Have you ever thought how todays economic situation may have a impact on your surfing activity? Inflation is running high in the UK at 3.7% and is set to rise further due to a barrel of oil breaking the $100 barrier, the recent VAT rise, higher food and clothing costs.

Being a land locked surfer once i filled up the tank to travel to surf all over the country, but now Im reluctant to even travel down to the south cost due to the cost of fuel. I have to know the surf is 110% pumping and fun or the time and cost involved isnt even worth it.

All this got me thinking about those surfers out there who travel hundreds of miles in the search for waves. Has all this economic madness had an impact on their wallet? I’m pretty sure it must have for a few reasons. Fuel has risen to 1.30 a litre so if a surfer were to travel from Nottingham (where i lived) to say Wollacombe north Devon this would cost around 100 for a round trip and using a semi economical car.

Oil is in practically everything we use and this dirty commodity is used to make wetsuits surfboards, surfboard leash, surf wax, board bags and all the surf equipment you need to go surfing. This means when the price of oil goes up so does the price of you next surfboard, wetsuit or any other surf gear you are about to buy.

We have some top tips to save you some cash in these hard economic times.

1. Surf Travel

To make surf travel cheaper you need to acquire some surfing buddies which live close by. This way you can split the costs of the travel and always choose to ride in the most economical car.

If you have no friends try and make some and get them into surfing.

If you cant make any surfing buddies you could also resort to car crime and TWOC and fill up at the petrol stations for free. (We dont recommend this you may get caught and thrown in jail and not be able to surf at all!)

Finally you could hitch hike to the desination, but it is most likely you will end up being picked up by a murderer!

2. Surf Equipment

Instead of purchasing the top of the range wetsuit, why not down grade to an entry level wetsuit. Look at the O’Neill Epic Wetsuit below. Most of the entry level wetsuits nowadays have some cracking features which also feature on the top end wetsuits like the O’Neill Psycho 2. The ONeill Epic has the rolled skin collar, fire wall lining, Kevlar knee pads and 100% stretch on the upper body. Bonus

Depending on how often you go surfing it may be worth your while renting a wetsuit if you can brave the piss stained hire wetsuits? (We wouldnt recommend this at all)

If you are about to buying a new surfboard why not downgrade to a swell board? Ok, these are for beginners but they cost half the price and they still float when you travelled 3000miles to find the waves are flat. If a swelly surfboard doesnt do it for you, you can check out all our surfboards to see which will fit you budget and ride style.