Chasing Waves by Amy Waeschle

That's right. I'm back. Like your new year's resolutions, I'll go strong for the first few months of the year, slow down in March, and by June you'll have forgotten all about me and your bowflex. Make your bets now, folks.

Chasing Waves by Amy Waeschle is a travelogue about surfing. A surfelogue. When she was still a middle school science teacher, Amy's future husband taught her to surf in Mexico, and within a few years she had quit her job and was pursuing a career as a freelance writer, mostly to support the habit, she says.

Most chapters are standard descriptions of standard surf trips (to Fiji, Hawaii, Costa Rica, etc.), but I've never read better descriptions of learning to surf, finding your place in a hostile lineup, or the thrill of suddenly finding that you've improved. The standouts are stories of van camping in Vancouver and the pacific northwest, and scavenging for surf while stationed in Sicily for three years.

These are the "bro!" stories that you tell over a beer or around a fire after surfing, and any added insight she tries to give is unnecessary and seems like an afterthought. Read this if you want to know what surfing is like without going surfing, OR buy me a beer and build me a fire and we'll talk bro stories.