Book Recommendations for Beginner Surfer

I can send you hand drawn diagrams and directions for a chunky fee. Years of experience right in the palm of your hand. Let me know. Time in the water is ok if you decide not to buy now.

 

Best advice right hurrr.

 

Get "The Stormrider's Guide", World ed. The section on weather is really good and the rest of the book will become your daydream/jerkoff reference catalogue of places to surf.

 

Surfing is literally "hard to put into words". But "Caught Inside" is the Daniel Duane book referenced earlier. I can vouch that's a good one for sure - good read, and lots of how-to sprinkled in. I've re-read it a couple of times. "In Search of Captain Zero" by Alan Weisbecker as others have mentioned is another good read with a little bit of nose riding how-to in there.
I myself haven't come across a pure "how to" type of book, but here is a good, concise, practical , "read it - try -it - repeat" type of article by Richard Schmidt http://www.surfline.com/surfology/surfology_sschool_index.cfm
If you like his style I see there is a link to his surf school website with videos available for purchase ... if a picture is worth 1000 words, a video must be worth a million.
Surfing with your kid is perhaps the biggest blessing on earth. Have fun ~

 

The Wave by Susan Casey is really good if you want to learn more about the ocean. Some of it is surfing-related and some has more to do with weather but definitely a great read. Science-based but not heavy and she spends a lot of time interviewing Laird Hamilton so that's cool.

 

+1 on The Wave. Cool book...cool stuff on rogue waves in there too. I'm kinda obsessed with rogue waves.

 

Yeah Ballpark we respond. This ain't MSW where there's one thread that's been responded to in the past 48-hours.

This ain't Surfer, who bans people during introductory posts.

Oh, we respond.

And if you are looking for HOW TO's just go, as someone mentioned, to the videos. You'll see it, and it will take less of your time away from Citizen's Bank Park

Hey who wrote, "The Lost Coast?" and is it b!tchen? I think it might be. Oh PNW, how I dream of ye.

 

Forget the Book,
Sit on the beach for a bit, Watch other surfers who know what they are doing, Watch the waves and pick a consistent break right or left.
Choose a Board that has some float and some length.
Get in the water and go to the spot where the wave is breaking consistently and GO FOR IT!
You will learn faster that way then trying to fill your head with a bunch of stuff....

 

If you really want a good read with great imagery then check out, "Surfing Illustrated" by John Robinson. It teaches you everything that you asked for and more. My mom got it for me when I just started. The guys are right that the only way to truly get better is time in the water and watch people who are better than you are. Read that book and watch a lot of surfing videos. If you really want it you'll get it. I started out last year with my first 8' soft top and roughly 50 surfs later I'm riding a 6'4" shortboard with some decent steeeeze.

Good luck and have fun!

 

I would read the emass collection starting with" stomp pads and sunrises " then " I guess candle wax was a bad idea " or which way do these silly fins go ?" These reads got me thru my Barney years . Good luck !

 

I have not read all the posts on this thread, so I apologize for repeating anything previously addressed.

Books are good up to a point. It's like something you resort to if you can't be actually doing what you're reading about.

One of the best things you can do is to have, or make friends with, those who have been surfing for quite awhile. I mean, if you really want to surf and to surf well, such (good and patient) friends can do more to improve your surfing than any book. Surf etiquette, often overlooked in formal surfing "lessons" and in books is also very important.

My son (now 22) went surfing for the first time last week with two friends from work, both of whom had been surfing for much of their lives. He learned so much in just one sesh than one can learn on one's own or from reading books. He took one of my old 8 ft boards and really enjoyed the whole experience. His only misgiving was that he had not done so sooner. I look forward to surfing with him this summer. I

 

Look up a guy named Chandler on the North Shore of Oahu. He is the Tits. He taught this kid from Arizona named Rick Kane how to surf and just a few days later he was in the finals of the Pipe Masters!!! He should have won but that jerk Lance Burkhart got away with a blatant interference.
JK, there's nothing that makes grumpy ole Chavez happier than when I get to surf with my sons.

 

Wanna buy some pictures lance ? Ha!!! Who you calling ***** ? ***** .. Stupid the kid shows up in the spring and almost wins pipemasters ?! Haha I would have done the peables chick though .

 

You can check these out at your local library or through Inter Library Loan:

• Orbelian, George. 1987. Essential surfing. San Francisco, Calif: Orbelian Arts.
• Kelly, John M. 1965. Surf and sea. New York: A.S. Barnes.
• Dixon, Peter L. 2001. The complete guide to surfing. Guilford, Conn: Lyons Press.
• Nelson, William Desmond. 1973. Surfing; a handbook. Philadelphia: Auerbach Publishers.

A few of the above are available via Amazon or used books on-line sites (except for the John Kelly book, a classic).

Bascom, Willard. Waves and Beaches. A classic. Very thorough.

 

ya know, there might still be a copy of that Kelly book at the NAS Pensacola library, not too far from you. That really is a good one but until rodntube brought it up I couldn't remember the name.

 

ready occys book it will teach you how to do a lot of drugs and become a world champ

 

green eggs and ham by dr suess really improved my surfing.

 

Learn how to paddle. If you're surfing the EC you'll spend most of your time paddling. Paddling against the drift, paddling to get in position, etc.

Take your board to a pool or a lake or somewhere you can find flat glassy water. Learn how to paddle efficiently in the flat water. There is no better way to build up those muscles and learn how to paddle correctly. Check some vids to learn the proper form, then paddle paddle paddle till your arms fall off. Then do it again the next day.

Try to paddle in flat water making as little noise as possible. The less splashing and thrashing you do the more efficient you are being. If you can't paddle well and for a good distance in flat water you won't be able to do it worth a fock in the ocean. And if you can't paddle in the ocean you won't catch jack sheet.

There are guys here who go out almost every day and paddle for miles, waves or not. Probably the most overlooked aspect of surfing by beginners.

And yeah, learn some etiquette. Don't be the kook on the softtop paddling straight for the peak at the pier\jetty\etc. You won't make many friends that way.