer and skater profiles, thought pieces, poems, photos, illustrations, ephemera, recipes, and a mini comic, all wrapped in an astounding design that captures the diversity and character of Africa. A creative force of good in their continent, Mami Wata sources and manufactures all their wares in Africa and works with communities to strengthen local economies through surf tourism. With this mission in mind, Mami Wata is donating 100% of their proceeds to support two African surf therapy organizations, Waves for Change and Surfers Not Street Children.
With stories of 50 incredible hiking routes in 30 countries, from New Zealand to Peru, plus a further 150 suggestions, Lonely Planet’s Epic Hikes of the World will inspire a lifetime of adventure on foot. From one-day jaunts and urban trails to month-long thru-hikes, cultural rambles and mountain expeditions, each journey shares one defining feature: being truly epic. In this follow-up to Epic Bike Rides and Epic Drives, we share our adventures on the world’s best treks and trails. Epic Hikes is organised by continent, with each route brought to life by a first-person account, beautiful photographs and charming illustrated maps. Additionally, each hike includes trip planning advice on how to get there, where to stay, what to pack and where to eat, as well as recommendations for three similar hikes in other regions of the world. Hikes featured include: Africa & the Middle East: Cape Town’s Three Peaks (South Africa) Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) Camp to Camp in South Luangwa National Park (Zambia) Americas: Angel’s Landing, Zion National Park (USA) Skyline Trail, Jasper National Park (Canada) Concepción volcano hike (Nicaragua) Asia: 88 Sacred Temples of Shikoku Pilgrimage (Japan) Markha Valley (India) Gubeikou to Jinshanling on the Great Wall (China) Europe: Wordsworth’s Backyard: Dove Cottage and around Rydal and Grasmere (UK) Alpine Pass Route (Switzerland) Camino de Santiago (Spain) Oceania: Sydney’s Seven Bridges Walk (Australia) The Routeburn Track (New Zealand) Kokoda Track (Papua New Guinea) About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world’s number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we’ve printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You’ll also find our content online, on mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.
