🏄‍♀️ How not to love your surfboard to death 🤕

👋 Happy Almost-The-Weekend! Mine’s looking like surfboard triage. 🩹🛹 If you’re in the same boat (or board), we’ve got some notes in this fifth edition of The Wipeout Weekly, powered by Girls Who Can’t Surf Good. 🏄‍♀️✨

🏄‍♀️ Let’s surf:

• How not to love your surfboard to death

• Tamarindo, Costa Rica

• Word of the week: Shaka

• Girl-Who-Is-A-Ballsy-Charger

• Weekly popup ⚡🏄‍♀️🔥

^SURFODRAMA

😱 How not to love your surfboard to death

See that board with “Sanctuary” on it? 🏄‍♂️ This is the damage that some surfing hooligans inflicted on Nicholas Cage’s beloved surfboard in “The Surfer.”

Bad people, bad movie. 😜 But hey—that’s intentional damage.

Now, there are countless ways in which your board can get damaged without trying. 😅

It could be a shallow sandbar or rocky bottom that dings the bottom at best—or rips out your fin box at worst. Done it.

Or you could accidentally walk into a wall or drop it while taking it off the roof of your car. Guilty.

You could do stupid stuff like storing your board tail-down on gravel. Yep.

Or stacking boards. Of course.

And now I’ve chipped a tail and have pressure dings to repair. 😤

Not to mention not securing your boards on a windy day—and not one but two of them landing on the leftover construction rods sticking out of the ground. I knew something like this would happen. Argh.

So I know how it feels. OMG. 😱 There’s a ding. There’s a crack. There’s something I cannot even describe on my surfboard. 😭

What do I do?!

🧰 Easy DIY
If it’s a pressure dent, a crack in the resin but not in the foam, a rail chip, maybe a small puncture—and it’s clean and dry—you can do it yourself.

Depending on what your board is made of, you’ll be using a hot glue gun on foamies, or sun-cure resin (like Solarez or Mondo) if it’s fiberglass.

🛠️ MacGyver it
Now, if you have bigger holes in your board—like the ones those construction rods put in mine—it’s a toss-up.

Obviously, I wanted to feel like MacGyver. I was working with fiberglass boards, so I needed poly resin, hardener, some fiberglass cloth, and Q-cell. You can get all of it in the Ding All kit.

I added glitter for some pizzazz, but that’s just me. Next time, I want to try food coloring. 😂

The hardest thing when repairing with poly resin is that you’ll need to sand it down—unless you pressed it very neatly and smooth in the first place. If you don’t have an electric sander, it’ll take you one hot minute.

⚠️ Warning: If you’re working on epoxy boards—let’s say a Walden, Takayama, or McTavish—do not, I repeat, do not use poly resin, because it can melt an epoxy board. 😳 You can epoxy a poly, but not the other way around.

🏪 Take it to the shop
For anything other than a ding, hole, or crack—think twice about attempting it yourself. 🤔

If the damage appears waterlogged—kinda squishy and brown—or you see any bubbles or lifting (that’s delamination), or anything to do with a stringer or a fin box—take the hit and take it to the shop.

And most importantly, don’t worry if your board takes a hit — almost everything’s fixable. Just… maybe let someone else do it. 🥰

^{SURF SPOT SPOTLIGHT}

Tamarindo, Costa Rica: Where American beginners go

What Peniche is to Europe, Tamarindo is to North America. It’s one of the best places in Central America to learn how to surf—and more importantly, to keep surfing.

🌊 The surf
Tamarindo is a classic sandy-bottom beach break — forgiving for beginners, with lots of whitewater to learn in and soft green waves when you’re ready to level up. It breaks year-round, with the cleanest conditions usually showing up in the morning.

🌊 Pro tip: If it’s too mellow or crowded, hop across the estuary (boat taxi or paddle) to Playa Grande. It’s punchier and less crowded, but still manageable.

🚿 Water quality
Mostly good, but it can get murky right after heavy rain. Like everywhere else.

👙 Wardrobe
The water is warm all the time. No wetsuits needed — just a rash guard or long sleeve if you’re sensitive to sun or board rash. Honestly, it’s like surfing in bathwater.

☀️ When to go

• Dry season (Nov–April): Blue skies, smaller waves — perfect for learning.

• Rainy season (May–Oct): Slightly bigger swell, fewer people, more dramatic sunsets.

• December–February: Peak crowds, especially during the holidays. Great vibes, but expect company.

⚠️ Hazards
Rips, sunburn, and crowded lineups. And yes, there are crocodiles in the estuary — just don’t go swimming in murky water on purpose.

🏄 Rentals + lessons
You’ll trip over surf schools and board rentals — they’re everywhere. From cheap soft-top half-days to full surf camps with breakfast and yoga, it’s all here.

🍍 When you’re not surfing
Grab a pipa fría (cold coconut), watch the sunset from a beach bar, or explore nearby beaches like Avellanas and Langosta. You can also do ziplining, estuary tours, or just chill in a hammock with a book. Gecko optional.

🧳 Solo friendly?
Totally. Tamarindo is super easy to navigate alone, and the social scene is buzzing. You’ll meet other surfers, travelers, and digital nomads within minutes of checking into your hostel or surf camp.

^SURFLINGO

Word of the week: Shaka 🤙

The shaka sign 🤙—thumb and pinky extended, middle fingers folded—is a gesture widely used in surf culture, but its roots run deeper than just wave riding. It’s Hawaiian in origin and predates modern surfing altogether.

🌺 The origin story

The most widely accepted version traces the shaka back to a Hawaiian man named Hamana Kalili, from Laie on Oʻahu, in the early 1900s.

Hamana lost the three middle fingers of his right hand in a sugar mill accident. When he waved to local kids with his unique hand shape, they started copying him — as kids do.

What started as a simple wave evolved over time into a symbol of greeting, gratitude, and good vibes.

🌊 From Hamana to the lineup

As surfing grew in Hawaii and then globally throughout the mid-20th century, surfers adopted the shaka as part of the aloha spirit. It became a kind of silent surf shorthand for:

• “It’s all good” 😎

• “Thanks” 🙏

• “Hello” 👋

• “Catch you in the water” 🌊

⚠️ Not to be confused with...

Don’t mix up the shaka with the sign of the horns 🤘 (index and pinky extended, middle and ring held down). That one has a whole different vibe—traditionally used to ward off evil spirits, summon metal bands, or both. 😈🎸

^{GIRL-WHO-JUST-WANTS-TO-CHARGE}

🏄‍♀️ Here’s to the ballsy charger in all of us: KC’s story

KC says she’d never been clumsy in her life — until surfing. Getting run over by a catamaran will do that to you. 🥺

She moved to Hawai’i at 18, but surfing didn’t click until nearly 36 years later — this time in the cold waters of Santa Cruz.

Read her story

Missed any Girls Who Can’t Surf Good stories? You can find them all here.

^{WEEKLY POPUP}

Are your eyes sabotaging your pop-up? 😱

We’ve already talked about building upper body strength, exploring different pop-up methods, and the importance of getting wet.

But one crucial thing we haven’t covered?

👉 Where you’re looking when you pop up.

Yes, looking is a surf skill. Here's why it matters:

• 🌊 You need to look at the waves to understand their timing and when to paddle

• 🧍 You need to look at the lineup so you don’t get run over (or run someone else over)

• 🏄‍♀️ You especially need to look during your pop-up to set your body up for success

So... where should you be looking?

Not down. ⬇️ (Guilty!)

Looking down collapses your posture and throws off your balance. But looking where you want to go sets your body (head, shoulders, hips) in the right direction.

Here’s what looking forward does:

• 🔼 Lifts your chest

• 💥 Helps arch your back for better leg swinging clearance

• 💡 Signals confidence to your brain and nervous system (it’s a neuroscience thing!)

• 🧠 Reduces stress and tension so your movement is smoother (it’s more of that neuroscience thing!)

Looking down, you’ll fall down. Looking up… well, the rhyme’s still in progress—but your surfing will thank you.

^{THE WIPEOUT WEEKLY FOMO}

⬆️ Aaaaaaand that was the last wave of the week!
If a friend forwarded this and you liked it, hit subscribe & join us! We will see you all next week! 🌊

^{MORE HOUSEKEEPING}

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