Surfing Waves

Hi, I'm a beginer that surfs mainly beach breaks in south Texas. I ride a 10ft Walden magic. Lately I have been improving a lot but as I've been improving a couple of solutions to my problems have continued to elude me.

For one, a lot of the Times I get to go surfing its extremely choppy wind swell so paddling outside is tough not just because of the high frequency of waves but because of the chop I can't seem to get the board to plane as the nose goes underwater in the sweet spot simply because of the chop. I can sit further back on the board but then it takes longer to plane after hitting waves every 5 seconds. Is there any solution to this or any input on how a better surfer would deal with this? Keep in mind there aren't really any rips or channels to use at these breaks.

Another question is how to deal with strong side shore currents. I don't mind having to paddle to keep myself on my take off spot as it helps with paddling but one thing I notice is that when paddling out or for a wave it feels like my fin is being caught by the current and making my board get pulled sideways making paddling out difficult and paddling for a wave even harder. any help is much appreciated.

Reckon you just need to work on your paddle fitness. Hard to say for sure without seeing the break, but paddle fitness is the answer to most of these type of questions. What's causing the current? Are they always there?

My local beach is attached to a bay with a small outlet which causes some severe currents on an outgoing tide. Bigger the tide, worse the current. If your break has something similar you may be able to time your surfs when it's not quite as bad.

garbarrage wrote:Reckon you just need to work on your paddle fitness. Hard to say for sure without seeing the break, but paddle fitness is the answer to most of these type of questions. What's causing the current? Are they always there?

My local beach is attached to a bay with a small outlet which causes some severe currents on an outgoing tide. Bigger the tide, worse the current. If your break has some
thing similar you may be able to time your surfs when it's not quite as bad.

Our tides aren't very large by any means. I'm pretty sure the long shore current is caused by the amount of water coming to shore in short period windswell with no available channels for it to escape. The current just runs to a point the water can escape, ie a Jetty. Still, this is less about how to get outside on strong current days and more about how do people deal with currents that pull their board sideways. I realize im not the greatest paddler but I think I'm looking for more input along the line of should i stay in the sweet spot of my board on choppy days and just deal with the nose going beneath the chop or choose to sit further back on the board and push more water when paddling but prevent the nose from being covered with choppy water.

I realize I could just look at the forecast and only go out when its glassy and lined up but that would severely limit my water time being on the gulf coast.

oldenglish wrote:I realize im not the greatest paddler but I think I'm looking for more input along the line of should i stay in the sweet spot of my board on choppy days and just deal with the nose going beneath the chop or choose to sit further back on the board and push more water when paddling but prevent the nose from being covered with choppy water.

I recall reading someone, somewhere, who said something along the lines of "the efficiency you lose when the nose is going under frequently is far greater than the what you lose by scooting back a little on the board to minimize it". This was in reference to padding in choppy conditions.

I don't remember who it was but I must have given it some credence because it's what I have been doing. Not enough to be dragging the tail, mind you, but just enough to keep the nose a bit higher than I normally would. I think no matter how you approach it, paddling through heavy chop isn't going to be nearly as efficient as paddling through glass, nor is it going to be as much fun.

RonG wrote:

oldenglish wrote:I realize im not the greatest paddler but I think I'm looking for more input along the line of should i stay in the sweet spot of my board on choppy days and just deal with the nose going beneath the chop or choose to sit further back on the board and push more water when paddling but prevent the nose from being covered with choppy water.

I recall reading someone, somewhere, who said something along the lines of "the efficiency you lose when the nose is going under frequently is far greater than the what you lose by scooting back a little on the board to minimize it". This was in reference to padding in choppy conditions.

I don't remember who it was but I must have given it some credence because it's what I have been doing. Not enough to be dragging the tail, mind you, but just enough to keep the nose a bit higher than I normally would. I think no matter how you approach it, paddling through heavy chop isn't going to be nearly as efficient as paddling through glass, nor is it going to be as much fun.

Lol definitely. That was more what I was looking for.

I agree with RonG, it's definitely better to be a bit far back than to have have the nose going under.

One thing I've found with paddling in chop is you can adjust somewhat by how much or how little you arch your back - this allows you to make small adjustments to the planing position of the board while paddling without breaking your paddling to move forward or back on the board.

As far as the currents, yeah they suck! Especially in spring in Texas. When the waves get big and the sideshore current is bad, you usually need to try to find a rip to get outside, and once there either hide behind a jetty if you can, or else do a drift session. Unless you are a really, really strong paddler, it's tough to fight the current. Once I get outside I try not to ride waves too far in unless I'm ending a session or I'm gonna end up near a pier or jetty where I will have some help getting outside again. Getting past the waves breaking on the middle bars is tough with strong currents and 6 second wave periods.

Keep plugging, I've been fighting these same issues myself for a couple of years but am seeing some progress.

EDIT: I may have misread your second question. I've definitely experienced problems with getting swept sideways while trying to paddle out. But not sure about the issues when paddling for a wave. If you feel like your fin is being caught by the current, you could try a smaller fin. But my guess is you were out on a day where the current was exceptionally bad. In my experience the usual issues are (a) it can be harder to try to get outside if you are also fighting sideshore current; and (b) it can be harder to get to / stay in position in the lineup.

Side shore current sure suck, but if they follow normal behaviour it is probable they cease or calm down somewhat once youare in the take offzone but then with messy conditions and onshore winds its possible you are being blown back to the edges of the current.
There is always a point where the current turns seaward, but it is also a dangerous point as the longer it has gone along the shore the stronger it will be. It doesn't sound like Texas is a great surf area,.
getting better paddle strength and trying to read the mush , and still being a little to the nose and sweet sot rather than sliding back, arch your back and use te flexibility of your back to adjust for the choppiness, you can also do mini pop ups where you do a press up an allow water to pass between your body and the board, and use your arms like shock absorbers.

As for the side current start your paddle across upstream of where you want to surf, hopefully the next rip up the beach.

Yeah good advice, I will work on using my back angle to alter my weight on the board. I've been using rips near a pier to get out sometimes but witb strong sideshore I am apprehensive about it simply because I don't want to get pulled out of position and thrown into a pilon. Good advice so far, more than anything I wanted to make sure there's not something stupid obvious that I am missing. The seasoned guys always make it look so easy that sometimes you can't help but feel that way

On choppy days my nose does go under the top of the chop, it's normal. It doesn't slow me down at all, but purposly trying to keep the nose above the chop might throw off your rythm. If you are having problems getting out it probably isn't the fact that the nose goes slightly under in chop.

As to the rip, unless there is a really nice peak somewhere I usually don't fight it, only if there are better waves where I am than where I am going. At my local beachbreak I normally drift about a quarter mile and don't mind.

Its just one of the problems I face to get outside, not really the sole one. I just can't seem to hold speed in choppy water because of nose diving as well as disorganized swell that makes low period stuff even more difficult. On a side note, I've been out when its a bit bigger than I'm used too but glassy and I've had 0 difficulty making it outside because I can maintain my speed when paddling. I'm working on paddle fitness but I can swim very well and find very little similarities between properly swimming and paddling a surfboard. I live around 3 hours from the closest break so I need to find something else to help with paddling, I've looked at rowing machines to help with lactic acid build up in the shoulders. I have also considered putting my board in one of the near by lakes and paddling around in them.

I've thought about drift sessions but I need to meet more surfers to do that with as walking backbwith a 10ft board doesn't sound too fun after a long session

Of course you can't hold speed in choppy conditions. That's why water speed record attempts happen under glassy conditions!
There is still a better movement through the water with your nose down than having each surface chop bounce into you nose up.

Here's a thought, since your board is 10ft, depending on your weight, you might be able to knee paddle
Knee paddling is much more efficient and powerful it takes a little bit more balancing and a different Pop up technique but your legs and knees give you a natural adjustment to the bounce of the chop.
Compulsory viewing of Big Wednesday here as a lot of the paddling was knee paddling.
Try it

On the question of drag by dipping the nose through waves - I've never had any trouble just letting the nose push through waves, and find it faster than moving back to keep the nose out all the time. I guess it may depend on how wide and chunky the nose of your board is, but certainly it isn't a rule that you're best to keep the nose clear.

Jimi wrote:On the question of drag by dipping the nose through waves - I've never had any trouble just letting the nose push through waves, and find it faster than moving back to keep the nose out all the time. I guess it may depend on how wide and chunky the nose of your board is, but certainly it isn't a rule that you're best to keep the nose clear.

Agree, even if doing things right the nose will definitely go under sometimes (e.g., when punching through the lip). I think this is just a matter of degree - you don't want it planing under water the majority of the time. If so, then clearly your weight is too far forward.

Went out last week with not too bad conditions but still choppy. Instead of paying attention where my nose was I just found a good position and altered my back angle to bring the nose up or down. Honestly it just felt better not worrying about it and paddling even if the nose goes under every now and then.

Caught some good rides and was a good session. Was doing really well with frontside bottom turns but backside was a bit more complicated, going to have to work on that. I would look where I want to go and bend at my knees and next thing I know I'm where I was looking. Definitely cool to be progressing.

Well done, just what we like to hear , progress

Great stuff oldenglish, sounds like you're coming along nicely!

Nice!