Posts tagged #howdowaveswork
Why — And How — to Watch Women’s Surfing in the Olympics — Part 4 — The Wave

Now we journey into the details of the most torrid of love affairs, one with the most immediate consequences, and the most complicated relationship of a surfer’s life- the wave.

Unlike any other playing field, the constant in surfing is change. No wave is ever the same. Even in the most consistent breaks (surf areas), every wave poses a new challenge. It would kind of be like snowboarding, if the half-pipe kept shifting size and direction, if the mountain slid, rose, fell, and churned. If the snowboarder had to paddle to catch it to even try their graceful carves. If, in order to fly high above the edge, they had to choose the right one, and read the shifting banks, and navigate the angle of lift just as the edges collapsed.

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