Surfing Waves

Forecast for today is 5-8 feet. I'm going to head out in an hour or two, I only surf longboard but when conditions are like this. I'm one of the few in a longboard. Needless to say it's very hard to catch the wave as it's too big and I usually sit at the shoulder because I don't want to sit at the peak and wipeout and potentially injury a shortboarder.

My longboard is 9'0 and my funboard is 7'6. In conditions like this, should I be using a funboard? Bear in mind that I just do a crappy turtle roll. So I usually check if someone is behind me, if no one is there. I just dive under without the board and pray the leash will stay intact.

The dilemma is that I'm not confident in a funboard and I feel like a longboard is not the right board to bring since I'm usually one of the few that rides it when it gets to this size..

Here's the current surf condition of my local breaks.

BaNZ wrote:Needless to say it's very hard to catch the wave as it's too big and I usually sit at the shoulder because I don't want to sit at the peak and wipeout and potentially injury a shortboarder.

1) Do you mean it is "too big" to paddle into and thus you you need jet ski assist to get on OR that your too scared to take the steeper drop ?

2) If you sit on the shoulder wouldn't you be more apt to drop in on a shortboarder ? If you don't have the confidence at the peak, do you have more confidence on the shoulder ?

BaNZ wrote:My longboard is 9'0 and my funboard is 7'6. In conditions like this, should I be using a funboard? Bear in mind that I just do a crappy turtle roll. So I usually check if someone is behind me, if no one is there. I just dive under without the board and pray the leash will stay intact.

1) Can you catch the wave more easily on the funboard than on the longer board, even with the decrease in float and paddle power ?

2) If someone "is there", then what do you do ?

If you are the only longboarder out, then I would not get in the way of the shorter boarders. If you are only one of a few long boarders out, are you the least talented of the group ? Then I wouldn't go out. Here where I surf, I scan the breaks and look for similar board riders and the level of them. Give respect Get respect.

The waves look a bit challenging. I would love to surf them but not with a crowd like that

Are either of your boards a pintail, or maybe theres one you can try in bigger surf? I find that a wide tail block creates a lot of extra speed in bigger surf, which can kinda work against ya sometimes. But a rounded pin can trade some of that speed for control, depending on experience level.

I have an old pintail thruster longboard that i take out in bigger surf sometimes because it almost has the feel of a semi gun in the right conditions. Some shapers are starting to go that route with step-ups too.. like the Album Ledge design which is basically a wide point forward hybrid in the front and pin in the back.

waikikikichan wrote:
1) Do you mean it is "too big" to paddle into and thus you you need jet ski assist to get on OR that your too scared to take the steeper drop ?

2) If you sit on the shoulder wouldn't you be more apt to drop in on a shortboarder ? If you don't have the confidence at the peak, do you have more confidence on the shoulder ?

1. It's simply too big. Is it steeper? hmm I don't think so because I can sit further out. But I don't feel comfortable riding a wave trying to avoid hitting people.
2. Sitting at the shoulder means I can wait and see if anyone else is on the wave. It also means I usually get the weakest section and it's towards the end of the wave so it isn't very long. If I sit on the peak, I usually don't catch ANY wave because I'm so close to other surfer. I'm always waiting to see if they are able to get the wave. Sometimes nicer surfers would tell me to go for it when they see me waiting for awhile.

waikikikichan wrote:
1) Can you catch the wave more easily on the funboard than on the longer board, even with the decrease in float and paddle power ?

2) If someone "is there", then what do you do ?

If you are the only longboarder out, then I would not get in the way of the shorter boarders. If you are only one of a few long boarders out, are you the least talented of the group ? Then I wouldn't go out. Here where I surf, I scan the breaks and look for similar board riders and the level of them. Give respect Get respect.

1. To answer that question. I went out for 30 mins on the funboard first. I couldn't get a good ride. My injury is holding me back.
2. If someone is behind me. I would grab on to the board and do a turtle roll. Last month I ended up hitting an older lady hard with the board because the wave yanked the board out of my hands.

I arrived at my usual spot today and left after 5 minutes. It was much bigger than on the cameras and pretty sure the shoulder was 500-600 long. I went to another spot like 45 minutes away which was just around 3-4 feet. I went in first with my 7'4 and realized the injury is holding me back so I swapped out to the longboard.

So here's a diagram and it might help explain what I'm doing.

As you can see I sit further out on the point break. Usually the shortboards sit around the point break in a upside down V. Say if I see a wave coming. I know I can catch it, I don't do a bottom turn because I don't want to go into the lineup of the shortboards. The black arrow is the direction that I go. I know I should be taking the red arrow direction, but it is risky as I don't trust myself not to run surfers over.

So the shortboarders will see the kook taking off and going into the black arrow direction. They will take off at the correct spot and get the full length of the wave.


Hope it makes sense?

Naeco78 wrote:Are either of your boards a pintail, or maybe theres one you can try in bigger surf?

I went out in my 7'4 funboard. I tried sitting at the shoulder and needless to say I did not catch many wave. I do have pintail ones but I think in the last 2 months, there was barely any surf so I lost my confidence. Am planning to surf more in the next few weeks and hope I'll feel more comfortable again.

I'm just surprised at how crowded the breaks are today. Last time I saw a crowd like this was over a year ago. It's also one of the biggest day I've seen all year. Just find it strange how everyone can just jump into action and surf so well despite having not much swell for the past few months.

if you are skilled enough take the red line/ occasionally, don’t take every wave that is suitable but be clear and direct about your intentions.
Let them know you are taking this one, the black line is an invitation to be snaked!.
If the shortboarders are sitting close in and towards the point the have skills to not mess another persons ride make them use them!
Like vehicle traffic you have to choose your time and manner of entering the freeway from the on ramps… nothing different here.
Face your fears and go surfing

jaffa1949 wrote:if you are skilled enough take the red line/ occasionally, don’t take every wave that is suitable but be clear and direct about your intentions.
Let them know you are taking this one, the black line is an invitation to be snaked!.
If the shortboarders are sitting close in and towards the point the have skills to not mess another persons ride make them use them!
Like vehicle traffic you have to choose your time and manner of entering the freeway from the on ramps… nothing different here.
Face your fears and go surfing

Yeah... when you talk about vehicle, it makes sense. I'm a pretty good driver.

However I'm not great at showing people that I'm going to take the wave. I usually sit and turn last second to catch a wave if I see no one else is on it. Some more aggressive surfers would be shouting and making loud noises. Or they would start their paddle really early. Whereas I'm one of those who just sit and wait.

Went out again on a longboard. Had fun and the wave was bigger than my comfort zone. Just not comfortable taking off and looking down at boils. Frightens me. I see murky color and sand which I'm assuming it's a reef or it's very shallow! But I did it and made it out!

You don‘t need to be aggressive or even shouty, you needed to just say with confidence I‘m taking this one, don‘t do deference waiting for others to give you the space or timing to go!
You probably have noticed that the same guys come back and take precedence time and time again while you wait on the uncomplicated moment.
They see you looking at the sand, the boils, the crowd spacing the seagulls each nanosecond that shows you are not committed means they will go.

Uncle Jaffa, if he was surfing might call you into a good wave where you were in position, but if you hesitated you might not get another invitation.
I might encourage you if it was a surf where you could learn,
Hesitation is most often a cause of injury because the underlying mindset is failure and fearing the outcome.
Gopher it!

BaNZ wrote: Needless to say it's very hard to catch the wave as it's too big and I usually sit at the shoulder because I don't want to sit at the peak and wipeout and potentially injury a shortboarder.

Bear in mind that I just do a crappy turtle roll. So I usually check if someone is behind me, if no one is there. I just dive under without the board and pray the leash will stay intact.

I know I should be taking the red arrow direction, but it is risky as I don't trust myself not to run surfers over.

Question: Am I using the wrong size board?

Answer: It doesn't matter what the board you choose as the board is not holding you back, YOU are.

Look at these statements, "I hope I don't LOSE" versus "I want to WIN". Technically they mean the same thing, but there's different in their approach. You are playing to not lose. You are hoping to win by the other team not scoring. You're playing only defense, where is your offensive game ?

When are you going to take control of the situation ? All I hear is "I don't want to get in others way" "I don't want to run someone over" "I just try to avoid this". Sure we don't want to be a danger and be overconfident. Not speeding thru an intersection and cutting between cars on the highway. But in your case, you mindset is more like I'll just creep into the intersection slowly and hope others will go around me. That's just an accident waiting to happen.

When are you going to be in control of your vehicle ? All I read is "I am trying to not fall off" "I'm just trying to stay on as long as possible" " the board gets ripped out of my hands". Would you ride in a car when the driver admits "I'm just trying not to crash" ?

When are you going to get the confidence to surf in crowds and in bigger waves ? Answer: When you learn how to SURF. Not just RIDE the wave, but actually surf and maneuver on the wave. Being able to stop and kickout on a dime ( to avoid others). Being able to surf equally as will frontside and backside ( just in case someone drops in, you can go the other way ).

Build up your technique, build up your paddling power, learn how to turtle roll, Learn how to kick out, learn the ocean and understanding of the wave. Do Not try to fix the arrow.

Question: Am I using the wrong size board?

Answer: A good surfer can surf ANY board. ( and the opposite is true for a surfer who is NOT in control of the board or himself )

jaffa1949 wrote:Uncle Jaffa, if he was surfing might call you into a good wave where you were in position, but if you hesitated you might not get another invitation.

Today I caught plenty of waves. There was another surfer who kept encouraging me to take the wave. I don't know him but hey, I had a great session.



This was me today on a 7'4 board, my friend borrowed my longboard so I had no choice. I thought I was deep in the wave but looks like I'm constantly riding in the weaker section.

waikikikichan wrote:When are you going to get the confidence to surf in crowds and in bigger waves ? Answer: When you learn how to SURF. Not just RIDE the wave, but actually surf and maneuver on the wave.

The problem is how to get more confident and better. It's easier said than done. I'm trying to improve but I feel like I'm getting better until I look at myself on the video and think omg who is that kook. I think there are a lot of factors that's affecting my surf. Hesitation, perfectionist and lack of confidence is unfortunately is my trait.

Do you know what I think about when I turtle roll? I'm going to get chomped by the sharks. A kid told me that I caught a wave with dolphins yesterday and the first thing I said, are you sure it's not sharks? Today I saw a seal and I started paddling towards another surfer.

With regards to the size of the board, I figured out my own question when I went out with the funboard and then a longboard. I'm not ready to surf wave that size. I can do it with a longboard but on a funboard when bigger sets comes in and I sit at the lineup with the other surfers. I'm a hazard when I can't duck dive or turtle roll.

Here's another clip of the last wave of the day.

Just like the previous one I attached on this post. I keep riding to the point where I'm so far up on the wave that I nearly went over. I don't know what I should be doing to stop that happening. Should I be doing a bottom turn? Or is it because I'm just too far back on the surfboard?

BaNZ wrote:The problem is how to get more confident and better. It's easier said than done. I'm trying to improve but I feel like I'm getting better until I look at myself on the video and think omg who is that kook. I think there are a lot of factors that's affecting my surf. Hesitation, perfectionist and lack of confidence is unfortunately is my trait.

All I keep hearing from you is EXCUSES.


The wave itself is NOT perfect. You constantly need to keep adapting/adjusting and be loose. Your fear makes you stiff and rigid.

The right surfboard for a beginner is usually one palm higher than his height as the general rule for choosing one. If you plan to ride small-to-medium-sized waves, you can opt for a longboard or a funboard. I have recently gotten into surfing, and it was pretty hard to figure this out at first. Luckily, most of my friends are into surfing, so I had people to help me out with stuff. We have recently booked a trip to one of the best surf resorts in Bali, and I'm super excited to get my new surfboard in a few days.