News | Carve Surfing Magazine | The latest news in surfing

Indonesian Motorcycle Diaries – The Wild West

In August 2023, journalist and film-maker Tom de Souza began riding a trail-bike solo across the entire eastern Indonesian archipelago.

He set out to search for uncrowded waves on epic adventure through a country steeped in mysticism and rich with human stories.

In this episode, he spends a month in wild and mountainous West Sumbawa, hoping to score one of Indo's premier waves, and learning more of the ex-pats who live colourful lives out there on the fringes of society.

You can watch part one below.

Filmed: @storiesfromthescenicroute

Visit The Yogi Surfer for a luxury Moroccan surf trip

Located on the Atlantic coast Morocco provides the surf-trip goods for beginner and pro surfers alike.

Consistent swell, warm water, rich culture, 300 says of sunshine and surf spots for all levels. Although there are decent waves all year round, the surf season is best September through to March and so now is a great time to treat yourself and book a trip away.

There are surf retreats, camps and hotels a plenty in this wave-rich part of the world but one place that’s caught our eye is The Yogi Surfer, a gorgeous eco-focused boutique hotel overlooking the famous Banana Village.

This luxury surf camp has an eco-friendly and sustainable imprint and is dedicated to the wellness of body and mind through the practice of surf and yoga. Surrounded by 15 km of unspoiled sandy beach and 15+ internationally renowned surf spots, its location is ideal for scoring great waves while living a healthy lifestyle and connecting with the local culture.

Read on to fall in love with this special Moroccan surf hotel …

Location:

The Yogi Surfer is located on the peak of a small hill in the bay of Taghazout with stunning views of the ocean. Stretching out below are the banana plantations of Banana Village and beyond are the long stretches of sandy beach offering a truly magnificent outlook.

Surf Conditions and Breaks:

The region has more than fifteen recognised worldwide spots, plus The Yogi Surfer local guides have a few secret spots under their belt as well. The surf conditions are constantly changing and the teams in-depth knowledge of the region allows them to quickly identify where the best waves will be and at the best time.

Surf Package Options:

Whether your surfing level, the goal at The Yogi Surfer is to gain confidence, love surfing and to learn and improve without pressure.

All packages include transportation to the surf spots, accommodation and full board! Plus the option to add yoga classes on. From foam boards to shortboards, all equipment is available for rent or included in your package, plus 3'2 Rip Curl wetsuits in all sizes.

Options are:

Surf Lesson: More info here
A team of certified instructors teach the basics of surfing and the more advanced techniques. The team will carefully select the spots best adapted to your level and the spots offering the best conditions of the day.

Advance Surf Instruction: More info here
This intense development program for intermediate surfing gives the opportunity to develop the basics already acquired in surfing and to gain a higher standard. The best instructors in the region will work with you on a plan and discuss your personal objectives, alongside technical lessons, video analysis and more.

Surf Guiding: More info here
This is the most suitable option for advanced surfers who want to discover the best breaks in the region. Top local Surf Guide Ilyas Masrour has a real knowledge of surf conditions and spots in the area and will help you to find the best waves and conditions.

Surf Road Trip: More info here
Hit the road to explore and experience the Moroccan coast, covering a distance of 300 km from north to south. This minimum of 5 nights road trip will allow you to discover some exclusive places and experience the mythical waves of Morocco.

The Yoga:

Surfing and yoga are a key partnership at The Yogi Surfer to help balance body and mind. Optional and available to all, daily yoga classes inspired by Yoga Vinyasa, Hatha Flow and Restorative yoga are offered on the outstanding rooftop overlooking the ocean

The Hotel:

When it comes to food, the Yogi Surfer's concept is clean, organic and healthy. The local chef serves up a high standard of delicious meals cooked with local fresh produce.

The breakfast includes organic fresh seasonal fruit, traditional dishes, along with the famous Moroccan mint tea and orange juice from the region. At lunchtime, you'll have a lunch box to enjoy post surf on the go and dinners are prepared and served in the hotel. Expect freshly caught fish from the region, traditional dishes, tajines and more!

Away from the surf, enjoy The Yogi Surfer’s rooftop terrace and swimming pool, or why not dive into the region’s rich Moroccan culture with a Yogi Surfer excursion. Cooking class, Tamri Sand Dunes tour, Paradise Valley trip, horse and camel riding, hiking in the Hinterland, traditional markets trips and more.

The Rooms:

The Yogi Surfer offers a cozy, intimate and authentic Moroccan atmosphere revolving around surfing and yoga. The boutique hotel has 8 spacious rooms all with private bathrooms and 6 of them overlook the Atlantic ocean.

When it comes to food, the Yogi Surfer's concept is clean, organic and healthy so expect a high standard of delicious meals cooked with local fresh produce.

To book and for more information on this slice of Moroccan heaven, head to: theyogisurfer.com

Double Room

Deluxe Room

Ocean View Double Room

Shared Room

Website

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Scottish Junior Team Rio Bound

Scottish Junior Team going to the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Rio, Brazil has been announced and a Crowdfunder launched to support travel costs.

It’s been a great year so for the Scottish Juniors and this weekend Sandend will play host to the fourth and final stop on a very successful SSF Junior Series supported by C-Skins. The Junior series has travelled all round Scotland with events being held in Pease Bay, Dunnet and Fraserburgh so far, with Sandend on the Moray Coast being the last chance for all the groms to secure the points and lift the Junior Series titles across all divisions.

SUPPORT THE CROWDFUNDER HERE

Scottish Junior Team going to the ISA World Junior Surfing Championships in Rio, Brazil.

Boys U18 -
Craig McLachlan
Finn Clark
Charlie Pugh

Boys U16 -
Ansel Parkin
Fraser Brown
Sebastian Ballantyne

Girls U18 -
Olivia Mackay
Callie Cruickshank
Lola Mitchell

Girls U16 -
Olivia Mackay
Callie Cruickshank
Lola Mitchell

Patagonia: Ocean Protection & Restoration

In the last few weeks I’ve been to Ocean Film Festival and the Blue Earth Summit. At both of these inspiring events Patagonia’s films were part of the conversation, focused on ocean protection and restoration.

Patagonia are calling for European governments to end bottom trawling, starting with an immediate ban in marine protected areas and inshore zones.

It felt like it was a good time to revist these films, incase you missed them when the campaign was launched this summer. They’re worth watching so take a few minutes out of your day and get involved, it could make a world of difference. Small changes can be one step towards big changes which will leave the planet in a better place.

Louise Searle

Patagonia have launched an global environmental campaign, focused on ocean protection and restoration. Through a series of films, website, petition, and events across Europe, Patagonia will mobilise individuals and call on governments to end bottom trawling.

Connecting us through food, culture and sport, our shared ocean is the home of amazing, abundant life, and is also a powerful climate solution. Yet the practice of bottom trawling threatens to destroy this precious resource—bulldozing our ocean floor, undermining small-scale fisheries, and deepening the climate crisis.

Bottom trawling is one of the most damaging practices that humans inflict on our oceans, destroying seabed ecosystems, overfishing, and indiscriminately killing everything from turtles and rays to sharks.
It has an enormous climate impact too. Dragging nets along the seabed uses more fuel and produces four times more emissions than other types of fishing. It disturbs carbon-absorbing sediment and eradicates the marine plants and animals that take in carbon from the atmosphere. Oceans absorb a quarter of all the carbon dioxide that we produce, yet the practice of bottom trawling threatens to destroy this precious resource. We must protect our ocean so it can protect us.

In place of this destructive, industrial practice, Patagonia is using the campaign and films to promote regenerative alternatives such as 3D ocean seaweed farming and restoring seagrass. With small-scale, low impact fishers making up around half of Europe’s fishing workforce, often impacted by bottom trawling, it is also offering them a platform and calling for them to be supported in the necessary transition.

The campaign launches at a critical moment for Europe’s marine protection with an escalating biodiversity crisis and heated debate ensuing on Europe-wide initiatives such as the Nature Restoration Law and Ocean Action Plan.

The series of eight short documentary films will tell the stories of people around the world, from South Korea and Chilean Patagonia to Portugal and Wales, as they take matters into their own hands and show us how we can work with, not against, our ocean.

Films telling European restoration stories include:

• The Custodians follows the work of four locals from the West Coast of Scotland, who are reclaiming their natural coastlines, restoring wildlife and creating sustainable industries.

• For the Love of the Sea – the story of Nikki Spill of The Seaweed Farmers who is partnering with Câr y Môr, the first community-owned regenerative ocean farm in Wales.

Beth Thoren, environmental action & initiatives director, EMEA, Patagonia, says: “Throughout my life, I have always felt connected to the ocean, from my early career as a ship engineer to, later, being a crew mate on a Sea Shepherd boat, fighting whale hunting in Antarctica. But I am not alone. Wherever we are, every second breath we take comes from the ocean. It is imperative that we protect this precious and fragile resource, so it can protect us.

“Our European leaders have the power in their hands to make lasting positive change by stopping bottom trawling and supporting a just transition to practices that restore the ocean. We’re asking ocean defenders everywhere, from surfers, swimmers and those who simply love to walk or paddle at the beach, to coastal communities and fishers, to link arms and send the message that we care.”

Campaign partners for Europe include NGOs Bloom, Blue Ventures, Client Earth, Environmental Justice Foundation, Oceana, and Seas At Risk.

Learn more, get involved and sign the petition below.

Click Here

Breathe it in

Here they come. Breathe it in - the cool crisp offshores, the ground swells oozing in from across the Atlantic bringing with them the promise of solid waves.

By Renne Godfrey

It’s the time of year when our surfing ups its game - on the plus side there is the promise of higher wave counts, but also the prospect of heavier hold downs, and tougher paddle outs.

One man has a trick up his sleeve to help us better prepare for the season ahead.

Thomas Hague is a breath coach on a mission to improve surfers comfort and confidence in the water and better our response to wipeouts. In addition to his breathwork experience and qualifications, Thomas has a degree in Sports and Exercise Science, so has an in-depth knowledge of our bodies and how to use the breath to increase our health, happiness, and performance. From his base in North Devon, he works with people all over the world to help them understand and improve the physiology behind their breathing; ‘You breathe approximately 22 thousand times per day or 8 million breaths per year. Mastering one of the most powerful mechanisms in our body can have a tremendous impact’’, Thomas explains.

There is a valid reason why top athletes for years have made the most of breath work - and surfers are right up there with the best of them - many of the world's big wave surfers work hard on breath-hold training to help them survive the near death hold downs they face.

Thomas believes that if we can optimise our breathing, create a strong foundation and follow a breath training program to increase our carbon dioxide tolerance, we can improve our capabilities not just in the water but in general health and wellbeing too.

‘Breathe with me’ he says reassuringly at a training session at The Wave. One of the signature tests Thomas’s breathwork covers is the Body Oxygen Level Test (BOLT) - an exercise that can determine your carbon dioxide tolerance and breathlessness point during exercise.

Thomas breaks it down into simple steps.
• Have a timer ready on your phone or watch.
• Take a normal silent breath in through your nose and allow a normal silent breath out through your nose.
• Now, pinch your nose closed and keep your mouth closed to stop air entering your lungs.
• Start your timer and see how long it takes until you feel the first distinct desire to breathe.

‘You are not testing how long you can breath-hold for, you are finding out how long until your body reacts to the build-up of CO2’, Thomas explains, ‘your BOLT score will be how long you last from nose pinch and holding your breath until you feel that first distinct desire to breathe.’

As fit, regular surfers, we ideally want a score over 25 and with some training a score of 40 plus. Anything below 25 and Thomas believes that the effectiveness of our breathing on health and performance could do with some help.

The simple step of doing breath work and improving our BOLT score can have knock on health effects across the board - by being more in control, we can delay the onset of breathlessness, improve our quality of sleep, increase energy levels, and reduce stress and anxiety, to name just a few. What’s not to love!

Thomas is working with the English Adaptive Surfing team at the moment and seeing great results in helping the athletes calm themselves before a session, and gain more confidence both in and under the water. Thomas is passionate about his approach - ‘focusing on the way we breathe, slows down our heart rate, increases our heart rate variation (HRV), activates our parasympathetic nervous system, and allows us to be more grounded.’

Understanding what is going on in our bodies during a breath hold on land, can help us stay more relaxed during a hold down in the water, and Thomas’ range of training exercises help to regain effective breathing when we finally pop up.

It’s something we all do, every single day, and by being better at it, and in control of our breath, we can have more confidence, charge harder, and be happier healthier surfers at the same time.

Click Here FOR MORE INFORMATION