Track your surf sessions with the Garmin vívoactive3 watch
In this post we are going to explore how you can track your surf sessions with the Garmin vívoactive3 watch.
Before we start, this post is not sponsored by any means by Garmin or any other company. All the devices used in this post are my personal devices.
I recently acquired the vívoactive3 on a pretty good deal at Jb-hi-fi. I got it for AUD 249,00, which is a steal for what this watch can do. However, in this post, I wont go through all the features of the watch. But instead, focus on its surf tracking capabilities.
If you want to dive into the details, please keep reading and we will go through some real life examples and review the data from couple of my surf sessions.
On the other hand, if you are here for the gist; I’m really happy with my purchase. Going to the beach and taking only my watch, allows me to track my session and even pay for something on my way back home. Battery is excellent and it looks amazing.
Will it work?
So, you took the watch out of the box, set it up, paired with your phone and got your surfboard. However, you noticed that amongst the extensive list of exercises, there is no Surfing activity!
Surprisingly, surf is not and activity supported by Garmin out of the box. But don’t worry, there are couple of applications in the Connect IQ Store we can use for that. For the sake of this blog post I’m going to be using the application called Surfing by Aled Thomas.
Getting the vívoactive3 ready
First of all, let’s install the application. Go to the Connect IQ store on your phone and install the Surfing application on your vívoactive3 watch or any other compatible watch.
Now, in the Connect IQ App on your phone. Go to Activities & Application, find the Surfing app and go into Settings.
Change the minimum wave speed to 15 and keep the minimum wave time to at least 5. The default value for the minimum wave speed is 9. I noticed that with the default value, sometimes it counts couple of waves when I’m paddling out. Changing to 15 seems to solve the problem.
Surf’s up, what now?
Now, grab your board, get to the beach and just press the button to start an activity on your watch. You should see a new activity called Surfing. Tap on it, wait fo the GPS signal and good surfing.
How does the tracking looks like?
Let’s analyse the data from one of my recent surf sessions. The surf hasn’t been great in Sydney lately, but it should be enough to have an idea.
The Surfing app
The app will show you the session length, how many waves you got, time since your last wave, heart rate, etc.
You can pause and resume your session and double tap the physical button to save the session.
The activity in Connect IQ
Once you get home and sync your session with your phone, the activity is going to be available in the Connect IQ app.
You can see the distance you have paddled. The actual map of you moving along the break. How many calories you burned (I was actually surprised it’s that much.)
In the the next tab you can see; pace, speed, elevation. Quite a lot of insights.
Conclusion
I’m in love with the Garmin Vívoactive3 and totally recommend it.
To be honest, the main purpose I got the watch was due to the NFC payment capability. I wanted to be able to buy something when I’m out surfing and I don’t have my wallet or phone on me. It works perfectly for that.
On top of that, I decided to give it a go and track one of my sessions. It’s actually really helpful and accurate. I see myself using the Surfing application every time I go surfing now.
The watch nor the band show no signs of wearing and the watch is functioning flawlessly after dozen sessions. I’ll update the post if anything changes.
Leave a comment if you wish to ask any questions. I’ll be more than happy to assist with what I can.
5 Comments
Niels · December 22, 2020 at 2:54 pm
Hi, I was wondering: still no defaults/failure of your Vivoactive 3 watch after a longer time using it in the sea? Maybee after some heavier surf and wipe out? I have a vivoactive 4 myself. The watch has a 5ATM waterproof… which is not really ment for water sports? If it has proven it can be done, that would be amazing!! Thanks.
Grtz Niels
Niels · December 22, 2020 at 2:58 pm
So after a longer time of using your Vivoactive in the ocean during surfing (heavy surf, wipe outs?) does it still function as before? I’m curious, I would like to do the same with my Vivoactive is it is a prooven succes ;-).
The watch comes only with a 5ATM standard, which is not really for more intensive watersports?
Lucas Bauer Bento · February 25, 2021 at 12:01 am
Hey Niels, sorry for the late response. Been a bit busy since the end of the year.
To answer your question, I’ve had my vivoactive 3 for about 2 years now… I have gone through some really crazy wipeouts, lot’s of surfing, wake boarding, snorkelling, MTB’ing… My VA3 looks brand new still, I’ve always washed it with fresh water after a session btw, this helps preserving the seals on the watch.
Go for it, enjoy and let me know how it goes! Thanks for the comment.
Cheers
Aidan O'Connor · May 20, 2021 at 10:33 pm
And a very late question – what’s it like to use with wet hands? Does the screen activate when it shouldn’t and can you navigate through the menus with just the button and the side swipe? I’ve a Fitbit Charge 4 which relies on touchscreen and once my hands and wet it’s fairly unresponsive. I’m trying to decide between the Vivoactive and one of the Forerunner models for SUP, SUP surfing and some very rare surfing.
Lucas Bauer Bento · July 16, 2021 at 3:49 am
Thanks for your message!
Yeah.. that’s the biggest problem I had with the vivo active 3. I had to blow air on the screen to be able to interact with it, and even still it wasn’t easy. I’ve got a Fenix 6s now, got it on a really good sale. It has buttons to control the watch. It’s way better for wet sports.
Cheers Aidan