Later in life beginners

[steveylang]

Here's my favorite quote on the matter-

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

[GeeLongBoards]

Not sure if anyone is still reading this thread or not, but here goes.

Im 44, spent my adult life pushing 350lbs (160kg) and barely moving until I had my son a few years back. Today, at just under 190lbs (86kg) Im finding myself a lot more active than ever before and now basically trying to catch up on the life I missed out on. In July this year I was able to purchase an old 10' board that my grandfather built back in the 1950's that had been beaten up, shot at and generally misused. I restored the board to "operational" condition but decided to keep it as an heirloom for my son so I set out and made a board for myself to learn on. Ive never surfed in my life yet here I was making a board to learn on! Well Ive done that and am now the proud owner of my own 9' GeeLong Boards single fin surfboard (Geelong is the town I live in BTW )

Ive been "surfing" now for 2 weeks and cant get enough of it. I'm lucky to live and have grown up near(ish) the beach and have found a home at Torquay and Ocean Grove.
I'm finding that each time I go out I learn something new about how to catch a wave, or positioning on the board or reading waves etc and it's starting to come together.
All I can say is for anyone considering it - DO IT. Go grab a 9' foamie and have a blast!!

If you want to see my restoration and board build check out brettcarroll.com.au
Cheers.

[dtc]

I’m not quite sure how you ended up making a board before being a surfer, but it’s an impressive feat

[darkside]

I've just bought my first board for myself as an early 46th b'day present so guess I fit right in here!

I've always been a strong swimmer but have a bit of an irrational fear of water so hardly go in - an odd mix hey? My little boy loves water so I set myself a challenge of getting more comfortable in water. I ended up having a surf lesson by 'mistake', after catching up with an old friend at Surf Snowdonia, a wave pool. It was a blast!

From there I took lessons on holiday in France and am paddling and popping up OK, starting to read the sets and catch my own green waves and initiate turns. The instructor was very encouraging and complimentary, and I genuinely think he shared my buzz rather than was just working a tip! I'm off the ground and on the first run of the ladder working towards 'beginner'!

I hired a few big foam boards and have been up to the North Sea. I started swimming weekly, working on front crawl. I already bike, ski, run and am quite fit.

The boards I hired varied massively - some wrecked and waterlogged heavy things, some OK and some unavailable due to the hire place being closed so I decided I was ready to buy. After lots of advice, good I hope, I ended up with an 8' torq minimal that's currently sat on tressels in the garage waiting for my 'big day' when I hope to get wax, leash and bag from the family. October holiday to a beginner friendly beach in Devon booked! I'm reading lots but I'm sure there will be some daft questions. Let the journey begin...

[jaffa1949]

Welcome to the world of surfing, just thought for you ! While you are new cock with the forum about your intended purchases we cannadvise you of what may work best for you! Great motive and if you get to,surf together as a family brilliant!

[darkside]

Thank you!
Board was bought after lots of reading on here, plus advice from the hire place, a shop and Tiki, so I hope I made the right choice!
Wax - it came with a stick of Zogs which seems popular and a classic brand. Cold rated for UK water, just not sure if I need a base coat.
Leash - I like orange, so looking at an 8' dakine as I have found their ankle straps comfy.
Bag - something cheap just to keep the wax off the van and look after it in storage

Next big purchase will be a 5mm suit! I'm looking at something decent but not crazy - O'Neill Hyperfreask FUZE perhaps. WIll be trying for it.

[darkside]

WIll be trying for it.

Should say "Will be trying for FIT!

[oldmansurfer]

Work on learning about the ocean. Spend some time each day that you go to the beach just looking at the ocean and observing everything about the ocean. What are the tides doing (maybe check this before), where are the waves breaking, where are the currents, what are the other surfers doing, who is good who is not. You might talk to the lifeguards and ask them what you need to be aware of at whatever beach you are at. The beach is not a pool. But learning all about it is what you need to do to make it all safer. Plus the better you are at reading the ocean the quicker you will learn.

[darkside]

Thanks! Safety and awareness is definitely my biggest concern.

I spend quite a lot of time at the beach observing and trying to get a feel for current and sets. Last time I went out the guys at the hire shop told me it would fill in quickly and waves stop. I hired anyway. just to be in the water They were right, no surprise. I think I caught a few waves then it turned into a shore dump so I just spend a couple of hours working on paddling from point to point, holding a position, watching swell and taking it all in. I actually really enjoyed it! A small start, at one spot on one day...

We're planning to hire an apartment with sea view next holiday. I'll be watching the conditions and see what is going on. It's autumn in the UK so I might not see the beach though.

Great motive and if you get to,surf together as a family brilliant!

We had loads of fun messing about on body boards in Spring. My 5 year old was enjoying catching his own whitewash and very curious about proper surfing. My wife even had a go on my rented foamie. Family summer holidays have changed!

[sdsurfing]

I used to spend my vacations next to the beach, I've always loved water, skateboarding, surf culture, but surfing always scared me due to the ocean. I went out with my friend one day, he didn't go over anything, just went out. We were the only surfers out there on a larger closeout day. I wasn't even looking ahead I was looking at him because holy crap I'm surfing! You can only imagine what my mind and body did when I got maytagged and didn't know what was happening. I tried to hold the board sidways thinking a wider width like that would carry me in, but it just ripped the board out of my hands and I went for another tumble. After almost drowning, I didn't surf for years.. I think I was 30 then. When I got to 38, I felt like it was unfinished business. I wanted to surf so badly. I was talking about it to my neighbor who is a lifetime surfer and board collector and he gifted me a 9'2" longboard. Big and beautiful, I felt rejuvenated with gusto, only to totally eat it. My neighbor unfortunately doesn't go with me because he wants to surf fast, bigger breaks that I feel uncomfortable with.

Due to my previous experience, I still have a phobia of the water and it hinders me, I can't shake it. Mind over matter I say, but my mind just doesn't play well when it gets above 3 foot. I figured frequency might fix it, so I surfed for a year at least 3 times a week. I've been surfing for 5 years now and it still affects me, I don't get it. I can get out to the lineup with little problems, and if the wave is the right size I'm fine on it. If it's bigger I just fall apart, having problems with judging how it's going to break to developing alligator arms and not paddling right for it.

That is where I wish I learned when I was younger and fearless. I see little kids going for waves I wouldn't dream of going for. I broke my foot playing basketball and took a break, then had a son, so I didn't surf for a while. My son has made me want to get at it again, I want him to surf badly. The funny thing is my phobia is back 100% again, not 50%, so it's like the first day getting back into the water. It sucks as I love surfing.

I'm excited though, going this weekend, nervous as I see it's 4-5 feet. So maybe I'll puss out.. I'm nervous to pass this onto my son so I have to toughen up or something.

[oldmansurfer]

Part of the fear of water comes from having to hold your breath. That part can be overcome with training. You can train yourself to hold your breath. I used to surf long ago and could hold my breath fro 2 minutes easily. I trained breath holding for fun and not related to surfing. It was for swimming. Anyway I quit surfing for 12 years and restarted and found that if I was under water for even 2 seconds I started to panic. This was entirely irrational because I could hold my breath much longer but still it was a sensation of panic that I could not throw off. I could tell myself that it was okay and it was only a couple seconds but I was still feeling the panic even though I just tried to stay calm. I found that exercising till I was slightly out of breath and then keeping at that for as long as I could got me used to that out of breath feeling and made me quit panicking.

[sdsurfing]

I've done training before also, I go to the beach a decent amount, and I would go in without my board and just let waves pound me so I can hold my breath, try to get comfortable, etc.. it helped a little but I'm beginning to think this is something that will remain, I just have to learn how to deal with it. My rational brain says I can hold my breath for long durations, but my lizard brain freaks the hell out

[oldmansurfer]

Sounds like you need to do what I did hike up a hill at a pace that makes you slightly out of breath then keep that up for 20 minutes. It creates a relative need for oxygen but also you develop ways to supply energy without oxygen. The result is you don't feel panic when you are under water.

[sdsurfing]

I like that, I'll have to try that, my wife will be happy to hear I want to go hiking!

[tomthetreeman]

What you need is for someone to tell you “You’ll never succeed,” then see what happens. So let me be the one...

You’ll never succeed.

Let me know how it goes.

Tom

[surferbee]

Ever try hypnotherapy? I hear it's great for minor phobias and putting that lizard brain at ease. ...I'm assuming this is minor 'cuz otherwise you probably couldn't even paddle out.

[312T4]

Hey guys, I've been on this topic years ago. I just want to say to everyone to just keep trying.
I started at 35, office life, no much sport, no ocean background, never thought about surfing before.
It's been almost 8 years now that I commute every weekend for my own surf lesson (yes, once a week is my average). My progress have been slow but steady. In the last one or two years I reached a point where I REALLY have fun. I had fun the first day too, and always, but now I'm getting near real decency.
So, just keep going guys. You can do it.
Read, watch, think, feel, think, think, watch, feel, and keep trying.

[steveylang]

Hey guys, I've been on this topic years ago. I just want to say to everyone to just keep trying.
I started at 35, office life, no much sport, no ocean background, never thought about surfing before.
It's been almost 8 years now that I commute every weekend for my own surf lesson (yes, once a week is my average). My progress have been slow but steady. In the last one or two years I reached a point where I REALLY have fun. I had fun the first day too, and always, but now I'm getting near real decency.
So, just keep going guys. You can do it.
Read, watch, think, feel, think, think, watch, feel, and keep trying.

That's awesome, thanks for posting back on this thread!

I 100% agree. I think when you're a total beginner, its important to surf in conditions that are manageable for you (i.e. not scary or threatening), soak up as much knowledge/tips as you can, but then just have fun, embrace the wipeouts and the beginner's mind (and post here when you get stuck!)

[steveylang]

Part of the fear of water comes from having to hold your breath. That part can be overcome with training. You can train yourself to hold your breath. I used to surf long ago and could hold my breath fro 2 minutes easily. I trained breath holding for fun and not related to surfing. It was for swimming. Anyway I quit surfing for 12 years and restarted and found that if I was under water for even 2 seconds I started to panic. This was entirely irrational because I could hold my breath much longer but still it was a sensation of panic that I could not throw off. I could tell myself that it was okay and it was only a couple seconds but I was still feeling the panic even though I just tried to stay calm. I found that exercising till I was slightly out of breath and then keeping at that for as long as I could got me used to that out of breath feeling and made me quit panicking.

I used to do this too! So now during any wipeout I just starting counting in my head while I'm underwater, which reminds me that hey I'm usually only going to be underwater for less than 10 seconds, and holding your breath for that long (or even much longer) is no problem.

I've read that that building sensation of feeling you need to breath is not because your body is lacking oxygen (you still have plenty of time in that regard), but due to the buildup of CO2 in your body. So gradually exhaling when you feel that sensation helps.

[oldmansurfer]

I used to train myself to swim underwater just for fun. I loved swimming and spent countless hour/days at the swimming pool as a child. One of the things I did was to see how far I could swim underwater on one breath. Eventually I got to 100 yards on one breath. The sensation that I needed to breath would come and go several times during that 100 yard swim. I would try to relax and imagine I was a fish. The sensation would go away and then come back again but at the end of the swim it was real urgent and I couldn't make it go away. I think your body gets used to metabolism without oxygen after a while. By the way don't try this at home unless you have an experienced spotter ready to dive in and save you from drowning if you should pass out. I didn't need to practice holding my breath for that feeling to go away just had to get used to being in that oxygen deprived situation from exertion on the land also I did it by just doing a cardio workout