Surfing

Perhaps the best part of being a fan of One Direction is that it's not so unlike being a member of One Direction. Less than three years into their lives together, these five British boys -- Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles, all of whom met in 2010 as contestants on England's "X Factor" -- still seem totally stoked on the pop-star experience, their aw-shucks exuberance so far undimmed by the paranoia and resentment...

You think you know storms, Southern California? Canada's Vancouver Island--now it knows storm. The Long Beach Lodge Resort near Tofino, British Columbia, offers one of North America's finest vistas for storm-watching. For those wanting to immerse themselves in the fury, the lodge and other local outfitters also offer superb winter surfing amid the wicked winter waves of the Pacific Ocean. The lodge, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012, was built along Cox Bay, and its great room provides an ideal place for curling up in an overstuffed leather chair and watching the massive waves roll in, whipped to a frenzy by gale-force winds.

The gig: Wing Lam, co-founder of Wahoo's Fish Taco, is the face of the surf-inspired taco chain, with 65 restaurants in seven states. The company started almost 25 years ago in an old Italian restaurant near a stretch of industrial office plazas in Costa Mesa. The business: Wahoo's, the fast-casual taco chain, serves up grilled fish tacos with Asian and Brazilian influences in brightly colored restaurants where the walls are covered floor to ceiling with stickers and surfing memorabilia.

A Northern California community was in mourning Monday after three members of a family — including a teenage boy — died while attempting to rescue their dog from the powerful surf. The Humboldt County coroner said Howard Kuljian, 50, and his wife, Mary Scott, 54, of Eureka, Calif., drowned Saturday after rushing into the water at Big Lagoon, a beach north of Eureka. Officials say the family dog had run into the ocean to fetch a stick when it was pulled in by waves. The couple's 16-year-old son, Gregory Kuljian, ran in after the dog, prompting his father to enter the water as well.

Who wants to look at the road when your smartphone is so much more interesting? That's the thinking of a growing number of people who admit to "webbing" and driving -- or surfing the Internet while driving their car. According to a study of 1,000 drivers by State Farm Insurance, 48% of drivers 18 to 29 have admitted to accessing the Internet while driving. That's up from 29% three years ago. Quiz: How big a problem is texting while driving? In the same age group, 43% of drivers said they check email while they are driving, up from 32% in 2009.

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency updated water quality guidelines for the nation's beaches Monday, moving in response to charges that the federal government has not done enough to protect bathers from polluted water. The new guidelines, which update standards issued in 1986, may not immediately mean safer beaches and coastal waters. States have the authority to set their own water quality standards. But federal environmental officials said they hoped the suggested guidance would prompt state leaders to toughen their own oversight of recreational waters where people swim, surf and go boating.

“The world's most dangerous wave. Seven seconds of sheer terror. A force of nature.” With that prose, the Oahu 's North Shore Chamber of Commerce invites visitors to share in the thrill of surfing's biggest event of the year, the Van's Triple Crown of Surfing . The event is actually three contests along North Shore beaches. The action gets underway Monday at Alii Beach in the town of Haleiwa and continues through Dec. 20. Admission is free. The surfing action began shifting from Waikiki northward in the 1960s as new, shorter boards prompted surfers to chase the faster, hollower waves (tubes)

Two vastly different generations of surf rock fans might know the sound of Eddie Bertrand's guitar licks: those who dig his band the Bel-Airs, whose classic early '60s Southern California surf instrumentals are some of the earliest examples of the form; and followers of Orange County surf-punk band Sublime, who incorporated Bertrand solo into its song “Seed.” Bertrand, who died on Saturday after a fight with cancer, was a key figure in the...

For "Chasing Mavericks," Grant Washburn taught Gerard Butler everything he knows about surfing - and even more about wiping out. In the film from 20th Century Fox, which debuted Friday, Butler plays surf legend Frosty Hesson, who teaches teenager Jay Moriarity (Jonny Weston) to take on Mavericks, the point break where waves crest at upward of 60 feet near Northern California's Half Moon Bay. And he relied on Washburn, a pro big-wave surfer, to make him look the part. VIDEO: Critic Betsy Sharkey on 'Chasing Mavericks' Washburn, 44, fondly remembers surfing Mavericks with Moriarity, who died at age 22 in a free-diving accident in the Maldives.