Alexander Haro
Alexander Haro is a senior editor at The Inertia who covers surfing as a sport and culture, tying day‑to‑day surf news to the ocean environment, weather, and the gear that makes heavy conditions possible. His work stands out for using surf stories to explain larger environmental dynamics and the realities of cold‑water, heavy‑wave sessions, rather than treating them as isolated clips or lifestyle pieces. He has been writing about surfing, the environment, and the outdoors with The Inertia for more than a decade, drawing on roughly twenty years of experience across surf and travel publications.
Surf Culture, Athletes, and Heavy Waves
Haro’s core coverage follows surfers and surf teams in consequential moments in and out of the water, from world‑class professionals to musicians stepping into wave pools. He profiles figures like Kelly Slater paddling out for a quick pre‑golf surf session in Scotland and partnering with an anti‑aging supplement brand, treating these as stories about how elite athletes manage time, health, and their relationship with waves. He also covers competitive and branded teams, including the Weedmaps surf team “dropping the hammer” at the DSRT Surf wave pool, highlighting how surf talent translates into controlled, artificial environments.
Heavy‑wave performance is a recurring thread that marks his archive: Haro packages footage such as eight minutes of brutal wipeouts from heavy waves around the world and four wild days at Cloudbreak into pieces that focus on risk, consequence, and the draw of challenging conditions. Individual surfers like Zeke Lau and bodyboarder Davis Blackwell appear in his work when they push hurricane swells or slab waves to the limit, with Haro framing their sessions as examples of commitment and technical skill in difficult water. He extends this lens to cross‑over stories like Robert Trujillo surfing at the Lost Shore Surf Resort ahead of Metallica’s Glasgow concert, treating surfing as a connective tissue between sport, music, and broader culture.
Ocean, Climate, and Coastal Change
Alongside athlete coverage, Haro regularly reports on ocean and climate phenomena, taking surf readership into detailed discussions of how large‑scale systems affect coasts and surfers. In his piece on El Niño potentially creating a Kelvin wave that affects the entire planet, he explains how equatorial ocean waves can reshape weather patterns and surf conditions far from their origin.
A later story on El Niño 2026 focuses on NOAA’s warnings about how destructive the event could be, translating agency alerts into practical stakes for coastal communities and people who spend time in the water.
Coastal change and hazards appear in his reporting through specific events, such as a rotting whale carcass that shuts down a Perth beach and attracts sharks, where he tracks how marine incidents quickly turn into public‑safety issues for local surfers and swimmers.
He covers geological shifts like the collapse of Hawaii’s Holei Sea Arch, showing how iconic coastal landmarks are subject to erosion and sudden failure in a dynamic ocean landscape. Across these stories, his distinction is an ability to anchor environmental science and hazard reporting in surf‑specific consequences without resorting to technical jargon.
Rescues, Risk, and Surf Therapy
Haro returns often to the theme of surfers as first responders and the inherent risk of heavy‑wave environments. He writes about a surfer rescuing two people and a dog after a wave flips a boat, treating the incident as both a surf story and a case study in situational awareness and community responsibility in nearshore waters.
In another piece, he covers an Oceanside surfer who is rescued after a wave knocks him unconscious, tracing the thin line between routine sessions and life‑threatening emergencies.
Risk is framed not only through accidents but also through curated footage of wipeouts in heavy waves around the world, where he emphasizes impact, hold‑downs, and the psychological pull of dangerous surf. Balancing that, Haro reports on research around surf therapy, including a study finding that surf therapy works just as well in wave pools as in the ocean, positioning surfing as a structured tool for mental health rather than just a recreational pursuit. This mix of rescue narratives, risk documentation, and therapy reporting gives his sports beat a distinctive focus on the human cost and benefit of time in the water.
Gear Reviews, Cold‑Water Surfing, and Travel Life
Gear and equipment are a major part of Haro’s work, especially in relation to cold‑water and harsh conditions. His review of the Finisterre Nieuwland hooded Yulex wetsuit describes it as built for brutal conditions, emphasizing warmth, durability, and usability for surfers who routinely paddle out in frigid water.
Similar detail runs through his evaluations of the Napier Sportz truck tent, which he presents as a way to rest easily on the road, and the YETI Daytrip 20L backpack cooler, which he frames as a cooler that’s practical to carry for long, outdoor days.
Travel and alternative living knit into his gear coverage through personal essays like “#Homeless: Six Months of #Vanlife,” where he recounts quitting his job working in trees, buying a van for $1,500, and living on the road while maintaining his editorial work. He has curated music and culture pieces such as his “Listen Up!” edition featuring Willie Nelson and Lily Meola, showing a willingness to step beyond strictly surf‑technical topics when they intersect with the lifestyle around the sport. Beyond The Inertia, Haro’s author biography notes that he has written for surf and travel publications including SURFER magazine, Surfing magazine, Air Canada enRoute, Color magazine, SBC Surf, and Drift Surfing, reinforcing his focus on surf, environment, and travel as his primary areas of expertise.
His archive at The Inertia combines breaking news, environmental reporting, gear reviews, video features, and travel narratives, offering a consistently surf‑centered but multi‑format sports perspective.
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