Whether you’ve got the latest surfboard prototype or a $100 soft top, get your fix at SoCal surf spots. Newbies beware: Surfers are hungry for waves after a wet spring.

Bigger surf is easier than anyone thinks, at least in the one most important way: you’ve always got speed. Take off, stand up, and away you go! Gravity just pulls you down the face.

Amid torrential winds up to 57 miles per hour, downed trees and lost power, the Gold Coast is going through it right now. Severe storms are battering the region, but that hasn’t stopped everyone ...