Regression - scared of dumpy waves & out of positon

[Numbertwelve]

Hi there fellas. I've been reading the posts here for ages - but never made a post. In need of some sage advice, but it requires a bit of a back story... I've been surfing for about 6 years - but was living in a city in Asia for most of that so only did surf trips on holidays. Managed to get in about 30-40 days a year and made good progress during that time. Onto a fish board with a bit of volume.

Last year, with the lockdowns and WFH, I managed to escape to a surf beach and had maybe the best year of my life - surfing every day, uncrowded beach and reef breaks. I'd say on the days it was good, I'd routinely do 5-7 hours in the water. Not surprisingly, I made great progress in all areas; reading & riding waves - with the help of locals who generously offered advice on the spots and technique (along with youtube vids and all that). Was doing some good front and backside snaps by the end of the year. Mid intermediate. But waves (even on the reef) were max 4 ft and not scary.

Fast forward a bit. I move to mainland Mexico due to family stuff. Waves around here are totally different - just so much more powerful, hollow and fast. Much moreso than anything I'm used to. I've been going to a local beach-break spot often. Met the locals; all relatively friendly. All excellent surfers. I couldn't find a board that I could use for the first 3-4 months (searched high & low in second hand places and online but all were far too small. Surfers here are just smaller I guess). Finally got a new board from a local shaper which looks fleshin' awesome - far too good for me, which is especially painful/embarrassing given most of the locals ride shitty boards.

Anyway, my issue is this: any and all progress I feel I made has gone. The waves here, as I mentioned above, are heavy. I've had sessions where I simply can't get out the back. Mostly I can, but its a totally different kettle of fish. I don't really try to get on the waves cause it freaks me out. I see local kids paddling out in it and getting crunched, but they seem fine. When I get crunched, its quite an ordeal. I'd say anything over 3ft here is getting very heavy (not just the height but the power). I'd say now I average 1 wave a session. In my last life - i.e. last year - I was getting unlimited waves (3hr session maybe 30 waves depending on the day?).

So, obviously I can't read the surf here well. I get fleshin' scared of the big waves so end up hanging out too far back trying to avoid the clean-up waves. On top of that, due to not standing up much, I'm losing any progress I made in actually riding. Surfing like this isn't much fun so sessions are shorter meaning reduced surf fitness, which sucks the most. I don't care about being awesome, but want to be competent enough and make progress.

A local guy - the local guy who owns a surf business here and who is pretty friendly generally - paddled over to me today and said "hey, what are you doing man? You are a very bad surfer - no one is gonna tell you, bro, but you got a nice board but you don't know surfing. I see you here maybe 20 times... and you get no waves. You waste 40 hours of your time and you didn't get better! You should go in and catch the white water after the wave is already broken." He then nicely re-iterated that I had a nice board and that I couldn't surf a few times, haha. All of this is all good - I always felt this way about guys who turned up to the basketball court with new shoes and shooting sleeves and who couldn't play a lick!

The question is: What do I do? Do I now hangout in the white water? (I actually don't even think this is possible or smart as there's a nasty shore break most of the time). There isn't much variety in terms of waves around here - its here or bigger. I'm not opposed to getting more lessons (I actually got a local to give me one last week at another spot). I spend a lot of time watching what other surfers here do, but it isn't helping much!

Any thoughts? Cheerssss

[oldmansurfer]

It sounds like you went from a place sheltered by a continental shelf to a place without one. Your options may include find a break that isn't so difficult, get a better board for you, get some lessons, ride the whitewater or any combination of the above. To tell the truth it sounds like you need a different board and to go out on smaller days.

[Naeco78]

You might be more used to wind swell, instead of ground swell. Ground swell gets a lot more punchy and the waves are usually from a strong and distant storm.. usually when the wave period is 12 seconds or more.
You might wanna try a few times after a local storm passes and the wave period is lower.. that usually makes the waves more crumbly and less powerful. Surfing closer to high tide sometimes helps with that too.
Otherwise you might wanna look for surf spots that don't handle a certain swell direction as well. That usually filters out some of the strongest waves, when the other spots might be too heavy

[LostAtSea]

Unless you were getting in people's way, the guy was being pretty rude IMO. Not really any of his business how you spend your time in the water.

If you're consistently paddling for waves and pulling off at the last second, surfers may get frustrated after awhile.

Do all the things - get a lesson, get a different board, surf more, go to a spot where the swell suits your surfing, etc.

It will happen.

[IB_Surfer]

Ha, just experienced something similar. While surfing Barra De La Cruz I could not find a board I liked so settled on a 6'8" thick fish hybrid, something totally wrong for the surf I was going to.

My first day was crowded and I saw 2 guys bust a board, so I stuck to the shoulder and did not even try to get into those crushing barrels. I must have caught 6 or 7 on the next peak just waiting for bailouts and barrels not made, had a blast. The next day there were fewer surfers so decided to take off deeper, pearled the 1st wave and got a mushy one on the 2nd wave. My 3rd one was an overhead barrel that I made, then it reformed to another barrel I did not make. After that I decided to just do the shoulder again, the wrong board and unfamiliar terrain.

So, the lesson is, stick to it, maybe stay off the main peak until you get better at the wave you are trying. Where are you surfing? I've done Zicatela, Pascuales, Mazatlan and a few other spots up and down mainland, maybe I can give you some pointers.