The World Stormrider Guide: v. 3 (Stormrider Guides) [Paperback]

This third volume to world surf in the stormrider series has largely focussed on `off-the-beaten' track, unusual, or very difficult to get to, surf areas. Because most of the areas reviewed in this volume are remote, unusual or exotic, the actual surf itself is often, (but certainly not always), only average or low quality. For many of the 80 areas/coastlines listed therefore you wouldn't actually go to solely to surf, especially over other, much better or more consistent places. However this 3rd volume is still very useful and exotically interesting if nothing else, and there are still some very good and world class areas/waves listed in amongst there as well, where one might well go to, just to surf (perhaps 10% of the total).

Some really excellent and consistent surf areas/waves reviewed include: NW Western Australia, Western Sahara, SW Madagascar, Sumba, Central Sumbawa, Northland NZ, Pohnpei Micronesia, Northern Baja Mexico, East Oaxaca Mexico, Oriente Salvaje El Salvador, Ancash Peru, Biobio Chile, Northern Maluku, and the relatively rare but very predictable handful or so of Brazilian tidal bores about the Amazon. (Some of the above areas have been reviewed before in volumes 1 or 2, but presumably the authors missed some very good waves and wanted to extend or even revisit! these areas).

Average or very poor surf quality areas listed mostly out of `Final (?) volume world completeness' or `remote or exotic locale', include most of the other 70 or so in the book, including a number of countries/areas in the Mediterranean Sea (eg NW Greece, Tunisia, Alexandria Egypt, Lazio Italy, etc), the Turkish Black Sea coast, the Great Lakes USA and Canada, parts of India, Thailand, Malaysia, Haiti, Jamaica, Antigua, Taiwan, South Korea, Venezuela, Iran, Yemen, Columbia, Myanmar, Hong Kong etc etc. There are some other areas listed which might be ok surfwise, but never really world class (eg Uruguay, Congo, Aceh Indonesia etc etc) or too damn cold for most people (eg Vancouver Island, Sitka Alaska, Iceland, offshore Scotland etc).

One thing I think this stormrider series lacks is differentiating from the text, maps and diagrams the differences between very average areas or waves and really good ones. There is no tabulated `star system' of quality or consistency (other than monthly wave/wind/temperature data), either regionally or for individual waves, only very short dot point `summary' comments about general quality and consistency, so it is often difficult to tell an average wave or area from the exceptional, including in the same area. You wouldn't really travel to, say, Comoros in the Indian Ocean or Lord Howe Island in the Pacific just to surf (or would you?-its hard to tell from the text), as opposed to say, mightily good Sumba in Indonesia, but it isn't always easy to tell this from the information provided. An example I know of is in my own country, where I can tell you that the surf on the South Coast of NSW is occasionally pretty darn good but also pretty darn inconsistent, and goes for weeks and weeks without anything overhead at any time of year, as opposed to say, NW Western Australia (where the swell is very consistent), but the book describes the South Coast of NSW, as having "swell consistency". This is not true (I have been there about 50 times and should know), and part of the reason for the discrepancy, is because much of the swell energy on the south coast of NSW runs northerly, sub-parallel to the coast, and while the ocean charts might say 5 feet, every beach on the coast is pretty much flat-the swell just doesn't often hit the coast directly, but you can't tell this by looking purely at ocean swell size charts. (There is only vague swell direction data in the tables given in this stormrider series, and only a few random comments in the text. Another area where I know this issue of ocean swell size versus swell direction problem often occurs, from experience, is parts of New Zealand). The winds are also often contrary to desired throughout much of NSW, blowing onshore almost whenever there seems to be decent swell.

Another general criticism is the same throughout all 3 stormrider world surf volumes, many of the surf pictures have not been outsourced (presumably to save money); the authors rely heavily on their own photos/experiences, so often the pictures do not really show how good the waves of a particular area can get. There are some very good picture exceptions, but a good percentage of the pics are not high quality days of a particular area; for some really `remote' places of course (like eg Iran, Yemen etc) that is obviously the only pics anyone really has, which is understandable, but for some world class waves/areas there are only pretty dribbly pics because that is presumably what the authors photographed when they were there.

To be fair, there is very good info on eg regional surf histories and cultures, detailed travel and general information, weather, individual wave sizes, handy hints, and pretty good maps. As mentioned, some kind of 5 star box or other rating system on wave quality, consistency, costs, nightlife, dangers, other things to do etc for a particular area, or area's best waves, would have made it even better.

The 240 world surf zones listed in the 3 volumes are a pretty good and comprehensive overview of world surfing, a bit pricey, but very useful for travelling and general surf interest. More detailed individual volumes are also available for individual continents (eg Europe, North America), but no individual volumes for Australia/'Australasia' or the hugely popular `East Asia' (eg Indo) yet, in the stormrider series, but I suppose these might come along, eventually.

The 3rd installment of the World Stormrider Guide is full of non-traditional surf destinations that are way off of the beaten path. If you are looking for a guide for the North Shore, skip this, but if say you are interested in surfing in Iran, you must buy this! A very cool guide....