Surfing Guide - How to Surf

Pages: Introduction | Safety Advice | How to Surf | Surf Breaks | Surf Boards

How To Stand Up
Your Stance: What you are - Regular or Goofy footed!
This simply means which foot you lead with. A simple test for this it to get a friend to gently push you forward, the foot that you instinctively put forward is your lead foot. If you put your left foot forward then you're Regular footed, right foot and you're Goofy footed, simple!

The next step is to get the right stance. To achieve this you need to stand on your board and put your lead foot forward. Spread your feet as wide as is comfortable. You then want your feet at a 90 degree angle across the stringer of the board; the stringer is the thin strip of wood going from nose to tail down the centre of the board. Then you want to create the best centre of gravity. To do this bend your knees, stretch your arms along the stringer both front and back and ensure both your feet and shoulders stay centred over the boards stringer.

The Pop Up.
This is how you get from lying on your board (paddling) to a standing position (riding the wave). This move is really important to develop your surfing. The trick is to get to your feet as quickly and smoothly as possible, making the transition from paddling to surfing effortless. This does take some practice, but as you now have your stance nailed you just have to learn how to get to your feet. Its best to practice this on dry land first either on the beach or if that's too embarrassing in your room, and here's how:

1. Lie flat on your board; if you're on a mini-mal then your head should be about a foot or two from the nose of the board.
2. Then put your hands palm down beside your chest similar to doing a push up.
3. Take what will be your back foot (if your Regular then right foot) and roll it over to the inside ankle.
4. When you do this roll your hip, above the back foot, off the board.
5. Then you want to 'snap', in one fluid motion launch your chest off the board by doing a push up, at the same time bring your lead and back feet through by arching your back and twisting your hip.
6. You should then land with both feet over the stringer and hands off the board outstretched with your knees bent.

When popping up if you go to your knees before fully standing, then in the long term this will be a problem as it will restrict your progress due to it stopping you making an early bottom turn. However it can be a means to an end and if for the time being it is the only way you can get to a standing position then at least you are getting more wave time on the board. As long as you keep this in mind in due course you will have the perfect fluid pop up and be ripping it up with the best of them!

Content Source from: Surfing Waves

How To Paddle
Paddling is a vital aspect of surfing as if you struggle with paddling then you'll find it difficult to get out beyond the breaking waves to get to the line up and so will never get a decent ride on a wave.

Position for Paddling on the Board
This depends on the board you are riding but in general terms your body weight needs to be positioned over the centre of the board and your feet slightly raised off the board. You need to ensure that you're not too far forward on the board other wise when you're paddling the nose will dip into the water, making paddling a lot harder. However being too far back is also not good as you'll find it very hard to skim across the water as a lot of your body will be sunk into the water, also you may find your board keeps popping out from underneath you like a torpedo.

Paddling the Board
Once you have centred yourself on the board you can start paddling. To begin with you'll probably find it easier if your legs are slightly wider apart to act as a counter balance. Then start by reaching out one arm at full stretch in front of you, and then pull your arm back past your hip, not too deep in the water, to achieve maximum push from each stroke. Repeat this with your opposite arm and then continue to alternate one arm and then the other in a smooth fluid motion. A nice small clean day would be a good time to practice, it won't feel comfortable for a while, but with a little experimentation you'll find your self skimming across the ocean in no time!

From Paddling to Sitting on your Board
You will have seen many surfers doing this once they are beyond the breaking waves, this allows them on see the oncoming waves with greater ease and gives them more time to line themselves up in the right position. So learning how to get to a sitting position and then back to paddling is an important aspect of surfing and is achieved as follows; once you are past the breaking waves and are comfortably balanced, take hold of each side of the board holding to the rails as if you about to do a push up. Now extend your arms fully and pull the board forwards through your now bent legs. Don't let go of your board at any time as it will fly out from underneath you!! Then bring your knees up and arch your back into a sitting position over the centre of the board. It is now just a matter of balance. Lean too far to the left or right and you'll fall off, to avoid this use your legs to balance you, don't lean too far forward either otherwise the board will fly out behind you and you'll swallow half the ocean. Falling back is the classic as your board turns into a flying torpedo and you very ungracefully fall back into the water arms and legs flailing!! Be warned, look out for others in the water when getting used to this as a board in the face really hurts, however you'll soon get the hang of it and will be bobbing about like the rest of them.

From Sitting to catching waves
To do this firstly you need to manoeuvre the board using your arms and legs so it's pointing towards the beach. Then to get back into the paddling position do the reverse of above, hold onto the board's rails and slide it back up through your legs and then straighten your legs and body so you lying back on the board. Then line yourself up with the wave and paddle like hell!!!

Content Source from: Surfing Waves

How To Catch Waves
Getting in the Water.
To do this without injuring either yourself or others in the water, before you have even caught a wave, ensure that you are holding your surfboard in a position where a wave can't knock it back into your face and cause you an injury. To do this, hold the board out at arms length with a hand on each rail, jump over the oncoming white water as you walk your way out. Always look around to make sure you are not about to get washed into someone's path, or that you are not directly behind someone who may lose hold of their board. This can be quite scary seeing an oncoming wave complete with 9 foot of longboard wrapped up in it!.

Catching a Wave

• Beginners (white water > Small 1-2 ft waves)
  To catch a white water to small wave, firstly find a wave that has just broken or is about to break, about 10 yards away from you. Then make sure you and your board are facing towards the beach, hop on your board and get into a paddling position making sure no one is already on the wave or in front of you. Once the wave/white water is about 5 yards from you start paddling like hell. You'll need this to get up to a similar speed as the wave, watch behind you so you can see when the wave is about to hit you. Once the wave catches up with you, as long as you have generated enough speed, the wave should pick you up and push you forward. Once you are on the wave and feeling stable your next task is to stand up!! To do this, refer to our guide on How to Stand. Remember to always look where you're going, not at your feet. With practice you'll get to your feet quicker, and then have time to steer your board a bit by leaning slightly in the direction you want to go.
• Novice (Small 2ft > 4ft waves)
  To catch these bigger waves you need to have mastered the above Beginners section, and now be comfortable on your board, paddle well and have a better awareness of what is happening around you than when catching white water waves. Once you have paddled past the breaking waves, sit on your board and face out to sea keeping an eye on the waves that are coming towards you. Pick one that looks like it is big enough to pick you up and take you in but no so big as to wipe you out! If you are on the ideal novice board the wave will not have to be that big, and you will hardly need to paddle at all. On a very small, light board you may have to work a little harder. As the wave you have picked gets closer to you spin the board around to face the beach and get into your paddling position go for it, as the wave starts to pick you up you should feel the board rise in the water as the wave picks you up and your speed in the water increases. Once the wave has you pop up ASAP as practiced on the white water and before you know it you'll be cruising down and hopefully along your first proper wave!

Content Source from: Surfing Waves

Positioning
Paddling Out
It is far easier to paddle through unbroken water than hammer your way out through walls and walls of white water, so before you start paddling out sit down and take a good look at where you need to be in the line up (refer to paragraph below)and which is the easiest way out past the breaking waves. Use your common sense, what is the best way out? Which route will not take me into the path of incoming surfers? It is always handy if the spot you are surfing is nice and un-crowded and the waves are breaking in the same spot all the time. Remember each surf break is different to the next and each day at a surf break is different from the day before, but that is one of the joys of surfing. Another thing to be aware of is that you will not always be able to paddle out in the nice unbroken waves. If you have caught a wave in and come off your board you may be left right in the impact zone or caught inside! If this happens then you should make your way back out to the line up through the white water, and out of the way of other surfers who will be coming in on waves. It is your responsibility when paddling out to keep out of the way of incoming wave riders.

Positioning in the Line Up
Your positioning is very important to make it as easy as possible to catch waves without having to duck dive all the time. Getting the right position is something that you will get a good feel for as your surfing experience increases. When you are learning you can spot the best position a lot of the time by seeing where all the other surfers are. The majority of the time the best position is a few metres past where the wave is breaking. The reason to get a good position is so that when you start to paddle for a wave it catches up with you just at the place where the wave is getting steeper, rising into a rideable shape. With experience, you'll get to recognize the position where waves form. You'll see a wave approaching and get an intuition that it's big enough to take you with it. You'll decide if you want to go with it, and if you do, you'll paddle in just far enough to catch the wave as it builds, but not so far that it's already falling over in a throwing C shape.

Position when Catching a Wave
This is critical in getting the wave. If you don't commit enough you won't be catching waves, and if you are paddling into waves too late then you will be pitched nose first into the water! You should aim to catch the wave in the moments before it breaks into white water. You will find it much easier to get up when catching unbroken waves as the surface of the wave will be smoother and your surfboard will not be bouncing all over the place. An additional thing to remember is that you paddle along the wave (the direction its breaking) and not just straight into shore. Paddling at an angle means when you pop up you'll already be travelling along the wave in the right direction.

Position on the Wave.
The idea of surfing is all about generating enough speed to keep on the wave, there is no such thing as going too fast in surfing! Your position on the wave is how you will generate the speed you need. Surfing is like going downhill, as you are going down you will build up speed, you use your legs and body weight to keep your speed up and carve on the wave. To pick up speed you need to keep high up on the wave. Don't worry if you are just beginning to surf you'll initially have far too much on your mind to think about speed, any way it will all feel phat at first! To begin with just cruise along the shoulder of the wave and keeping in front of the white water. Then when you feel you are ready to start speeding up take a look at how other surfers do it.

Content Source from: Surfing Waves

How to Duck Dive
The Art of Duck Diving
This truly is an art form, which takes a lot of practice. It is advisable to practice this on small waves, and then build up to larger waves as you develop your duck diving talents. The one advantage of practicing to duck dive is that you can do it in any surf conditions, even if it is totally flat. The main aim is to get both you and your surfboard as far beneath the oncoming waves as possible, recover quickly when you have passed under the wave, then get back to paddling out.

Paddling through the wave
The best techniques for getting out back through the oncoming waves are as follows:

• Carry maximum momentum paddling toward and up to the wave. Lie prone on your board and as the trough of the wave approaches lift your chest high off the board.
• Straighten your arms and drive the nose of your board as deep into the water as possible with as much force as you can.
• As the wave goes over you should lay out flat creating as little resistance as possible while bringing your knee up and putting pressure on the back of the surfboard, levelling it out under the water.

Depending on your positioning and momentum, it may take little to make you rise up through the backside of the wave and continue paddling down into the trough beyond. Remember the quicker that you can resume paddling out, the quicker that you will get out back and the less energy you will be expending. It's that simple however it takes a lot of practice to get right. You will soon be able to tell the difference between a good and a bad duck dive. If you get it right you will pass smoothly through the wave, get it wrong any you'll be pulled back towards the beach, lose your board and have to do it all over again.

Content Source from: Surfing Waves

Pages: Introduction | Safety Advice | How to Surf | Surf Breaks | Surf Boards

Content Source from: Surfing Waves