Homegrown Surfboards Fade Away

Actor saved from Mavericks waves while filming

(NEWSER) - A safety worker on a jetski saved actor Gerard Butler from dying at a northern California surf spot that has claimed the lives of pros. Butler, 42, was filming a scene at Mavericks for upcoming movie Of Men and Mavericks when a freak set of waves, some higher than 12 feet tall, hit him and the three professional surfers he was with, reports the San Francisco Chronicle . The waves held Butler—an inexperienced surfer—underwater and dragged him through rocks. He was hospitalized after the rescue, then released. More»

Outsourcing works out for Maywood, California

(NEWSER) - Not having any employees hasn’t been so bad for Maywood, Calif. A budget crisis forced the small city to fire literally everyone in June, and it contracted out various essential services to neighboring cities. But Maywood was so bad at handling those services itself that outsourcing has led to a noticeable improvement, the New York Times reports. More»

Pooches put down the bone and ride the waves

(NEWSER) - See spot run—not to catch a Frisbee, but to ride waves on a California beach. Surfing pooches are the latest trend in Southern California, where sunny skies and golden beaches gave birth to '60s surf culture, NPR reports. Dogs can take surfing classes and even enter surfing competitions. “It's a way for me to spend time in the water with my dog,” says the owner of a golden retriever. More»

(NEWSER) - A Mexican surfer off a California beach was busted for trying to smuggle 24 pounds of pot on his board, reports the Los Angeles Times. When suspicious cops on the beach close to the Mexican border ordered the surfer to come ashore, he heaved a duffel bag into the water. It later washed up, packed with pot bricks worth $74,000, according to law enforcement authorities. More»

Longboarders call paddle-boarding 'surfing with training wheels'

(NEWSER) - As if surfers don't already have enough problems, novices are swarming their beaches to bogart the waves. Or that's what they'll tell you if you ask about the growing trend of stand-up paddle-boarding, or SUP. Quicker—and much bigger—than a longboard, the paddle board is like "a Mack Truck" afloat, one surfer tells the Christian Science Monitor. More»