A little help with getting past waves..

[Mk2James]

I haven't been surfing too long but im getting the grips with it, im catching waves and feel like im getting better and stronger at it every time I go. Despite this im having a bit of trouble getting out past the waves curling on top of me.

I still have my beginner board and its a 7ft foamboard, dont get me wrong I love it and its absolutely perfect for me for starting out but because of the length and the fact that it a foamboard is giving me problems getting out past the waves.. Im paddling out as best as I can and I can get over most the waves coming toward me by pushing down on the back of my board to lift the front over the wave and then jumping over but the bigger ones I can get over and I am finding it hard to duck dive under because of my foamboard being so buoyant and I see all these other people with their 6ft fiberglass board just grabbing the nose of there board and just pulling it straight under waves or just diving and sinking straight under them. Has anyone got any tips or am I doing something wrong.. Im sick of getting trampled on and getting pushed back 12 foot after paddling 6 foot!! Help!

[oldmansurfer]

There is so much to learn about surfing. If you have a lot of floatation the easiest thing to do is to go around the surf. Don't try to paddle straight through it. Go to the side so you miss the breaking waves. I understand some people think this is not possible at some breaks ??????? but I really don't see how that could be. However you are still going to get caught but if you can't duck dive don't go out where people are duck diving. I surf a board with too much floatation to duck dive but I do a half duck dive where I push the board down fairly vertical so my head and shoulders are under water and my rear end is not then the wave will hit my rear end and I pull up on the front of the board. The wave pushes the back of the board down and I pull the front up and it works pretty good on head high or smaller waves. Another skill to learn is a turtle roll. This is a common problem for beginners. You also could get a smaller board and learn to duck dive but if you aren't already surfing up a storm then a shorter board will increase the difficulty by quite a bit. Mostly I paddle around the surf.

[Mk2James]

Thanks very much, its quite a hard break to avoid them really so ill try out some different techniques that you suggested and see how it goes!
Thanks for the help!

[oldmansurfer]

The real problem I see with going around a break is if you are riding the whitewater straight in. If not then the wave breaks along at an angle to the beach, the very same angle you are surfing on so when you cut out you are right on the edge of where the wave is breaking. If you paddle over a little the wave will break between you and the beach. The only problem is if the waves are pounding you in as fast as you can paddle to the side.

[dtc]

have a read through this thread

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=23278

But you will need to learn to turtle roll - it can be hard with a foam board because they sit right on top of the water and are hard to sink, but its what you have to do! Dont compare yourself to 6ft boards - look at how far they sink when people are sitting on them in comparison to how far yours sinks. the 6ft boards are 2ft underwater without even trying.

[Mk2James]

Thanks man!

I know its just so frustrating when most other people are just sinking under and gliding past them and im getting the hell beaten out of me because i cant sink mine !

[pmcaero]

yesterday I went on my 7'4" board, one I wasn't able to duckdive, but I was able to, just once, do a turtle roll hanging onto the nose and brought the nose underwater, which helped.