Surfing Waves

hey all,

beginner here with a 9'0 challenger. having lots of trouble getting to the lineup as you can imagine, getting real worked by bigger surf. was wondering how you all prefer to get past a 3-6 footer, either right before the lip spits looking at the bowl or right after the recent break looking at the wall of whitewater. basically, what do you do while caught inside. thanks, could really use the advice!

Paddle like hell and definately hit the lip before the wave breaks. Oncd the wave breaks you have no choice but to turtle it. Definatley definately paddle harder and make it through the wave!!

make sure when you are turtling your board that you have some forward momentum going, paddle hard and turtle it at the latest possible moment. this should help you hold some ground instead of getting pushed all the way back to where you started.

My primary board is 9-foot longboard. When I used to surf a lot and especially in the beginning, I lifted weights and did lots of calisthenics so that I had enough muscle to paddle out. It also helps a lot to regulalry do cardio / aerobic exercises. I don't like this type of exercise, but manage to ride my bicycle to work every day. All that said, you also need to lean when to go and how to go. When to go is based on the wave sets. How to go may involve a rip tide. Or, it may inovlve paddling out up-current in an easy area and using the current to take you where you want to go. That's what I did yesterday.

my sincerest thanks to those who replied, i took your advice the last few weeks and it actually has greatly helped me in getting out back, really appreciate it! sometimes you just need to know the basics from those with experience.

on a similar beginner's note, i'm having a rather large pearling problem at the moment. i surf at a fairly forgiving beach break, but more times than not my board catches a wave and the nose glides directly into the bowl of the wave, pitching me forward. very trying.. haha; but it hasn't stopped me from getting back out there. i've tried moving back on the board before takeoff, but haven't noticed a huge difference. i figured i'd ask for any advice here again since the first time around was so successful. i'm on a 9 footer with a gentle rocker, a challenger board. thanks all!

binarylife,
pearling occurs primarily for two reasons and you can control them both.
1. taking off too late
2. standing too far foward on the board (you said you are aware of this and have been experimenting)

Pearling is very common for beginners, surfers that have not surfed in a long time, or waves that stand up very fast. Taking off too late can mainfest in another way beside the obvious. If you are not paddling fast enough to match the wave speed, you're essentially taking off too late.

Stick with the 9-foot long board. it's pretty much all I use.

pop your chest out, arch your back and pop up. If your board is pearling you need to be popping up. Soon you will get the feel. Pop your chest, arch your back, paddle like hell and go...............