The Girl's Guide to Surfing [Paperback]

I bought this book for my niece for her 13th birthday and now apparently I am the greatest uncle in the world. This is a fantastic little book, and I might add a great present from me! Anyway I got the idea from one of the surf rags. But I couldn't find the book I originally went to the bookstore to get and stumbled onto the Girls Guide to Surfing. There are actually several girl surfing books out right now, but of the three at the Borders this one really drew my attention. The drawings are fantastic and dare I say pretty hip. After flipping through the pages and reading a few sections of each book I decided this was the one. It just had this very cool vibe about it. Once I got home I found myself reading through the whole thing. Not kidding, I've surfed for most of my life, and I really enjoyed reading this book. It's funny in a very smart witty way, but very approachable and filled with tons of information. I loved the little side-notes and laughed out loud over the surf shop "bro" deals! That brought me back to when I was an eager teenager getting my new board begging the surfshop owner to hook me up with stickers and track-top and whatever else I could get my hands on.

There is great information throughout this very approachable little book. Only weak-spot I felt was the descriptions for performing maneuvers. I feel like some things in surfing are just impossible to describe like pumping for speed, or whacking a good off the top, or laying into a big roundhouse cutback - these things must be learned and practiced over years. Every attempt is different and depends on the wave, your speed, etc. etc. But I can't fault the writer for attempting to describe or sum up how to do some of these things. It's just impossible to explain. And as I think about it, maybe it's good for a newbie to visualize this stuff. But other then that I'd say the info was downright on the money. I've never heard a better explanation of how to duckdive or how to interpret the buoy reports. This stuff is great. Also great little tips on all those things you'd learn over the years through trial and error - like making your lease string too long (which is a costly mistake because that string will cut right through your nice new board).

Anyway, I've heard through grapevine that my niece has read through the Girls Guide to Surfing a gazillion times and is now desperately attempting to convince her father to buy her a surfboard (and he'll soon find out a wetsuit too!). Word is she carries the thing everywhere and apparently thinks her surfing uncle is a pretty cool guy these days.

This book was the best little purchase that I have ever made. This book doesn't mess around with cute stuff. It gives you useful facts, information, and illustrations that demonstrate things you need to know in the water. It is about being a real surfer who is female, not a "surf diva". While it may look like a book for young girls, it absolutely will be useful to any girl of any age who wants to get into the water with a lot of knowledge. Even a girl who is already surfing could find something useful in this book. In fact, some guy surfers I know who have been surfing 30+ years, agreed that it was right on. I highly recommend it. In fact, forget all those other books for female surfers, just get this one and save the bucks for a rashguard.

This is a great book for beginner surfer girls. I run a surf camp in Costa Rica and I bought this for our book collection. It has nice photos, helpful explanations, and good descriptions. I give it five stars because even though it was a little basic for me, it would be killer for any girl who is getting her toes wet and learning to surf.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  5.0 out of 5 stars