Product Information The Girls Guide to Surfing
The Girls Guide to Surfing carries all a girl wants to score the tide of her choice. The surfing population has recently collapsed, and women are in the water more than ever. For all these hearty souls, author Andrea McCloud delivers possible direction and essential advice. Discover what kind of surf equipment is correctly right for women and how to get it. Get how to read local breaks and tides for catching the right wave at the right spot.
I purchased this copy for my niece for her 13th birthday, and now apparently I am the greatest uncle in the world. It is a fantastic little book, and I might add a great present from me! I got the idea from one of the surf rags. But I couldn’t find the book I initially went to the bookstore to get and stumbled onto the Girls Guide to Surfing. There are several girls surfing books out right now, but of the three at the Borders, this one drew my concentration. The drawings are beautiful and dare I say pretty hip. After flipping through the pages and reading a few parts of each book, I determined this was the thing. It just had this really cool vibe about it. Earlier I got home, I got myself reading through the whole thing. Not kidding, I’ve waved for most of my life, and I enjoyed reading this book. It’s funny in a very smart witty way, but very approachable and filled with tonnes of knowledge. I loved the little side-notes and shouted 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 surf shop owner to hook me up with stickers and track-top and whatever else I could get my hands.
There is great message throughout this very approachable little book. Only weak spot I felt was the descriptions for performing manoeuvres. I seem like amazing things in surfing are just difficult to explain like pumping for speed, or blowing a right off the top, or laying into a big roundhouse cutback – these things must be learned and practised over the years. Every attempt is different and depends on the wave, your speed, etc. But I can’t fault the writer for trying to explain or sum up how to do any of these things. It’s just impossible to describe. And as I think about it, perhaps it’s good for a newbie to visualise this stuff. But other than that I’d say the info was downright on the money. I’ve never heard a better explanation of how to duck dive or how to understand the buoy records. This stuff is great. Also excellent little tips on all those things you had learn over the years during trial and mistake – like making your lease string too long (which is a costly mistake because that line will cut right through your excellent new board).
I’ve heard through the The Girls Guide to Surfing that my niece has read through the Girls Guide to Surfing gazillion time and is now seriously trying to convince her dad to buy her a surfboard (and he’ll soon get a wetsuit too!). Word is she brings the thing throughout 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.
It 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 beautiful photos, helpful explanations, and good descriptions. I give it five stars because even though it was a little necessary for me, it would be a killer for any girl who is getting her toes wet and learning to surf.
