Paddle like he'll between sets. Look for rips to take you out. Practice turtle roll... practice riding whitewater while you develop skills, muscle, endurance and ability to read waves...practice board handling... On small days you can paddle up and over the wave. Can do a push up up on your long board, and the whitewater passes between you and the board. My longboard can paddle up waves under 4'...any bigger it can only work between sets. Need at least a 10 sec interval. Even then, I still get pounded at 4' waves. I am about to hit my 150 seshes mark. I'm still a beginner. Around 40 seshes, things really started to click. That's 80-120 hours. Surfing has a very steep learning curve.
You're not a beginner with 150 sessions, unless your "sessions" include paddling out when it's flat and just floating. That's a ****load of surfing for the ec. You can paddle up and over any wave. It depends where it's breaking. If you're trying to paddle up right when it's starting to break then obviously you're going to get crushed.
this is the only good post I have seen this mongoloid put up in nearly 800 posts reefs are no biggie, they teach beginners in waikiki all day erryday, they are deep enough where you wont hurt yourself. betty says learn what a riptide is, and I agree, that is good advice I personally recommended body surfing with fins on, you really get to 'know' waves
ok Well we are all learning no matter how long we've been at it. ------ Oh and this guy before was not talking about mushy safe deep reefs( flat cobblestone with NO boulders for example) with small waves. He was talking about SLABS and things like pipe. Guys nuts telling a beginner to go after stuff like that.
youtube or google duck dive and turtle dive. One of the two. When its really small you can do what Betty mentioned, the half duck, and just push your board under the wave and let the water run in between your chest and the board. But a true duck dive will save you the most energy. Its the only way to cut through the force of the water like a butter knife. The turtle and half duck usually result in getting pushed back a bit, thus requiring more energy to get your motion back up and out to the lineup. Whatever you do, never get in the habit of letting go of your board, even with a leash. This is very dangerous and will lead to unhappy co-surfers. So, even if you think you are going to be overwhelmed by the size of a wave, hold your board tightly, away from your face and take it. Even if you think no one is around you. Surfing becomes all about second nature and instinct, you want your mind and body to react the way you want it to in spur of the moment difficult situations, so make sure to practice the proper techniques all the time, so your muscle memory and mind will work in sync together and keep you and everyone else safe. I taught my wife to surf and I have seen her freak out when a knee high set breaks out in front of us on a soft reef break. I tell her to fight her "flight" instinct and brace for it... A lot of times, I would laugh and say, get off your board and stand up before the wave hits her, it is then that she realized that she is in waist deep water... Surf smart, not hard. Most time in Jersey on a beginner sized day, you won't be very deep. Always remember that. Dont sit out there fighting the ocean, walk out as far as you can, lifting your board up and over the set waves until the set slows down and you can paddle out a couple yards and be in the right spot. 9 out of 10 times, you will be able to walk almost all the way out to the break.... practice the duck diving though... You can practice that in a pool even. Some of the Hawaiians have the duck dive down to a science. They can move the board side to side in flat water and get like 15 feet deep. You can practice it anywhere.
Turtle roll, push up if it's small, or let it push me back to shore if the wave breaks in front of me in the paddle out. Watch other surfers to, to learn. Don't be afraid, lots of surfing learning is trial and error and lotsmof wipe outs. And the rec for a soft top is good rec.
A camp or lessons will advance you a little faster, so if you're in a rush, and have the cashola, try it. My advice, find someone who knows what they're doing and surf with them whenever you can. A little direction goes a loooong way. I love teaching new surfers. I figure you need to do about 50+ things, just right to actually surf. Take them each a little bit at a time. Learn the first 5 majors points, until they become instinct. Once you're not thinking about the first 5 anymore and they just happen - take on the next 5 or so. 5 automatically, 5 you're thinking about, and so on... working your way thru the process. A mentor, internet videos, an indo board, a strong turtle roll and 30 burpees a day are all you need! Keep going from there and pretty soon you're surfin and getting ready to teach your own patawan.
Gfootr don't hold back on us in composing that list of 50+ rudimentary surfing skills. You know how I like thinking about and discussing technique.
There are a number of people on this Forum, of varying ability level, who have attended the Surf Simply week-long surf coaching program in Nosara, Playa Guiones, Costa Rica. Every one of them would give the place huge thumbs-up. (In fact, there's a guy who regularly posts on SI Forum who is attending their course this week. He's getting a really nice swell coming in right about now.) Surf Simply teaches surfing as it should be taught, IMHO: as a sport. It's not some dreadlocked pastafarian shoving you into a wave & yelling, "feel the ocean, go with it!" The instruction gives you skills that you can take back to your break & develop your surfing abilities no matter where you surf. As with any sport, it's a great thing if you can learn the proper techniques early on, instead of learning wrong & then trying to break self-defeating, bad habits later in your learning curve. The second poster here had it right: 1. Big Wednesday Whiteboard videos on You Tube. 2. Save your money & book a week at Surf Simply in CR. Have fun, and good luck.
These guys were the first resource I ever had in surfing. I watched all their tutorials one by one at the onset of my surfing and have revisited the videos from time to time as I got more understanding of and experience with the topics they present. I've said it before and I'll say it again - these guys are amazing coaches and mentors, surfing aside.
That's because it's so damn flat right now, and last week and probably next week. So there is nothing to do. It takes work to surf on EC. That is more important than anything here...many learn how to surf because, you know, surfing on the 'cool factor' rating is really up there and then they come home super stoked and tanned and realize that surfing here is going to be a big **** sandwich and ideally they would be unemployed so they can really take advantage of that window. So, they wear their surfing apparel and have their board eventually on CL before a big move. It's okay. Good days here are precious. And also keep in mind that I know few people who have money to travel and have surfed little waves on exotic locales and attended all the **** Tamarindo could present and..they have a hard time with dredging icey pound breaks here. Not really 'blue crush' by a long shot. Surfing is really fun, almost as much as catching fish. Have a fun vacation somewhere, ideally CR, and come back and paddle out when it's nice outside and catch a few. It will be fun. Surfing has a steep curve and you will be tested, or rather your dedication questioned, many many times until you get much done here. Enjoy!
