Surfing Waves

everyone says that shortboarding is hard and u will catch waves 10x easier on a longboard. and once u stand up its too squirly and tough.


but yeah. is it really true that one of the hardest parts of learning the shortboard is paddling it fast enough to catch the wave????

trestles_is_dead wrote: is it really true that one of the hardest parts of learning the shortboard is paddling it fast enough to catch the wave????

No, paddling a shortboard well enough to catch a wave early enough to be able to pop up and then be in the right position to ride the board is, if not the hardest, then at least all part of the process.

"Catching a wave" but not being able to pop up doesnt count.

drowningbitbybit wrote:
No, paddling a shortboard well enough to catch a wave early enough to be able to pop up and then be in the right position to ride the board is, if not the hardest, then at least all part of the process.

"Catching a wave" but not being able to pop up doesnt count.

thank you very much for the advice. so basically i just need to practice ALL the aspects of it, especially popping up. but its not like its impossible to shortboard. ok well im im practicing "paddling a shortboard well enough to catch a wave early enough to be able to pop up and then be in the right position to ride the board". well thats exactly what im practicing so im on the right track. cheers.

I could easily catch waves early enough since day one... since i have been a bodyboarder for a long time.
Unfortunately I have been learning to surf for over 2 months and yet i struggle on the "pop up and ride the board" part.
So for me catching waves was the easy part... yet i still cant surf.

Pornstar wrote:I could easily catch waves early enough since day one... since i have been a bodyboarder for a long time.
Unfortunately I have been learning to surf for over 2 months and yet i struggle on the "pop up and ride the board" part.
So for me catching waves was the easy part... yet i still cant surf.

ha,

hey pornstar try dropping in drop knee and holding your outside one rail, after that stand up and ride.

i have a friend that was a bodyboarder for a while and hes been surfing for a year like that, sometimes i have to tell him to let go of his rail and stand up and surf.

he is so used to holding on to his bodyboard i guess.
anyways give that a try it might help it works for him.

yeah i boogie baorded all my life off and on. only when on vacation. never could get into it. i thought body surfin was more fun. just give me a pair of fins and i can have fun out in the waves. but yeah. surfing is best.

and it just takes time and practice dude

Gotta ditto windchop's statement. I've done and still do the knee thing sometimes ( don't know why) old sponge habbit?? But it can help you a bit,just keep in mind it's a bad habbit to hold onto so if ya don't have somebody to yell at ya (STAND UP!!!)haha, use it sparingly. or better yet try to get on a mini mal or log so you can get the feel and motions down and transfer what youve gained over to the ripper stcks. Catch me when I'm in San O and I'll let ya use one of mine to get some paddle/pop/stand time on outher than that well... good luck and just have fun this aint quantum phisics.

ive said this before and ill say it again:

NEVER EVER EVER GO KNEE FIRST!!!!

it will be very hard to get out of this habit and it will be a lot longer until you can even think of tackling the steep waves us shortboarders like so much. also do yourself a favour and dont try to learn on a shortboard. everything has to be so precise on a shortboard that it is very very hard to do from scratch. you need to be able to pop up right most of the time on a bigger board before you even think of using a shortboard. i dont necessarily believe that you need to learn on a big longboard. but a funboard or small minimal will be a lot better.

yeah i avoid the knee. its really hard for me to break habits. but after 20 hours of practice i can pop up pretty fine. i just really arch my back then push hard and slide my body under and crouch. i need to work on foot position and popping up as soon as the wave takes me. when i finaly got up the board was really easy to control. it feels kinda likea wakeboard idk. but i own a sponge and rode it like twice and its been in the garage for a year. i hate sponging and yeah i see all the boogie boarders ride crouching . that looks like it would be a hard habit to break when u start surfing. i could do myself a favor and get a longbaord. but i want to take the hard way. and im answering all my posts myslef when i finally hit the water. so. yeah being in the water is how u learn the internet can only tell u what to do. now its time to practice. it. ok sorry for the long rant post.

If you have a really hard time paddling, to not waste all your energy on a wave, try taking off were the waves peek.