Where newbies should practice

[kookpointoh]

Although I have only been surfing a year, I was body boarding and wave sailing since I was a teen and sorta know some surf ettiquette. Number two, I am very self conscious and would never ever want to ever be percieved as a kook.

SO if you are learning how to surf, pick a place away from other surfers, swimmers, or kids building sand castles.

You ask why? When you get better, you will understand, but when you drop into a wave and all of a sudden there is someone paddling in front of you ready to catch the whitewater and it was your plan to surf in to go to work, or go home, etc, and now you gotta bail, and wait to go in again.

The other scenario is that in the white water, you have no control over your board. So if there are kiddies playing around and you bail off your board, guess what, that board keeps going, and whack! Some kid's Dad is totally gonna beat you infront of everyone for making his kid cry or worse. You hope that kid is only crying because he got scared and not hurt.

I asked a very young man that he might not want to practice in front of kids and he looked at me like I was on drugs. An hour later I see the kids gang banger dad go all Da Hui on that guy's poi hole. Lesson learned? Probably not.

[Big H]

Poi hole?

[oldmansurfer]

or pick an area where only begginers go so you can all learn why you need to be concerned about others or least you will only be running over other beginers who might also run over your poi hole

[Big H]

It is a tough one here....the island is really crowded with surf schools and rentals by the hundreds dominating breaks that are somewhat suitable for beginners. Wold class surfing here, so beginner areas are often inside of much better quality areas out back so the inevitable mixing of skill levels happens to some degree. Then there is the fact that if a learner resigns themselves to waves that are barely surfable, you will barely learn to surf. To all those who seem to have forgotten what it is like to be a beginner, think back and have some empathy. Plus, I don't see whitewater riders as infringing on the surf space of the more experienced. If you're blocked off by a beginner "dropping in" on you who is riding the soup, you should have kicked out already IMO. It can be frustrating, but it's part of the pastime.

I will yell people off a wave I am on, angrily confront them if they don't hold onto their boards or sit in the pits on the way to the shoulder and attempt to shoulder hop totally unaware that they are in the wrong. Also a part of surfing unfortunately. There are no vacuums here where beginners can practice away from everyone else. So be active and vocal in the corner that you are in and maybe you'll do your part in raising that persons consciousness and thereby aiding their surfing development and escaping kookdom.

[oldmansurfer]

You know I do often think back but what I remember is I was catching unbroken waves reliably and going down the line after surfing a shortboard for two weeks. I learned on a shortboard without lessons from anyone other than " surf as much as you can". I went where there weren't people but I was out in the lineup on much bigger waves with the surfers long before I ever surfed so I knew the rules. I am likely not the best person to instruct others on how to surf. However I don't yell at anyone or get angry when they yell at me for dropping in on them. LOL just kidding I don't drop in on anyone if I can help it. Hey surfing for me is for enjoyment I don't partake in the aggravation others wish to bring to it. I am not there to get upset or angry or anything, It's all for pleasure.

[dtc]

Although I have only been surfing a year, I was body boarding and wave sailing since I was a teen and sorta know some surf ettiquette. Number two, I am very self conscious and would never ever want to ever be percieved as a kook.

SO if you are learning how to surf, pick a place away from other surfers, swimmers, or kids building sand castles..

I totally agree with this, although it annoys me no end when I'm surfing during the school holidays and

- people start swimming or body surfing right in front of me
- people paddle around 5m past where the wave breaks
- people start diving under the waves as they come past
- bodyboarders sit 4m in front of me

usually exactly in the spot my board will go if I mess up my pop up. I sometimes wonder if people realise (a) surfers fall off quite often or (b) boards are very hard. Bloody swimmers, body boarders, paddlers, children... I was here first! There are flags, go there.

Ok, that's my rant. I sound like one of those people who get annoyed by cyclists on the roads... (which I'm not because I am one of those cyclists).

But, yes, if you go surfing then try to find somewhere there aren't people. I have seen beginner level surfers trying to learn to pop up in between 15 swimmers and I make sure my kids are no where near that. I know boards are hard...

[waikikikichan]

all I know is if I am ever surfing in San Diego, to watch out for a Marine whose kids are playing in the surfing area.

Also, it's interesting to hear people ask " where's a spot to learn where it's not crowded and has good waves". Here in Japan, people wait in line for hours for a bowl of Ramen, yet right across the street, there's another restaurant with open seats. There's probably a reason why one surf break ( or restaurant ) is crowded or not.

[Big H]

There's probably a reason why one surf break ( or restaurant ) is crowded or not.

Hahahaha....so true....I tried staying out of the way when I was learning and didn't have much joy until I butted into an area with other surfers for the first time, and for the first time found out what riding something other than a hollow closeout beach break felt like....it's a lot easier on a made that is "made" for surfing....

[oldmansurfer]

Haha well when I learned to surf there were lots of unridden waves and decent breaks with no one or few people out. Where I surf now there is often no one out (except when it's really good) and the occasional nice wave. Compared to waiting in line to catch waves it all evens out but in my case no stress from crowds. Yeah but a good beginner break with no crowds and perfect waves? There just isn't a place like that.

[kookpointoh]

Poi hole?

food hole=mouth

[Big H]

Should have read "it's a lot easier on a wave that is made for surfing"

[HurdyGurdyManOnAWave]

I'm resurrecting an old thread, but i just want to add that you CAN control your board in the white water. I've dodged many screaming tourists that thought I was coming right towards them.

but i agree with what oldmansurfer said, practice with a bunch of other beginners. It's scary, but you'll be really alert. And remember when a beginner with a heavy longboard is coming straight your way, but you have no where to go in a crowded line-up and youre xxxxx out of luck, duck deep in the water. It sucks to leave your board to get the bashing, but its better than getting one to the eye, or getting your nose, fingers, ears diced off.

if anyone else has better advice, feel free to post.

[HurdyGurdyManOnAWave]

hollow closeout beach break felt like....it's a lot easier on a made that is "made" for surfing....

...closeout beach break, thats what I learned on... my nearest beach is like that. I still go there all the time. And the way the waves break happens to change about every 10 minutes, one minute they are nice and rolling, the next they are pounding closeouts, but its a long stretch of beach break, so there will always be another part of the beach that is surfable. Since the beach has that "stigma" for being a terrible place to surf. It's pretty much always empty.

idk, i plan on checking every beach, regardless of what other people say about it. - don't knock it til ya try it!

[Big H]

Just be aware of water movement. Listen to others when they talk about that. There are some breaks around here that are empty for good reason; don't just hop in and find yourself one a one way trip to China without doing at least a sessions worth of visual recon and reading up/asking around first. I go to a new break. Several times at different swell heights and tides before going out just so that I know where I should be and where I shouldn't. I surf alone and consider this a mandatory precaution even if there are others on the lineup.

[Big H]

I also go out on a bigger board the first couple of times just in case.

[HurdyGurdyManOnAWave]

Got it! Thank you Big H! Yeah, i'm definitely skeptical of rocks and such, anything else to look for?

[Big H]

You look at everything....hazards (rocks, coral, reefs, currents, channels, peaks and at what tidal levels/swells they "work", preferred ways of getting from the parking to the beach, from the beach to out back, how other surfers get in, get out back, set up and ride a break and figure out the reasons why, entry and exit points, both ideal and if things go wrong or you get hung in the current, water temperatures, trends in prevailing winds and wind differences morning to afternoon, presence of river mouths (especially important if you hit a spot during or just after rain fall....really not recommended for river mouth breaks for a variety of reasons), presence of other surfers, presence or absence of a lifeguard facility/tower and how well equipped they are (jet ski, surf rescue board, swimming pontoon, barely awake, etc), nearest human assistance (could be a taxi stand or ice cream seller) and the nearest equipped medical services and how to get there should something happen and you need to sort things while having only half a stress loaded mind to work with, differences of all the above at different tidal levels and swell sizes and times of day...

That's off the top of the head....maybe others can add some additional considerations.

[dtc]

Depth and sharks ...

Anyone on the sand you want to impress

[HurdyGurdyManOnAWave]

I'm guessing rivers mouths are dangerous cause of sharks? or pollution? because i live in los angeles, there is a storm drain every mile on our beaches so pollution is unavoidable. :/

[Big H]

Check and check....

http://www.sdearthtimes.com/et0395/et0395s2.html
http://www.surfscience.com/topics/surfi ... k-attacks/
http://www.surfing-for-girls.com/river-mouths.html
http://www.surfline.com/community/whokn ... fm?id=1157
https://sandiego.surfrider.org/huge-wav ... us-surfing