How to Use Your Garmin Smartwatch While You Surf
For some, surfing along the coast of beautiful ocean destinations is merely a dream, but for others, it’s a reality. Surfing is not only a display of strength and control, but it is also a lifestyle for those close to the water.
Because Garmin specializes in helping you enjoying the outdoors, we couldn’t miss the chance to work with Surfline® to enhance the surfing capabilities of compatible Garmin smartwatches to help you find your next wave, track your time in the water and relive your experience1.
Surfing with a Garmin Smartwatch
Tide data: Stay up to date on ocean conditions. Just pair the watch with your compatible smartphone so you have a good idea of when it’s the best time to surf.
Surf activity: Record the number of waves surfed, maximum speed reached and distance traveled by using the surf activity profile.
Like other Garmin smartwatches, you will also be able to track the same basic metrics.
Wrist-based heart rate: When you are paddling to catch a wave or trying to get back up after falling off your board, your heart rate tends to increase. By using the wrist-based heart rate feature2, you can track how your heart rate changes while you surf and when you’re out of the water.
Stress tracking: Surfing in bigger waves can sometimes be stressful. Using the stress-tracking feature, you can monitor your body’s stress level. Are you calm, balanced or stressed?
Body Battery™: Long periods of consistent exercise and surfing can lead to some much-needed recovery time. By using the Body Battery energy monitoring feature, you’ll be able to see when your body needs to rest and when it is ready to surf again.
Surfline Connect IQ™ App
For information on surf conditions, you can download the free Surfline Connect IQ app to your compatible smartwatch. Once the app is downloaded, you’ll be able to see data about the current surf conditions at any time. By using your location, the app can show you the wave conditions of the five closest surf spots — that way you know tide, wave height, wind and surf ratings before you paddle out.
Surfline Sessions™
Many athletes and coaches rely heavily on film to correct mistakes and prepare for upcoming competitions, so just like a football player studies games, surfers must be able to study the way they ride. With Surfline Sessions, you’ll be able to capture video of yourself surfing — no videographer necessary1.
To get started, download the Garmin Connect™ app and connect your compatible Garmin smartwatch to the Surfline app. While you begin to gear up and put on your wetsuit, select the surf activity on your Garmin smartwatch and once it’s ready, press start. As long as you are surfing in front of a Surfline camera, your clips will be captured.
When you’re finished and get close to your phone, videos of your surf will be ready for you to view and analyze.
Not only does Surfline provide you with videos of your session, but it also provides helpful insights into the surf conditions while you were out there, plus easy ways to share your favorite clips on social or with friends and family.
At select spots on Surfline, you’ll also be able to see wave distribution and crowd data — that way you will know the height of the waves other surfers were catching and how busy it was at your spot.
Surfing takes practice, and with the help of a Garmin smartwatch, you’ll be able to take your sessions to a whole new level. Next time you decide to grab your board and your wetsuit, remember to grab your Garmin smartwatch on your way out to the beach. Check out the Garmin website to find yourself a compatible Garmin smartwatch.
1When paired with the Garmin Connect app and the Surfline app
2See Garmin.com/ataccuracy
