X-Mas X-Mas X-Mas

Today is my last day of school and the winter vacation begins. I am like super exited because I've been waiting for this for so long and not just because I've come to the point where I can't stand school, but because of the holidays and the fact that I have nothing better to do but to enjoy them. That sounded a bit confusing? Doesn't matter xD. The important thing is that Christmas is coming, after that New Year's and all the great things that go with them. These are my favourite holidays and I like spending them piecefully. On the other hand, these holidays are also about sharing them with other people.


All this talk about Christmas and holidays makes me think about gifts. Personally I don't really care so much about the gifts I get but I get insane while searching for the perfect gift for others. W all get caught up in the all "perfect present" craze. In my opinion, a pefect present to a close friend is a one that shows your affection and that you really know the person. It doesn't have to be expensive, just special. And if Santa doesn't give you what you've hoped for you can always give it to yourself as a Christmas present, if it is something that allows that of course. I mean if you are from the very emotional people and you wish for love for example, I don't recommend getting it yourself. That would be weird. Often times use Cristmas gifts as an exuse to shop more for yourself because you know what you want and why not make a gift to yourself.

Nevertheless, I have a surfing and snowboarding blog so I would give some gift suggestions regarding to these sports. In Bulgaria where I am right now is very cold so I'm going to start with snowboarding and besides Christmas is supposed to be white and have snow. The first obvious gift idea is a snowboard of course. There are some killer new designes from the top brands like Billabong, Roxy, Rip Curl, Burton... etc. I posted some of the pictures I like but these aren't all. There is just such a variety of snowboards that I bet everyone can find something for themselves and at affordable price. Here is one site that I like. Another suggestion are all the things that come with a snowboard like hat, mask, gloves. If you know that a friend is a keen snowboarder accessories always work and they show the personal style. Gifts don't always have to be materealistic, though. The important thing is to be original and show that you really know the person and what he/she is all about.

Probably now I have to talk about surfing gifts for those that are not hoping for snow these holiday but are having a warm and sunny vacation. You can give one close friend an incredible day surfing. That sounded too santimental, didn't? I am just trying to say that material things are no always what matters. I just hope that the ones who aren't going to have snow keep up with the holiday spiret. After all Santa goes all around the world but visits only the good ones and skips the others who had been naughty. You don't want to be from the ones left all alone but I'm sure that all of you that are reading this have been very good throughout the year and if not, Christmas miracles do happen. Have a great vacation and let the magic of the holidays take over!

Types of Snowboarding

Freeride
One of the types of snowboarding is freeride. It doesn't require much skill and it is most suitable for beginners. The tricks are usualy borrowed from freestyle. Freeride is appropriate for all kinds of surfaces like snow and ice. It is not only for beginners, though. Professionals can actually make it pretty extreme.

Freestyle
This style uses many tricks - mainly aerial, for example - spins, grabs and flips. It is a very extreme and exciting type of surfing, which combines many tricks.

Freecarve
This type of snowboarding is used in races. It focuses on speed and if you are a fan of speed and adrenaline, this is the best style for you. It is really hard to master mostly because of the high speed but ones you've done it is amazing and the adrenaline just can't be described.

Splitboarding
Splitboarding is a relatively new snowboarding type but it has already become very popular. This is a board that splits in half so that you can use it both for snowboarding and skiing. It offers the best of both worlds and it is actually pretty amazing how it combines snowboarding and skiing. I strongly recommend it for people that enjoy both sports.

My First Time Surfing Ever

The first time I actually went surfing was this summer. I've always been keen on this sport but, you know, I more about watching movies, videos, reading about it and I've always wanted to try it out myself. This summer I did. Well, it wasn't exactly like in the movies. Actually it wasn't like that at all.


I went surfing in my own country Bulgaria which is great and all but... well, not the best choice for sufing. The first days of the camp were terrible because of the weather and I didn't even get close to a board or even to the water! I hoped that some nice company would make it better but since it was September there were hardly any people and we were a really small group - me, 2 of my friends, 2 boys our age, one smaller and one that was 6. It was fun and all with my friends but not what I sighned up for. I always have fun with them but at this camp I wanted something else, I wanted to learn how to surf and I was determened to do it.


Finally we started the training. After I had to hear the boring theory over and over again (I don't know which was worse - that I had to hear it like a million times or that I actually didn't understand much), I finally got to go into the water with a bord. I was going to windsurf so I started just with practising balance on the board (without the actual sail) and the beginning it was super fun because I was very exited. I thought like "Yee, I am finally on a board and I am going to be so good at this, this is so easy... " Well, let me just say it didn't go too well. I'm not good with keeping balance and I going to stop here so that I don't embarrass myself further in front of you.


On the next day I actually got to try out real windsurfing, not just balncing ot a board and it was AMAZING. I mean I wasn't even doing that well but I liked it just.. it can't be explained you have to try it out to know what i'm saying. On the next day I tried out just surfing/small waves of course/ and at the beginning it wasn't very appealing but when I managed to catch my first way it was beyond awesome and it wasn't even such a big wave. This made me even more keen on surfing because I can't even imagine what it would be to surf a big wave, it's beyond compehention and this makes surfing one of the most exciting sports ever.

Wind Surfing

Greece Wind Surfing

Golden Beach, Chania in Chania


Greece is a great spot for wind surfing. Its geographical factors make it perfect for this sport, mainly because of the winds that are of couse essential for wind surfing. I recommend, though, that you should have previous experience with wind surfing before you go to Greece because it is very hard to learn the basics of this sport in Greece. But if you are indeed good, it will be a pleasure to wind surf in Greece-I deeply recommend it.

This sport became popular in Greece after Nikos Kaklamanakis won the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. Now every year wind surf competitions are organized and the image of the proffessionals wind surfing is maginificent. If you want to find out how much of a wind surfer are you, you should go to Greece. :)

Travis Kennedy

Travis Kennedy is a part of the Forum team. He wins the respect of the people not only by his amazing performances but his appearence as a whole. In order to be famous you don't just need to be good at what you do, you also need to know how to sell it, how to be yourself but still original. Travis Kennedy knows that and he succeeds at accomplishing it. Here is one of my favourite Travis Kennedy videos. Enjoy! :)

Shawn White

I can't talk about snowboarding without mentioning Shawn White. He has earned his position at the top and is one of my personal favorites. He particitpated in the Winter X Games in which he has been winning medals every time since 2002. In 2008 he has won 12 medals - 7 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze. Nice job! Shaun White was even resently named 2008 Laures World Sportsperson of the Year for his accomplishments - a title that he defenetly deserves. A think that I always found interesting was Shawn White's nickname with which he became knonw. He is called the "Flying Tomato" because of his big red hair. He is one of the best snowboarders but gets a nickname connected to his hair - I wouldn't call this a very good idea but it suites him :) and during competitions he really is "flying" like in the video I chosed to show you. I hope you like it and help you learn more about the "Flying Tomato" .

Kelly Slater

Kelly Slater is without doubt one of the best surfers ever. He is known for winning the ASP (Assosiation of Surfing Professionals) 9 times! He has become an icon and is literaly worshiped by so many surfers all over the world. Kelly Slater, now at the age of 37, is sponsored by Quicksliver and it doesn't look like he's done with surfing and his career.

Kelly Slater even outshined legends like Mark Richards and Tom Curren. He has been winning competitions since 1900 and has won more than 50. Upcoming events for Slater in 2009 are the Billabong Pipeline Masters (Dec 8-20, 2009) and he's also going to try to conquer his 10th world title.

What I like so much about him isn't just that he is obviously a great surfer but I like his spirit and his will for success. Kelly Slater is now 37 and still the best. Besides surfing he also starred in many moveis, some of them dedicated to him, also formed a band with Rob Machado and Peter King called The Surfers. Their first album was released in 1998 and was called Songs From the Pipe. One thing that really impreses me is that the smile never leaves Kelly's face. He is always smiling and I think that his optimism and positive thinking is what keeps him going. If you want to be the best you should learn from Kelly Slater :)

For Beginners

Are you a beginner in surfing or snowboarding? That is no proble, all you need is a few simple tips and checking out a few websites and you'll feel completely prepared for your adventure.

Let's start with surfing. Surfing is a sport that offers wide range of possibilities and has many different styles of surfing-you could do kite surfing, wind surfing, paddle board... Here is a very good website with tips for beginners for noramal surfing - http://howtosurfguide.net/ . It is going to get you started and make you more confident about your basic knowledge about surfing. And you are really interested in this sport you just have to see the breaking of the world record for the biggest wave ever ridden http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U66qW7kBVnM . This is an amazing achievement for Billabong sposored Mike Parsons who really did the unbelievable.

On the other hand, if you are interested in becoming a snowboarder there are also some basic things about snowboarding that you should now. For example you need to be familiar with the equipment you'll be needing and I think that this site will be very helpful http://snowboarding.about.com/od/learningtosnowboard/a/Boardchecklist.htm .

Good luck with the surfing and snowboarding lessons :)

Surfer, dude

Surfer, dude was released in 2008. It has Matthew McConaughey starring in it and it's great movie. It is all about surfing and how the main character Steve (Matthew McConaughey) needs nothing more but to surf. He is one of the best surfers but he doesn't look for popularity, he doesn't need money. Steve's agents want him to be like a moving adverisement but he refuses because he doesn't want to be something other than himself.

The movie doesn't really have a very compicated plot or much action but it shows life from a different point of view. After all it's a comedy and its purpose is just to make you laugh, chill and relax. If you are looking for a movie with too much drama, too much action, this isn't the movie for you. But if you just want to relax and enjoy youself and explore another type of living Surfer, dude is definetely a great movie.

What I like most about the characters in this movie is that they are carefree. All they do is have fun, enjoy themselves and don't pay much attention to their problemms-they just deal with them and forget about it. Their dream is just to surf and this is what they do. People usually would say that this kind of lifestyle is irresponsible but i actually think that what they do is great because they live off by what they like the most. I think that its not only the money that matter, the important question that we all should ask ourselves is "Are we happy?".