In July, when I reviewed the new version of Patagonia鈥檚 R1 wetsuits, I talked about how there is often a compromise between a product鈥檚 eco-friendliness and its performance, but Patagonia鈥檚 suit finally managed to score high marks in both. A month later, Billabong said, 鈥淗old my beer.鈥� The company鈥檚 new wetsuit performs even better on both fronts. Not only is it the most sustainable wetsuit currently available, but it鈥檚 also the most comfortable one I鈥檝e ever worn. Plus, it cost less, too.

Billabong 惭别苍鈥檚 3/2mm Furnace Natural Upcycler Chest Zip Wetsuit

Sizing: S-XXL (men鈥檚), XS-XXL (women鈥檚)
Materials: 85% Natural Rubber and 15% synthetic ingredients, including Bolder Black, Oyster shell powder and Soybean oil
Models: 2/2, 3/2, 4/3, 5/4, and 6/5 millimeter thicknesses, some with optional hoods, some sleeveless

Pros and Cons
鈯� Excellent flexibility
鈯� Comfortable
鈯� Easy entry/exit
鈯� Extremely eco-friendly
鈯� Materials dry quickly
鈯� Lack of silicone inside wrist and ankle cuffs allows some water to get in
鈯� Not quite as warm as the slightly thicker Patagonia R1

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Unparalleled Sustainability

The most notable change that Billabong makes from traditional wetsuit construction is switching from neoprene to natural rubber for the foam material that makes up the bulk of the wetsuit. Unlike traditional neoprene, which uses rubber derived from fossil fuels or limestone, this rubber comes from sustainable, FSC-certified, organic hevea rubber trees in Guatemala, grown in a plantation that has existed since the 1940s. The rubber it produces is of exceptionally high quality, and it meets , , and compliance for environmental standards.

The rubber foam (think 鈥渘eoprene,鈥� but a natural version) contains 85 percent natural rubber, with the other 15 percent stabilizers typically called carbon black. While most companies still use petroleum-based carbon-black stabilizers, Billabong has partnered with Colorado-based Bolder Industries to incorporate its flagship product . Bolder Black is a very high-quality carbon black, but it鈥檚 made entirely of post-consumer recycled wetsuits (supplied by Billabong) and other used rubber products like tires. These stabilizers give the rubber its strength, increase elasticity, add pigment for UV resistance, and allow it to be blown into the stretchy foam that we know and love.

To make the other major components of wetsuits, the jerseys, and liners that cover the outside, Billabong has now switched to 100 percent post-consumer recycled textiles, keeping a lot of unwanted clothes out of landfills. Graphene panels, which are made of a combination of recycled textiles infused with Graphene, are added to keep you warmer, and Billabong claims that all of this feel-good eco-friendly stuff doesn鈥檛 sacrifice performance. Much to my surprise, I agree.

How It Tested

I spent the last couple of months testing the Furnace Natural Upcycler ($380), and can attest that the suit is sublimely comfortable. Thanks to the incredibly soft and flexible rubber, it鈥檚 easier to get on and off than any other suit I鈥檝e worn. It鈥檚 so stretchy that I feel effectively no resistance when paddling, and I move about as freely as I do in boardshorts. The kneepads (made from natural rubber laminated with an abrasion-resistant recycled nylon jersey called Supratex) are resilient, providing ample protection when duck diving, and the inner seams haven鈥檛 chafed me at all. The liner has a nice cozy loft to it also. The zipper is high-quality: I haven鈥檛 had any issues with snagging like I did in the Patagonia wetsuit.

I鈥檝e experienced no paddle fatigue in the suit, even during long sessions. It dries at least as quickly as any of my other suits, and it鈥檚 held up well, surviving the odd encounter with a rock or a fin without showing a scratch.

How It Compares to the Patagonia R1

The Furnace Natural is noticeably more comfortable than the fall 2023 (the next version of the R1 will likely be out in 2025). It feels lighter, it has more stretch, and it doesn鈥檛 have any zipper issues. It isn鈥檛 quite as warm as the R1, but that makes sense, considering the R1 is a 3/2.5-millimeter suit, not a 3/2-millimeter (Patagonia is one of the rare manufacturers that uses half-millimeter sizes).

The Furnace is also significantly cheaper, coming in at $380 versus $479 for the R1. You can even get a 3/2 Absolute Natural Upcycler (Billabong鈥檚 mid-range version) for as little as $269. This cheaper version has all the same eco updates, though it loses some of the higher-end bells and whistles (like the Airlite 4D jersey, the graphene lining, and the improved seam sealing). Patagonia doesn鈥檛 have a cheaper version, unfortunately.

While the Patagonia suit is very sustainable, Billabong has edged it out here by being the first company to produce a fully-functioning wetsuit available to the public with Bolder Black stabilizers, making the Natural Upcycler wetsuits derived by a vast majority from natural rubber or post-consumer recycled products. Patagonia won鈥檛 disclose where the stabilizers in its current suits come from, which, like in the Billabong, make up 15 percent of the foam rubber. Patagonia has announced, however, that it will also be using Bolder Black in its next iteration of wetsuits.

Downsides

The only ding on the Furnace Natural Upcycler is that I wish it had a silicone seal on the inside of the wrist and ankle cuffs. Because the rubber is so soft and malleable, I鈥檝e had the sleeves or legs roll up on me a bit when wiping out (and once when paddling hard to get over a large approaching set). It鈥檚 a minor gripe, but it would be nice if that could be prevented.

Final Thoughts

The 3/2 Furnace Natural is fantastic for Southern California in the late spring, summer, and fall, but having spent time in it, I might opt for a 4/3 instead. This suit breathes well, and I鈥檇 like to be able to wear it during the colder months. Also, I prefer to be a little too warm than a little too cold. That said, I know plenty of people that feel the opposite.

At the end of the day, this is my new favorite wetsuit. All of the eco-forward features give me peace of mind, and I like that I鈥檓 not covering my entire epidermis in potentially cancer-causing materials. Apart from that, I wouldn鈥檛 know that it was an eco-forward suit if you didn鈥檛 tell me: this is a full-on performance wetsuit without sacrifice.

The Billabong Furnace Natural Upcycler suits are now available in and and in a variety of thicknesses and styles.

The post Billabong鈥檚 Newest Wetsuit Is the Most Sustainable and Comfortable on the Market appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

In the last few years, the gulf that divides smartwatches and sports watches has shrunk considerably. Pure sports watches have added smartwatch features like phone notifications, music, and bright OLED touchscreens, while smartwatches have gotten more rugged and put a greater emphasis on fitness and sport tracking. The closest option to achieve best-of-both-worlds status has been the Apple Watch, but that left Android users out in the cold with subpar substitutes.

Finally, the is here for the green-bubble crowd, promising to compete with the Apple Watch鈥檚 excellence at both day-to-day tasks as well as athletic tracking. As the name suggests, the Pixel Watch 3 is the third iteration of Google鈥檚 flagship smartwatch, and its second with all kinds of Fitbit smarts and tracking built-in (Google bought Fitbit in 2021). After testing the new version for five weeks, I can affirm that as a smartwatch, it鈥檚 pretty fantastic, but as a sports and adventure watch, it still has room for improvement.

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Updates to the Google Pixel Watch 3

Let鈥檚 start with what鈥檚 new, and there鈥檚 plenty. For starters, you can now choose from two sizes: 41mm and 45mm. Both sizes come in versions with and without LTE cellular radios. I tested the 45mm LTE version, and it sits beautifully on my wrist.

It鈥檚 perfectly circular and smooth like a river pebble, except for the dial that protrudes from the right side. The watch bands are easy to swap out, too, so you can quickly change between bands for high-activity or high-society.

The bezels have been shrunk down at the edges by 16-percent, which gives the 45mm size a 40 percent larger screen than the last version. It pumps out 2,000 nits of light, twice as powerful as the last version, the colors are bright and the contrast is excellent. That makes reading on it better than any watch I鈥檝e used, by a long shot. Not only is a full text message likely to fit on the screen, sometimes I鈥檒l skim a whole email on it, scrolling down with the mechanical dial as I go. I have no issues reading the details when stealing a glance at my stats as I run, either.

As with the previous version, the watch is equipped with GPS, a compass, altimeter, barometer, and it鈥檚 waterproof to 5ATM (50 meters deep), for all your aquatic endeavors.

On the back of the watch is an updated suite of sensors for monitoring your heart rate (active and resting heart rate as well as heart rate variability), breathing rate, oxygen saturation, and skin temperature (which can be useful for period tracking). All told, it鈥檚 Google and Fitbit鈥檚 most advanced sensor setup yet, and I found the accuracy to be excellent when comparing my stats to a chest strap and other wrist-based sports watch sensors. You can also use the watch as a heart rate monitor while using other exercise equipment such as stationary bikes, syncing the watch to display metrics on the other device.

You鈥檒l also find some new Fitbit-powered health tracking metrics. The Readiness score factors in all of your body鈥檚 biometrics as well as recent activity levels and sleep to give you an estimate of your recovery, plus it advises you on how much activity you should look to do each day, based on your stated goals. This is basically Fitbit鈥檚 version of the Whoop Score or Garmin鈥檚 Body Battery, and I generally found it to be pretty well aligned with how I felt.

Two other new metrics are Cardio Load and Target Load. Cardio Load tracks your training and heart rate throughout the day (updating in realtime) to measure how much work your heart has done, using training impulse models (or TRIMP). Target Load is essentially the range of exercise the watch advises you to try and meet during the day. All these calculations are designed to work in tandem to help prevent overtraining or undertraining, and I was generally impressed with how they worked.

Every morning within half an hour of waking you get a Morning Brief on your watch, which gives you a quick snapshot of your sleep, recovery, exercise goals for the day, as well as weather and appointments from your Google Calendar. It鈥檚 a really nice way to get up to speed and prepare for the day ahead.

Standout smartwatch features

Where this watch really excels, however, is as a smartwatch. It鈥檚 simply a fantastic companion to your Android phone. You can read and respond to texts and emails (by voice or a surprisingly good onscreen keyboard), and download or stream music (using 32GB of built in storage). It has a fantastic Recorder app for voice notes, which can be automatically backed up to your phone and the cloud. It has a speaker and mic so you can even take calls in a pinch (like when I got an important call while I was in the shower), though you鈥檒l probably want earbuds for longer calls because the speaker isn鈥檛 the loudest. It also features an excellent version of Google Maps, with turn-by-turn navigation and offline maps, and it integrates Google Pay, which allows you to pay with a tap of your wrist pretty much anywhere now.

One feature lets the watch work as a remote shutter for your phone鈥檚 camera (and even streams the live video to your watch so you can check your framing). Plus, the watch has fantastic smart home features. For example, if you use Google鈥檚 latest Nest Cameras, you can get real time video directly on the watch to see who鈥檚 at your door. You can quickly adjust your connected lights, thermostat, or speakers, and if you have a Chromecast or a TV powered by Google, you can use your watch as a remote control. It also has a built-in AI assistant so you can tell it to add things to your calendar or shopping list, start apps, timers, or activities, send messages, or just answer your dumb questions.

I tested the Pixel Watch 3 paired with the new Pixel 9 Pro smartphone, and while the Pixel Watch 3 will work well with virtually any Android phone, it works especially well with Google鈥檚 own Pixel line. You get a deeper integration of features鈥搇ike syncing of Do Not Disturb, Bedtime modes, alarms, Recorder voice notes鈥揳nd it鈥檚 pretty seamless. The Pixel 9 Pro is especially good for the outdoor crowd because it’s one of the first Android phones to offer Satellite SOS, enabling you to contact emergency services when you don’t have cell signal or Wi-Fi connection. Plus, it has the best low-light photo and video of any phone I鈥檝e tested. And when I don鈥檛 have my phone with me I鈥檝e found the LTE on the watch to be reliable, and even slightly magical feeling to retain so much functionality and messaging ability while phoneless.

How it fares on runs and other athletic activities

This year Google and Fitbit have put a lot more functionality into the new watch as a running companion. It now features daily run recommendations as well as a run-builder, so you can customize your workout. The Pixel Watch 3 will give you real time guidance as you go, alerting you to intervals, and keeping your pace or heart rate in the right zone. Once you鈥檙e done you get advanced stride analytics, such as cadence, ground contact time, stride length, vertical ratio, and vertical oscillation.

I will say, though, that the real time run experience could be improved. While you鈥檙e actually running it doesn鈥檛 display that much data. You get distance, elapsed time, heart rate, and current pace on one screen, and a heart rate zone page on the second鈥攁nd that鈥檚 it. No real-time information about your elevation gained or lost, no info on your cadence until you鈥檙e done. You can鈥檛 add new fields or additional screens either. Most tragically, there isn鈥檛 any integration with that wonderful Google Maps app. It would be amazing if it had a track-back feature, or a way to load running routes, but there鈥檚 just no map screen.

Other activities are even more limited, with Swimming being the worst offender. You can input the length of the pool and it will keep count of your laps in the background, but while you鈥檙e actually swimming, the only data it shows you is your elapsed time. That鈥檚 it. You can鈥檛 even manually mark intervals to designate sets, and it certainly doesn鈥檛 count your strokes or differentiate types of stroke like most modern sports watches. And there鈥檚 no open water swim mode, either.

If you鈥檙e surfing with it, it tracks your total distance, it doesn鈥檛 know the difference between when you鈥檙e paddling, drifting, or surfing. It can鈥檛 count waves or integrate with Surfline to help you find webcam clips of your waves ridden, something which both Apple Watch and Garmin watches can do.

These limitations are very frustrating because this watch has all the right sensors and processors to go head-to-head or even exceed sports watch heavyweights like Garmin and Suunto, but nobody built the software to do so. The good news is that means Google/Fitbit could easily fix that with an update, but whether or not they will remains to be seen.

That said, I鈥檝e found the daily activity tracking (such as heart metrics and sleep) to be excellent, and as a smartwatch it鈥檚 peerless for the Android crowd. The crowning achievement is that the battery almost always lasts me more than 36 hours, sometimes as much as 48 (if I鈥檓 using it less and not using GPS). It also recharges from 0 to 100-percent in 80 minutes (just 60 minutes for the 41mm version). This means that you will wear this watch more of the time (usually through two full sleeps before you have to recharge), likely resulting in better health metrics.

Is the Google Pixel Watch 3 worth it?

As it is, for Android users who want a robust smartwatch with excellent health tracking features, this is absolutely the one to get. For the more hardcore outdoors types, you鈥檒l be left wishing that someone at Fitbit had just taken a Garmin Fenix 8 and copied all of the outdoor activity modes. Who knows, maybe they still will鈥攁nd if they did it would probably be my favorite watch ever.

The is available in 41mm for $350 ($450 for the LTE version) and 45mm for $400 ($500 for LTE), in several color combinations. Personally, I think the LTE is worth it, as you can go phone-free and retain almost all the smartwatch functionality (though you will have to add it to your mobile plan, which will incur a monthly fee that varies by carrier). Ultimately, this is the best Android-powered smartwatch yet.

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Polar has long made some of the more affordable sports/adventure watches, but this year the Finnish company decided to swing for the fences and make a true flagship watch. It鈥檚 Polar鈥檚 most expensive wearable鈥攕tarting at $750鈥攂ut the has the nicest hardware ever featured in one of its watches. It鈥檚 just too bad the software can鈥檛 keep up.

The is being marketed as a 鈥淧remium Outdoor Watch.鈥� You might think of it as a direct competitor to line. It features a 1.39-inch touchscreen display with a generous 454 x 454-pixel resolution. The case and bezel are made of sturdy and attractive stainless steel, and the screen is a an ultra-hard sapphire glass, which is known for its strength and scratch resistance. It鈥檚 water resistant to 100 meters and it features Polar鈥檚 latest for heart rate monitoring, pulse oximetry, and even skin temperature. Over three months, I put the watch through its paces running, surfing, hiking, swimming, and wearing it 24/7.

Here鈥檚 what I found.

Polar Grit X2 Pro Review

Weight: 2.8 oz (including wristband)
Display size: 1.39 in
Display resolution: 454 脳 454

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听听 听听

Polar Grit X2 Pro at a Glance

Pros

• Good-looking hardware
• Accurate GPS tracking
• Excellent battery life
• Downloadable maps for offline use
• Comfortable to wear

Cons

• Menus and features aren’t intuitive to navigate
• Software has some major bugs
• Lacks powerful multisport functionality
• Expensive

Aesthetics

The watch comes together in a nice-looking package. The metal bezel looks absolutely great whether you鈥檙e wearing it on a trail or at a fancy dinner, and I鈥檝e had zero issues with scratching despite scrambling over boulders and haphazardly throwing it into a backpack filled with other metal electronics. The screen has a high maximum brightness, with excellent contrast, and it鈥檚 easy to read even in blazing direct sunlight. You can choose low or medium brightness if you want to save battery-life, and you can also choose between having the watch face constantly illuminated or for it to just come on when you lift up your wrist to look at it or touch a button (which will save even more battery). Personally, I kept it in high brightness and kept 鈥淒isplay always off鈥� turned off. Polar has a somewhat limited amount of watch faces to choose from (and you can鈥檛 download more, unlike with Garmin), but they鈥檙e attractive and they can be customized to display the information that鈥檚 most important to you at a glance.

User Experience

From the home screen, swiping to the left or right brings you to various widgets for your activity, sleep, cardio load, week at a glance, today鈥檚 training suggestions, navigation, sunrise/sunset times, weather, and media controls. These are generally well thought-out and display the information in easy-to-read layouts. There are even explainers for some of the metrics, which can be helpful because there鈥檚 a lot to sort through. The watch can give you suggestions for training or recovery, based on your sleep and the workouts you鈥檝e had. It will also tell you if you鈥檙e overtraining or undertraining, and the workout suggestions will be specifically tailored to you. (Though, the accuracy of these kinds of technologies is still hotly debated.) I was testing this watch as I was just getting back into running after a knee injury. The workouts it suggested tended to be lower intensity than I probably would have chosen for myself, but it helped me get back on the horse without re-injuring myself.

I鈥檓 not a big fan of the way the buttons are configured. The watch features three buttons on the right side and two on the left, but I found it to be a bit unintuitive. For example, rather than the common start/stop button for activities, you have to start on the right middle, and stop on the left bottom. Pressing once pauses the activity. If you want to stop it you have to press and hold for another three seconds. I often found myself hitting the wrong button during activities, which could be frustrating.

The menu layout also took some getting used to, as did discerning which features are accessible via watch. Sometimes, I found myself zeroing in on the correct feature, only to have the watch tell me the thing you seek can only be found on the app, which sent me on another quest. Unfortunately, the app isn鈥檛 very intuitive, either, and overall you鈥檙e left with fewer options for customization than you get with Garmin or Suunto watches.

Activity Tracking

When it comes to activities, the watch can store 20 different sport types at a time, which sounds like plenty, but I found this to be a bit misleading. A lot of the activities have the same exact data fields, even when it doesn鈥檛 make any sense. Surfing, for example, includes elevation data fields. Why? It would be really nice if it could recognize the difference between when you鈥檙e riding a wave and when you鈥檙e paddling back out and give you different metrics on it, which the Apple Watch and both do. In fact, both of those watches will sync with Surfline which will allow you to easily find videos of you surfing (if you鈥檙e at a spot with a webcam). It also just doesn鈥檛 have as many activities to choose from as those competitors, which have more than 80.

That being said, if you鈥檙e running, specifically, the watch is really quite good. You can easily flip through current stats, maps, and music controls, and it even has some unique features such as , making it a sort of wrist-worn power meter. Running Power is a mechanical work rate, measured in watts, similar to what you鈥檇 get on a power meter on a bike. I also found Polar鈥檚 recommended workouts to be good, and the coaching (which comes through your phone) was helpful, too, which can help you set your pace and manage intervals based on time or distance. One really nice feature is that you can use the watch as a Bluetooth Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) and have it send live data to other apps or devices, like Strava, MapMyRun, or stationary bikes or treadmills.

TheThe watch鈥檚 heart rate monitoring feature also performed admirably, though not perfectly. I compared it on several workouts to my trusty Wahoo Trackr HRM Chest Strap and most of the time it matched pretty evenly, putting it on the upper end of par with other smartwatches I鈥檝e tested.

Navigation

One of Polar Grit X2 Pro鈥檚 other banner features is navigation. The map is bright and colorful, and it鈥檚 easy to use your fingers to scroll around and zoom. It comes pre-loaded with very basic maps of North America, but you can download detailed maps in more specific regions through the Polar website. You just have to plug your watch into your computer to transfer it over.

You can download routes through Komoot and Strava Routes which work when you鈥檙e offline, which is convenient. But when using navigation modes this watch wants you to calibrate, and then re-calibrate the compass over and over again. This is liable to happen not just every hike, but sometimes multiple times per hike, and it involves twisting your wrist around into various uncomfortable positions until you have appeased the magnetic demons that live inside. Most other adventure watches do not ask you to do this ever, so this is definitely an oddity. (It鈥檚 also a known issue with the Grit X2 Pro, which means a software fix may be on the way.)

Guided Workouts

The Polar Grit X2 Pro doesn鈥檛 support importing workouts from apps like . That鈥檚 a pretty big deal for more competitive athletes, especially those working with coaches. You can export your workouts to TrainingPeaks and Strava after you鈥檙e done, but you can鈥檛 import them. Both Garmin and Apple Watches make this pretty seamless. Polar does have some of its own workouts pre-loaded that it kind of guides you through with animations, but if you need instructions it takes more button presses to get to the relevant info than you would think, meanwhile the timer keeps going. The animations aren鈥檛 as nuanced as those you find on Garmin or Fitbit watches, either. When in activity tracking, you鈥檙e limited to four data fields per page (e.g. elapsed time, distance, pace, heart rate, etc), which is fewer than most watches I鈥檝e tested (the Epix allows up to seven). The numbers are large and easily visible, but I prefer information density to scrolling through pages while I鈥檓 trying to keep my pace up.

Storage and Battery Life听

The watch is also somewhat more limited as an autonomous gadget than a lot of other flagship models. For example, despite the watch having 32GB of storage, you can鈥檛 download music to it and play it directly through a paired set of earbuds, which is unfortunate. That said, if you鈥檙e playing music off your phone the Grit X2 Pro does allow you to play/pause and skip tracks from your wrist, which is handy. Unlike other smartwatches, there鈥檚 also no mobile payment option鈥攁 bummer if you get caught out on a long run and need to grab a bite to eat or a taxi home.

I鈥檓 glad to say that battery life is excellent on this Grit X2 Pro. I kept the screen in high brightness and in the gesture-based wake-up mode (i.e. the screen isn鈥檛 always on, but it turns on when you raise your wrist or press a button), and doing that allowed me to average 10 days of battery life, which squares with Polar鈥檚 claims. Of course, that鈥檚 best-case-scenario. If you鈥檙e doing a lot of activities that use the GPS your battery life will drop considerably, but still, here it performed at least as well as my .

Polar Grit X2 Pro: Who Is It For?

Ultimately, this is a watch that I really wanted to like, and I did like it enough to wear it for three months, but I never came to love it, and the little annoyances never stopped being annoying. In my opinion, the UI and overall user experience falls short of other premium watches like the Garmin Fenix or Epix. And at $750 (or $870 for the that includes a leather wristband), I found the cost a little hard to stomach.

The hardware is really fantastic, however, and the watch is comfortable to wear. If you鈥檙e the kind of user who puts aesthetics first, want basic smartwatch functionality in an attractive package, and don鈥檛 mind the high price tag, this could make sense for you. But if you tend to prioritize function over fashion鈥攁nd want even more features at a lower cost鈥攜ou may want to look elsewhere.

The post Tested: The New Polar Grit X2 Pro Watch appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The main reason to buy a custom surfboard is because you can鈥檛 find the board you want on a shelf. A custom surfboard is a big step in a surfer鈥檚 journey, and it can bring noticeable, tangible benefits to the way you surf and how much fun you have. Ideally, you鈥檒l end up with a board that is a sublime match for your body, style, goals, and the waves you frequent. But it can also be an overwhelming experience (and a not-insignificant investment in time and money), so you want to get it right.

Luckily for you, we鈥檝e got it covered. I worked with two legendary shapers鈥擝ritt Merrick and Guy Okazaki鈥攁nd went through the custom shaping process (twice), in order to bring you this comprehensive guide to ordering a custom surfboard鈥攃omplete with what to expect, the questions to ask, the information you鈥檒l need, and the pitfalls to avoid.

Step One: Do Your Research

The first step is to try as many different boards as you can. Your local surf shop, OfferUp, Craigslist, and Facebook Marketplace are all great resources for this. I spent $350 on a used surfboard from Craigslist, rode it for a little while, then sold it to someone else for $350, and bought something else to play with. Used boards can hold their value well if you don鈥檛 damage them. Also, look for demo days at your local surf shop.

鈥淚 have a friend who’s a really good surfer, and for the last few years, he’s just been buying the most random boards off Craigslist,鈥� up-and-coming Venice pro surfer told me. 鈥淏ut now he’s in this phase where he knows exactly what he wants because he’s tried so many boards. So now when he goes to a shaper, he has all this knowledge to pull from.”

The next phase of your research should be to talk to other surfers. Look for surfers right around your size and ability level at your local breaks and ask them what they鈥檙e on and how they like it. If you can afford it, hire an experienced coach for a session or two, and see what suggestions they might have for your next surfboard. The web is also a great resource. Both the Pyzel and Channel Islands websites have live chats with actual humans on the other end, and they are extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They can help you get a better handle on what might, and what might not work for you (just be respectful of their time).

Step Two: Pick Your Surfboard Shaper

Find a shaper who will take the time to understand where you鈥檙e at and where you want to go and ensure they have the skills to make the right board for the job. A good shaper carries a wealth of knowledge about surfboard design and surfing in general. It may also give you an opportunity to work with a local who has deep insights about the waves you鈥檒l be surfing the most, and you get to support the local surf economy.

I went into this quest knowing that I wanted two boards: A point-break specialist for some of my favorite spots in Malibu and Ventura, and a hyper-local board for the beach break I surf in Venice 80 percent of the time. After months of research, I found my two dream shapers.

Britt Merrick,

Britt was literally raised in a surfboard factory, as the son of world renown shaper and founder of Channel Islands Surfboards, Al Merrick. He would grow up to become an iconic shaper in his own right, making award-winning surfboards (including several winners) for WSL Championship Tour event winners and average joes alike. Channel Islands is based in Santa Barbara, home to legendary point breaks like Rincon, and considering how many boards he鈥檚 made for people who compete at places Jeffreys Bay and Snapper Rocks, I figured he鈥檇 be the perfect person to make my point break killer. Note: anyone can request a board from Britt, but it will most likely take months longer than usual because he has a massive queue.

Surfboard shaper Guy Okazaki at work (Photo: Courtesy Guy Okazaki)

Guy Okazaki,

When it came to finding a shaper for my Venice beach break board, I knew exactly who I hoped would make it. It seemed like 20 percent of the boards I would see at my favorite spot had a big 鈥淕OS鈥� stamped on the deck. Plus, Okazaki has been surfing here since the 1950s, so not many people know the wave better. Okazaki was born in Hawaii, where he first learned to shape surfboards from his dad and legends of the sport, including Rabbit Kekai. He would go on to travel and surf with world champions, and he’s been shaping boards in his garage in Venice for more than 30 years. For my usual spot, Guy is as local as it gets, and every surfer I talked to raved about his boards.

This brings up an important point: You want to pick your shaper based on their strengths and based on what you鈥檙e looking for. I determined that Merrick and Okazaki were likely the best fit for my specific criteria, but if I wanted a surfboard for Hawaii, then maybe Wade Tokoro or John Pyzel would be the move.

Step 3: Talk with Your Shaper

Set up a phone call (or an in-person meeting if you can) with the shaper to discuss the board. You should familiarize yourself with the boards they make because chances are high that they will be using one of those models as a starting point.

Typically, shapers will first ask about your height and weight. Then they鈥檒l likely ask your age and how often you surf to determine how much board you need. Next, all that time you spent trying different boards will come in handy when they ask you what you have been riding and how they worked (or didn鈥檛 work) for you.

When I asked Merrick and Okazaki what the most important factor is for determining the right board, they had the same answer: it depends on where and how you surf now, and where and how you鈥檙e hoping to in the near future.

The 鈥渨here鈥� questions to ask yourself: Are you mostly going to be surfing beach breaks, point breaks, or reef breaks? This is where a shaper with knowledge of your preferred breaks can come in handy. And what size waves will you be on, realistically?

The 鈥渉ow鈥� is a bit harder to quantify. What do you want to do on the wave? What do you enjoy now, and where would you like to get in in the next few years? For example, I told the shapers that I really want to improve my carving, work on speed generation, and build confidence in steeper barreling waves. For me, these are modest but realistic goals for where I am in my evolution as a surfer.

Pitfalls to Avoid

1. Don鈥檛 let your ego get in the way. I get it鈥攏obody wants to seem like a kook, but you have to avoid over-inflating your skills. “That’s the most common mistake people make,鈥� Merrick told me. 鈥淚f they don’t have realistic expectations and goals, then they tend to get the wrong board altogether. Usually, that means not getting enough surfboard. Especially with beginners, they get small boards like the pros, and they don’t have the paddling power, so they miss a ton of waves. You’ve also got to start making adjustments for your physicality, and age.”
2. Don’t forget to be specific. Terms like Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Expert, are extremely nebulous. Tell your shaper the things you feel like you鈥檙e doing well, and tell them the things you鈥檙e struggling with. Video clips can tell a shaper a lot about where you鈥檙e at, and their experienced eyes will likely spot things in your surfing that you don鈥檛 even know to look for. Get a friend to film you from shore, and show them a mix of your best and worst waves to give them the most accurate picture.
3. Don’t fall into the current obsession with surfboard volume. It鈥檚 not that volume isn鈥檛 important, but it鈥檚 not that helpful on its own. Okazaki broke it down: 鈥淥ver the last few years, the first metric out of someone’s mouth has been volume, and I always chuckle, ‘Well, where do you want that volume? Do you want it in the middle, in the nose, in the tail, distributed uniformly? Do you want it on the rails or more in the center?’ And they realize that they hadn’t given that a thought. Where that volume is is really more important than what the volume is.”

Step 4: Finishing Touches

While you and your shaper talk, they鈥檒l be taking down your decisions in an order form. This is also where you鈥檒l make choices about which type of fin-boxes you want, and how many. You鈥檒l decide whether you want a traditional foam or EPS, what type of fiberglass (or carbon fiber), how heavy, and whether you鈥檇 like to use polyurethane resin or epoxy. Each of these things will affect the way your board performs to different degrees, and while whole articles have been written about each of those categories, again, talk to your shaper about what they think would work best for the design you鈥檝e agreed on.

This is also where you鈥檒l make a decision about art. Do you want to leave the board white, or add a tint to the resin? Or a swirl? Do you have some art you would like laminated onto the deck? These things are a personal touch that make the board feel more uniquely yours, but each one of them will add to the overall cost.

Once everything is agreed on, you will plunk down a deposit (typically $100-200, though some want full payment upfront), and they will get to work making your board. Your shaper will give you a rough timeline when you finalize the details. It could be just a few weeks if they鈥檙e not too busy, or it could be three months. Resist the urge to bug them until after the due date has passed. There is no question a shaper hates more than, 鈥淚s it ready yet?鈥�

My Custom Boards

For my Channel Islands point-break board, Merrick steered me toward his 听a board that was designed to paddle and catch waves like a much longer board, but surf more like a shortboard. My only reservation was that I wanted something that could handle bigger, steeper, barreling waves (dare to dream). He said no problem and borrowed the thinner rails from his , which are a bit more refined and would also help with my turns.

Merrick recommended a 6-foot, 8-inch board, which would be my biggest board in years, but promised it wouldn鈥檛 surf that way. I had him add five fin-boxes instead of the standard three, so I could ride it as a thruster, a quad, or a twin (i.e. a three-fin, a four-fin, or a two-fin configuration), depending on the day. I also had the board made with (Varial just recently, tragically, went out of business due to a supply-chain interruption, when they were priced out of their foam by the aerospace industry), glassed with epoxy resin tinted Creamsicle orange, and I had a rose emblazoned on the deck.

For my Venice board, I came to Okazaki with a laundry list of what I wanted the board to do. After hearing my thoughts and watching my flailing surf videos, he thought would be a good place to start, or the as he would come to call this latest iteration of a board he鈥檚 been evolving for 22 years.

Okazaki planned to throw in a fairly moderate double concave through the tail, and a single concave around where my front foot would be. That should enhance rail-to-rail transitions, give it a little more pop, and hopefully increase speed out of turns. Guy advocated for a swallow-tail with a prominent double-wing just ahead of it, which would allow for very straight rails for speed, but then give it a nice break to pivot off of for turns. He suggested we go with a 6-foot, 2-inch, with standard polyurethane (PU) foam blank and lightweight four-ounce PU glassing. I had him throw on the same rose I put on my CI board, plus a five-fin-box setup, and picked a Pantone color that looked like bubblegum.

The Results

A few months later, both boards have exceeded my wildest expectations.

I鈥檝e taken my Merrick CI board to point breaks up and down the California coast, in everything from waist-high waves to well overhead. The board has allowed me to get into waves early, then pump down the line, and really sink into my carves like I鈥檇 hoped. In the few months that I鈥檝e had it, I鈥檝e probably caught four of the top five longest and most memorable waves of my life.

For my Okazaki board, I gave Guy such a long list of things I wanted it to do鈥攕ome of which seemed at odds with each other鈥攁nd somehow he did it. It has great paddle power, but I can still duck-dive it. The board can make steep, late drops, but it also has great speed down the line. Trimming around flat sections is easy, but then it turns on a dime with very little effort and takes off again. I鈥檓 riding this board at the local spot I鈥檝e been walking to several times a week for the last three years, and I鈥檓 having more fun out there than I ever have. What鈥檚 more important than that?

Last Advice from the Shapers

“I recommend trying to stay as local as you can,” Okazaki told me. 鈥淎nd that’s more than just for the shaper.鈥� One of Okazaki鈥檚 greatest concerns is the increasing acidification of our oceans. That鈥檚 one of the reasons he uses U.S. Blanks for his foam, because they operate in Los Angeles, and because of that they’re subject to the most stringent environmental standards in the nation. It’s just a 20-minute drive from Okazaki鈥檚 shop to their factory, so the carbon footprint to get a blank from them is as minimal as it gets, and they’re fully solar-powered, too. Okazaki also works with local glassers (which most shapers usually do), which again requires minimal transport, and feeds money directly into the local surf economy.

鈥淚t’s rare these days that you get a product that’s all hand-made by skilled craftsmen and women,鈥� Merrick mused. 鈥淚t’s not your tennis racket, golf club, snowboard, or basketball that just gets pumped out by machines. People should approach it with an appreciation for the art and the craftsmanship. Once people start to appreciate that they’ll appreciate surfing as a whole even more.”

The post Can鈥檛 Find the Right Surfboard? Here鈥檚 How to Order a Custom One. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

In its 2021 Olympic debut in Japan, surfing took place at a nice little beach break, and it made for a fun watch. 2024 has been an entirely different animal. Held at Tahiti鈥檚 infamous Teahupo驶o, a storm brought thick, house-sized barrels detonating onto razor-sharp coral reef while the world鈥檚 best surfers deliberately put themselves in harm鈥檚 way in the quest for gold. But medals weren鈥檛 the only hardware on display.

If you鈥檝e been watching the competition, this is likely the first time you鈥檝e seen surfers wearing helmets. Even if you spend a lot of time at the beach, you鈥檝e probably never seen them on surfers before. In round one of the Olympic surf competition, a whopping 17 out of 24 female surfers wore a helmet, and five of the men did, too.

We didn鈥檛 have to wait long to see why helmets were so popular. Early in the contest, France鈥檚 started without a helmet, then wiped out on her first wave and went headfirst into the reef, splitting her forehead open. She immediately requested a helmet, which staff delivered to her via jet ski and put onto her still-bleeding head. She would later require four stitches, but she was extremely lucky that the impact wasn鈥檛 worse. Not everybody has been so fortunate recently.

Check out our coverage of the winning mountain bikes and the at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

A Brief Helmet History

I reached out to team (Lenny is arguably the best big wave surfer in the world), who has some experience with this subject. Earlier this year Lenny went down on a seemingly innocuous wave at Oahu鈥檚 famous Pipeline. It was one of the first times he wore a helmet surfing, but something that morning told him it was a good idea.听 He ended up driven into the reef with so much force that the impact split his helmet in half. Lenny was somehow able to get himself to shore, but he was badly concussed, and has virtually no memory of the incident. He spent months recovering and dealing with all of the nightmarish brain-injury symptoms you hear about from NFL players. It鈥檚 almost certain that and the debate about wearing a surf helmet has picked up since then.

That said, surf helmets aren鈥檛 actually all that new. Surfers have been wearing them at hard-bottom breaks since at least the early 鈥�90s. Australia鈥檚 Tom Carroll famously wore a helmet during his dominant performance at the 1991 Pipeline Masters contest. Takayuki Wakita, Naohisa Ogawa, and Atsushi Imamura were a trio of legendary Japanese chargers who all donned helmets. Even more recently, France鈥檚 Jeremey Flores and Australia鈥檚 Owen Wright each won first place while wearing helmets in the Tahiti Pro (also held at Teahupo驶o) in 2015 and 2019, respectively. So, surf helmet use is by no means unprecedented, but it鈥檚 never been common, which is why seeing nearly half of the surfers at the Olympics feels like something of a sea change moment.

The Gath Eva Hat helmet ($169) (Photo: Courtesy Gath)

Anatomy of a Surf Helmet

Broadly speaking, there are two types of surf helmets: Soft and hard-shell. As the name suggests, hard helmets have a plastic shell on the outside with a layer (or multiple layers) of foam underneath. These are more akin to bike helmets and ski/snowboard helmets. Most are uniform round shells for less drag in the water, with significant ports around the ears to prevent water from accumulating there. The soft helmets look a bit more like something you鈥檇 see in a martial arts competition. While they鈥檙e lighter and more comfortable, they also don鈥檛 offer quite as much protection. As far as I could tell, everybody in the Olympics contest was wearing variations of the hard-shell design.

The three biggest players in the surf helmet game are and hard shells, and . Gath helmets look not-unlike bowling balls, with bits of ventilation here and there, and they typically go for $170-$190, depending on the model. They offer solid protection for the top, back, and sides of your head. Simba helmets go a bit further, with helmets that stretch downward from the sides to cover more of the sensitive jawline, which gives them more of an intense gladiator look. They go for about $200. ($79) offers the least protection, but it鈥檚 made with a soft, non-absorbent foam to keep it from getting waterlogged. It鈥檚 also the lightest and one of the cheapest options.

There are other brands that make surf helmets as well, and it鈥檚 not unusual to see kayak-helmets used for surf. Kai Lenny is now developing his own surf helmet, which will have carbon fiber. Like bike helmets, plastic surf helmets are actually designed to break on impact to help diffuse the energy of the blow. Carbon fiber breaks, too, but as it does it distributes the force more evenly around the entire shell, theoretically decreasing the energy transferred to your skull and brain. There’s no word yet on the timing of its release or how much it will cost.

Some Olympians, like Defay, were wearing what appeared to be bike helmets in the lineup, with cutouts all over them for ventilation and drainage. They had some ear coverage, too, so I don鈥檛 believe they were literally bike helmets, but the point is any protection may be better than nothing if you鈥檙e heading into some heavy water.

To Wear or Not to Wear?

There are a few reasons helmets aren’t ubiquitous at the beach, though. While it鈥檚 universal that it鈥檚 preferable to have a helmet on if you鈥檙e going to hit a hard object such as a reef, a rock, a surfboard, or even a hard-packed sand bottom, those are still thankfully rare occasions. What you are almost guaranteed to encounter in every surf session, however, is turbulence when duck-diving or tumbling in the whitewater, and that鈥檚 where surf helmets may actually be a disadvantage. Because they increase the relative mass of your head, that means more torque on your neck when it鈥檚 being pushed around underwater, which could potentially increase your chances of getting neck-strain or whiplash. That鈥檚 one of the reasons you want to make sure you absolutely nail the sizing, and wear it as tightly yet comfortably as you can. The helmet can act like a sea-parachute and pull your neck back if too much water gets inside.

The other reason is the cool factor, or lack thereof. A lot of surfers are afraid that wearing a helmet will make them look like a kook. It鈥檚 worth noting, though, that helmets were practically non-existent at ski resorts through the 1990s, yet now they鈥檙e everywhere, regularly worn by pros, and nobody thinks twice when they see them. There were so many notable surf-related brain injuries this year that I think we鈥檒l see more influential pro surfers get on board. Jamie O鈥橞rien, Koa Smith, and Kai Lenny are all notable proponents, and as demand grows, the helmets will continue to evolve and improve.

Personally, I鈥檓 going to pick one up myself. I probably won鈥檛 wear it on smaller days, or at my local beach break, but the next time I paddle out when it鈥檚 big and heavy, and there are lots of rocks around, it will give me peace of mind to have my noggin protected. I actually started snowboarding better once I wore a helmet regularly, so who knows鈥攎aybe that will happen in the waves, too.

The post Yep, Surfers Wear Helmets at the Olympics Now appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

For those of us who try to spend our dollars on more environmentally-friendly gear, there is an uncomfortable truth that we don鈥檛 like admitting: Sometimes, these products don鈥檛 perform as well as their planet-killing counterparts. Now, that鈥檚 not always the case, but too often we鈥檙e faced with a choice between performance and sustainability, and unfortunately, that has long been the case for wetsuits. As a surfer, I鈥檓 happy to report that the days of compromise are finally over. Patagonia鈥檚 new and improved Regulator wetsuit successfully blends performance and sustainability.

Patagonia, founded by California surfer and environmental activist Yvon Chouinard, has long sought to make wetsuits more eco-friendly by shirking traditional neoprene (traditionally derived from crude oil or limestone) in favor of more sustainable materials. Since 2012, the brand has been predominantly using Yulex, a brand name of natural rubber derived from the sap of sustainably-grown rubber trees, in its Regulator wetsuits.

While Yulex sounded great in theory, the performance has historically left much to be desired. I had a Regulator wetsuit from Patagonia鈥檚 previous generation, and it was noticeably stiffer than my traditional neoprene wetsuit. Every paddle stroke I took felt like I was pulling against a resistance band (albeit a light one). It also leaked at the seams in my lower legs, was tougher to get on and off, heavier, and dried slower, too.

The new version of Patagonia鈥檚 Regulator wetsuits solved effectively all of those problems. The company spent four years developing and testing the new suits (twice as long as its usual release schedule due to COVID-19 related slowdowns), and that extra time really paid off.

Patagonia Yulex Regulator Wetsuit

Available models: Lite (2 mm) to R5 (6.5 mm/5 mm), in front and back-zip options
Materials: 85% Yulex natural rubber plus recycled fabrics for jersey
Weight: 2.5 lbs (R1); 3.5 lbs for R3
Size range: Men’s S – XXL; Women’s 4-12

Pros and Cons:
鈯� Very flexible, warm, and comfortable
鈯� Improved seams don鈥檛 leak and are easily repaired
鈯� Dries quickly
鈯� One of the most eco-friendly wetsuits on the market
鈯� Issues with the zipper engaging
鈯� Issues with flushing and chafe around the neck
鈯� Limited range of sizes for women

When you buy through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission. This supports our mission to get more people active and outside.听Learn more.

While Patagonia鈥檚 Regulator suits aren鈥檛 made entirely with natural rubber鈥攏o wetsuit today is鈥攖hey do incorporate a new mix of 85 percent natural rubber, plus 15 percent of a processed synthetic rubber compound which gives the resulting foam enough stretch, strength, and UV-resistance to withstand the rigors of life as a wetsuit. Patagonia claims the newest version of these suits are 20-percent stretchier than the last. This is partially due to improvements in the foam rubber manufacturing process, and partially because the liners in the new suits have changed from nylon to polyester, with a slightly increased amount of Spandex, too.

I compared the new R1 (what Patagonia calls its 3mm/2.5mm line) to the last version by grabbing the sleeves in the same place and pulling each to the same length. While not perfectly scientific, I would estimate that the new suits did indeed require roughly 20-percent less energy to stretch the same distance, and that puts them right on par with my traditional neoprene suits. Not only does that reduce fatigue while paddling, but it makes getting it on and off easier, too.

Patagonia also redesigned the seams to address the leaking issues in the previous model, moving them slightly from high-wear areas and adding more curves to them so there鈥檚 less stress on them when they鈥檙e stretched. This simple change has made the new version one of the least leaky wetsuits I鈥檝e ever tested.

When seams do have to be repaired, the job is much easier now. Patagonia removed the external liquid seal in the new Regulator, which had a tendency to crack and wasn鈥檛 fully repairable, leaving the company to replace defective wetsuits more often. According to Patagonia, the number of repairs is down a whopping 70-percent year to date.

These are all massive improvements, but the new Regulator still doesn鈥檛 get perfect marks across the board. For starters, there鈥檚 the zipper. I got the chest-zip version of the suit in both R1 and R3 thicknesses, and for both it was really tough to get the zipper to initially engage properly. This is quite annoying when your hands are cold and the waves are firing. I also found that the neck chafed me a bit more than wetsuits normally do (which made me wonder if it was too tight), yet it was also slightly more prone to flushing at the neck (which made me wonder if it鈥檚 too loose). It鈥檚 possible that that鈥檚 just the way my specific neck fits with the wetsuit, and the chafing didn鈥檛 happen every session, but it鈥檚 something to note.

While the stretch is immensely improved from the last version, it still isn鈥檛 quite on the same level as the super-high-end performance suits out there. At least the ones built with flexibility as the main feature, such as line. That said, for everybody but pros, it is more than flexible enough.

Then there鈥檚 the price: These are still some of the most expensive suits on the market. The R1 Regulator (3mm/2.5mm) comes in at $479, while the R3 Regulator (4.5mm/3.5mm) starts at $539. That鈥檚 roughly comparable to the high-end offerings from other surf brands ( line comes in at $520 and $540 for comparable thicknesses), but those companies typically have more affordable entry-level suits for people who are just starting out or are on a tighter budget (often under $200), and Patagonia only has the one line.

Also, strangely, these suits are available in ten different sizes for men, but only five different sizes for women. That鈥檚 despite women generally having more variation in terms of body-type than men. So if women don鈥檛 happen to fit one of those five then they鈥檒l have to look at other brands, which is a shame.

All that said, I wouldn鈥檛 hesitate to recommend the newest Regulator suits to fellow surfers. I spent most of the winter and spring surfing in the R3 then the R1 as it got warmer, logging over 40 days up and down the California coast in water temperatures ranging from 49 to 64 degrees F, and both have lived up to their claimed temperature ratings, performed well, and held up admirably. They鈥檙e very comfortable, don鈥檛 wear me out like the last version did, and they dry faster, too.

So yes, these wetsuits still cost a premium, but the performance finally lives up to the price, and they鈥檙e easier on the planet, too.

The post Patagonia Finally Made a Natural Rubber Wetsuit That Works appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

There鈥檚 a saying in Iceland that鈥檚 sort of the country鈥檚 unofficial motto: 脼etta reddast (sounds like 鈥渢hetta rettast鈥�). Like so many Icelandic words there isn鈥檛 a direct translation into English, but the essence of it is, 鈥淓hhh, it鈥檒l be fine…鈥� My good friend , who lives in Reykjavik, tells me, 鈥淚t鈥檚 a big part of our national identity. It鈥檚 what we say when we鈥檙e rolling with what鈥檚 going on, in the face of any kind of adversity.鈥� It鈥檚 not as passive as it sounds, though. Rather, it鈥檚 about accepting the things you can鈥檛 control, and pivoting to adapt and alter the things you can.

This is sage advice for first-timers visiting one of the most rugged and remote island countries in the world. To call the weather 鈥渦npredictable鈥� would be generous, and you never know what strange obstacles you might encounter鈥攈ello, volcanoes. There have been ongoing eruptions in the town of Grindavik in southern Iceland and tourists have been advised to avoid that area. But the rest of the country is open and if you鈥檙e willing to embody the 脼etta reddast spirit, you鈥檒l have an incredible time in an otherworldly place, especially if you鈥檙e game to travel to Iceland in the off-season.

In October, I finally went to scope it out for myself. My aforementioned buddy P茅tur was born and raised in Iceland before moving to California where he and I became friends in high school. He moved back during the pandemic, so I took the rare opportunity to see this majestic place through a local鈥檚 eyes. I spent two weeks traveling all over with him and other friends, pivoting a lot, experiencing weird weather, taking thousands of photos, and having an absolute blast. Here鈥檚 what I learned.

Why Travel to Iceland in the Shoulder Season?

An Icelandic adventure in the off-season (roughly autumn and spring) has a few distinct advantages:

It鈥檚 markedly cheaper.

While flights to Iceland are usually reasonable (I flew , which has a ton of direct flights from the U.S.), life on the ground can be pretty pricey. Accommodations, rental vehicles, tours, and just about everything that isn鈥檛 edible is less expensive if you don鈥檛 go during the summertime rush.

There are a heck of a lot less people.

Speaking of rush, you will see noticeably fewer tourists in the off-season. That translates to less-crowded trails, better photographs, and critically, easier last-minute bookings鈥攌ey to your ability to adapt to changing conditions and still get the most out of your trip. More on that in a bit.

You actually get to see the Aurora Borealis.

You can usually only view the Northern Lights in the off-season. Iceland is so far north that during the summer high-season, the sky never gets dark enough for the aurora borealis to be visible. Iceland is one of the best places on the entire planet to see the lights, so if that鈥檚 on your bucket list, then bundle up and visit in the off season. (Stay tuned for specific recommendations on where to view them.)

Know Before You Go: Tips for Shoulder-Season Visits

Of course, visiting Iceland during shoulder season isn鈥檛 without its challenges. First and foremost, there鈥檚 the weather. Battered by the Atlantic Ocean just south of the Arctic Circle, you鈥檙e more likely to encounter rain, snow, and the notorious wind in colder months. Days are shorter, too, so you鈥檒l want to get after it early.

Gear You Should Pack for Iceland

Layers will most definitely be your friend. And bring plenty. My daily outfit consisted of:

• Thermal tops and bottoms
• Thick wool hiking socks
• Pair of
• Smartwool hoodie
• (also a good windblocker)
• Pair of
• Super-warm wind/rain-proof
• Wind-proof

With that kit, I was plenty toasty even when the rain came down nearly sideways.

Get Your Tech Dialed: Oh, and make sure you bring a power adapter, because Iceland uses European plugs. I鈥檇 recommend grabbing at least one or two, plus an extension cord with a three-way splitter so you can charge up more gadgets at once.

Now, the fun stuff.

Getting Around Iceland: The Best Transportation Options

Iceland is one of those countries where you really want to have your own wheels. There are buses here and there, but if you鈥檙e chasing rugged adventures, vehicular autonomy is a must. Of course you could join a tour group, but then you’re stuck with someone else鈥檚 agenda and schedule, and you鈥檒l likely be surrounded by tourists.

Be Sure to Rent the Right Rig

Selecting a vehicle plays a significant role in where you can and can鈥檛 go. Once the colder months hit, the roads get icy and snowy. Even if you plan to stay in hotels and avoid sleeping in your vehicle, I strongly recommend you rent a rig with all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive that has burly tires to match and that comes with ample clearance. This will enable you to drive safely off the beaten path and check out more of the country, with even fewer tourists around during the day. (As a starting point, check out , which features a fleet of different 4WD-equipped Toyotas starting from $84 per day.)

For a Bed on Wheels, Consider a Campervan or 4X4 with a Rooftop Tent

Cruising around Iceland by campervan or a rig with a rooftop tent is another solid option. You鈥檒l see tons of these on the road, as most outdoor adventure enthusiasts go this route. There are a lot of cool camp spots all around the island, and combining your accommodations with your wheels can be a huge cost saver. Just make sure the van you鈥檙e renting has some sort of heater (diesel or propane) and make sure it has AWD or 4WD (again, plus rugged tires and clearance). If you opt for a rooftop tent, make sure you visit in the (warmer) colder months, like September and May, otherwise sleeping on top of your car in winds and frigid temps will be brutal otherwise.

No matter what, read reviews of your outfitter before you commit, because some offer SOS services鈥攊n varying degrees of reliability鈥攁nd you don鈥檛 want to deal with a breakdown when you’re deep in Iceland鈥檚 backcountry.

Most campervans and roof tent rigs come with bedding, a camp kitchen, stove and fuel, and a plug-in cooler, all of which help facilitate maximum autonomy. For a small upcharge, you can opt for a WiFi router, which makes booking last-minute campsites and navigation easier. (As a starting point, check out for rooftop tent and campervan options. Prices vary.)

Stay on Top of Your Road Conditions Beta

Whichever vehicle you choose, the shows up-to-date road conditions and closures, and will save you essential time.

And be careful out there. Know your driving skills, and the limits of the vehicle you鈥檙e renting, and make sure the tires have tread that can handle the conditions you鈥檒l encounter. If in doubt, don鈥檛 be an idiot and drive it.

Eating in Iceland: Always Expensive, Rarely Fantastic

Now would be a good time to mention food, and it鈥檚 not great news. For starters, grub in Iceland is almost universally pricey, owing largely to the fact that nearly everything has to be imported. It鈥檚 also not exactly a foodie haven (with some notable exceptions), so I鈥檇 recommend stocking up at a supermarket, like Bonus or Kr贸nan, before you leave Reykjavik. Aside from staples like PB&J, grab an assortment of Icelandic yogurt (a.k.a. skyr). It鈥檚 delicious.

Don鈥檛 miss the cod jerky, either, which my friend P茅tur says is commonly dragged across a tub of Icelandic butter when you eat it. (I tried it, and can confirm it鈥檚 indeed tasty.) I also found the sweetest, crunchiest carrots I鈥檝e ever had in my life, and you鈥檒l want to try (or at least force yourself to try) the divisive, salted black licorice (aka salmiakbitar) the island is famous for.

When You Arrive in Iceland

You鈥檒l land at Keflav铆k International Airport. If you鈥檙e coming from the U.S. you鈥檒l likely arrive early in the morning on a red-eye, and may be very discombobulated. If so, and you鈥檝e got the time, take it easy on your first day there by checking out the Reykjanes peninsula. Then, head to Reykjavik to scope out some of the museums and cultural sites (see below for specifics).

Must-Dos on the Reykjanes Peninsula

The 40-minute drive from the airport to the capital city is also absolutely stunning. You鈥檒l pass fields of lava rock that seem to go on forever, and zip by the Instagram-famous . (Note: every Icelandic person I met rolled their eyes at it, though. It鈥檚 pretty, but overpriced, from $72, and loaded with tourists. It may also be closed depending on nearby volcanic eruptions.)

If you somehow manage to sleep on the plane and want to hit the ground running, there are a ton of cool spots right on the Reykjanes peninsula before you get to Reykjavik. Don鈥檛 miss:

• Selt煤n Geothermal Area, with sulfury, bubbling, steaming mineral pools
• Kr铆suv铆kurberg Cliffs, with a sheer drop into the pounding ocean below. (It鈥檚 so abrupt it looks like the ground just snapped off.)
• Reykjanes Lighthouse, right next to the beautiful rocky shore of Valahn煤kam枚l鈥攂oth well worth exploring.

I had an absolutely incredible lobster soup at the Caf茅 Bryggjan in Grindav铆k, but unfortunately between then and writing this piece, a cluster of earthquakes and several nearby volcanic eruptions has effectively brought the quaint fishing village to its knees. The town literally sunk several feet and now has a deep, 1.2-mile long fissure running through the middle of it. Its future is currently unknown. Again, why you have to be ready to adapt in Iceland.

Explore Iceland鈥檚 Capital: What to See and Do in Reykjavik

Hit Up a Street Vendor or Restaurant for a Hot Dog: When you get to Reykjavik, first things first: Get yourself a hot dog. I regret to inform you, my fellow Americans, that we have been surpassed in hotdoggery, and not by a little. Icelandic dogs have crispy fried onions, multiple sauces, soft buns, and snappy wieners. I ate them almost every day.

Scope Out the Historic Downtown: Work off the hotdogs by checking out the historic downtown area on foot. The Einar J贸nsson Museum features some statues that would make Rodin jealous, and there鈥檚 a lot to see around the waterfront, including the massive Harpa Concert Hall.

Visit a Real Locals鈥� Hot Spring: If you鈥檙e craving some hot spring action, check out one of the dozens of public pools (like , for roughly $10 per entry) in Reykjavik. No, they鈥檙e not glamorous like the aforementioned Blue Lagoon, but all of the heating in Iceland (including hot water) comes from geothermal activity. The water is high in mineral content and it鈥檚 deeply soothing. The pools are a massive part of the culture there and they feature several hot tubs at different temperatures, saunas, cold plunges, and even some waterslides.

Just make sure you adhere closely to the showering instructions (i.e. shower naked beforehand and wash your whole body with soap). The waters there are considered sacred to the locals, and disrespecting them by not following pre-soak protocol is one of the rare ways to piss Icelanders off. The public pools are also for socializing, and you鈥檙e likely to meet some friendly folks who may offer you insider tips. Effectively everybody in Iceland speaks English, but if you learn a few basic phrases in Icelandic before you show up, it鈥檒l go a long way.

Dine Out on Lamb Stew: For dinner, grab yourself lamb stew (known as Kj枚ts煤pa, an Icelandic specialty), and pass out for the night before you hit the road bright and early.

The Shoulder-Season 国产吃瓜黑料 Itinerary for Iceland Newbies

As cool as Reykjavik is, that鈥檚 not what you came for, is it? Here鈥檚 what I did. My play-by-ear trip turned into a nice little loop through the west and south, though I recommend you use these ideas more for activity inspiration as opposed to an exact prescription. After all, no two days in the shoulder season are the same and there are endless possibilities. Here were my highlights:

Day 1: Hit Up Some Waterfalls and Hot Springs

Out of the city, our first big stop was Barnafoss, a couple hours northeast of Reykjavik, an utterly massive conglomeration of waterfalls. (FYI, 鈥渇oss鈥� means waterfall in Icelandic.) If there鈥檚 wind, wear your waterproof layers because the mist will soak you to the bone. It鈥檚 almost overwhelming to see so many waterfalls from one vantage point, and it鈥檚 an excellent place to work on your long exposure photography. (I recommend a tripod and a variable ND filter, along with a few absorbent lens-wipes.)

From there, we backtracked 20 minutes west and hit the natural hot springs at ($50). It鈥檚 not as Instagrammable as the Blue Lagoon (phones are actually discouraged at both), but you鈥檒l find a nice array of geothermally heated tubs and saunas, along with traditional cold plunges. Plus, the mountainscape views are lovely.

Then, head west and drive out onto the Sn忙fellsnes Peninsula. It鈥檚 a 55-mile strip of land that is basically a photographic sample platter of Iceland, including lava fields, waterfalls, epic black sand beaches, fjord views, hot springs, and the imposing Snaefellsj枚kull glacier volcano. I found the lava fields to be particularly gripping, with bright green moss covering an endless sea of black boulders.

We spent that night at the (鈥淥h hell nar,鈥�) which was modest but clean, and it had some gorgeous ocean views (from $125 USD a night in the off-season).

Day 2: Hike the Rugged Coastline

From there we set out to the western tip of the Sn忙fellsnes Peninsula stopping at a few viewpoints around Londrangar, where you can stand atop some of the most rugged coastline you鈥檒l ever see, featuring massive blue waves pounding jagged volcanic rock spires.

Make your way down to Dj煤pal贸nssandur Beach and the Dj煤pal贸n Lagoon, where you can hike along a shore covered with smooth, marble-like pebbles and a pool that looks like a prehistoric creature could emerge from it at any moment. This whole area gives strong 鈥淟and Before Time鈥� vibes.

After that, we headed back east along the northern border of the peninsula, stopping at the stunning B忙jarfoss waterfall just outside of 脫lafsv铆k. My buddy P茅tur didn鈥檛 even get out of his car for that one. There are roughly 10,000 waterfalls in Iceland, many of them jaw-dropping, and apparently this wasn鈥檛 that exciting by his local standards.

We also swung by the S煤gandisey Island Lighthouse, on the northernmost part of the peninsula, where we were greeted with a rainbow, and intense wind. We spent that night at the in Borgarnes (from $250), where I had a deliciously savory lamb steak for dinner.

Day 3: Trek to Less-Visited, Off-Road Waterfalls

Our next day was all about chasing more waterfalls. The first stop? The small but isolated Fitjarfoss. We were the only ones there, and it was incredibly tranquil. That was just a warmup, though, for the far more challenging four-mile hike to Glymur Falls, which is the second tallest waterfall in the country, at a staggering 650 feet. It鈥檚 a slippery and steep hike that involves at least one river crossing and a few scrambles over significant exposure鈥攚e鈥檙e talking hundreds of feet straight down to the rocky river below. It鈥檚 not for the faint of heart, but absolutely gorgeous on the ascent.

Unfortunately, the crossing was washed out when we visited, so we hiked up the near side of the river as far as we could go. Luckily, P茅tur had a drone that could fly the rest of the way and get some great shots. Still, it was 100% worth it.

We then made our way to a gorgeous complex of outdoor hot springs called (from roughly $35 per adult). It鈥檚 right on Laugarvatn Lake so we alternated between hot soaks and saunas and natural icy plunges鈥攖he perfect remedy for our aching joints.

Day 4: Visit the Highlights of the Golden Circle

The next part of our plan was to take a ferry out to the stunning Westman Islands, but nature had other ideas. 60 mph winds and 18-foot sea swells not only made the passage unappealing, but impossible, as ferry service was canceled for several days. But this is where having more options in shoulder season really comes in clutch. We were able to cancel all our reservations, and because virtually every hotel in the country had vacancies, we just headed away from the wind.

We bet that the harsher weather would equal fewer tourists, so we hit some of the more popular spots along the famous Golden Circle鈥攖he most visited day-trip-style route outside of Reykjavik, if you don’t have time to drive the whole Ring Road around the island.

This portion of our trip included visiting the absolutely massive, Niagara-ish waterfall, Gullfoss. Sure, there were still plenty of tourists, and the wind stirred up the mist which made it feel like it was raining, but it鈥檚 a breathtaking thing to behold.

Nearby, there鈥檚 also Geysir, which鈥攆un fact鈥攊s the geyser that gave all other geysers their name. It鈥檚 Icelandic for 鈥渢o gush.鈥� It鈥檚 only erupted twice in the last 25 years, but the adjacent Strokkur geyser goes off roughly every 10 minutes about 60 to 120 feet into the air, and still puts on a killer show. The whole area has a lot of cool geothermal features with a sort of Icelandic Yellowstone vibe, and you can hike all around the area to get a bunch of vantage points.

It’s also well worth visiting , a stunning area where all the old clans of Iceland used to meet annually to decide the laws and policies for the upcoming year. It also has a lake, waterfalls, and a museum with tons of artifacts. This place is steeped in history (some of it tragic) and is a sacred place to Icelanders, so be on your best, most respectful behavior here.

Day 5: Surf Your Heart Out

Surfing the Icelandic coast was one bucket-list item I thought I鈥檇 never get to check off. In the weeks leading up to my trip, though, I started reading articles about how the best, most-consistent wave in the whole country was at risk of being demolished. The point at 脼orl谩ksh枚fn (near Thorli Beach) is an incredible, peeling right-hander that just goes and goes like a good day at Malibu. Unlike Malibu, though, you鈥檙e likely to have four, not 400, other people in the lineup. It鈥檚 been a secret spot for ages, but the mayor of the town of 脼orl谩ksh枚fn (and other city council members) seem intent on filling it in with boulders to make room for more warehouses around an expanded harbor. So the local surfers decided it鈥檚 better to tell the world than risk its destruction. Unfortunately, the town started filling it in already, despite not yet having environmental permits to alter the coastline, and that has abruptly cut off the end section of the wave. It鈥檚 tragic. Watch more on the save-the-wave initiative, here:

I reached out to Steinarr L谩r, one of the surfers leading the fight to save the wave that is at the very center of Icelandic surf culture and community. He was gracious enough to lend me a board, a thick wetsuit, booties, and gloves, though if you want to experience surfing Iceland for yourself, link up with , which organizes surf tours (starting from $350 per day) and can provide you with everything you鈥檒l need. They鈥檙e also deeply involved in activism surrounding the wave.

After suiting up in the parking lot, I scrambled over about 80 yards of slippery, seaweed-covered boulders, and then it was pure magic. The waves were between three and four feet tall, with a gentle paddle in, and they ran for nearly a full minute (apparently longer on bigger days). The locals were friendly, the wetsuit kept me plenty warm, and we all got enough waves to turn our arms to spaghetti.

It鈥檚 an incredible natural resource, and the idea of it being filled in to fill a few people鈥檚 pockets is frankly outrageous, in my opinion. Go surf it while you can and spread the word.

Days 6 and 7: Treat Yourself to a Northern Lights Wake-Up Call

After roughing it for several days, I decided to opt for some luxury. My friend P茅tur, who works for a , says that whenever people鈥檚 top priority is seeing the Northern Lights, he books them at the (pronounced ron-cow, from $340 per night in shoulder season) because it鈥檚 sort of isolated on a big dark plane. Think: 360-degree views. It also has an observatory for stargazing when the lights aren鈥檛 visible, and there鈥檚 a button on your phone to order a wake-up call in the middle of the night should the lights pop up. It was easily the nicest place I stayed during my entire trip, and it鈥檚 a perfect base camp for all south-coast adventures.

Iceland鈥檚 version of upscale is different from what you might expect, coming from the U.S. If you have Four Seasons or Ritz expectations, you may be surprised to find that things are a bit more low-key here. Hotel Rang谩 is still very nice, but it鈥檚 more rustic and minimalist鈥攁t least in the more basic rooms. (The master suites are each decked out like a different continent and they went all-out.)

That said, its restaurant featured the tastiest food I ate the entire time, with exquisite, tender lamb, fish, and even reindeer carpaccio. They can also organize a candle-lit dinner in a grass-covered cave that used to be an ancient dwelling centuries ago. It鈥檚 a must-stay, and wouldn鈥檛 you know it, despite none being forecast, we managed to see the aurora on two of the nights we crashed there.

My phone rang around 11 P.M. and I was told the lights were visible. I had pre-arranged many layers of clothes and all my camera gear, just in case. So I threw it all on, rushed out the door, and wow, the sky was lit up with waving, green curtains. There鈥檚 a river and a pond behind the hotel, so I played with reflections in my photos, and hooted in joy as colorful ribbons raced over the roof of the hotel. Truly, there鈥檚 no other life experience like it.

Bonus: Get Off Road to Tackle Far-Flung Backcountry 国产吃瓜黑料s

For the last few days of my trip, I wanted to get into some of the places where my friend鈥檚 little AWD hatchback couldn鈥檛 take me, so I linked up with (also recommended by my friend鈥檚 company). We did three expeditions in three days, and each of them got me way off the beaten path. Separately, from that, I also rode some Icelandic horses. Here鈥檚 how all of that went:

Take a Buggy Tour into the Wilderness

This is one of the best ways to really get out there away from everybody else. These 鈥渂uggies鈥� are two-seat 4X4 ATVs complete with roll cages, and we headed out to Emstrur, which was an all-day adventure on dirt roads, crossing a dozen small creeks. There were waterfalls, glaciers, and stunning rock formations throughout these mountains, and we didn鈥檛 see anybody else on the long road. (Full day tours start at roughly $660, but they also have one-hour and 2.5-hour options.)

Explore the Katla Ice Caves

The next day was my favorite expedition, a trek out to explore the Katla Ice Caves (from $205 per person). This is an ever-changing system of ice caves at the end of the Myrdalsjokull glacier. It included a massive ice-arch big enough to fly a decent sized plane through, as well as the chance to explore deep into otherworldly tunnels made of light blue ice, with streams and waterfalls flowing through them.

We even got to do a bit of ice climbing. You鈥檒l be provided with crampons, so make sure you bring boots sturdy enough to support them (this was the one day my Altras weren鈥檛 quite up to the task). On the way back we visited three more jaw-dropping waterfalls, including Gljufrabui鈥攚hich is hidden in a narrow slot canyon鈥攁nd Seljalandsfoss, which you can hike behind for some stunning canyon views.

Cruise Around Landmannalaugar

The last day there was spent exploring in what is affectionately known in Iceland as a SuperJeep (starting around $300). It wasn鈥檛 actually a jeep at all, but a kitted out 4WD Mercedes Sprinter van. We went deep into the interior highlands of Landmannalaugar, exploring paths cut by glaciers and massive extinct craters. Of course, there were more waterfalls (just countless!), but my highlight was a gorgeous natural hot spring in the middle of the Fjallabak Nature Reserve. It was the perfect way to relax at the end of a long trip.

Ride Iceland鈥檚 Famous Wild Horses

Of course, that isn鈥檛 the only way to relax. From Rang谩 you鈥檙e just a quick drive to the coast, or if you want something you truly can鈥檛 find anywhere else, go to (rides start around $85/person). Iceland鈥檚 horses have been isolated on the island for more than 1,000 years and they have evolved in unique ways, including developing stout bodies, luscious manes, and two specific gaits that only they can perform. They鈥檙e incredibly smooth to ride and it鈥檚 a fun way to see the grasslands of this stunning country.

Heliski Iceland鈥檚 Big Peaks March to June

There鈥檚 one more adventure I鈥檇 be remiss if I didn鈥檛 mention: heliskiing or snowboarding from the top of a peak to the shore of the Arctic Ocean. And you can do it with the boutique operation. Based on the far north side of the island, this outfitter offers everything from three to six-day packages that include meals, rentals, avalanche gear, airport transfers, and luxurious accommodations at the . (Prices start at roughly $7,200 per person for the three-day package.)

Tragically, I didn鈥檛 get to do this myself (yet!), but from speaking with those who have (and feasting my eyes on photos and video), the terrain you鈥檒l encounter up there is unlike anywhere else. The mountain surfaces tend to be smooth and steep, so they hold powder well and allow for massive, open-faced carves. You鈥檙e guaranteed 15,000 vertical feet a day (which is more than you get at most heliski operations), and some runs will take you all the way down to the beach. At night you can enjoy the hotel鈥檚 hot tubs, saunas, and the Northern Lights if your timing is right. The season starts in mid-March and goes until mid-June (where you may be able to ski as late as midnight). Dreamy, indeed.

The Bottom Line: I鈥檓 in Love with Off-Season Iceland

Perhaps you鈥檝e gathered this much already, but Iceland blew my mind. And now, I really only want to come back during shoulder season. Yes, the weather was tough at times, and sure, not every road was accessible, but traveling during the shoulder season saved me money and paved the way for a better experience. Plus, you simply can鈥檛 beat having far fewer tourists around. So bundle up, plan ahead, and if you have to adapt a little? Well, 脼etta reddast鈥�

Brent Rose has been covering adventure and gear for 国产吃瓜黑料 for more than a decade. When he鈥檚 not writing, you can find him surfing, snowboarding, hiking, or camping, usually somewhere in California. He’s also on Instagram at or his website at brentrose.com.

The post Why You Should Go to Iceland in the Off-Season appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

By now you probably know that Black Rock City, Nevada鈥攖he site of the annual Burning Man arts and music festival鈥攖urned into one gigantic mud puddle this past weekend. Perhaps you even leaned into the internet schadenfreude, knowing that some 70,000 burners鈥攎yself included鈥攚ere stuck in the mud, and rejoiced in our misery. Yes, I鈥檝e seen the memes. I鈥檓 a sometimes-burner who also enjoys making fun of my cohort. I get it. Even as I sat there in a cold, flooded tent I got it. So, as one of the thousands of people who were stuck there, let me give you an inside view of what went down.

I wasn鈥檛 even supposed to be there this year. I鈥檝e been to Burning Man a half dozen times since 2005, but never two years in a row.听I didn鈥檛 think it could get any rougher than last year, which was the hottest, dustiest year that anyone could remember. There had been a white-out dust storm on the day of the 2022 burn, and so we spent the whole day in our tents, in 100-degree heat, with all our vents closed, which turned them into ovens. It was the single most miserable day I鈥檇 ever experienced there, and I had no interest in repeating that in 2023.

But then, one by one, a bunch of close friends decided they were going. So, when I saw a ticket being sold for $140 (down from $575), I thought, what the hell, I鈥檒l just go for two or three days. Plus, the weather was looking mild: highs in the 80s and lower 90s Fahrenheit, lows in the upper 40s, and clear skies every day.

The meteorologists who forecasted that can burn in hell.

My buddy Bill and I got in Wednesday, August 30, around noon, and everything was as good as we鈥檇 hoped. A few weeks prior,听Tropical Storm Hilary had flooded Black Rock City. While that made for a rough few days for the crews setting up,听it meant that the playa (i.e. the dry lake bed, which is made of a fine, alkaline dirt) was perfectly tamped down. There wasn鈥檛 a ton of dust flying around, and unlike last year there were no big sand traps just waiting to grab the wheels of your bike and take you down. My campmates and I were having a great time, and I was finally feeling like I was back in sync with the energy there.

Then it started to rain.

When we woke up late Friday morning it was cold and windy. I鈥檇 never felt temperatures that chilly听during the daytime there. People around me, some of whom had attended dozens of times, agreed. It was eerie. A handful of friends left that morning to get back to their kids, disappointed that they had to leave early. We had no idea how quickly the roles would reverse. It started raining around noon, while a couple of us were out riding bikes. The wind picked up, too. We stopped into various bars to warm up, but once it started coming down harder we made the call to get back to camp and make sure our tents were all buttoned up. By that point the playa surface was becoming sticky and our bike tires were flinging lumps of mud into our thighs as we rode. (I was wearing golden booty-shorts, obviously).

My friends and I camp on the farthest edge of the city, in an area known as Walk-Ins, because you park your car on the last road and drag your stuff in as far as you want to go. It takes you longer to get to the action within the city, but it鈥檚 a lot quieter, and tents are nicely spread out. Once we got back there, five of us huddled in one tent and made cocktails while we waited for the storm鈥搘hich hadn鈥檛 been in the forecast鈥搕o pass, as we were sure it would soon.

Hours went by, and the steady, driving rain continued. During the late summer the playa typically has a dry, cracked texture. Looking out of my friend鈥檚 tent I could see that those cracks had filled in with water and deep puddles had formed. News came through via FM radio that organizers had issued a do-not-drive order, and that people were being asked to shelter in place. The ground had never fully dried after Hilary, and now it was completely saturated again. I stepped out to check on my tent, and my shoes sank several inches into the wet clay. With every step my shoes accumulated more mud.听I had planned to pack up and leave the next morning, but it quickly became clear that that would not be happening. Suddenly, this was an ordeal, but we were treated to one of the most epic double rainbows I鈥檝e ever seen.

Inside my tent, there were puddles of standing water at all six corners. I was using a first-generation , which I had included in 翱耻迟蝉颈诲别鈥檚 Burning Man Gear Guide back in 2016. Other friends in my camp had second and third generation Shiftpods, and evidently the company had improved the waterproofing, because their floors were damp but there were no puddles. I spent the next couple of hours trying to move items out of harm鈥檚 way. My inflatable bed was the only thing that wasn鈥檛 soaked, and so eventually I curled up and went to sleep, but not before taking a few photos of the outside world. It looked like my crew鈥檚 tents were floating on the surface of a lake, reflections and all.

On Saturday morning I spent several hours using my one towel to sop up pools of water. The ground under my tent was so soft that I left footprints on the floor with every step. My suitcase full of clothes had been sitting in a puddle that I didn鈥檛 know existed, so I had no dry socks, shirts, or underwear. My power supply (an old Goal Zero Yeti 400) had blown its inverter before it even started raining, so I couldn鈥檛 charge my phone. It didn鈥檛 matter, though, because I had no reception, and while someone from my little camp had brought a Starlink satellite internet system, his generator had shorted out in the rain and he hadn鈥檛 been able to fix it yet. I tried to hang my clothes from the rafters in my tent to dry out, but they never did.

The mood in camp was a bit glum. News buzzed over a radio that the roads were all closed and we would likely be stuck until Tuesday or Wednesday. Fortunately, we all had extra food and water to share, so we weren鈥檛 in any danger. It was just inconvenient and uncomfortable. Gradually, the sun poked through the clouds and we started hearing music coming from the city. We decided to go out on foot and make the long, sticky walk to the Esplanade, which you might think of as Burning Man鈥檚 Main Street.

You know how disasters can bring people together? Those few hours had that feeling鈥攖hey were magical. Everybody was on foot, instead of bikes, so people were taking the time to talk with others more than usual. Strangers hugged. Everybody checked in on each other, all of the camp bars were up and running, and my friends and I grabbed cocktails along the way. A crane lifted people in a basket high into the sky so they could survey the scene. There were muddy, heavy-footed dance parties all over the city. It was a real love-fest. Mostly.

While disasters can bring out the best in people, they can bring out the worst, too. We kept walking by scenes with people yelling at each other. Some were getting dangerously drunk. The porta potties couldn鈥檛 be emptied or cleaned, and many were already up to the rim with feces. One of the urinal porta potties was already overflowing with piss. That kind of thing will make people edgy.

There are always rumors at Burning Man, most of them lighthearted gossip,听but some serious ones began to circulate鈥攍ike the debunked story that there was an Ebola outbreak on the playa. Unfortunately, someone at the event did die, and though nobody knew the details, the rumor was that they had been electrocuted because of the water.

That night, it started raining again, so everybody retreated to their tents. Sunday morning, I woke up to the sounds of yelling and car engines. Despite the shelter-in-place order, some people were making a break for it, and others were pissed. An SUV drove through to a chorus of boos, and then RVs started passing by, tearing up the roads and the open playa. Some ignored the five-mile-per-hour speed limit and blasted through the mud, fishtailing and coming within feet of people鈥檚 tents. Now people were furious.

Various camps starting hurling baseball-sized balls of mud at the vehicles. One guy started chasing cars with a hammer, another with a shovel. One man screamed, 鈥淚 fucking hope you get cancer!鈥� at every car that drove by, all day long. He tried to pull a bike off the back of someone鈥檚 car, which nearly led to a fistfight. Two neighbors got into a shoving match when one tried to leave, and one called the cops on the other, accusing him of assault while also telling the officer he phoned that he was going to get a weapon if they didn鈥檛 show up fast. At another point, ten police cars sped by us with sirens blaring. When they came back through a little while later they asked us if we had heard any gunshots. We hadn鈥檛.

Some of my campmates took advantage of a small weather window on Sunday and got out safely just before another rainstorm hit and turned the desert back into glue. As I waited out the storm in my tent, I took stock of the situation. I had plenty of food, but I only had a few gallons of drinking water. Not dire, but not great. My feet had been consistently wet for several days, so I was mildly concerned about trench-foot, but the more immediate problem was the bathroom. Penis-havers such as myself have an easy enough time peeing in a water jug and packing it out, but pooping amid the flood required some calculating. Biking was impossible, and walking through the mud made each shoe weight about five pounds. The closest Porta-Potties were a 15-minute trudge away, and they were almost certainly overflowing. So, I improvised. Grateful for once that I didn鈥檛 have a tent-mate, I popped a squat and crapped into a plastic CVS bag, tied it up real well, and tossed it into my garbage. Just like that, Burning Man 2023 no longer felt like just some 鈥渃ounter-culture festival鈥� anymore. We began to wonder听if FEMA or the National Guard was going to show up.

It seemed like the party was over, but I was still conflicted about leaving. On one hand, I was confident that I could escape. My Honda CR-V had all-wheel drive and all-terrain tires. I was already parked at the very edge of the city, so I wouldn鈥檛 have to drive through it. I鈥檇 also be one less person trying to leave in the so-called 鈥渆xodus,鈥� where all of the many city streets of Black Rock City eventually bottleneck into just one lane. If I could get out, and do it safely, wasn鈥檛 that one less car in the way of all the others?

On the other hand, I knew I鈥檇 feel like an asshole if I left. After all, I鈥檓 single, with no kids waiting for me back home, and I had enough supplies for another few days. Wasn鈥檛 it in the spirit of the festival to wait until the official all-clear? If I left at that moment, could I ever look 鈥渞eal burners鈥� in the eye again?

As the sun started to set Sunday evening, the surface looked decent, and two of my camp mates and I decided to attempt an escape.听They were in a two-wheel drive U-Haul van, and I estimated their chances of making it at 50/50. I figured I could tow them if they got stuck, but my motives weren鈥檛 purely altruistic. I was ready to go.听

We dismantled our tents quickly. Peeling the floor off the surface of the playa required massive effort, and tons of mud stuck to it. The sun had just dipped behind the mountains, and the wind was whipping at us as yet another storm front moved in. I cursed the weather man once again.

We drove slowly through the edge of the Walk-In area, keeping well-clear of any tents, and hunting for the firmest possible ground. Some people gave us thumbs downs as we drove by, others smiled and waved. I must have passed more than a hundred stuck vehicles along the way, which gave me flashbacks to artists鈥� renderings of mammoths caught in the long ago. The U-Haul fishtailed wildly in front of me and I also began to slide but my wheels held. We forded a final, flowing creek of mud, and then at last we were out. Friendly volunteers directed traffic to the main road with flashlights, so our exit wasn鈥檛 quite as nefarious as we feared.

As our adrenaline subsided, the survivor’s guilt set in. We felt like shit, not just for leaving our friends, but for flouting the rules to get out ahead of the masses. I imagined the hate mail I would receive if I wrote about it. I made it home to Los Angeles at 3 A.M.听and the rest of my campmates would make it out the next morning. At 2:34 P.M. on Monday afternoon, the Burning Man organization announced via Twitter and radio that the driving ban had been lifted. It took some burners eight听hours to reach the main gate. Organizers asked people to wait until Tuesday if they could, to help relieve the traffic. At least I wasn鈥檛 adding to that chaos. I thought about the friendly faces still there, offering to help anybody who needed it. I thought about the screaming men with hammers.

Ultimately, I had an amazing time, but I now听find myself wondering if I鈥檒l ever return.听In the 37 years that Burning Man has been around (and the 32 years that it鈥檚 been in the Black Rock Desert) it has never flooded this badly during the event itself. 2022 had been . Maybe the changing climate has just made things too unpredictable鈥�and the copious burning of fossil fuels at the event did not help. Our camp neighbor Dave from Eugene, Oregon, who had been to over 20 burns said, 鈥淗onestly, I think this could be the last one. 70,000 people unable to get out, overflowing shitters. It鈥檚 enough of a disaster that I could see the BLM just refusing to grant the permit again.鈥� I wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if that happened.

And yet, on Monday morning I woke up, pulled everything out of my car, and started hosing down my gear. I let my tent dry in the driveway all day, before I folded it up and put it away so it could be ready for next year. Or maybe the year after. Just in case.

The post Fear and Loathing鈥攁nd Pooping in a Plastic Bag鈥攁t Burning Man 2023 appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

The humble cooler went through two major evolutions in the last 70 years. The first was when foam was sandwiched between听 cheap plastic, which worked OK for many decades. Phase two began with the proliferation of roto-molded coolers, most famously those made by Yeti, which hit the market in 2006. These coolers featured thicker plastic shells and a whole lot more (and better quality) foam insulation and now a whole host of companies make them too. These were a great leap forward for keeping your food and drinks colder for longer, but they were significantly heavier and bulkier than what came before. Now we’re entering phase three: double-walled, vacuum-insulated coolers. The ($500) is the first of its kind on the market鈥攏o foam at all, just aluminum walls鈥攁nd the company is making some pretty big claims about its efficiency. Naturally, we had to put it to the test.

How the Oyster Tempo Cooler Is Built

If you鈥檝e ever used an insulated Thermos or Stanley bottle鈥攐r any of the myriad water bottles from brands like Hydro Flask or Yeti鈥攜ou鈥檙e already familiar with how incredibly good vacuums are at keeping liquids hot or cold. Case in point: I opened a container of soup after 48 hours on a trail and found it was still too hot to drink. The principal is the same with the Tempo. The cooler is made almost entirely out of aluminum, and the walls are sealed without any air inside. This accomplishes a couple of things. Not only does it do a great job of keeping things cold, but because vacuums are so much more efficient than foam, the walls can be much, much thinner. The result is that for the same internal capacity you get a cooler that is vastly smaller on the outside, and it鈥檚 a whole lot lighter, too. Polyethylene (which most cooler shells are made of) and foam both weigh a fair amount, whereas aluminum is about 2.5 times lighter as a shell. And vacuums weigh literally nothing.

What Oyster Claims

This is where things get wild. According to Oyster, you don鈥檛 even need to put ice in this cooler. They say you can just toss in cold items and that they will stay cold. I will note that performance will vary greatly in the real world, depending on a number of factors like how cold the items are before you put them in, how much mass they have, and the ambient temperature (I won鈥檛 bore you with the physics, but items that are colder with more mass will stay cold longer). Better though, is to use the included ice packs. The Tempo comes with two familiar blue squares that are designed to fit perfectly at the bottom of the cooler, maximizing the usable space. With those in the bottom, you can still fit 36 12-ounce cans in the cooler. Most ice chest manufacturers will suggest that you use a two-to-one ratio of ice to food or drink for the best results. To say that cuts into your usable capacity would be an understatement (you lose two-thirds of your space to ice alone), so this really is somewhat revolutionary, if the claims bear out鈥攚hich we will get to. (And yes, the Tempo can also be used to keep hot things hot, if you so desire.)

How the Oyster Tempo Cooler Measures up to the Competition

Oyster Tempo

Dimensions: 19.37鈥� W x 12.5鈥� D x 11.57鈥� H, (2,801.4 cubic inches)

Orca 26 Quart

Dimensions: 23.63鈥� W x 17.75鈥� D x14.63鈥� (6,1236.3 cubic inches)

Roadie 24 Liter

Dimensions: 16.6″W x 14.0″D x 17.4″H (4,043.78 cubic inches)

It’s worth comparing some of the specs to roto-molded coolers of a similar capacity, starting with my long-time favorite the ($275). It has slightly more internal capacity than the 23 liter Oyster, but Orca says its cooler can hold just 22 cans with a two-to-one ice ratio. But it鈥檚 the outside where you really see the difference. Yes, the Oyster is less than half the Orca鈥檚 size, but with just three liters less carrying capacity. Even Yeti鈥檚 smallest hard cooler, the ,($250) is significantly larger. And it鈥檚 not just real estate: the Oyster Tempo weighs in at just 12.34 pounds, while the Orca 26 comes in at 25, and the Yeti Roadie 24 weighs 13 pounds.

Notes on Functionality

The Tempo includes both an aluminum handle (for carrying by hand) and a nylon strap (to sling over your shoulder), and it鈥檚 easy to swap between the two. On each end of the cooler is a removable knob (which Oyster calls the 鈥淯nimount鈥�); inset the knob, give it a half twist, and you鈥檙e good to go (just reverse order to remove it.

Make sure the Unimount Key is fully clicked in. I made that mistake and the handle popped out of one side, which caused the cooler to drop and the handle to bend. It was user error, and it was easy enough to bend back into shape, but it would be nice if it were more idiot-proof.

It鈥檚 nice to have the two carry options, but I found the aluminum handle a bit uncomfortable to use once the cooler was fully loaded. The strap was better, but it was still a bit awkward, because the hard box bumps against your side as you walk. I really wish it had two built-in handles on the side like most rotomolded coolers so I could grip it tightly and lift it high enough so my thighs didn鈥檛 bump it while walking. This was my least favorite thing about the cooler, but Oyster gave themselves an easy way to fix it: They could just release a pair of individual handles that attach to the Unimounts and instantly eliminate this issue. I, for one, really hope they do.

The lid (which is also fully vacuum insulated), has a latch on the front and the back, so you can easily open it from either side or remove the whole lid, which I thought was a nice touch. And if it gets completely destroyed the whole thing is fully recyclable. Speaking of, it鈥檚 not bear-proof. Another feature that鈥檚 missing is a drain. This is part of Oyster鈥檚 Anti-Ice agenda, and not having a drain hole probably improves the insulation a bit, but it would be a nice option to have. Also worth noting: it鈥檚 a very handsome cooler, and compared to its roto-molded plastic cousins it looks sleek and compact.

How We Tested the Oyster Tempo Cooler

The Oyster Tempo in a head-to-head test with the Orca 26. (Photo: Brent Rose)

Test Number One: No Ice

To evaluate Oyster鈥檚 claims about the Tempo needing no ice at all I filled it nearly to capacity with 24 cans and bottles of varying sizes along with two full-sized bottles of champagne, all of which started out at 39 degrees Fahrenheit. I kept the cooler in a room at 72 degrees. After six hours, I pulled听 a can out from the middle, opened it, and stuck a probe thermometer in. It was听 44 degrees, which was nice and cold. At 18 hours another can from the same regionhad come up a bit more to 48 degrees, which would still be pleasant to drink on a hot day. At 24 hours the cans were at 50 degrees. Not bad.

Test Number Two: Ice Packs

This time I essentially repeated the test above, but I put the two Oyster ice packs at the bottom. The drinks started out at 38 degrees (room temp was still 72). I didn鈥檛 do my first check until just after 24 hours had elapsed. I pulled a can up from the bottom and to my surprise it had actually dropped to 33 degrees. Yes, it was touching the ice pack, but that鈥檚 still impressive. I checked again for a second and final time at just over 52 hours, and the drinks were at 48 degrees. Again, still totally drinkable, but if I鈥檇 had some lunch-meat sandwiches in there I think I鈥檇 start getting a bit leery鈥� I certainly wouldn鈥檛 want to use this method with actual oysters.

Overall, I鈥檇 call the results decent, and certainly good enough for a two or maybe even a three-day trip, depending how hot it was. But I wanted to do more of an apples-to-apples comparison.

Test Number Three: Oyster Tempo Versus Orca 26 Liter

For the final test, I pitted the Oyster Tempo directly against my trusted Orca 26 Liter. When I recently the Orca dominated the Ice-Melt Test, beating all the other modern roto-molded coolers, retaining some ice for more than a week. So, I threw a 24-pound bag of cube ice into each of them, with nothing else. Both coolers had room to spare, but the Orca had a bit more room at the top thanks to its extra three liters of capacity. I then left both coolers outside, in the shade, on my balcony in Los Angeles, California where temps ranged from 55 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The results were fascinating.

At 24 hours, the Oyster was going strong. The ice cubes were still separate and easy to manipulate with my hand. With the Orca, though, the ice had started sticking together and was tougher to break apart. Looking closer, I could see that the ice had melted and shrunk away from the walls a bit, sort of turning it into one big block. This actually backs up one of Oyster鈥檚 claims: the thin aluminum walls cool off much faster than thicker plastic walls, so it didn鈥檛 take as much thermal energy from the ice to bring it to equilibrium.

The writing was on the wall early on鈥攖he plastic Orca was just melting much faster. The ice wanted to form into a block, and I鈥檇 break it up every day. The Oyster was retaining its ice much better, and the cubes stayed looser the entire time (I would break both up each day in the name of fairness). By day seven the Orca had just a few handfuls of ice floating at the top, and by day eight it had completely melted and was a water bath sitting at 46 degrees. More than a week is still an excellent result.

At day eight the ice in the Oyster Tempo was still roughly half cubes and the water on the bottom was a bone-chilling 33 degrees. That is simply an incredible result. It didn鈥檛 turn all the way to water until midway through Day 11. I would be willing to bet that had I started out with the two blue ice packs on the bottom (which would have fit just fine), it probably would have lasted a full two weeks. It鈥檚 hard to wrap my head around how efficient that is, and I would most certainly trust it with dairy, meat, and fresh-caught fish.

Final Thoughts

It was definitely annoying that I had to pick it up and dump it afterwards instead of using a drain hole, but it was nice that the lid came off. The fact that the cooler itself is pretty light meant that the task wasn鈥檛 exactly back-breaking.

I do wish it had better, built-in handles on the sides, and I that it came in more sizes (the 23 liter Tempo is currently the only version available), but it offers unsurpassed performance, and it does so in a smaller, lighter package that鈥檚 just so much more convenient to use鈥攅ven with the several drawbacks I noted. I can鈥檛 say enough how nice it is that it takes up so little space in my garage.

Of course, this all comes at a price, and that price is a whopping $500. That is a lot for a cooler, and way more than the Orca 26 ($275) or the Yeti Roadie 24 ($250), but again, the Tempo outperforms those and does so at 45 percent and 69 percent of their size, respectively. It鈥檚 worth noting that Oyster isn鈥檛 the only entrant into the double-wall vacuum-insulated arms race, either. Most notably, Yeti recently launched the . But it currently only comes in a larger 60-liter capacity, it鈥檚 actually a mix of plastic on the inside and stainless steel on the outside, and it costs $800. It also weighs 34.4 pounds empty, so it鈥檚 not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. There are others that are vacuum insulated that are all plastic, like the , which only costs $200, but its ice-retention claims are close to that of the roto-molded coolers. Overall, the Oyster Tempo is an impressive first-generation product, with some details that I suspect will be improved in future versions. Whether the stellar performance is worth the price is up to you.

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As technology steadily marches forward, the best fitness trackers keep getting sleeker, faster, and more capable. This year is no exception: in the last 12 months, we鈥檝e seen wearables take a bigger leap forward than we鈥檝e seen in over a decade. Here鈥檚 the top of the line.

Apple Watch Series 7 ($399 and up)

The Apple Watch has been the best smartwatch for years (as long as you use an iPhone), and the Series 7 makes a number of small but welcome improvements. The screen is thicker, and thus tougher, and it now takes up nearly the whole face of the watch, offering 20 percent more display space. It also charges 30 percent faster than the Series 6, and has a brighter screen.

Garmin Epix (Gen 2) ($899 and up)

Garmin has one-upped itself with the Epix Gen 2. It packs in all of the features you find in the standard Fenix 7: tracking for everything from triathlon to snowboarding, detailed 24/7 health data, pulse oximetry, daily recovery scores, and stress-level monitoring. The big difference? A stunning AMOLED screen that makes using the onboard maps a real joy. Battery life maxes out at 16 days sans GPS and 42 hours with it (by comparison, the Fenix 7 lasts 18 days or 57 hours). But that鈥檚 a small trade-off for such stunning functionality and such a pleasing user interface.

Form Swim goggles (from $19 per month)

These smart swim goggles count your laps, pace, and even strokes per lap using a built in accelerometer and gyroscope. The info shows up in a big, bold font in the upper corner of one of your lenses (you can choose which). It鈥檚 easy to read, even when you鈥檙e pushing the pace. The goggles come with a subscription to guided workouts prescribed by elite professional coaches, including former Canadian Olympian Scott Dickens.

Fitbit Charge 5 ($180)

With a slim, 11-millimeter band (10 percent slimmer than last year鈥檚 model), the stainless-steel Fitbit Charge 5 is a great option for those who want a wearable that鈥檚 subtler than a watch. Other welcome updates: it has a full-color OLED touchscreen that鈥檚 twice as bright, and boasts an electrodermal activity sensor that monitors your stress levels via the electrical current produced by perspiration from key glands in your wrists.

Levels Health Glucose Monitor ($398)

Continuous glucose monitors aren鈥檛 just for diabetics: this one is designed for athletes who want hard data on how their bodies respond to different forms of food and exercise. The quarter-size monitor sticks to your shoulder for two weeks at a time via a circular adhesive patch, with a tiny filament that painlessly pierces your skin. Every few minutes it samples a small amount of subdermal fluid to measure your glucose levels. The device then uses NFC radio to pair with an intuitive app, so you can chart the foods you eat and your body鈥檚 glucose response to them and learn about the spikes and crashes that can impact performance.

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