When Time Is Tight, Bodysurf

12 . 07 . 15

It’s often been said when trying to describe the sensation of getting barrelled that “time slows down in the tube”. We think that time slows down when you bodysurf also, because it seems to us that if you’re tight for time then a bodysurf is definitely the best way to feel like you’ve made the most out of a small window of free time in your day. There’s no hard evidence behind our belief because it certainly doesn’t take any longer to pull on a wetsuit and run down the beach with a surfboard than it does with fins and a handplane. Maybe it’s because you’re able to sit further inside and take waves that surfers miss or waves that other wave riders pass up, or because the act of constantly swimming and treading water wears you out faster than if you’re sat out back waiting for set waves on a surfboard, but a short bodysurfing session feels far more rewarding than a short surf.

With summer well set now (even if it is a classic British summer with sporadic spells of bad weather) and summer wetsuits having replaced their 5mm thick counterparts, quick “splash-and-dash” sessions before or after work, in lunchbreaks or as part of a leisurely day at the beach are easy to squeeze in. If you can only afford half an hour then a bodysurf is such a great option as your standards for what constitutes a “good ride” will be lower and you can swim hard for thirty minutes and kick yourself into anything and everything. If you don’t have a handplane and a pair of swim fins stuffed into our wetsuit tub or rattling around in the back of your car or van then perhaps now the time to make that change and find out what you’re missing out on.