LEMOORE, Calif. — Imagine a gymnastics floor routine competition in which athletes are scored on the difficulty, variety, and quality of execution of their maneuvers. Now imagine that the floor itself is in a constant state of change. It may be longer or shorter, harder or softer, weirdly curved, bumpy or smooth—and…

Over the weekend, the World Surf League officially crowned Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa the new record-holder for the biggest wave ever surfed. He successfully rode an 80-foot wave off the coast of Portugal in November to overtake the previous record of 78 feet, set in 2011.

In the grand metaphor of life, where the ocean is the world and we are the surfer getting battered against some rocks, it’s comforting to know that there are people like Australian Ross Clarke-Jones.

Oahu’s Pipeline is one of the most famous surf spots in the world, and the North Shore beach’s notoriously big and dangerous waves play host to the World Surf League’s biggest event of the year. Pipeline Masters, or Pipe Masters, has taken place at Pipeline since 1971, and it’s traditionally served as the final event…

Pierre Agnes, the 54-year-old CEO of surfing company Quiksilver, has been declared missing at sea by French authorities, after his fishing boat washed ashore Tuesday without him inside.

Zander Venezia, a 16-year-old junior pro surfer from Barbados, was reportedly killed this week surfing the huge swell created by the approach of Hurricane Irma. From a Surfline report:

Stand up paddleboarding—is it surfing, or is it canoeing?

For the first time in its history, one of the most prestigious surf contests in the country will include a women’s heat in its 2016-17 competition. But the addition to the Titans of Mavericks competition wasn’t done solely because Mavericks organizers felt like it. It was required by the California Coastal Commission…

The International Olympic Committee voted today to add five events (really six because baseball and softball are different sports, just not to the IOC) to the summer Olympic slate, beginning in Tokyo in 2020. Baseball, softball, karate, skateboard, sports climbing, and surfing will all take their place at the Olympics.

The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will probably not be a comprehensive shitstorm like these 2016 Games are shaping up to be, but there is a decent chance they will be much more rad, thanks to the new sports that could get added to the program. Five sports have made it through to the final round of whatever…

Thirteen years ago, Bethany Hamilton’s left arm was bitten off by a tiger shark while she was surfing on Kauai. Despite losing 60 percent of her blood, she survived, returned to surfing three weeks later, became the subject of a number of movies and books over the years, and appeared on a ton of TV shows like The…

I picked up William Finnegan’s surf memoir Barbarian Days on a beach this summer, and felt—I was stoned, the sky was astounding, the waves were delirious—that I’d fallen into an almost violent communion. As with the excerpts previously published in The New Yorker, where Finnegan’s been a staff writer since 1987…

Good morning! Competition in the J-Bay Open has been suspended until....when exactly?

The artistry of photographers Ron Stoner and LeRoy Grannis (among others) contributed mightily to the boom in surfing in the 1960s. Their Technicolor spreads of big-wave riders and sun-drenched beaches inspired a generation of Jeff Spicolis to get stoked, and, in turn, helped make surfing a billion-dollar industry.…