Surfing Waves

I took a LONG break from surfing, 5 years, I recently moved back to the coast and am trying to relearn. I do not have very much money to buy a funboard to learn on again, so I'm using what I have now. I'm 5'8" 130lbs (I'm young ) and have a 6' - 6'3" shortboard (haven't actually measured, but this is in relation to my height.)

I am having difficulties catching waves, not so much balance, but actually getting pushed by the wave. Am I too big for it? Or am I just not paddling hard enough? It's frustrating, but if I know it can be done, I'm willing to work my a** off to be able to ride it again.

Any tips, recommendations, or comments would be appreciated. Thanks for your time

If you ever watch surfers that are really skilled you will notice they do not have to paddle like crazy to catch the wave. The reason is positioning. Good surfers know where to be in relation to the waves. They take off in the more criticle part of the wave so it is easier to catch, but not so late that they do not make the drop. I would recommend working on positioning and being in the right spot and watching the waves more closely. One other tip is to get further forward on your board when it first starts to slide down the face to get your board planning on top of the water quicker, if you are to far back on your board you tend to push water and slow yourself down.

Good luck!

Awesome, thank you for the advice. I'm going to test it out tomorrow, i'll post back if any improvements or new issues.
I also recently read through the surfing guide on the site, great advice throughout that, one of them being the positioning that you just talked about. Cheers
ps: how's the surf in Oregon?

We had some good sized swell today, but it was windy and blown out. Their was some surf if you wanted to drive to the headlands that offer some wind protection. Good luck with your positioning!

I too took off for a few years (20 to be exact) and had some problems starting over. The advice to get furhter up on the board is solid, until I did that I was missing waves I knew I should be catching. I think as you get your confidence up you naturally move further up on the board without fear of pearling or eating it. Keep at it....it does come back, for me once I finally got back up and riding I felt like I was right where I left off 20 years ago. Its the catching the waves and poping up that took me the most time. As soon as I got it back I've been ripping ever since. Of coarse my ripping is not as what other's do but nonetheless, I am up hitting the lip and getting shacked every now and then. Okay, maybe just a handlul of times the last couple years. haha

Spent all of 4th of July with my buds in the water, had a ton of good rides, I've really improved in the last couple days. Got that positioning down and I can mostly catch any wave i want to, so much fun. Considering getting a fish to mess around on too, my buddy has one selling cheap since he's moving to Arizona.