Beginner technique questions

You know what I never see? Groms. Maybe I am just in the wrong place at the wrong times, but all of the beginners I see these days are at least in their late twenties. Only ever see kids at contests, with their parents watching.

 

50% groms down on the IOP. However, quite a few of them are charging harder than more seasoned guys I surf with.

 

They do, and it's actually good stuff if you maintain good form, but very cultish and they never shut up about it...but you hit the nail on the head, better there than have them in the water.

 

Jake, these guys gave you great pointers for when you're in the water.

Do this stuff for the other 85% of the days out of the year when you can't surf so you can kill it when the swell hits:

1. Cardio is king. Start running at least a few times a week and keep running longer and faster as you progress. On the days you don't run, find a rowing machine to use. These are great full-body workouts that'll increase endurance and overall physical strength. You'll also shed pounds like a fatty with gastro, in turn, making it easier to pop up and balance.
2. Someone mentioned this earlier - push-ups, pull-ups, core strength. Try to do one of these each day on a rotational schedule.
3. Mix in some yoga to keep the body guessing and get some flexibility.

I used to not surf very much because I wasn't in good shape and it was a struggle for me. I went to school at a landlocked college and picked up running. I got into the best shape of my life that first year and when I went back home in the summer, I started surfing again. It was so much easier for me because I was in such good shape and I was able to quickly learn and progress beyond the point of other guys who had been surfing for years just in that one summer.

Peak physical fitness will improve your surfing and overall life experience. No Excuses. Get after it.

 

Kids are taking over surfing. They are getting better and better, younger and younger. On any given day at a good spot in CA, you will see a dozen 11-13 years old just boosting crazy and just throwing their boards around the wave face like they are skate boards. Not to mention tucking into barrels of all size, from tiny to huge. Kids used to always have talent, but now they have developed style by age 10. Little teenagers that way 100 pounds can power surf and throw huge hacks, tuck in a little barrel and then stick a 360 frontside air totally clean....

It's a sad state of affairs, but it's incredible to watch. John John was one of the first kids from the next generation to break through into the big leagues. But man, the future is in the youth.

No matter where you live, I am sure you can all agree that the talent levels at such a young age are insane.

There was a 13-14 year old kid surfing next to me most of the day during arthur. We were trading waves most of the time. This kid was getting 3 barrels to my every 1. He was just popping up, all 110, 5'4" of him, tucking right into the backdoor of the barrels. It wasn't really an air kind of day, but I was impressed with the kid.

He probably got more barrels that day than anyone else on this island, and he was 13-14, maybe 15 max. Little dude was putting on a barrel clinic.

 

You really don't get it? Here are some thoughts. I took up surfing three years ago at age 60 after a casual remark from one of the best local surfers of, "You could surf" -- like many, I was hooked the first wave, and go out every weekend after work. Before that, working and raising kids got my full attention .

Why do it now? For one thing, nothing I have done besides raising kids has been so much freaking fun. And being outside in the ocean with friends, surfing, laughing, trash talking, is wonderful too. Time stands still, all thoughts and cares disappear when surfing. The physicality of it is awesome. Learning something that is so hard is great too. The physical sensation of the drop and the ride is amazing...

No, I sill never surf as well as someone who started younger, but who the F cares? it's not a contest or a race. It's just freaking fun!

 

wanna get better? try a f/w advance. i've been short boarding for 50 years - yup 50 - and i HAVE NEVER
seen a board work so well. just a thot...

 

Here's the thing that gets to me though, I get everyone can talk in platitudes and cliches about surfing, I mean really, is there any other way to talk about it? So yeah, you feel so free, so alive, so in touch with nature, all that. But when I was a kid, I don't remember any adult beginners. Can anyone who was surfing 25 or 30 years ago confirm or deny that? The closest I remember might be some kid's dad who used to surf and got a longboard when you could get a new one again at the local shops. Like, an adult beginner wouldn't have even seemed like a possibility to me. So what has changed? Is it surf schools, wetsuit technology, softtops, what? It can just be that everyone wants to feel good now and before they didn't?

 

What a great tread. Props to the OP for setting it up for success by asking questions in humble fashion.

Queen mum and others are right on with their responses. According to some, when you hit ages 25-34 you are what you are and shouldn't try to innovate or improve the self. Instead, you should spend your final 40-60 years on the sidelines in obscure withdrawal from contemporary society, only wishing to know what could've been if you had gone down other avenues of life before the critical mid-30's cutoff point.

Bro, some of us out there go hard or go home no matter what we do and that includes endeavors we are embarking on for the first time. We can only commit to so much at once and contrary to what you may think, before we were surfing we were busy kicking arse in several other things, be it elite athletics, other successful work careers, and family. We've got treads out the wazoo here on SI each week depicting the "curse" of full commitment needed to develop, improve, and fully enjoy surfing on a long-term basis.

Some of us late starters soon become functional members of the lineup. Some of us have already saved one or more lives out on the water. Some of us charge 12 months a year in all conditions that some of you have never and will never choose to charge in. Some of us clean trash and debris from the break and other oceanfront on a daily basis. Some of us spread the stoke to other late starters, starters on time, and even cagey vets like yourself that are oft in need of stoke replenishment.

In a month, I'll be 1.5 years into full-time surfing. I've charged all 5 corners of the U.S. (Gulf included), from 3 second chop in EMass to 23 second 270 degree swell in SoCal. I've had the ballz beaten off my jock from Atlantic to Pacific then into Central America. As of last night in Rhodey, I'm focusing on throwing buckets in mushy chest-high waves with the intention of doing the same in SoCal in September on double-digit period waves. I'll still get my azz handed to myself with fair regularity in challenging conditions and if I'm not, it probably means I'm not challenging myself as much.

Why the hate for late-starters? Is it all because of the ones that never really get into it but that cause lineup dysfunction any time they're out there? Because we've established those are far from all of us. Maybe you're feeling envy that you've not felt a day of stoke like we do in many years. Or maybe you realize how much easier it really is for a grom to improve with their small, lightweight frame and moldable cerebellum and other motor control brain centers and you're stubbornly pissed at us for bucking the natural trend of late success. I ask you, is the skilled, yet aggro burner in the lineup better for the lineup than us? There are multiple diseases prevalent in lineups everywhere and several aren't sprung from green kookery.

To the OP: keep asking questions to lots of vets on here and outside of here. They know most all of what you need to know and when prompted in the right way (as you've seen) they are happy to help. Get max water time and quality water time on an indefinite basis. Learn everything you can about the ocean and why it acts the way it does when it does. Observe the distant formation, actions, and dissipation of major weather events online and in person before you set foot in them. Arm yourself with all the surf-specific conditioning you possibly can - there is clearly only benefit to your life and surfing that can come from this. Take great joy and gratitude in every daily experience you have with the ocean, for it is vast and plentiful and many in this world never see it, let alone on the reg. Above all else, persevere with privilege and relentless stoke and it will blow you away how far you will come in the short and mid terms.

 

Bro, the world was a different place several decades ago. People ate healthier, ate less, and had exercise worked into their daily routine compared to today's automation. Mainstream fitness did not take off until the point where the mainstream started to lack a lifestyle of fitness in their everyday. Recreational sport participation has exponentially increased in that time for the adult group and that applies to every activity under the sun.

Technology and today's business world affords many the flexibility of an occupation outside of the regular 9 to 5. That's what everyone did before, and when they got home from work they ate dinner as a family. They weren't doing this, that, and the other thing.

You ask what has changed, well EVERYTHING has changed. The world is a shadow of its former self, and that is the focus of several other long debates we could have here.

Not only that, let's consider exposure and accessibility of surfing today and how much more tangible it is compared to yesteryear. Before YouTube, you had to rent Point Break to see someone get barrelled. These days, seldom seen can show the non-surfer in the cube next to him at work footage of Domke charging 23+ footers on a skim and boom...all of a sudden there's another adult surfer in the lineup a week later. All the other technological advances you state above have also contributed to expansion of surfing.

The question I have is: what's your problem with all this bro? Is it really getting dropped in on and having your favorite breaks clogged with kooks? Or is it something else? You seem to be in direct rejection of the whole concept of anyone starting to surf in their post-adolescence.

 

I don't think I've exhibited "hate," just pointing out a change I've observed and maybe don't understand. My question: adult beginners did not exist, now they do. Why? Although I will admit that many days I "hate" just about everybody else out in the water. I think the biggest problem with adult beginners is probably that they seem to almost universally do all kinds of weird stretching/yoga type stuff before paddling out. What is that?

 

I think when we were kids, adults would resign themselves to golf, bowling and couch surfing, watching golf, bowling, football, baseball, etc.

Current trends encourage adults to be engaged in physical activities, especially those which involve cardio fitness. Some choose to surf. Maybe they always wanted to. Maybe it's because every other commercial from Viagra to investments shows older dudes surfing. Maybe they grew up landlocked, and now live near the coast. I think it is just because adults are more active now, and a certain percentage of them pursue surfing.

As far as the stretching goes, I think that's an age thing. Kids don't really need to do that, they're pliable from the get-go. I will occasionally throw in a few quick stretches before paddling out, while checking the lineup.

 

when I started surfing,surfers didn't exist.
u had a better chance of seeing bigfoot at shoprite.
now theres thousands of them in nj.I ask where did they come from?the internet

I just stay out their way.i don't hate on kooks or beginners or adult beginners,i just hate all people period,doesn't matter if u surf or not.i don't get why I always have family and friends try to hook me up with the people they know who surf.just because 2 people surf doesn't mean we should hangout.like if u smoked bud then yea come on down,maybe well surf too,but just a regular surfer I don't see the hype.seeing more surfers is my tell tale that im not gonna catch many waves today.my old boss in Lakewood was a big time surfer,some call him a legend like the esm people,and I can tell u from personal experience if I surfed with that dude I would drop in on him every wave then beat him up on the beach.surfing doesn't make u any cooler or less cooler or polite or whatever.i only talk with friendly people.people who act like they are the shyt,really are shyt and those people are the reason why I hate all people

 

certain people have too much pride nowadays even tho they don't accomplish shyt.u don't deserve anything,u are the same as everyone else,blood and bones.we all piss yellow,we all bleed red,and most of us poop brown.so whats the difference.

I took a motto from sonny in a Bronx tale a long time ago and lived by it ever since."why u like mickey mantle so much.ur broke u think hes gonna pay ur rent"?thats how it is in the real world.maybe if ur a pro surfer its different.people will dikride the shyt out of these old losers like they will get put in their little club if they follow along.I don't look up to nobody.i like plenty of surfers,but I don't try to imitate their every move and go wherever they go.if I was somebody like sam hammer,and everytime I go to the beach I have 200 photographers and kooks trying to hang out with me and take pictures with me ,id go ballistic.i guess some people love the spotlight,il be the underground guy youll always see catch the best wave and by the time u approach me im already off to the next spot.

and ps if my old boss is on here lol,u know who u are and u know who I am and a big phuck u to u and the family,and if u really troll these forums at ur ripe old age then its time for a change

 

This made me laugh, a friend w/weed is a friend indeed!

 

Braddah you're seeing what upfront friendliness and respect gets you in return. Not just in this tread but also at your break. Not saying we should all be as talkative to the brah next to us as cepriano is at his break, but silence can be a killer only leading to assumptions with people assuming the worst of a newbie.

Not many waves in Missouri? C'mon braw, the Ozarks go off!!!

Keep up the good attitude and preparation. You'll be pleased with the result. PM me if you got any questions on what NOT to do because I've likely done it. Oh, and keep those smokin Portugue women happy down in the NB. They're a feisty bunch.

 

dude, you're a goofball

I was serious about the boogieing and bodysurfing, I know it's kinda hard if you live half an hour away though. And it seems to me that most beginners learn to be jackasses from the more experienced surfers around them, you sound like you are off on the right foot.

 

Really?? You're bothered by stretching? That's your "biggest problem"?

 

totally brah