Surfing Waves

hi i've been surfing for a couple months consistently and have been able to catch a majority of waves i attempt. however, every time i'm out there's always 1 or 2 longboarders that can catch waves with just 2-4 paddles. does that come with just practice or is there some technique involved? i notice they're close to the peak of the wave and after a few effortless paddles they still manage to catch the wave late. on the other hand i'm paddling much early on and even then there are some that just pass me.

It's called a lot of foam and watching for the peak. Also keep in mind the lighter you are the easier to pick up speed especially on a log.

When you get better you'll be able to di the pump and scoot which basically brings your weight forward essentially letting gravity do is work and pull you into the wave as you're pumping

Lets see: They are less heavy than you, paddle harder than you, have a bigger longboard than yours, have been surfing longer, have better wave sense...

You are a beginner, they are not, that will be you in a few years, try to pick up on their good habits and get rid of your bad ones. Easy!

hcfkavh wrote:hi i've been surfing for a couple months consistently and have been able to catch a majority of waves i attempt. however, every time i'm out there's always 1 or 2 longboarders that can catch waves with just 2-4 paddles. does that come with just practice or is there some technique involved? i notice they're close to the peak of the wave and after a few effortless paddles they still manage to catch the wave late. on the other hand i'm paddling much early on and even then there are some that just pass me.

I think paddling more would change the path and staying on focus specially on catching the waves.

If you are in exactly the right place at the right time on a wave you can just stand up no paddle needed but for every wave there are spots where it is easier or harder to take off. When you surf the same break over and over you can become familiar with the wave and where that spot is. In order to do so you need to try to take off all along the wave on all varieties of waves. Then learning how to line up to that spot is another story. I am so poor at lining up to a specific spot these days. I usually just try to look at the swell and line up to that. Everywhere I usually surf there is a lot of current and I get moved out of position quickly. A better way to stay lined up is to develop one or more sets of objects on the shoreline that when they are lined up in relation to where you are then you are in the right plane for that spot. So I sometimes use a tree and a telephone pole or a tree and the corner of a building or a power line marker (big red ball on power lines to let pilots know they are there) and a notch in a mountain. My problem is I forget to look for my line up if there are lots of waves and just go for it.

I tried catching some waves with minimal paddling...very easy way for me to pearl, lol.

before I quit using my longboard, I became really good at not pearling. But I did twice do a no paddle takeoff and it was fine.

When I was just learning to surf I surfed this one break where there were always these two guys at the same inside spot who did a quick takeoffs with shortboards. I always wanted to do that but soon I realized that the best waves weren't there and they could only do that in that one spot so I decided just to go catch some waves and not worry about it