Surfing Waves

hey guys, this is my first post. I'll kept it as short and concise as possible.

i have a few questions regarding progressing my skills. I have been surfing for about 3 years now, surfing smallish waves. at most waist-shoulder high. I have definitely improved since i started but want to get a few things ironed out.

I normally can paddle out back on a nice clean day, but once the conditions get choppy @ shore and biggish out back i tend to panic.
If the conditions arent too friendly i chicken out, but im slowly overcoming that, im surfing in bali now and seem to be doing ok. so here are my questions:

1) how to get over the fear of "messy" conditions or conditions out of my comfort zone (of having a wave break right on top of me and drown)? i think this is hindering me from stepping up.

2) the surf guides both said to me(here in bali) i need to paddle harder? but to be honest i feel like im giving it all i got and not getting any where.. my back starts to strain and my arms get heavy, leaving me winded. i've read a few posts and the surf school link here and will def give it a try. but any refreshers would be ok.

i know trhe answers to these are subjective.. but any advice would do!

I'm surfing a 6'0x20 fish, im 5'7 and i think my position on the board is ok, the nose is a wee bit about water. I can occasionally catch good unbroken waves. but get frustrated that other surfers are catching 100000x more waves then me.

i dont wanna bug out and get frustrated and i do enjoy myself as much as i can... hope to hear from you guys.

cheers.

I can only address the intimidation with bigger and choppy waves:

Personally, I feel much more comfortable out in the larger surf without my board. I have had years of experience ocean swimming but only a couple actually surfing.

Without the board, I see a larger wave coming and push myself much further down to the "peaceful zone" and come out the back after it has passed. With a board, it makes it more difficult.

However, having the confidence without it, some how helps me when I am out there with it.

My advice, just go out body surfing in the bigger waves until you feel more comfortable and confident, then add the board into the equation.

Being intimidated is not a bad thing, it means you are aware that the wave can hurt you! So respect it, build your confidence incrementally and slowly. If it seems to scary don't push it, not worth it!

**Disclaimer**
This all assumes you are a strong swimmer. Make sure there is a lifeguard on duty and let him know what you are up to. If there is a life guard on duty, I go up to his tower and let him know I'm a beginner surfer and will be practicing my turtle ducks (for example).

As far as the paddling and catching the waves sounds like you may be more advanced than me so can't help you there!

Thanks for the advice! i know its probably all in the head! slowly i'm building on it!
regarding the swimming, im am by far NOT the strongest of swimmers. i have a fear of drowning, cuz i can't float. i can swim though. it's strange, must be childhood trauma or something.

Definately work on your swimming. It will improve your surfing no end, and will help with your confidence.

surf patrol wrote:Definately work on your swimming. It will improve your surfing no end, and will help with your confidence.

thanks for that, def planning on swimming classes come summer!

Paddling makes a huge difference in your ability to not only catch waves but also get out to the lineup.

The advice you got about "paddling harder" is a misnomer, they are actually advising you to work on your paddling. Most begginer lie flat on the board and swing their arms wide, usually using only their shoulders to paddle. You need to arch your back, dig deep, scoop back.

Read up on proper paddling techniques, worth learning

If you can't swim back to shore with out your board (such as if the leash breaks), you shouldn't go out. Work on your swimming ability and lung capacity before going out in bigger conditions.

thanks for the replies! i've been out the past couple of weeks surfing, and worked on my paddling.
keeping ur chest lifted and finding the right spot on the board works wonders.

i guess the best way to learn is just to keep practising. thanks again!

Hi there,

I don't know if this is of any help but have you considered your positioning before actually paddling onto a wave? I find that when I attempt to surf waves that intimidate me, ie Cloudbreak, where you have the prospect of a massive pit breaking on two foot of coral reef you tend to get caught up in the fear and second guess your gut instincts....9 times out of ten in this situation you end up sitting too far out off the shoulder where the wave simply wont jack up enough to propel you forward..... Practice on gentler beach breaks or mellow points where you know if you get thrown over the falls your only going to risk a little wash or maybe a bit of salt up the nose! I beleive that much of the paddling pre-wave can actually set you up so that you only require two or three strokes to push you down the face....its all about timing , and try to 'Pick a peak', ie aim for the highest part of the wave peak but carful not to be too far on the inside...

Also think about the volume of your board. I weigh 86 Kg and am quite tall, when I started I never thought I could ride a short board but I persisted and now I ride a 6'5". I think it's important to have a board that is not overly bouyant so that you can duck dive easily and easily manuevre and set yourself up for a take off.... Too small will feel instable when you take off an render your more likely to screw up a take off...Find a happy medium

In terms of chickening out over big waves I think that it is important to only surf what you feel capable of and fleshin' what everyone else thinks. I don't beleive you need big waves to have fun, 3 foot peelers can be so much more fun than big, fat wonky dumpers... Also, if a big wave is about to dump on you, its better to duck dive closer to the impact, too far away will alow the wave to crumble and crash and build more momentum deeper underwater, learn how to develop your duck diving technique - it will help you so much and give you heaps more confidence in bigger conditions...

I hope this has been helpful!

I just wrote a quick 5 minute read on overlooked intermediate tips and tricks! Check it Out
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swimming is a very important skill for all levels of surfing but it becomes more apparent as your skill level goes up. For one thing if you become separated from your board you need to be able to swim back in to the beach. Learning body surfing would be a good thing too since that will help getting back to the beach boardless. Knowing the currents at the beach where you surf will help as well. Body surfing will help to give you confidence in your ability to get hit by waves and help to teach you about how waves work and how to take less of a beating (it's also fun).

The one thing all good big wave surfers have in common is the ability to paddle long distances. Surfing while it is really great exercise doesn't necessarily lead to the ability to paddle long distances. You paddle out and wait, catch a wave paddle back and wait. The only time you build endurance surfing is when you are getting pounded repeatedly. It builds the short term bursts of paddling but doesn't condition you well for longer paddling sessions. I guess it depends on where you surf but I intentionally go to a spot where I have to paddle 500 yards to get to it. It helps build your endurance and you will never be in a situation where you are tired and have to paddle to get to safety but your arms are like noodles. I also hike up a hill several times a week to build my cardiovascular endurance. I think this helps when you are underwater being held by a wave. When you push yourself exercising, your body gets used to working without enough oxygen. You could train this by exercising underwater but if you do you should have a spotter trained in CPR and lifesaving because pushing it underwater you may pass out and drown. It's not to likely if you take it step by step but still much more dangerous to do that but probably more directly beneficial because it trains you to be relaxed when you have no oxygen which is of ultimate importance for surfing bigger waves and important also for smaller waves.

Learn to go fast on waves first then slow. You have to learn how to pick up speed on waves so that you can make sections that are difficult. Once you have it down then learn to slow down. Slowing down will get you in the tube and keep you closer to the curl of the wave. To go faster you have go higher on the wave or repeatedly raise your center of gravity quickly up the wave and then use gravity to take you back down again. A series of pumping turns on a wall should result in faster and faster travel on the wave. Once you get going it's amazing how fast you can really go and what sections you can make. Slowing down includes drawing out your bottom turn, taking speed off on the bottom turn, tail stall where you step on the back of the board and this pops the front up causing you to push water and slow down and doing a stall turn on the face where you try to stop or slow down the forward motion of the board by staying low on the face and not using any power in the turn and varieties of digging your hands and other body parts into the wave to slow down.

How is your duck dive ? When I started learning to surf in rougher/larger conditions, I found that working on my duck dive to a perfection helped me immensely with confidence.

Peace

Almost every beginners are told too paddle harder or to give two more strokes before take-off, because their perception of the wave they are trying to get is inaccurate, most of the time they think it s bigger, steeper, faster than it actually is. Try to free some mind space to observe the wave before and while you are paddling for it.