Surfing Waves

Hi I'm 26 180 lbs female
That has been skateboarding and snowboarding for years can I start out on a short board to learn ride

You can try. If you’d said you’d been an open water ocean swimmer for years and never touched any kind of board you’d be better equipped. There is a lot to learn and very little in the beginning year(s) has much to do with dynamic agility developed in other board sports. You’ll find to be able to figure out where to be to catch a wave on a day to day basis will feel like a victory.
The mountain doesn’t move and you don’t have to paddle hundreds of yards to catch a skatepark pool drop in. And you don’t have to fight to get the chance to take your turn with those who paddle circles around you and will back paddle you snaking your wave. Make the best of your time and start with a longboard; anything less than 3’ over your height to start will only slow your progress or potentially equate to never learning.

Seeing is believing though. Go to a beach and rent a board, whatever size you like. If you can last an hour in the water actively paddling around that will be your first victory.

Here is a handy quick reference tool. Several of the board manufacturers now have a calculator aimilar to this on their websites.

https://www.dhdsurf.eu/gb/volume-calculator#


They don’t explain the “whys” behind the numbers, but provided you use the right boardshape (a 65L mini Mal will surf drastically differently than a 65L gun for instance) it at the least gives you a reference point for what neighborhood you ought to look in.

Geezer wrote:Go to a beach and rent a board, whatever size you like. If you can last an hour in the water actively paddling around that will be your first victory.

To add, if you're going to rent a shortboard yet have never "surfed" before, please please make sure there is a lifeguard on duty that is overseeing the area.

When you skate or snowboard, if you get tired, you can just pull over to the side and take a break. You can not do that in surfing if you are actually in the surf break / impact zone.

waikikikichan wrote:To add, if you're going to rent a shortboard yet have never "surfed" before, please please make sure there is a lifeguard on duty that is overseeing the area.

When you skate or snowboard, if you get tired, you can just pull over to the side and take a break. You can not do that in surfing if you are actually in the surf break / impact zone.

0r caught in a rip on the way to China. Russian beginner disappeared a couple of years ago at a reef break a few hundred yards offshore with a vicious channel in certain conditions.


Read this:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3265

Build your lung, core and arm strength. Surfing is 90% paddling!

Study other surfers and the excellent content on Surf Simply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVyatMUYwZw&list=PLOCtke92OW_Uv__KAZ1pbBDqSjGV_nqtu

Be patient. Each failure is a chance to learn what works or what doesn't.

Skating and snowboarding don't equal to much when you are beginning surfing. The skills required to ride a shortboard at a beginner/intermediate level are all to do with upper body strength/stamina, pop up ability and reading the waves and ocean; none of these things are present in skating or snowboarding.

I learned to surf on a shortboard but prior to surfing I was very active body surfer and bodyboarder so I was completely familiar with the waves and the ocean and a shortboard was a step up from what I was used to. Back in those days lots of people learned to surf on a shortboard however many who tried quit due to it's a difficult sport to learn. There is a whole lot more that goes into surfing before you get up on the board which is another thing that is different from skateboarding or snowboarding, you have to pop up. Learn in a wave pool then you don't need to work hard at learning to read the waves and figuring out where you should be in the lineup or worry about being swept out to sea by currents. That would be the quickest thing but also expensive.

oldmansurfer wrote:Learn in a wave pool then you don't need to work hard at learning to read the waves and figuring out where you should be in the lineup or worry about being swept out to sea by currents. That would be the quickest thing but also expensive.

The other problem with this is that you have not learned to surf if you avoid the ocean environment where the surf lives. Arguably (and IMO) surfing in a pool is not actually surfing at all. On the other hand, it would be a helping hand like stabilisers on a bike so I don't hate the idea.

I have only minimally surfed in a pool. I rode some waves in a waterpark in Pennsylvania and I already knew how to surf but in my mind you still need to be in the right place when a wave comes and if you aren't it costs you money. The lineup spot won't change much and the markers are probably the easiest ever but it gives you the clue that you need to have lineups that work which it seems to me many beginners just rely on other surfers for that. If you aren't in shape enough and can't catch waves it costs you money. So in the wave pool if you make mistakes it costs you money and unless you are incredibly rich this would be motivation to not make mistakes. It is true however that even if you are the best wave pool surfer in the world it doesn't mean you can surf in the ocean at all but it would give you lots of skills. It would teach you how to paddle and how to popup and how to lineup a wave as well and allow a skateboarder or
snowboarder to relatively safely learn these skills and get to where they can use their board skills quicker although much more expensive.. You can still get injured or drown in a wave pool but you won't have to learn how to get out through the waves to the lineup spot or about how to deal with currents and other ocean hazards like getting driven into a reef or rocky shoreline by the waves. These things could be learned separately once the other skills are learned but you can imagine how frustrating it would be if a surfer could ride waves really well but not be able to get out through the surf to where the waves are breaking.

Eagleshark wrote:Hi I'm 26 180 lbs female
That has been skateboarding and snowboarding for years can I start out on a short board to learn ride

You could, but don't!

Start on a Costco foamy, then once you get the hang of it on that one go buy a shortboard, and keep the foamie for your friends that want to try surfing so they don't get to borrow your nice new shortboard.