Surfing frequency

[erinmck]

Hi All,

I live about 45 minutes from the nearest break. I have a goal to really progress by the end of the summer, and am wondering how often I should go to really be able to progress my surfing and get better overall I was thinking 2-3 times a week. Does anyone have any recommendations or personal experience, especially living this far from the beach?

[oldmansurfer]

The more you surf the better you will learn. However you need to recover from your previous outing or it affects how much you can learn during the time you spend out. If you are too tired to catch waves or worse yet injured from a previous outing then you won't be able to catch waves or perform as well so you get less from your time in the water. Given that you can still catch waves and surf then the more the quicker you will learn. Now the time it takes for you to go surf that is something you will have to weigh as to your own personal value of time spent. 2 to 3 times a week sounds really good. You should progress pretty much. Every day and you can double or more how quickly you progress.

[Jester]

Are you hoping to get two or more days together learning? That would be sweet as whenever I've gone a second day in a row I've found that's when I really begin to feel it and it's easier to remember what I'd been working on previous day.
Yeah it makes you more tired but I'm convinced it actually improves your fitness quicker. I went out recently two days in a row and after the first day I was wrecked, the next day I really didn't feel up to it, even sitting down putting on my suit in the changing room I was like 'dude, what are you DOING?' Got out there and all the paddling I had done the day before had really paid off, everything felt good, technique improved, paddling wasn't as much of a chore. I think it really pays off to have at least two days back to back.

[oldmansurfer]

If you aren't too tired to surf then every day continuously will give you the fastest learning curve but if you are tired from surfing and have a hard time catching waves it's definitely more time efficient to rest till you are good enough to catch waves. Time spent trying to catch waves doesn't provide much learning opportunity. If you go 2 to 3 times a week it will be pretty decent but make that 4 to 6 times and you will double what you learn if you aren't tired or injured.

[oldmansurfer]

I think as the interval between surfing goes up then the retention of skills goes down so if you are only surfing once a month then you may have to relearn a lot of skills every time you surf. I guess it could be there is a subset of surfers who will learn better if they go every day as opposed to taking a break but that is not me or others I know.

[Jester]

I think you need rest alright, few days back to back, few days rest till you've got the stamina to go every day! If only we all had the opportunity to go everyday!!!

[IanCaio]

Come on, 45 minutes isn't that far from a break! I know there are people who have houses with windows to the beach, but you're still close

I don't know how long are peoples sessions usually, but when I go to the beach, I go early (at least I try), and stay until the sun goes down (or until I'm tired to my limit). It's mostly because I don't live really close to the beach, so when I'm there I want to make the most of it. But with long sessions, you can't go out every single day. You will eventually wake up sore, with rashes, and if you still decide to go you won't be at your best.

But I think this whole frequency discussion is really subjective. Go out and surf, with as much frequency as you please. If you are enjoying it you will naturally want to go out more often, not because it will improve your learning curve, but mostly because you will miss it.

[oldmansurfer]

When I learned initially, I would surf in about 2 hour intervals. During week days I would surf after work for 2 hours. On weekends I would surf 2 hours take a break for 30 minutes or an hour and surf another 2 hours then maybe another break and another 2 hours. And I might actually go to three different breaks. As I got more fit it might be 6 hours straight on the weekends if the surf was good or I was having a lot of fun. If you have to travel you don't have those kind of opportunities so you have to take what you can get. Now I have opportunities except my job keeps me on call so I can only surf 30 minutes then need to check my phone. I also find in my old age that I can recover from a 30 minute session better than a longer one but if it is really good I will sometimes do 30 minutes check my phone then 30 more minutes. If I can get my wife to stay on the beach with the phone I can stay out longer but lately that isn't happening.

[waikikikichan]

The old mantra of " practice, practice, practice " is not quite true. The more you practice doing it wrong, the more better you'll get at doing it wrong. Going out and thinking you can just learn as you go takes more time then if you had someone to help you. Bad habits like wrong foot stance and bad paddling, take a long time to fix.

My advice,
1) ask a lot of questions on this forum
2) surf with people that are better than you
3) focus on the basics and complete each step before going on to the next.

[Jester]

So true Waikiki, I was concentrating on my pop up today and realised I've been using a knee that I swear I hadn't been using but it's a habit I've now gotta unlearn. Wish we could all have experienced mates out there with us giving a 5 min critique each session at beginning middle and end to see what we need to fix.

[oldmansurfer]

I am so glad Waikikichan is here. I come from an age when things were different. Back then you didn't take surf lessons. Those were for kooks or tourists. In my opinion if you aren't having fun then you aren't doing it right and you need surf lessons. But also if you don't have friends you surf with to help you or hinder you. Also if you want maximum progression in surfing then you want to make sure that you do it right and perhaps surf lessons can help with that or at least instruction in some form. I think there are now surf instructors that can help every one except the best and there are lots of other sources of information about surfing (like right here). Times have changed. For myself I find that a little progression is all I need to stay happy with my surfing but when I was younger I wanted faster progression so I have changed too

[Jester]

Has anyone else experienced a kinda change that happens.. What you said about not having fun just struck a chord. I'm starting to think so much about wanting to get better and progress I'm worried I'm losing the fun.
At the start I was grinning like a loon from just riding on my belly towards the beach, now each session there's a hunger to learn and 'improve' I think I'd like to get back to just surfing for the joy of the feeling.

Too many blokes out there with that hunger in their eyes, that anguish and frustration at not getting it right, causes agro.

I think it'll be nice to progress enough to enjoy the type of wave I want to surf but I'm gonna keep an eye on that hunger, don't want it stealing my fun or worse other people's!

Still wanna keep learning though right now how the hell do I do a smooth cutback into an off the lip :lol

[oldmansurfer]

For me when I started originally I was a pretty good body boarder. I was riding waves that had 15 foot faces and getting totally shacked/tubed and making it out maybe even multiple times on the same wave. When I started surfing it wasn't fun. I couldn't do anything but pearl and fall down but after a couple weeks I started getting it and started to ride some waves that is when I saw the light. I knew it was going to be good in the future. I worked at it and the progression fueled my desire to surf more which made me progress more.

[waikikikichan]

I'm starting to think so much about wanting to get better and progress I'm worried I'm losing the fun.

I just finished watching "Dirty Dancing" with my Japanese wife that's never seen it before. There is one seen where Johnny ( or is it Bodhi ? ) takes Baby out to the woods to practice. They balance on a log up above a river. He says to not look down but look at him. The more she tries to balance, the more wobbly she gets. But the moment she " lets go " and forgets about balancing, she can do the steps naturally.

Same for surfing. Work WITH the wave, not against it. Surf to ride/turn on water, not to stay on your board.

Pro skateboarder Alva team rider Jeff Hartsell was ask " what's his favorite maneuver ? " He replied " rolling ". Learn to love the simple act of just riding on water, trimming along the waves face.

[oldmansurfer]

Still wanna keep learning though right now how the hell do I do a smooth cutback into an off the lip :lol

I did that but it was entirely by accident. I was doing a cutback and was off balance so I continued on with the turn trying to get back on balance and by the time I did that the board was pointed straight up toward the lip so I just smacked it and back down with the lip and whitewater all over me. I bet it looked great but I was off balance for most of it.

[dtc]

Has anyone else experienced a kinda change that happens.. What you said about not having fun just struck a chord. I'm starting to think so much about wanting to get better and progress I'm worried I'm losing the fun.

Waikikichan said it:

3) focus on the basics and complete each step before going on to the next.

I do see people getting really frustrated and even depressed about their surfing, because they aren't reaching the standards they want fast enough. Now not having goals is pointless; but having ridiculous goals is pointless as well. If you want to bench press 100kg and you are currently at 40kg, you don't load up the bar with 100kg, fail and then keep trying and getting upset because you cant lift it...

Set a goal that is just a bit above where you are and just work on that for a while. Small victories instead of massive defeats! Eventually you will get to your long term 100kg goal.

[Jester]

Ah here guys I'm not saying I'm getting frustrated at all! It's just more that I've become a bit more serious about it and I'm worried I'll lose the fun! I'm actually very happy with my modest performance and workin away at the basics brings me satisfaction when it goes well, heck even when it doesn't but it's that rush, that buzz, the whooping of delight seems to take a bigger wave these days or I'm just concentrating too much to enjoy at present, think I'll get back to enjoying it more when I'm a bit better and just FEEL the flow..its just funny when you used to do something that brought you a massive grin and now you do the same thing and you don't get that same thrill.. In a way your progression always moves the bar a little. Maybe it's a good thing to keep you going. I just remember going absolutely mental over the feeling of riding my first green wave and now that I'm doing them mostly all the time I don't have that intense joy anymore..kinda miss it, I still really enjoy it but I'd love to get it back.

Maybe I need to listen to what you're saying more though, maybe the real enjoyment comes back like that when you're better at feeling the wave. And OMS I was kinda joking, I'd actually just like a decent cutback first!!

[oldmansurfer]

Yeah I think after you get a hundred tube rides it becomes boring and they need to be bigger deeper tube rides. I guess that will be a constant that you will get used to some level and need another level to get the same thrill. I am sure we all go through that ....well except when you get old and realize that maybe some day you won't be able to surf and then you cherish every wave and while every wave may not thrill me I deeply appreciate being able to catch and ride waves in any size or form.

[dtc]

Great post OMS

[benjl]

Yeah that's absolutely true.
Gone are the days when I would be happy just catching clean waves, gone are the days wen I would be happy just making a turn on a clean wave, gone are the days when surfing a clean 2ft wave would be enough. It sucks! Now anything under neck height, not clean, less than a handful of waves and I'm leaving the beach disappointed. But the flip side, it only takes a small positive thing and you're stoked! Doing my first semi cut back on a decent wave made the day despite 2 hrs of close outs, over the falls and getting pounded by waves.