Makana Pang has won the inaugural Capítulo Perfeito event at Desert Point, Lombok, Indonesia, going down in history as the winner of the first surf event ever held at that wave.

For the first time in 12 editions that the perfect-tube event has left Portugal, the Hawaiian beat Bruno Santos, Ícaro Ronchi and Usman Trioko in the final, claiming a wildcard straight into Capítulo Perfeito 2027, in Carcavelos.

Over six straight hours, the eight surfers on the roster rode flawless six-foot waves at a left that has been one of the world's benchmarks for tube riding for decades and had never hosted an event of this scale.

Pang closed the day with a 17.57 total, after posting the only Perfect 10 of the entire event.

The Hawaiian dialed in early, laying down one of the best waves of the opening heats, scored at 9.17.

In the final, he held off Bruno Santos and Ícaro Ronchi, two of the most consistent surfers in the event, who stacked up several excellent-range rides (above 8 points) and came close to the perfect score themselves.

But it was the Hawaiian who sealed it, with the longest and most technically demanding barrel of the day, a perfect wave, scored a 10.

"Being part of the first-ever surf event at Desert Point was an honor. And getting a Perfect 10 in the final was a dream come true," said Makana Pang.

"Being out there with only three other guys in the water is probably one of the craziest things I've ever experienced in surfing - maybe one of the craziest things anyone has ever experienced."

"This wave is unbeatable. I'm stoked and very grateful."

A top-class, tubes-only final

The final clearly validated the organization's selection calls.

Of the four surfers who contested it, three had entered the event on a wildcard - Makana Pang and Ícaro Ronchi on the two global wildcards, Usman Trioko on one of the local wildcards - and the fourth, Bruno Santos, had himself been on the surfers' list originally as a global wildcard, only securing a qualified slot through seeding after Nic von Rupp's withdrawal.

Ronchi, called in at the last minute for the place Bruninho vacated, answered with several rides above 8 points and a third-place finish.

"We knew that running an event of this scale in a place as remote as Lombok was always going to be a challenge and a risk, but Desert Point delivered," said Rui Costa, founder of Capítulo Perfeito.

"Makana won this event the only way you can win here: by finding the best barrel of the day."

"A 10 in a final at Desert Point only validates our concept further: the same demands, the same respect for the conditions, at one of the most unforgiving and iconic stages on the planet."

"We leave here certain that Capítulo Perfeito belongs anywhere there are serious tubes."

The scoring system rewarded time and quality inside the barrel only, with no value given to maneuvers, the Capítulo Perfeito signature since the first edition, in 2012.

The event opened with a Special Local Heat bringing together local surfers from Desert Point, where Diki Wahyudi stood out.

Also on the surfers' list for the Indonesian edition of Capítulo Perfeito were Balaram Stack, Cam Richards, Pedro Calado and Sulaiman.

2026 Capítulo Perfeito at Desert Point | Final

1. Makana Pang, 17.57
2. Bruno Santos, 16.76
3. Ícaro Ronchi, 15.43
4. Usman Trioko, 10.60

The concept of flow state has been increasingly en vogue in the surfing world.

One of the reasons for that is probably because our lives are getting full of the opposite of what it means, with all the infernal machines and artificial dissonances that have taken over the planet, and draining the last resources of peace we had in stock.

Screens control most of our eyes and brains nowadays. The number of hours we spend in front of a computer or smartphone could be, by themselves, another well-lived life.

I've recently bought a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle of the famous "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" print by Japanese artist Hokusai.

I thought I needed it not only to rest my soul in the evening, but also to help me forget life's setbacks. In other words, I wanted to chill and take my eyes off of pixels.

The jigsaw puzzle, it ain't easy. There are too many similar colors, tones, hues, and patterns across hundreds of pieces.

So, I had to think about a strategy. First, I started with the edges, then moved inside, trying pieces one by one in areas that matched those types of pieces.

I might have several weeks of work ahead of me. But that's actually great news. And there's a reason for that.

The concept of flow state

In the 1960s, Hungarian-American psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (1934-2021) became interested in why people sometimes become completely absorbed in an activity, seemingly forgetting time, fatigue, and everything around them.

While studying artists, he noticed that painters could become so immersed in their work that the process itself seemed to be the reward. He later found similar experiences among athletes, musicians, chess players, and other highly engaged people.

He initially called this the "autotelic experience," meaning an activity pursued for its own sake. People repeatedly described the sensation as being carried along, which led him to adopt the word "flow."

In 1975, he developed the concept in "Beyond Boredom and Anxiety."

His research identified several characteristics of flow, including intense concentration, a sense of control, altered perception of time, and a balance between challenge and skill.

One of the central discoveries was that flow tends to occur when the challenge presented by an activity is closely matched to the person's ability.

Too little challenge and you become bored; too much challenge and you become anxious.

Somewhere between those extremes is the territory in which intense engagement can occur.

The concept became widely known through his 1990 book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" and subsequently influenced research into sport, creativity, education, and work.

Interestingly, Csíkszentmihályi once revealed that as a young man, "I do think that I experienced flow before I understood what it was."

When? While rock climbing, playing chess, painting, and cooking.

Surfers and the flow state

Now, here's where I wanted to take you, dear reader.

We've heard a lot about the flow state in surfing without really digging into what it means for those blessed with the skill of riding waves.

Yes, there is a remarkably strong connection between flow and surfing.

In fact, surfing is almost a textbook environment for exploring Csíkszentmihályi's idea because it combines challenge, skill, immediate feedback, intense concentration, movement, uncertainty, and a very narrow window between control and chaos.

In other words, surfing checks all the flow state boxes. Shall we explore them a bit more?

The wave as a flow machine

Csíkszentmihályi described flow as a state of deep absorption in an activity, where attention becomes so focused that distractions and self-consciousness fade.

Surfing naturally creates those conditions.

Once you're up and riding, there is very little room for thinking about emails, money, tomorrow's schedule, or what someone thinks of you.

Your attention is occupied by the wave and what is about to happen next.

Why does a wave make it so easy to forget everything else?

I'll let you answer that because I don't have an explanation for it. I just know that the in-the-moment feeling is there.

The challenge-skill balance

Now, this is probably the most obvious connection to Csíkszentmihályi's model. Flow tends to occur when challenge and skill are closely matched.

If the challenge is too great, you become anxious; if your skills greatly exceed the challenge, you become bored.

So, it's really a super fine balance.

For instance, a beginner on a two-foot wave may experience flow, and the same surfer on a six-foot reef break may experience fear.

Also, a pro surfer may find the six-footer perfectly manageable, but put the same guy or gal at Nazaré and the challenge changes completely.

So the "perfect wave" isn't necessarily the biggest or best wave. It may be the wave that sits in the sweet spot between ability and difficulty.

Surfing is a "conversation" (or dance) with the wave

One of the most interesting aspects of flow is that it involves continuous feedback. And in surfing, the feedback is immediate.

Need examples?

You lean forward, the board accelerates; you lean back, it slows or changes direction.

You compress, you gain control; you misread the section, the wave closes out.

There is almost no delay between action and consequence, unlike many modern activities where feedback is delayed.

You can work on a project for months without knowing whether you're doing it well. A wave tells you within seconds.

The disappearance of the surfer

Csíkszentmihályi identified a reduced sense of self-consciousness as one characteristic of flow.

Surfers often describe something similar, although they may use very different language: "I wasn't thinking. I was just surfing."

The ultimate example is "the green room." When you're getting barreled, you're not thinking, "OK, now I need to put my front foot down."

The movement just happens. The body responds to the wave almost automatically.

You don't think about surfing. You simply surf.

Why experienced surfers seem to "read" waves

Flow also connects beautifully with implicit knowledge.

An experienced surfer will look at a wave and instantly recognize where it will break, where the shoulder will appear, whether there is enough speed to make the section, when to accelerate, etc.

Nevertheless, they may not consciously calculate any of this.

Instead, years of repetition have turned thousands of previous experiences into rapid pattern recognition.

The strange relationship between fear and flow

Here's a very interesting angle. Fear appears to be the enemy of flow, but surfing complicates that idea.

A surfer needs enough awareness of danger to stay up and riding, and eventually survive multiple wave hold-downs.

At the same time, excessive fear can destroy concentration.

We at SurferToday.com do have a very interesting article on fear and surfing that you might take a look at.

So, for instance, with big-wave surfing, the challenge is controlling fear sufficiently that it doesn't overwhelm the ability to act.

It's some sort of "functional fear," and we've heard big-wave surfers talk about that a lot.

It's like a fear that sharpens attention rather than paralyzes it.

Why surfing can make time disappear

One of Csíkszentmihályi's famous characteristics of flow is an altered sense of time.

Surfers know this phenomenon: "I'll surf for an hour." Suddenly three hours have passed.

Or the opposite happens on a single wave. A ride that lasts only a few seconds can feel remarkably long because the brain is processing an enormous amount of information.

There's also an incredible study on "Time Barrel: How Do Surfers Experience Time in the Barrel" by Cynthia M. Peterson. I read it, and I recommend it.

I feel that we can eventually have two different temporal experiences: either time disappears (in a session) or time expands (while riding a wave).

But I am sure each one of you will have a different perception of time while surfing.

There's some sort of meditative state in this dancing with the waves, which actually explains the bridge surfers like Gerry Lopez build with meditation and yoga.

Surfing and the "autotelic" personality

Csíkszentmihályi used the term autotelic for people who are inclined to engage in activities for their own sake rather than primarily for external rewards.

Surfing fits this idea almost perfectly.

There is no practical reason to paddle into freezing water at dawn, carry a heavy board down a cliff, and spend an hour waiting for waves. Is there?

The reward is the experience itself. And - this is very important - the reward isn't necessarily the best wave.

Sometimes the best session is the one where nobody saw you, or you just performed to a level that surprised you.

That opens an interesting exploration of intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation in surfing, particularly in the age of Instagram, surf competitions, and wave-counting/tracking apps.

Could surfing be the defining flow-state outdoor activity? It sure looks like the strongest contender.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

One of YouTube's first stars was a surfer. His name was Micah Peasley, and he became famous for an unusual and hilarious interview live on Fox News.

Soon after the birth of the online video platform, the California "Surfer Dude" became one of the earliest viral stars of the internet.

But what's really interesting about this curious surf culture moment is that he wasn't really trying to become famous.

In 2002, a major swell hit Southern California.

Peasley, then 20 years old, went surfing at The Wedge. When he came out of the water - with a broken surfboard - Fox 11 was reporting on the big waves and put a microphone in front of him.

Asked about the surf, Peasley launched into an extraordinarily animated description of getting barreled:

"You just drop in, smack the lip... waapah!"

He then described pulling into the barrel and getting "pitted, so pitted."

The combination of surfer slang, sound effects, exaggerated hand gestures, and his completely committed delivery was unforgettable.

Live surf acting at its best

Micah later admitted that much of the performance that reminded us of Jeff Spicoli was deliberate.

In a 2017 interview, Peasley explained that he knew an ordinary surfer interview wouldn't attract much attention, so he decided to play up a character.

His words were essentially: "I was seriously faking it."

Interestingly, the interview happened before YouTube existed. Once YouTube launched in 2005, however, the clip found a second life.

It was repeatedly uploaded, viewed millions of times, and turned into musical remixes. Peasley became an unlikely internet celebrity and was even invited onto Comedy Central's Tosh.0.

What's interesting is that the clip became bigger than Peasley himself.

"So pitted" entered surf culture as a piece of slang and an affectionate parody of the stereotypical hyper-stoked California surfer.

Peasley didn't turn into a professional surfer or pursue celebrity full-time.

By 2015, he was living in Huntington Beach, working in construction and teaching surfing through Get Pitted Surf Lessons.

By 2017, he was married, had become a father, and was running Get Pitted Surf & Snow, combining his surfing and snowboarding interests with his accidental internet fame.

Later, he worked as an instructor at Learn to Surf Huntington Beach.

And there's a new chapter in 2026

The funny thing is that we now have a sequel that has somehow put Micah Peasley in the news again.

On September 8, 2026, Hurricane Marie's swell brought big surf to Southern California and prompted a local bodyboarder to recreate Peasley's famous 2002 interview, including the gestures and the legendary "whoopah" sound.

And again, live, this time for KTLA.

This time, Ethan, wearing a helmet and carrying a "gallon" of water in a small bottle, told the reporter, who didn't seem to get the recreation, that he spends "six to 20 hours" in the water each day.

"It's kinda my livelihood," the young bodyboarder explained.

So, 24 years later, the joke still works. The "so pitted" "whoopah" legacy lives.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

Have you ever wondered how a free fall from a big wave into the flats compares to a similar fall on terra firma? We did the math and assessed the impact on the human body.

An old idea suggests that falling on water feels similar to falling on land. But how true and correct is that assumption?

To get started, let's lay out the variables in our equation.

Let's assume a surfer falling from a 16.5-foot (five-meter) wave. There is no dramatic launch from the lip.

The board simply drops away; the surfer loses balance and falls almost vertically, landing flat on the water. It's the nearly inevitable and almost unavoidable wipeout.

At the moment of impact, the surfer is traveling at roughly 22.4 miles per hour (around 36 kilometers per hour).

Here's an important note: that number is easy to underestimate.

Twenty-two miles per hour sounds like city traffic. It does not sound like a particularly violent speed when the surface underneath you is water.

But the important question is not only how fast you are traveling. It is how quickly you stop.

That is where water and solid ground begin to behave very differently.

Sixteen feet gives you about 22 miles per hour

A human falling freely from 16 feet reaches approximately 33 feet per second, or about 10 meters per second, just before reaching the surface.

The calculation comes directly from basic gravitational physics.

The fall also gives the body roughly 75 joules of kinetic energy for every kilogram of body mass at impact.

For a 75-kilogram (165-pound) person, that is about 5,600 joules.

All of that energy has to go somewhere.

On land, the body and whatever it hits have to absorb it over a very short distance.

In water, the body can continue moving into the water while pushing and accelerating water out of the way.

Now, that difference is fundamental.

Concrete does not give you much room to stop

Suppose the same surfer somehow fell 16 feet and landed flat on concrete.

The impact speed would still be about 22.4 miles per hour. Gravity has given the surfer the same speed regardless of what is waiting below.

The problem is what happens next.

Concrete does not move out of the way. The body can deform, and so can clothing and some of the surrounding material, but the stopping distance is extremely short.

The resulting deceleration can therefore become enormous.

And this is why simply comparing impact speeds can be misleading.

The injury risk is strongly affected by the distance and time over which the body loses its velocity.

A useful physics estimate is:

Average deceleration = (impact speed × impact speed) ÷ (2 × stopping distance)

For a 16-foot fall, that gives approximately:

Please remember that these numbers are illustrations, not measurements of a wipeout. They show why stopping distance matters so much.

They also show why it would be misleading to say that "a 16-foot fall produces 50 G." It doesn't. You only get roughly 50 G in this simplified calculation if the body stops over about four inches (10 centimeters).

Water is softer, but it is not soft

Now let's put our surfer back in the lineup. Sorry for the painful experiments, mate.

The surfer still reaches roughly 22.4 miles per hour. But there's a major difference: water can move.

The body begins to penetrate the surface and displace water. The water is accelerated around the body, while the body itself continues moving downward.

That gives the surfer more distance over which to lose speed than a collision with a rigid surface would normally provide.

So, this is why a 16-foot fall into water cannot simply be treated as the equivalent of a 16-foot fall onto concrete.

Nevertheless, there is an important catch.

The first instant of water impact can be extremely abrupt - scientists call this phenomenon slamming.

When a body hits the water at speed, the force can rise very quickly as the body begins to penetrate the surface.

The shape and orientation of the body make a major difference.

Research on human water entry has found that relatively flat surfaces can produce particularly sharp force peaks because the area contacting the water increases very quickly.

That is precisely why a belly flop hurts.

The belly flop is a bad way to enter water

A diver who enters the water vertically presents a relatively small area to the surface - the feet, mostly. The water can close around the body progressively.

A surfer falling flat presents a much larger surface.

The chest, stomach, thighs, and perhaps the arms can meet the surface almost together. Instead of smoothly piercing the water, the body suddenly has to move a large amount of water.

The research literature on water entry describes this rapid increase in force as an impulsive event.

And such short-duration forces are particularly difficult for muscles and soft tissues to absorb.

There is another interesting detail that is worth mentioning.

Experiments with flat plates have found that aerated water can reduce peak impact forces compared with pure water.

And this is particularly relevant and applicable in surfing because breaking waves contain plenty of bubbles and turbulent water.

So even "water" is not one consistent impact surface.

A calm swimming pool and the whitewater of a breaking wave can produce different loading.

So how many Gs does the surfer experience?

Caution here.

We can calculate the G forces that would occur for different stopping distances. We cannot legitimately take those calculations and announce that a 16-foot belly flop produces, say, 20 G.

The available research shows that water-entry forces depend strongly on body shape, entry angle, speed, and the area contacting the water.

Studies of diving have used experiments, high-speed cameras, and accelerometers precisely because the force-time history is complicated.

For our hypothetical surfer, therefore, the useful picture is this:

16.5 feet fall > about 22.4 miles per hour > very rapid water-entry deceleration > potentially large transient forces

The precise peak G remains unknown without measuring that particular impact.

For comparison, research on high diving shows how quickly water entry becomes a serious engineering problem as speed rises.

Competitive high divers enter the water at around 53 miles per hour (around 85 kilometers per hour) from around 90 feet (roughly 27 meters), and the research literature identifies violent water entry as a major source of injury risk.

Our hypothetical surfer is traveling at less than half that speed. That does not make the impact trivial. It shows how quickly the physics changes as height increases.

What could actually get hurt?

A flat 16-foot water impact does not automatically mean a serious injury.

The outcome depends on the exact impact, the surfer's position, the part of the body that hits first, and what happens immediately afterward.

But water-entry research gives us a good idea of the vulnerable areas.

Diving studies identify the neck, back, shoulders, arms, and wrists among areas that can experience substantial loading during water entry.

A recent review of diving injuries also identifies the lumbar spine, shoulder, and wrist as important injury-prevention concerns.

A surfer who lands flat can also suffer straightforward soft-tissue trauma.

The chest and abdomen take the initial blow, while the sudden deceleration can transmit forces through the spine and limbs.

And then surfing adds something that a controlled dive does not.

The impact may not be the end of the event.

A breaking wave can push the surfer underwater, rotate the body, and cause another collision with the water, the seabed, or the surfboard.

Those subsequent events are specific to the surfing environment and cannot be captured by the simple 16-foot free-fall calculation.

The strange part: the water can be both forgiving and violent

Now, here's what makes the physics of a wipeout so interesting.

The surfer falling 16 feet into water arrives at essentially the same speed as someone falling 16 feet onto land. Gravity does not care what surface is waiting below.

But the surfaces deal with that energy in very different ways.

Concrete has almost no useful stopping distance. Water allows the body to penetrate and displace a moving fluid, which generally spreads the deceleration over a longer period.

At the same time, water can produce a sharp slamming load at the instant of entry, particularly when a relatively flat surface hits it at speed.

Researchers studying human and animal diving have measured rapid force increases during this phase and linked water-entry loads to injury risk.

So the best mental model for our hypothetical surfer is not that water becomes as hard as concrete.

It is that water becomes a very fast deceleration system.

At 16 feet, the surfer arrives at about 22 miles per hour. A clean, controlled entry can manage that speed remarkably well; a flat entry is a very different mechanical event.

And that distinction is probably more useful to you than any single G number.

In other words, water cushions a fall because it can move and deform as the body enters it. Solid ground cannot.

But water is not soft in the way a foam mat is soft.

When a flat body hits the surface at high speed, it must rapidly accelerate a large amount of water, producing a sharp impact force before the body continues into the water.

If you're into these figures, you might also take a look at the weight of a wave.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

Most surf watches have traditionally had one job: tell you what the tide is doing. The new Casio G-Shock GBX-H5600 takes that idea somewhere else.

It still has the tide graph, moon information, and sunrise and sunset data that surfers expect from a G-LIDE, the Japanese watchmaker's line for surfing.

But it also adds an optical heart rate sensor, sleep tracking, blood oxygen measurement, training analysis, and recovery data powered by Polar.

It is the first G-LIDE model with a built-in heart rate monitor.

Casio has effectively brought two parts of its watch range together in one case: the surf functions of G-LIDE and the health and training features previously associated with models such as the DW-H5600.

The line is evolving.

The result is a watch that makes sense on a surf trip, a regular home break session, and even when there are no waves.

We at SurferToday.com have worn it, tested it, and taken a few notes.

A G-Shock built around the tide

The GBX-H5600 remains recognizably a G-LIDE, a Casio model/sub-brand for water and surf-related sports.

Its most useful surf feature is the tide graph. On the watch, surfers can select from 50 preset tide locations around the world.

The setting can be updated through the Casio Watches smartphone app, which expands the database to approximately 3,300 locations worldwide.

If you're an active surfer, you'll know that matters the most because the tide is often the first piece of information you'll check before deciding whether it is worth getting in the car.

The app also provides location-specific information covering tides, moon phases, and sunrise and sunset times.

The watch itself has an almanac for sunrise, sunset, and moon age, so the information is not limited to the phone.

There is an important detail here. The watch does not have a built-in GPS system for locating surf breaks.

Instead, the Casio Watches app uses the smartphone connection to configure locations and can use the phone's GPS to correct activity distance measurements.

For a surfer, that is a sensible division of labor. The watch stays on the wrist while the phone handles the heavier location work.

The only downside is that it doesn't track your waves, something only more expensive surf watches will do, even though not always perfectly.

The GBX-H5600 also has 20 bar water resistance and G-Shock's famous shock-resistant construction. Casio lists a mineral glass crystal and a band designed to fit wrists between 145 and 215 millimeters.

In other words, it has the basic credentials you would expect from a G-Shock designed for life around the ocean.

The first G-LIDE with a heart rate monitor

The bigger change is underneath the case.

The GBX-H5600 uses an optical heart rate sensor and a three-axis accelerometer.

The heart rate sensor can measure between 30 and 220 beats per minute, while the accelerometer is used for functions such as step counting and activity measurement.

The watch supports four activity modes: running, walking, gym workouts, and interval training. Surfing is not listed as a dedicated activity mode, though.

That distinction is worth making because the watch is clearly designed with surfers in mind, but its training tools are not specifically built around wave riding.

You can wear it while surfing, check the tide and other information, and use it as an everyday fitness watch, but Casio does not claim that it counts waves, measures wave speed, or records individual rides.

It would be cool to have that function in upcoming models, in a way similar to the Garmin Instinct 2 Solar Surf Edition, still the world's best surf watch.

Nevertheless, for a surfer who also runs, walks, lifts weights, or follows a structured training program, that may be more useful than another specialized surf gadget.

Fair enough.

During activity measurement, the watch can display information such as distance, elapsed time, and pace.

Automatic and manual lap functions are available, as is automatic pause. When paired with the phone, smartphone GPS can be used to improve distance calibration.

The activity log can store up to 100 runs, with up to 200 laps for each run.

Recorded information can include distance, pace, calories, heart rate, maximum heart rate, cardio load, intensity, and other training data.

The watch can also divide heart rate into five training zones - Zone 1 starts at 50 percent of maximum heart rate, and Zone 5 reaches 90 to 100 percent.

The idea is simple: instead of looking only at how long you trained, you can also see how hard your body was working.

That is particularly relevant to surfers who use land-based training to prepare for long sessions, paddling fitness, or general conditioning.

And the number of surfers doing these crossover activities is increasingly large.

Polar moves into the lineup

The GBX-H5600 uses Polar technology for several of its training and recovery functions.

One of the more interesting features is Cardio Load Status, which is designed to help track training load. The watch also includes Running Index, energy expenditure, and Nightly Recharge.

Nightly Recharge is more interesting than it sounds.

The watch can be worn while sleeping to measure sleep and recovery.

According to the manual, it needs at least three recorded sleep measurements within the previous 28 days before sleep measurement results can be displayed.

Detailed sleep analysis is available through the Casio Watches app.

Polar describes Nightly Recharge as a recovery measurement based on two elements: sleep charge and autonomic nervous system charge.

The latter uses heart rate, heart rate variability, and breathing rate during the early part of the night and compares the results with the user's usual levels over a 28-day period.

We'd say it's an interesting connection between the night before a session and the session itself.

A surfer who spends Saturday afternoon paddling hard, then sleeps with the watch on, can look at recovery information before deciding how ambitious Sunday morning should be.

The watch cannot tell you how many waves you've ridden, but it can provide another piece of information about how your body has been responding to recent activity.

The watch also includes a guided breathing exercise.

The exercise is designed to promote slow, stable breathing, with the optimal zone reached at six breaths per minute.

There is also blood oxygen measurement, a feature that is intended for general health management and is not a medical device for diagnosing specific conditions.

Please remember that. All these numbers are useful as general reference data, not as a substitute for medical equipment.

A lighter G-LIDE

The GBX-H5600 measures 51.1 by 44.5 by 17.3 millimeters and weighs 47 grams.

The case and bezel use bio-based materials, while the band is made from bio-based resin. A carbon fiber-reinforced resin case structure helps reduce weight.

We liked the feel as much as we loved the translucent bezel and the solid blue band of the GBX-H5600-2 model. It is the obvious ocean choice with a beach-oriented appearance.

Casio says the new construction makes the watch about 12 grams lighter than previous DW-H5600 models with heart rate monitoring.

The display is another significant change.

Casio uses a high-definition, high-contrast MIP LCD with a wide viewing angle. The full dot display can show both numbers and graphics, which is particularly useful for the tide graph and training information.

The watch also has a full automatic Super Illuminator LED backlight. The illumination duration can be set to either 1.5 or five seconds.

You'll need a bit of time getting used to Casio's traditional waterproof "hidden" buttons, as they are a bit buried into the bezel/case.

Charging is still part of the equation

The GBX-H5600 combines USB charging with solar-assisted charging.

The supplied charging cable is used for the rechargeable battery, and Casio specifies a USB Type A power source.

The manual says a completely blank display takes about 3.2 hours to reach a full charge under the stated charging conditions.

The solar system works differently. The solar panel is integrated into the LCD, and exposure to light generates power.

Solar charging can keep the basic time display operating even when the battery is low, but it is an auxiliary system rather than a replacement for USB charging.

Battery figures depend heavily on how the watch is used.

Casio rates the watch for approximately 35 hours when activity functions with heart rate measurement are being used.

With heart rate measurement switched off in normal watch mode, the figure is approximately one month.

Power saving can extend that to approximately 11 months. These figures are given without solar power and vary with the environment and settings.

That 35-hour figure is probably the number worth remembering for surfers who intend to use the watch as a training device.

It is not a claim of 35 days of activity tracking but a maximum operating figure for activity use with heart rate measurement.

The phone is part of the watch

The GBX-H5600 is designed to work with the Casio Watches app.

Pairing requires the app, a Casio ID, Bluetooth, and location services on the phone. Once paired, the watch can automatically connect with the phone and synchronize information.

The app handles automatic time adjustment, watch settings, world time, notifications, activity data, sleep analysis, tide settings, and phone finding.

It also provides access to approximately 3,300 tide locations around the world - not bad, right?

The watch itself offers world time for 38 cities and UTC. The app expands the selectable world time database to about 300 cities.

There is one practical limitation that is easy to overlook.

The watch stores up to three days of Life Log data, so Casio recommends connecting it to the smartphone at least once every three days to transfer that information.

The connection also allows notifications for incoming calls, emails, social media posts, calendar notifications, and reminders.

For someone sitting in a wetsuit beside the car, that may be less interesting than the tide graph. But it makes the watch considerably more useful when it leaves the beach.

What a surfer actually gets

The GBX-H5600 is an unusual member of the G-LIDE family because its surf credentials are mostly about information, while its new technology is mostly about the person wearing it.

The tide graph remains the centerpiece. The phone connection opens access to around 3,300 locations, while the watch provides moon information and sunrise and sunset times.

The 20 bar water resistance and shock-resistant construction give it the physical protection expected of a G-Shock.

Then there is everything happening between surf sessions.

You can track a run, measure a gym workout, monitor heart rate, count steps, follow interval training, record sleep, and check recovery.

The watch can also guide breathing exercises and measure blood oxygen levels. Much of the deeper analysis happens through the Casio Watches app and Polar-powered functions.

The manual also makes an important point that is easy to miss in a specification sheet.

Casio says the watch is not a special-purpose measuring instrument and that sensor readings are intended for general reference.

The company also recommends creating a personal profile before measuring heart rate or activity data, because profile information helps produce more accurate displayed values.

The profile includes weight, height, date of birth, sex, wrist position, training background, maximum heart rate, resting heart rate, and VO2MAX.

The watch can automatically calculate or update several of these values, while some can be entered manually.

That makes the GBX-H5600 less like the old idea of a surf watch and more like a training watch that happens to understand tides.

For surfers who spend most of their time thinking about the next swell, that may sound like an unnecessary complication.

For those who want the same watch on the wrist during a dawn surf, a lunchtime run, an evening workout, and a night's sleep, it is probably the most interesting part of the GBX-H5600.

The US price for the GBX-H5600-1 and GBX-H5600-2 is $330. In Europe, you'll get it for around €290.

The two models share the same core functions, with the main visual difference being the black or blue band and corresponding translucent bezel design.

Will it make our list of the world's best surf watches? Definitely. And we're not doing Casio any favors.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

Picture this very simple image: a wave is coming.

You can see it building on the horizon, and you know it is going to get bigger. The crest is building and getting closer.

What are the options? You could turn and paddle away. You could try to stop it.

Or you could do what surfers do: get into position, paddle for it, pop up, take off, and ride.

That, more or less, is also the idea behind urge surfing, a concept you have probably never heard about.

Urge surfing is a mindfulness technique in which a person learns to experience a craving, impulse, or unwanted urge without automatically acting on it.

Sounds interesting, right?

So, instead of fighting the feeling or obeying it, you watch it rise, reach its peak, and eventually subside.

Now, here's the curious part: in this case, the ocean metaphor is really more than a catchy piece of psychology.

The birth of the technique came from an actual surfer.

We at SurferToday.com got curious and decided to learn more about it. Here's how urge surfing became a reality.

A psychologist, a smoker and a wave

Urge surfing is closely associated with G. Alan Marlatt (1941-2011), the American psychologist whose work helped establish modern relapse-prevention treatment for addictive behaviors.

Marlatt and Judith Gordon published "Relapse Prevention: Maintenance Strategies in the Treatment of Addictive Behaviors" in 1985.

Their approach treated relapse not simply as a failure of willpower, but as a process involving situations, thoughts, emotions, expectations, and urges.

But Marlatt later explained that the wave metaphor had a more personal beginning.

In an interview, he recalled working with a man who was trying to stop smoking. The man described his urges as becoming stronger and stronger until he felt he had to smoke.

Marlatt explained that an urge could be thought of like an ocean wave: it grows, reaches a crest, and then comes down or breaks near the shore.

Here's the rather ironic part of the story. There was a useful coincidence - the man was actually a surfer.

So, Marlatt suggested that his patient could use his breathing like a surfboard and ride the urge rather than being wiped out by it.

The story gives the technique an unusually fitting origin.

Someone who understands surfing already knows something that can be difficult to accept when a craving arrives: you don't control the ocean by arguing with it.

You read the wave, you adjust, you stay with it, and eventually, it loses its energy.

So, what exactly is an urge?

An urge is a strong impulse to do something; a craving is closely related, although the two terms are not identical.

In Marlatt's relapse-prevention model, an urge can be understood as a relatively sudden impulse to engage in a particular behavior, while craving refers more specifically to the subjective desire for the experience or consequences associated with it.

The important point is that an urge is an experience, not an instruction.

Your brain can produce the thought: "I want a cigarette." It can produce the sensation: "I need a drink." It can produce the impulse: "Check your phone."

However, none of those thoughts or sensations requires an immediate response.

Urge surfing creates a small gap between the feeling and the action, and that gap is where the surfing happens.

Don't fight the wave

Imagine paddling directly into a powerful wave and trying to push it backward with your hands.

That is roughly what fighting an urge can feel like.

Urge surfing takes a different approach. You deliberately pay attention to the craving rather than trying to suppress it.

You observe what is happening in your body, describe the sensations without judging them, and allow the experience to change on its own.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs describes urges as waves that start small, grow toward a peak, break and gradually fade.

Its clinical instructions ask people to locate the craving in the body, notice sensations such as tension, heat or tingling, and observe how those sensations change.

Here's where the surfing metaphor becomes particularly useful.

A surfer doesn't need to eliminate the wave. The surfer needs to remain on the board while the wave moves underneath them.

Likewise, the objective of urge surfing is not necessarily to make the craving disappear. In fact, the VA explicitly warns that making the craving disappear is not the purpose of the exercise.

The purpose is to experience the craving differently and learn that it can be tolerated without automatically acting on it.

It's a subtle yet critical distinction that matters.

If you sit down and think, "I must make this craving disappear in three minutes," you have created another battle.

If you think, "Let's see what this wave does," you have become an observer.

How to surf an urge

The urge surfing technique is surprisingly simple.

First, stop. Give yourself a moment before doing whatever the urge is telling you to do.

Then breathe. You don't need an elaborate meditation. Simply bring your attention to the physical act of breathing.

Next, find the urge in your body.

Is it a tightness in your chest? A restless feeling in your legs? A dry mouth? Tension in your jaw? A knot in your stomach?

Don't try to change it - just notice it. Then become curious.

Does the sensation have a size or shape? Is it hot or cold? Tight or loose? Moving or still? Is it getting stronger? Has it changed since you first noticed it?

And keep watching.

Like a surfer looking down the line, you are paying attention to what the wave is actually doing rather than what you fear it might do.

Eventually, the intensity changes. The crest passes.

The urge may weaken considerably, or it may return in another wave. Either way, you have learned something important: you experienced the urge without having to obey it.

What happens in the brain?

Now, here's where it is worth avoiding exaggerated claims.

Urge surfing is not a magic trick, and researchers do not have evidence that every craving will reliably disappear after a few minutes.

In a 2009 study, Sarah Bowen and Alan Marlatt tested a brief mindfulness intervention based on urge surfing with 123 college smokers.

The mindfulness group did not report significantly weaker smoking urges than the control group. But over the following seven days, participants in the mindfulness group smoked significantly fewer cigarettes.

And that is a finding that is particularly revealing.

So, in other words, the technique may not necessarily remove the wave. It may change what you do while the wave is happening.

Broader research also supports the importance of cravings in addictive behavior.

A large systematic review and meta-analysis covering 237 studies and more than 51,000 participants found that drug cues and craving were significantly associated with subsequent drug use and relapse.

Urge surfing therefore fits into a larger therapeutic idea: learning to recognize an internal trigger without automatically following it.

From addiction treatment to everyday life

Urge surfing was developed in the context of addiction and relapse prevention.

It has since become part of Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention, an approach combining mindfulness practices with cognitive-behavioral relapse-prevention strategies.

The surfing metaphor, however, is easy to understand outside a treatment room.

The urge might be to reach for another cigarette, check social media, or an unwanted eating impulse, an angry reaction, or another habitual behavior you are trying to change.

The important caveat is that the strongest clinical evidence concerns addictive behaviors and related treatment settings.

It would be misleading to suggest that research has established urge surfing as a universal treatment for every kind of impulse.

But the underlying skill is remarkably transferable: notice, accept, wait, and choose.

The surfer's advantage

Surfers may have an intuitive advantage when learning the metaphor.

They already understand that a wave has a life cycle: it forms, builds, steepens, peaks, breaks, and then dissipates.

And another one comes.

A surfer who panics every time a wave or set gets bigger will probably be caught inside and get pounded; a surfer who understands the wave's mechanics can work with it.

Urge surfing asks for something similar internally.

Don't confuse the urge with yourself; don't assume that because the feeling is powerful, it will last forever.

Don't waste all your energy trying to defeat it.

Instead, feel where the wave is, watch what it does, keep your breathing steady, and give it time.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

When Haakon VIII became King of Norway on August 28, 2026, the world learned more about the man behind the crown.

Former Crown Prince Haakon is a sailor, skier, outdoor enthusiast, and, perhaps most surprisingly for a European monarch, a committed surfer.

Nevertheless, he's not the first. Charles III, King of England, has surfed before, as have previous British royals.

But let's focus on the newly crowned Norwegian king who has already spent years chasing waves.

Haakon surfed in California while studying at the University of California, Berkeley, and later returned to the water in Norway with his family.

The Nordic royal helped bring the European Surfing Championships (Eurosurf) to Norway and watched his daughter compete in the sport.

Then, in a 2023 interview with Norwegian broadcaster NRK, he revealed how serious his surfing ambitions might once have been.

Are you curious already? Let's see how surfing conquered Haakon VIII.

A royal discovers surfing in California

Haakon's connection with surfing goes back to his student years.

The royal member studied at the University of California, Berkeley, in the 1990s. Norwegian accounts of his time in the United States say that he wanted to study somewhere where he could enjoy outdoor life and surf.

California offered both.

The future king also valued the relative freedom he could find there. Away from Norway, he could experience university life with more privacy than would have been possible at home.

Surfing became part of that experience.

The connection between Haakon and California later continued through family trips.

A 2017 profile in Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv described the royal family's outdoor holidays and their interest in surfing.

The family had traveled along the California coast in a motorhome and had also spent time surfing in Denmark.

Surfing had become part of Haakon's idea of a good holiday.

That is a revealing detail about someone whose official life is usually built around schedules, ceremonies and public duties.

"If absolutely everything goes wrong, I can always just surf"

One of the best descriptions of Haakon's relationship with surfing appeared in Dagens Næringsliv in 2017.

The headline of the article translated into English is essentially: "If absolutely everything goes wrong, I can always just surf."

But Haakon does not appear to see surfing only as a sport.

In the Dagens Næringsliv interview, surfing was used as a way of talking about much bigger subjects, including crisis management and the challenges of public life.

The ocean seems to offer an escape when things become complicated, something that is rightfully in line with what peasant surfers feel, right?

The article also described Haakon's family searching for an environmentally friendly surfboard.

Their surfing holidays could involve a trip to Hoddevik on Norway's west coast, a stay in Klitmøller in Denmark or a journey along California's coastline.

For a man who would eventually inherit the Norwegian throne, surfing offered something remarkably ordinary and simple.

It was a water sport he could do with his family.

Surfing in Norway

Haakon has not limited his surfing to warm-water destinations.

The Norwegian Royal House has documented several occasions when he surfed in Norway.

In October 2016, Haakon was photographed surfing off Sunnmøre.

A year later, he returned to Hoddevik with Crown Princess Mette-Marit and their children, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus.

The Royal House described Haakon as an avid surfer and noted that the rest of the family also shared an interest in surfing.

Hoddevik is a fitting place for the royal family to surf.

The beach sits on Norway's rugged western coast, where cold water, exposed coastline and changing weather are part of the experience.

For Haakon, however, surfing in Norway appears to have been about more than finding the easiest possible conditions.

In a separate interview about outdoor life, he described summer days by the coast in terms of looking for waves, wind for kitesurfing or places to sail.

The ocean was clearly part of his wider relationship with the outdoors.

Haakon helped bring Eurosurf to Norway

Haakon's interest in surfing also reached beyond his own time in the water.

In 2017, Norway hosted the European Surfing Championships at Borestranda on the Jæren coast. Haakon was involved with the event's main organizing committee.

The event gave Norway an important moment on the European surfing calendar and put the country's own coastline in front of international surfers.

Suddenly, Haakon was somehow involved in an unusual combination of royal duties and personal interest.

He attended an event because it was part of the royal calendar, but he was also involved in a major surfing competition in a country where he himself surfed.

His connection with Eurosurf also helped show that his interest in the sport was not a passing hobby.

By then, he had already been surfing for many years.

Family surfing tradition

The royal family's relationship with surfing did not stop with Haakon. His eldest child, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, became a competitive surfer.

In 2020, she won the Norwegian junior women's surfing championship at Borestranda on Jæren.

Her result gave Norwegian surfing an unusual new storyline.

The daughter of the future king was competing in a sport that her father had loved for decades.

The family had already been photographed surfing together at Hoddevik. Haakon's involvement in Norwegian surfing also meant that Ingrid Alexandra was growing up with the sport as part of family life.

More than a curious royal footnote, she was competing in her own right.

The World Tour dream

The most striking chapter in Haakon's surfing story came in 2023.

As he approached his 50th birthday, NRK asked him what he might have done if he had not been Crown Prince.

His answer was direct.

"I would have been a professional surfer on the World Tour."

He immediately softened the fantasy with a reference to his age, saying he might already have been an ex-professional because he was nearly 50.

The comment quickly attracted attention in Norway. Dagbladet reported that the answer had also caused a stir outside the country.

International surf publications then picked up the story, and Reuters included the same detail in its profile of the new Norwegian king after the death of Harald V.

The comment is particularly striking because Haakon did not describe surfing as something he might have enjoyed professionally.

He chose the World Tour, and that's bold.

The Nordic royal imagined himself competing and was speaking about an alternative life he might have chosen, showing that surfing has been a serious and enduring interest.

"Surfing has fascinated me since I was a little kid"

Haakon has also spoken about why surfing appeals to him.

In connection with the 2017 European Surfing Championships, he described surfing as something that had fascinated him since childhood.

He spoke about the simplicity of being with a board in the waves and connected the sport with his experience of nature and the elements.

That idea fits closely with his other comments about outdoor life.

Surfing removes much of the structure that surrounds a royal, and that may help explain why the sport has remained attractive to him.

As Haakon himself put it in the 2017 interview, if everything else goes wrong, he can always surf.

By the way, do you know how to say "Surf's up" in Norwegian? If our Norwegian isn't wrong, it should be something like this: Det er surf!

The pro surfing circus is in town, for the first time. I wish it weren't. But I decided to take a look. Could I be surprised or entertained?

I never quite understood if soul surfing and soul surfers were a real thing.

In over 35 years of surfing, I read, I watched, I observed, I learned, I witnessed, and I felt nearly everything the sport could give me.

Despite having a small corner of my heart that wished I had pursued a pro surfing career, I never really felt the impulse to compete.

I guess it's something that you must really want or, at least, have the curiosity of a cat to figure out if it's something that clicks or not.

And that doesn't mean I am not a competitive person. I am. But usually with just myself.

From a young age, I have always been able to mind surf myself in a heat, and the feeling is not great.

Instead, I can only sense tension and stress and negative vibes.

My idea of surfing is the opposite of what competition embodies.

It's about having fun, improving my mental health, sharing waves with friends, being in sync with the ocean and the beach, and getting my body in shape.

I like the idea of choosing the waves I want to ride based on my instinct and chilled read of it rather than on the need to score points.

Competitive surfing is amazing - don't get me wrong. It's exciting, pushes the sport forward, and is sometimes great to watch.

But I don't want to carry the feeling of victory or defeat as I come in and walk up the beach. I don't want to be in the water with the sole goal of beating an opponent.

The freedom of the free

And then, this is very important: I profoundly believe I surf way better by myself (ideally without fellow surfers around) than I would if I were in a heat with limited time to perform.

Freedom really is one of the first words that come to my mind when I think about surfing and what it allows me to access.

I always remember an early morning session when I caught a wave with a long, clean, unbroken line ahead, closed my eyes, and felt the sun's golden rays on my face as I let my body guide the board along the way.

It's for those days that we embrace the search. Surfing is a constant search in which, sometimes, we even find ourselves or part of who we are.

I don't define myself as a soul surfer, but I do feel like surfing feeds my soul.

Back to the pro surfing circus and the tents, and the two-story shipping containers that set the stage for a contest.

As I looked around to inspect the site, which had taken a considerable part of the public boardwalk, my eyes drove toward the lineup.

My punchy homebreak was pumping spectacular summer A-frames, and the lineup was packed.

There were two days left to the start of the surf competition. The pros are in the water, getting used to the temperament of the beach break.

And the first thing that is immediately clear is how carefree and relaxed they are, despite attacking the lips and getting to the air as no elite surfer does in a Championship Tour event.

I see huge walls, a 300-degree arc of water displaced at each cutback, power turn, or off-the-lip. The guys are literally killing it.

"I have never seen that when they're with a jersey on..." I thought to myself.

I decide to give them 15 more minutes to show me what they've got.

But their surf only gets better and better. They are landing 360 airs and closeout reentries in super powerful waves like they're having a latte.

Again, I ask myself: "How can they be surfing better than their fellow CT surfers?... This is just a QS 6,000..."

We surf better in free surfing mode

I start to develop a theory that could give meaning to the gap in performance between training and competing.

Don't we all perform better when we're free to unleash our surf? Isn't the 35-minute heat guided by the speed-power-flow formula a strangling constraint?

Why do we tend to surf better in free surf mode?

Doesn't it have to do with connecting with the essence of surfing versus surfing for what a panel of judges wants to see?

Maybe it has.

Meanwhile, as I walk back home, I take a second glance at that beautiful lineup where A-frame train cars arrive nonstop.

The training/warm-up session continues.

And at a distance, I can still see the pros throwing massive buckets and launching themselves high up in the bluest of skies.

For a moment, I felt proud of my free surfing "career" choices. We surf better when we're free to display our water dance instinctively.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

The wave pool era created new business and competitive opportunities. The Wavepool Surf Tour (WPST) is one of them.

Some might say that artificial wave surfing is a completely new sport.

It takes place in controlled environments, in fresh water, and does not rely on ocean swells and tides.

Whatever you think riding waves in a surf park is, there will always be the surfboard and moving walls of water.

The newly-launched Wavepool Surf Tour is a competitive format that blends the submission of digital video clips and live performance at events.

It is comprised of two special events, eight digital contests, regional finals, and a world final.

Interestingly, the digital format in water sports is not new.

In late 2014, a group of bodyboarders created a competition that ran parallel to the world tour.

It was called the Free Surf World Tour (FSWT) and invited riders to submit their best footage, which fans then judged.

Hawaiian bodyboarding maestro Jeff Hubbard eventually won the inaugural season.

The Wavepool Surf Tour will feature several divisions:

• Open Men & Women (elite, high-performance competitors);
• Masters Men & Women (athletes aged 40+);
• Legends Men & Women (athletes aged 50+);
• Juniors Men & Women (under 18 athletes);
• Groms Boys & Girls (under 14 young talent);
• Longboard Men & Women (graceful, flow-focused traditional surfing);
• Bodyboard Men & Women (innovative, versatile wave-riding styles);
• Adaptive Surfing (inclusivity for all surfers);

Mixing digital and live performance

For the online events, surfers can submit their best two waves - two lefts and two rights or one of each - using the surf park host's AI video technology.

The first two specialty events kick off in 2026 and include Alaïa Surf Challenge (August/October) and Ride The Future (November/December).

Then, the real deal starts. The digital contests will take place in 2027 at the following venues:

• Asia/Pacific (February/March);
• Surftown MUC in Munich (March/April);
• Atlantic Park Surf in Virginia Beach (April/May);
• Lost Shore Surf Resort in Edinburgh (May/June);
• Surfers Cove in Óbidos, Portugal (June/July);
• Americas (July/August);
• China (August/September);
• Middle East (September/October);

The 176 top-ranked local and regional surfers will then qualify for the annual World Final in November/December 2027.

The way WPST was designed ensures local surfers who win their home events qualify for the finals.

The specialty awards will include best air, best turn, best barrel, and the golden fin.

Competitors may take advantage of the different wave technologies to ride and submit their best waves.

You don't need to be a pro to register at the inaugural WPST. You may only give it a go and see how your waves rank against your fellow wave pool surfers and friends.

The judging criteria will focus on three main pillars: commitment, creativity and control.

The WPST was founded by South African surfer Mark Fessler and has a $20,000 prize pool.

Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com

Endless Surf and Flowstate are joining forces to bring artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, and programmable wave technology closer together with a new system that could change how surfers share a session.

The wave pool industry is changing the way we engage with surfing.

The two companies have announced a strategic partnership designed to create a more connected technology platform for surf park operators and a more personalized experience for surfers.

The collaboration combines Endless Surf's customizable wave technology with Flowstate's AI-powered computer vision, automated video and analytics platform.

Flowstate will integrate with Endless Surf's existing software ecosystem, including Surf Concierge, Swell Studio and Wave Doctor.

The technology will also be incorporated into future Endless Surf lagoons, helping determine camera positions and optimize media capture.

But the companies say the partnership goes beyond video.

They plan to develop new applications covering personalized wave delivery, immersive media, coaching and progression, and operational analytics.

The Mixtape: A wave for every surfer

The first major product resulting from the partnership is called The Mixtape.

The system has been in development for nearly two years and is designed to solve a familiar problem in surf parks: friends and family members often have different abilities and want to ride different waves.

Instead of forcing everyone into the same type of session, The Mixtape allows each surfer to choose their preferred waves before entering the water.

Flowstate's computer vision then identifies individual surfers in real time as they move through the lineup.

That information is connected to Endless Surf's Swell Studio software, which controls the characteristics of the waves being generated.

The result is a shared session in which every surfer can receive a different type of wave.

An advanced surfer, for example, could receive a high-performance wave, while a less experienced friend receives an intermediate wave.

Another member of the group could choose a slower, more approachable wave.

The surfers remain together in the same session.

There are no wearables, RFID tags, or manual controls involved. Surfers simply paddle into position, and the system handles the rest.

Personalized waves in a shared session

Surf park sessions have traditionally been organized around broad categories such as ability level and wave type.

The Mixtape shifts the focus from the group to the individual. What happens? Before paddling out, surfers select the waves they want to ride.

Flowstate's computer vision identifies them as they approach the takeoff area, while Endless Surf adjusts the wave characteristics accordingly.

That combination of real-time surfer identification and programmable wave generation is what makes the system possible.

"The Mixtape brings together the two most advanced technologies in their respective fields to make an already unique Endless Surf experience even more personalized," said Paul Chutter, president of Endless Surf.

"Surfers can share long rides with their friends and family while each getting the wave they want, and operators gain an entirely new session product they can offer their guests," Chutter added.

"After nearly two years of development, The Mixtape is the first example of what we can create by bringing these technologies together."

Flowstate CEO Luke Wallace said the technology addresses a common limitation of surfing with friends and family.

"Surfing with friends or family usually means everyone needs to want the same type of wave, or you end up surfing separate sessions," Wallace said.

"The Mixtape changes that."

According to Wallace, surfers select their preferred waves, Flowstate identifies them as they paddle into position, and Endless Surf delivers the corresponding wave.

"No tapping in, no wearables and no RFID required," he said. "The whole process happens seamlessly in the background, wave after wave."

Beyond wave selection

The partnership is not limited to personalized waves.

Flowstate's integration with Endless Surf is also expected to enable automated multi-angle video capture.

Endless Surf lagoons feature multiple surfing zones and clear lines of sight, creating opportunities for cameras to capture rides from different positions.

The companies are also working on AI-powered coaching and progression tools that could help surfers analyze their performance and track improvement.

For surf park operators, the technology could provide another layer of intelligence by connecting surfing, guest and operational data.

That could help operators understand how different areas of a lagoon are being used, how guests interact with the facility and how sessions perform.

The Mixtape is the first product to emerge from the Endless Surf-Flowstate partnership.

More broadly, the collaboration reflects a growing shift toward technology that does more than simply generate waves.

AI, computer vision, automated media, and data analytics are increasingly becoming part of the surf park experience, both in the water and behind the scenes.