So what is there to do for boarders in the winter? When we are bored and need to get back on a board there are a couple options:
Alex Brost gets back on board somewhere sunny where the waves are good like Indonesia. Photo by Alex Linnell.
Doum with a huge catch in Mexico Photo-Marina Lopez
1. Travel: to the Beach or the Mountains- Head away from the winter cold and to somewhere sunny. Maybe down south and somewhere like Mexico. This is what wake surf athlete Dominic Lagace does. Immediately following his wake surf season he heads to Mexico and camps out on the beach, surfs and fishes all day. "Loving it!" was the response we got when we asked him how the beach life was going. Alex Brost heads out East, or West depending on how you look at it, to Indonesia to catch some waves. He normally lives in Minnesota, so getting away from the frosty cold conditions is a common winter theme for him.
Korina Smyrek loving the winter months in the mountains of Switzerland.
Another great place to travel to get on board is to the mountains. If you are a paddleboarder or wake surfer, if you like to be outdoors and active then you probably already go the mountains in the offseason. For pro wake surfer Korina Smyrek this snowboarding was a foundation for her wake surfing skills: "Snowboarding is a great freestyle sport which has a lot of similarities to wakesurfing, wakeboarding, surfing, etc and I was able to transfer a lot of my snowboard experience into these sports."
Kalani Chapman and the Who is JOB (Jamie O'brien) crew at Surf's Up New Hampshire surfing the American Wave Machine barrel
2. Flowboarding and Indoor surfing: Where the waves are always endless and the weather is constant- a great option is finding a local flowboarding or American Wave machine facility. Do you live in the northeast? Be sure and check out the indoor surfing opportunity at Surf's Up New Hampshire, one of the only places that can produce a barreling wave. A great training tool for SUP Yoga Master Lauren Peterson who says: "I was born and raised in Arizona, so flowboarding was a great alternative for surfing. Also great cross training for stand up paddling, wakeboarding, skateboarding and snowboarding. Board is small, super responsive and a great way to work on tricks and instability training when the ocean isn't available."
Natali Zollinger finding a sunny day and a new way to cross paddle train via her Hamboard. Photo by Ken Hoeve.
3. Off-Season Training: Also a good time to either get in shape, get back in shape or try a new training method. For Natali Zollinger, training is everything as long as it's fun. She has found some new ways to train like land paddling on her Hamboard. "When it comes to working out," she says, "if it is not fun, it will not last. It doesn't matter what it is that you connect to as long as it gets you outside and moving, because MOVEMENT is our MEDICINE." If it's too cold outside the most common place to train is the gym, but what about trying something new? Find a gym with an indoor pool where you can swim. For other great off-season training tips check out what the pros recommend doing in Off-Season Training Tips.