Reading the break

Been spending quite some time watching the waves break on a given day prior to stepping in. Anything other than the rare full day of offshores seems to throw moderate to total unpredictability in break timing and spot from one wave to the next within a set. These sets also lack pattern and consistency from one to the next as a whole, even when giving ample time to study them upon arrival.

So timing the break has been a challenge when I decide to paddle into one in what appears to be the right spot and distance for a successful takeoff in the green, only to have it crumble prematurely as it's lifted me halfway. On those, I give extra paddles and the final double arm paddle which will get me over the top but then its a flat drop to the trough and I've got the white coming down on me which kills my speed and my ability to turn down the line. In that case, I just ride straight and catch enough speed to stay ahead of the mush and get out in front of the spray. Then the mediocre ride is done.

For ones I get a takeoff down the face and get to my feet with some speed before the white comes down on top, I've got out ahead of the crumble and have minimal spray to deal with and can still get down the line, though I'm in the flats and have no face to begin to re-enter since the crumble has likewise been premature to the right or left of takeoff spot, so I just stay down the line and ride it out with some pumping for speed but nothing much to get back into even if I do get speed.

I'm still working on many of the basics, so my recent consistency with smoother takeoffs at an angle is something new and a definite improvement, as are my sharper down the line bottom turns. I'm pleased with bringing those into my baseline skill set, but eager to begin getting back in the face for speed on the SB and also to start trying to get up to the lip. If that's not the next level of skill progression then let me know and I can focus on another aspect.

Basically, my questions are:
1) Since these east coast waves are fairly inconsistent and lacking in pattern of breaking spot and timing on the typical day, what are points of focus you vets look for as indicators of what waves to take and how to handle them? It's tough to get too selective as your session would largely be spent waiting and floating.
2) When you see the oncoming wave, what are visual indicators you read to see if this one will go right or left?
3) If the wave does break differently than you expected and scouted it to break, how do you handle that to make the best of that ride or do you just fall off the back purposely when you know it's just not worth getting brought inside on account of taking a junk wave?
4) What are any and all indicators you look for in a single wave or set or series of sets to determine what cards the ocean is dealing you that session and what do you use from that to formulate your game plan for good rides?
5) What do you specifically do on a technical level to make the most of crap waves once you're out there, beyond picking the right board? I'm mostly talking about days where you do see some good rides to take but they're in between plenty of unpredictable junk.

Thanks very much in advance. Feel free to correct anything from my first few paragraphs that doesn't sound accurate or correct. Answers to those questions would be great, but even just listing your straight up philosophy and strategy for how to handle so-so to worse conditions would be valuable for me and I'm sure several others.

At last night's short session before dark, I paddled into 9 waves and caught 7 while falling off the back on 2. Rode most of them clean and balanced and several down the line. Looking to get to the next level above that! Thanks again guys.

 

Right on. That's been my mindset - catch as many as possible. Totally agree with the no hesitation as well. Even though I know "there will always be another one", it's a drag to watch one go by you know you'd have liked to take. I made this post today after taking so many drops into closeouts, which certainly do have value in many ways for me starting out. And it's not like more of those reps won't do me good, the definitely will. Just looking for a method to get more reps on attempts of getting down the line and then back in the wave. Thanks for a thoughtful post.

 

Another helpful post, thanks. I've been doing a combination of both of these, depending on which break I'm at and how it's acting that day based on the conditions. When do you typically turtle roll? I've found that if the wave coming at me has broken far before where I am and it hasn't waned in power and volume too much or got close to reform that duck diving is more difficult and less productive. Tried turtle rolling on a handful of those last night for the first time and it seemed to go smooth and I tended to not get pulled back much at all and stayed on the board and started paddling my arse off to get closer to the next where I could duck dive better.

 

Good stuff. I've been giving a ton of time to tide watching and seeing how critical that is to how a spot behaves on a given day and time. One thing that's helped this week is looking over both shoulders for a last check before it's reached me to see if I'm still where I want to be in relation to it as well as what the impending break looks like it will do. Also, turning into paddling into waves both right and left has helped get the full peripheral view of the oncoming. Previously, I was typically looking just over my right and turning counter-clockwise into my paddle. I'd say my main issue right now with this is that from my point of deciding to take the wave and then when it arrives it often has changed in appearance of what it's expected to do. More reps and more time will sharpen my assessment though just as you say.

 

Exactly. So I do want to be lining up at the peak? That's what I've been doing, but started to think that may be why it's breaking too soon on me. At which point I would imagine I just need to be closer to it and earlier in its formation on the takeoff attempt. I like what you say about watching it for the longest time possible and have been trying that when the period allows and it's enabled me to get more of the desirable ones and commit less to ones that aren't going to be good based on where I am and what's it's formed to and doing relative to my position.

 

Just what I was looking for, thanks. I do use the landmarks on the shore for nav purposes. The double arm paddle if used at all is on that one final paddle before pop up.