Don’t worry… we’ll explain what a rash guard is and after reading what we have to say you just may even want one!

Rash guards, (also known as surf shirts, swim shirts, rashies and other names I probably haven’t heard of), are thin, tight-fitting shirts made of a lycra/nylon blend.

They’re designed to provide rash, abrasion and UV protection in and around the water. They can vary in SPF rating but our rash guards are some of the highest rated shirts, providing SPF 150+, (UPF 50+), protection wet or dry – that’s higher than any sunscreen on the market today.

Rash guard shirts fit skin tight so they stay put in the water and surfers have been wearing them for decades to protect their skin from the harmful UV rays of the sun as well as from painful rashes that can develop from laying and rubbing on their surfboards.

With all the dangers of skin cancer that have been discovered over the years, rashguards are no longer only being worn only by surfers but they are becoming a staple in many families arsenal of UV protection.

Cheaper, easier to use and longer lasting than any sunscreen, they’re perfect for the entire family and are especially great for kids who hate sitting still for their sunscreen application or getting out of the water for their re-application.

More recently and with the popularity of MMA and grappling, rashguards are now worn for skin protection in almost all forms of martial arts.

So… now you know rash guards are not something weird or disgusting but something helpful and protective that you and your family may actually want to use.

Southern California surfers are having been watching all the recent activity ‘down under’ and are awiting the arrival of a fairly significant south swell in about 4-5 days.

As you can see in the above wave measurement graphic there’s been quite a bit of wave making activity in the Southern Hemisphere during the last few days and surfers are waxing up their surfboards in anticipation of the swell which is expected to reach 1-2′ overhead around Monday or Tuesday.

Time to grab your boardshorts and rash guard shirts and hit the water – COWABUNGA, dude!!  

What else you got going on for a Thursday night, anyways, (except the Laker game of course)!!! But you can head down after the game becasue this party doesn’t get started until 8pm. They’ve got 3 local bands and it’s just $12 at the door – that’s only $4 per band PLUS you’re helping the Surfrider Foundation. 

The third day of competition at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Qualifying Series (WQS) 6-Star O’Neill Cold Water Classic found itself at its third new location where surfing’s big names took to the water.

With conditions easing ever so slightly, contest director Matt Wilson chose Marrawah’s exposed Lighthouse Beach as the spot to finish off the Round of 96.

In this isolated northwest corner of Tasmania, the likes of Jordy Smith, Cory Lopez, Ben Dunn, aerial master Josh Kerr, and Damien Hobgood made the most of the powerful beachbreak.

There are high expectations for the 21-year-old South African surfing phenomenon, Jordy Smith, winner of this ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) tour two years ago, and he didn’t fail to disappoint, waiting until the second half of his heat to pull out his high scoring waves.

“It’s interesting being back on the ASP WQS,” Smith said, “because you can go through with 5’s. I can’t get away with that on the World Tour.”

This is the first time for Jordy on Australia’s island state, but he is fitting right into the Tasmanian waters,

“I met a few of the locals yesterday evening out in the water,” Smith said. “I was asking them how to get back because it was getting pretty dark and we were pretty far from anything. They were like, no worries catch a ride with us. It was crazy driving through the night with all the Tasmanian Devils about and stuff. We almost hit something the other day – I would have felt bad. We didn’t though, we stopped and let it cross the road.”

The heat of the day was a battle of spectacular young talent, with 19-year-old up-and-coming Australian star, Owen Wright taking it out ahead of Dusty Payne, Lincoln Taylor and Wiggoly Dantas.

“It was a pretty close heat,” Wright said. “The first day was incredible – the Bluff is an awesome wave. But it’s great it’s mobile. It keeps all the options open and you can get the best waves every day. I’ve been over to Tasmania before. But never to this corner. It’s a nice untouched place – it’s an awesome place to have an event.”

As Rob Bain, O’Neill’s Asia/Pacific Marketing Manager said, “It’s not just about the surfing here. We’ve had amazing waves and most of the surfers are discovering them for the first time ever. But this is also more like a road trip – it’s about the different experiences.”

This week we’ve selected this kid’s long sleeve rash guard shirt for our weekly special.

This adorable pink child’s rash guard will protect your kids with SPF 150+ protection you can count on!

From now until this Friday you can get an additional discount simply by using coupon code kids-rash-guard when you checkout. Please note this coupon code does NOT go in the Promotional Code box but in the Coupon Code box after you have added the rash guard shirt to your basket.

Pink not your color? No problem because we’ve got a huge selection of rash guard swim shirts for kids so you’ll sure to find one that your child will love.

OK, these guys are hardcore surfers! There’s a group of guys up in Montreal, Canada who actually surf on the St Lawrence river in the dead of winter – BRRRRR!

Led by local surfboard shaper, Corran Addison, these guys suit up and hit the 4 degree, (yes, that’s FOUR DEGREE), water where the biggest danger they face is the large pieces of floating ice and can go form damaging your board to causing serious bodily injury if a surfer happens to get pinned between two large icebergs.

“It’s just like an obstacle course,” says fellow ice surfer Christine Pinsonneault, 25. “You’re basically doing a slalom around the blocks of ice as they come down the river. You can’t miss them all so you have to be willing to have a board you don’t mind destroying.”

“It’s not just about being an expert surfer, it’s also understanding the dynamics of this unique situation,” Addison says. “There are some things you would never think are dangerous until they happen to you. There could be 100 metres separating two big icebergs and you wouldn’t think twice about it until you have a friend who has been squashed between the two because he wasn’t paying attention.”

You can read more here at the Montreal Mirror…

Shown picking up her winner’s check wearing a bright red rash guard surf shirt,  surfer Pauline Ado (FRA), 17, has just made Association of Surfing Professionals, (ASP), history as the first non-Australian female to claim the undisputed ASP Junior World Title, defeating opponent Bethany Hamilton (HAW), 18, in a hard-fought Final at the Billabong ASP World Junior Championships.

Clean three-to-four foot waves were on tap at Sydney’s legendary North Narrabeen Beach yesterday where Ado surfed her way to the crown and became the newest ASP World Junior Champion.

“I’m speechless,” Ado said. “I am so stoked. This is a dream come true. I can’t believe that I won. When I woke up this morning, I never imagined that this would happen.”

While her opponent Hamilton exhibited patience throughout the day, Ado wasted no time in surfing both the lefts and rights and although the lead flipped back-and-forth it was the young Frenchwoman who sealed the deal with a solid 13.43 out of a possible 20.

Congrats Pauline and nice women’s rash guard if we do say so ourselves. 

They’re celebrating the 70th anniversary of the 1938 Surfing & Paddleboard Championships – the first national surfing championship ever – held in Long Beach, California way, way before the City Council voted Long Beach “The Aquatic Capital of America” and when there were waves in Long Beach. Two fabulous local music groups – the Lap Steel Duo and Swingin’ Tikis – will rock the crowd and set the mood to celebrate surfing history in Long Beach.

They’reproudly celebrating this event with the Long Beach Jr. Chamber of Commerce, one of the original co-sponsors of the Surfing & Paddleboard Championship way back in 1938, along with The District Weekly and Smooth’s Sports Grille.

Smooth’s will be featuring a special Surfrider dinner menu and 10% of the meal will be donated to Surfrider Foundation in Long Beach.

So if you’ve ever wondered what it takes to forecast our great waves here in Southern California, here is your chance to learn and ask as many questions as you’d like.

The meeting will start at 7pm and will be located in the downstairs portion of the Barnes and Noble bookstore in the Marina Pacifica Mall (near 2nd Street  PCH).