Surfing Waves

The next surftrip is only 10 weeks away, so some kind of preparation is due. We have one of Europe's largest watersports fairs here this month ("boot"), and they will again install a wave pool, for which I was lucky enough to secure three spots for my daughter, her boyfriend and me. Me and my daughter only got "advanced" slots, so there will be nothing to hold you, and about 1.2m waves.

Does anyone have experiences on what to expect, any surprises to be prepared for? I assume you need to be quite active in driving down that wave if you want to avoid being flushed to the back.

I know it is different from surfing but not sure how different. Those SUP guys seem to have it down. If looks boring but maybe there is some fun from learning to do it. But then I have gotten bored in repetitive hollow tube rides. After 20 or so it's like then what? more of the same? I guess I like variety. It looks like it is about varying back to front foot pressure but maybe once you get moving it will be more like surfing

Oldie wrote:Does anyone have experiences on what to expect, any surprises to be prepared for?

Shoulder Dislocation. In regular surfing, you got used to penetrating the surface of the water going deep.

I've been on flowrider type waves a few times. They're very different to real waves because the water flows backwards with real force, so you have to be very delicate with front/back foot pressure. I don't think there's any real advice that will prepare you for it. Just go and have fun.

I just did it last week. It's like riding a really loose skateboard down a steep hill. I'm 6'1" 185/190 and they gave me a board that was at best 5 feet long, maybe not even. I don't think you could surf it on anything bigger than about 6'6" because the entry is straight down the wave to start, but I think the teeny board is a bit of a carnival trick to make it harder.

Also, you have to pay super close attention to the nose so it doesn't dive or float up too high, or else you tumble or fly back out of the wave. The session I did was 15 minutes, and I started to get the feel of it after a few rides. I was able to skip along the wave, let myself get pushed back then pump back in, etc, but you have to watch the nose a lot... The water screaming by at such a furious flow takes some getting used to; it's disorienting. There was a pro (literally) in n the pool with me, and he was able to look up and around a bit, but his bails were even more spectacular than mine lol!!!

Hope this helps!

Hi, just wanted to give some feedback. It was really fun, but so different! With the energy and water rushing at you with so much force, getting used to the right weight distribution was quite difficult at the beginning, especially as they gave me (6.3/200lbs) a tiny board of less than 6ft. It was actually easier when they switched the wave up to maximum power. We had a 45 min session that we shared with about 10 people, and I had about 8 rides. The advice about keeping the nose up was super as that seems to be the absolut key and at the end I started to get a feeling for it, while the first rides were more a panicky fight for balance. I guess it does not really prepare you for surfing, it just fun.