How To Surf Larger Waves

[bucky1]

Hey,

So I recently picked up surfing over the summer, and over that time period I have found myself more accustomed to smaller waves (waist high to a little over head). And while winter brings larger waves I have started to paddle out into surf outside my comfort zone (up to 8 foot faces). I recently purchased a 5'8" and while I may be 5'10" let's just say I'm not the strongest or heaviest and have some difficulty duckdiving as deep as I would like to. I constantly am getting my board ripped from my hands and tossed around. I find my friends can dive deeper than me and I dont understand why. To me it looks like you can only duckdive your board as deep as your hands can go, are there any tricks to duckdiving and how to I get over my fear of larger waves?

Any tips are greatly appriecated!

-Bucky

[jaffa1949]

It might be worthwhile reassessing your abilities, I invite you to consider slowly going outside your comfort zone, the six months between summer and winter is not enough time ( except in rare cases) to develop a set of skills for bigger waves. BTW 8ft faces is a substantial wave.
The ocean is pressing the reject button on you, quite often if you cannot master the get out with duckdiving a board smaller than you then IMO you aren't at the level you believe you are.
I know it sounds a little harsh , but the ocean will always put us in our place.
So what to do? Increase by small increments the size of the waves you can paddle out through and the same with the waves you ride, increase your riding skill on the little stuff .

Lots of tips on duck diving in the forum read up and go surf!

[Rickyroughneck]

If you are surfing a beach break and there isn't much danger of rips taking you into rocks, I think that you should stick at it. Riding a board 2" shorter than you within 6 months is fast progression, so you shouldn't worry if it feels like you are making slow progress.

Try to focus on paddling as far as possible between waves on the paddle out. Good duckdive technique is only part of the equation.

Regarding the duckdiving, throw your weight into it, but focus more on coming up. Make sure you use your foot instead of your knee on the tailpad, and really give your board a real jerk to get it to a steep angle. Lastly avoid letting go of the board, it takes a lot longer to recover from; wax the rails where you duck dive if you are having trouble with that.

[bucky1]

Thanks,
yea I wax my rails, I use my foot on the back of my pad, and I am constantly going on youtube looking for an easier way of duckdiving. The problem I seem to be facing is getting deeper. I grab my board at shoulder level, do a push up to get the top of my board underwater, then use my back foot to get the back level with the top but I mean it seems that, that is as deep as one can go. If I'm making any sense here how do I get my board deeper than my arms are long thats what I am looking for. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
-Bucky

[drowningbitbybit]

I am constantly going on youtube looking for an easier way of duckdiving.

You can forget that - there is no easy way of duckdiving. Just practise practise practise and a lot of "learning experiences"

One thing though - in your description its all about the board. Remember that the momentum of the duckdive comes from you, not your board. At the point when you're trying to sink your board, throw yourself forward and down - it is a duckdive after all

The trick is to get yourself deep rather than the board.

Also, try diving a little earlier than feels natural - a lot of duckdiving beginners leave it a touch too late. Once you've got the board deep down you can keep it submerged for a surprisingly long time.

[Rickyroughneck]

Hmm well the only thing I can think of would be to start the duckdive a bit earlier to give yourself more "sinking" time, and to pull your body as close as possible to the board when the board gets to the deepest point.