How To's Of Surfing

HOW TO"S

How to Catch Waves

It's taken some time but here we are at Surfing Lesson One. Now, there are a few different approaches to this lesson, and most of the time it begins with lying on your board in the sand and practising what is called the 'pop-up'. Popping up is the term used where the surfer has caught the wave and goes from the paddling position, lying on top of board, to the upright stand up position. We are going to skip this at the moment, and it will be covered in Surfing Lesson Four. We are going straight in to the water and catching the white water part of the wave (where the wave has already broken). For more detail about waves in general take a quick look at the Waves page. It is more fun getting straight into the waves and having a mess around than getting all sandy on the beach.

Waves To Start Surfing On

For your first days surfing the waves should be small, being easy enough for you to walk out to where the waves are breaking, and not have to fight your way off the beach being constantly battered by waves (remember that surfing should be fun!). Make sure that you are not holding your surfboard in a position where a wave could knock it back into your face and cause you an injury. 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. Keep a look around to make sure you are not about to get washed into someone's path, or that you are not immediately behind someone who may lose hold of their board - it can be quite scary seeing an oncoming wave complete with 9 foot of longboard wrapped up in it!. At all times keep one mind on the safety aspect any all should be OK.

Keep going out until you are at a comfortable depth. We are now in a position to start catching waves. Oh, perhaps the wave on the left is not quite the right wave to start on.

Catching Waves

Place your board at your side, nose facing into the beach. Keep an eye on the waves that are coming towards you and pick one that looks like it is big enough to pick you up and take you in. If you are on the ideal beginners 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. Just as the wave is about to reach you, push the surfboard towards the beach and at the same time pull yourself on to the board, so you are lying flat on top of it - not too near the nose of the board or you will end up going straight underwater. When you are lying on top of your surfboard, paddle with both arms 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. With a bit of luck you should have caught your first wave.

Surfing In More Detail

Great, so now you can catch the Whitewater waves in to the beach, but what is next?. Obviously you want to be standing on the surfboard when you are heading into the beach - after all, that is what we are here to do. Next we need to have a look at how to position yourself on the board, and how to comfortably paddle around. As you progress with your surfing you will be out in deeper water and will have to control your surfboard while you are out there, and to learn how to get through larger breaking waves. Lets find out more about paddling the next Surfing Lesson, #2 - Paddling

Paddling On Your Board

Paddling, if you do not know already, is the bit that you do when you are in the water but are not standing up and riding a wave (duh!) - it is pretty much all the other bits!. It is very important that you are good at paddling because if you are not good enough to get out beyond the breaking waves to the line-up then will never get a decent ride on a wave, and if you are slower at paddling than everyone else then you will never get a wave when you do finally make it out back to surf with other surfers. In this lesson we are going to have a look at paddling, and how you position yourself on your surfboard when paddling. Don't worry about all the oncoming waves crashing into you and washing you back into the beach like a piece of driftwood. We will come to deal with that bit in a later lesson. OK, how do you paddle your board?.

Paddling Position On The Surfboard

Paddling a surfboard is done pretty much the same way on both a shortboard or a longboard. With a longboard you can employ a slightly different variation to the paddle but we will come to that. First we will look at the position you need to be in on the surfboard, and this is probably best done with a picture -

Position of the surfer while paddling.

Body weight needs to be positioned along the centre of the board. Feet need to be raised slightly off the end of the board. The body needs to be far enough back to keep the nose of the board about a couple of inches out of the water. If you are too far forward on the board you will find the nose of the board keeps dipping underwater making it hard to paddle, and will find yourself always tipping forward. Too far back and you will find it harder to paddle and your board will keep popping out in front like a torpedo (much to all your friends amusement!). It takes a little time to find the most comfortable position, and will depend on both your height, weight and length of your surfboard.

Paddling The Surfboard

Paddling the board takes a little bit of balance. To begin with you will probably find it easier if you have your legs slightly apart when paddling, giving you a little bit of extra balance. Reach out with one arm at a time, stroking your way through the water. You do not have to dig your arms too deep. Keep the movement of your arms nice and smooth, pulling the board through the water. Simple eh!. Make sure that the nose of your surfboard is not dipping under the water at any point. On a nice flat day you should be able to practice without the interruption of waves. (It may look a little strange for anyone observing on the beach though!).

Sitting On Your Board

If you have seen surfers when they are beyond the breaking waves, waiting for their next wave, you may have noticed that they are no longer lying prone on their surfboards but are sitting up on them. This is to enable a surfer to get a better look at the oncoming waves. The next thing to learn is how to sit up on your board, and get ready to paddle for a wave from this sitting up position.