by Socks Clawtooth, Senior Furry Correspondent
These are the five places I recomend people new to SL surfing try first. All have loaners on the beach, some have free items, and all are great spots to learn surfing for free! It has all the wave types you'll find in SL, and give you a good taste for surfing here. Then, once you've tried them, you can try the rest of the Rough Guide for size!
Chi (125, 211, 22)
Wave type : Pipe / Fluffy
Freebies : None that I've found, but search the sim
Sales : Board sales on the beach near the break, and SE up in the town area, as well as apparel.
Beach Loaners : Almost always at least 3-4 boards out.
Pros : One of the oldests surf breaks on the grid, and also maintained regularly.
Cons : The break is short and narrow, but the saying is if you can surf Chi, you can surf anywhere. It can also be "laggy" occasionally.
Moana'Ina @ Weather Island (41, 164, 29)
Wave type : Epic
Freebies : Once you teleport, you will be put on the TP hub on Weather Island. Either walk North over the bridge and follow the path east, or fly direct to the cooridnates you see above. You'll see a blue shack maked "Sebastian's Surf Shop". Walk in through the curtain. Once inside, you can touch a surfbaord and get a free one for you to use. Don't get too excited, it only works on Weather Island. Also look for the crate next to it for a free wetsuit for you to wear too. A little sim crawling will turn up all sorts of freebies.
Sales : The surf shack also has boards for sale, but they don't advertize that fact.
Beach Loaners : None, but the intent is that you go to the surf shack, and pick up a board there to use instead of leaving them on the beach. So, in reality, there's loaners there.
Pros : The build is incredible, so for that alone it's worth coming. The site is also the home of the original "epic" wave, so there's a lot of history here. There are also a lot of atmospherics that make it a great place to ride.
Cons : No music, so that's kinda a downer. It gets very crowded here sometimes, and I've seen on occasion where I couldn't get in becasue the sim was full! And the loaner board is an older script. But even in spite of all that, I still come here to surf when the mood strikes me.
Mori Pwani (121, 221, 21)
Wave type : Epic, but pipes and fluffies are next door
Freebies : Some "dollarbieS" in the stores, but some searching will reward you with some good stuff.
Sales : Plenty, almost all the surfboard reps are here.
Pros : If you want a slice of surf culture, this is the place to go. Good people, good waves, good everything. The people who run this sim also ran the legendary breaks of "Majini" and "Pepo", both sites of past competitions. Also, I recomend joining the "Vibes" surf group while you're here. you'll be happy you did. And check out the pipes / fluffy run next door at Tuli Bahari.
Cons : They don't leave a lot of loaners out, and some days it's crowded. But to be truthful, the surf is only one reason to come here.
Surf Camp (145, 196, 21)
Wave type : Pipeline / Fluffy combination
Freebies : If you go just N / NE of the waves, check out the blue tent and the surrounding area. Lots of cool stuff.
Sales : Lots in the surrounding area, going NW / W of the waves.
Beach Loaners : If you're less than 90 days old, there's a rezzer on the water you can use. Or you can join the Surf Camp group to use the other.
Pros : Well maintained sim, and a good place to get a lot of information about surfing and the SLSA.
Cons : No easy to get loaners, unless you're new or in the group. But, it leaves a lot less clutter on the beach.
Thetis Bahia
Wave Type : Pipe and Fluffy
Freebies : None
Sales : some board sales on the beach
Beach Loaners : Minimal, but I know they're there usually.
Pros : Great place to learn pipes. They have a 3 wide "mini-epic", as well as a standalone pipe. There's also a fluffy run as well.
Cons : None really, except it's usually not that crowded. Not really a ocn, unless you like socializing
Tsunami Beach (247, 103, 21)
Wave type : "Sunset" A single "Megaprim" wave with no seams
Freebies : None
Sales : "Freeport" is one sim over, and has a lot of shops on it with everything from surf clothing to boards
Beach loaners : At any time you'll find longboards, shortboards and windsurfers on the beach ready to use
Pros : Very good sim, and the first to really showcase the "Sunset" wave.
Cons : The "Sunset" is a very hard wave to master. But if you can surf this one, you can ride anything.
New to SL Surfing? Try these Places First!
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3 comments:
The beaches in the West of Ireland, Bundoran, Neart, and Crab, also all have free loaner boards. We also offer free surfing lessons, either one on one or in a group.
West of Ireland has some of the best surf places in SL and many other activities as well. I highly recommend it. You will meet some great people there and will have a lot of fun. On top of all this these sims help raise money and awareness for a very good charitable cause. Be sure and hit the donation bin.
Free Loaner boards are also available on many other regions, also try Action Surf & Sk8te's Action Extreme Zone, Honah Lee, Megumi Surf Camp (name soon to be changed), Braata Beach, Palm Island The Florida Sim Group of Fusion Worlds!!
All of these locations offer more than just surfing actives such as, boating, sailing, swimming, Fishing, skate park, jet skiing (with ramps), Race Track, Scuba diving, and shopping either on adjacent sims or within the same sim!!
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