Surfing Waves

Catching waves really means catching the right waves, which means you need to "read" what type of wave is coming your way. There are the watery equivalents of fastballs, curveballs, sliders, knuckleballs, sinkers, spitballs and beaners, and it is up to you to choose which ones to go for and which ones to let pass. - John Robison

How do you choose a "good wave?" If you can share an experience or picture, so much the better! I'd also like to hear about "bad waves" we should avoid.



As an intermediate guy who likes to cruise on a longboard, I start by choosing a break that is sheltered from heavy waves most of the time. Bolinas with a sandy bottom and southern exposure is great for me. I usually time my sessions to start on 3-5 foot days and 2 hours before high tide so that the waves are slower and more forgiving for my 60 year old body. In the water I look for crumbly waves that break gently- especially when they reform closer into shore. I can usually catch several rides all the way to the beach which MAKES MY DAY! When paddling, I look for the peak, decide in advance whether I'm going right or left and then totally commit.

I still get faked out by double-ups where two waves meet and their crests come together. The wave looks great and then the turbulence either keeps me from catching it or bucks me off when I try to pop-up. I guess I need contacts...GRRR!

I am not sure if you are talking about a bowling up wave where two peaks come together and it forms an A frame wave that is often hollow and pitches over but if you are then I find I need to be near the peak or exactly at the peak or already riding the wave when I get to the bowl section. Actually I think it is the same wave but it looks like 2 waves from 2 different angles. If you are surfing a sand break then every day may be different. You need to spend some time before you go out checking out the breaks and figuring out where you want to go and how you want to get there and approximate lineups to get you in the area of the waves. Once you get there then you need to figure out more accurate lineups. Learning to read waves is a lifelong pursuit. Where to be and which waves to go on depends on your current skill level and board. If you aren't having fun then it's a clue you are doing it right. I sometimes change my mind on the spur of the moment right around the time I popup to go the other direction based on what I see the wave doing. I actually make lots of decisions right at that moment. Not conscious thinking but reacting to the wave. Before that the wave is a blank canvas.

I noticed that beginners don't like "double ups" since their timing and paddle gets messed up ( and usually they get pitched ). But for the advanced surfer, they like "double ups" because the wave jacks up and has more power. Of course that's at a reef break not dumping beach breaks.

The double-ups at my break usually happen when there is a primary and a secondary swell coming in from different directions at the same time. The first one convinces me to take the wave and second makes me wish I hadn't.

I ride double waves all the time but they double up lengthwise most of the time so you either have to catch the wave in front which is the usual thing or once in a while you can ride the wave behind. On one day when the waves were particularly good and a crowd was out, I took off on the front wave where another surfer had already taken off on the back wave. The other surfers were worried someone had dropped in on someone else but we were really on separate waves. Anyway if it is two swells coming in at different directions it's probably similar to a bowl wave and you need to be at the peak or on the wave already when you get to the double up section

I think it helps to go regularly to one surf spot and get to know it because then you'll have something to compare other breaks to. I usually surf between two channels that show up about 30 to 40 yards apart at my surf spot. I surf the peak that breaks in between them. I have a couple of landmarks on the beach I face up with (either two palm trees right next to each other or a parking lot street light or a beach house) depending on where I see a right shoulder forming or a crowded lineup I want to avoid. I use a horizontal landmark (a concession stand on a pier usually) to figure out the impact zone of the waves so when I paddle back out I have an idea of where I need to be. I've been walking my board out a lot and doing that has really clued me into the changes in the bottom of my break. The other day the waves were small, but had great shape. The depth of the water, though, was much shallower. There was way more sand between those two channels I surf and the bottom felt flatter to me than usual (like a sand bar I guess ). I hadn't encountered that before. The tide, of course, changes everything as well. Anyway, my point is that reading the waves for me is more about reading all the things affecting your surf spot and observing how the waves respond to those changes.

A lot of double ups lately with the on shores....tucked into a solid one the other day when it was otherwise pretty small and insipid....the wave face was still the first wave, so it was not wonky or lumpy and wasn't hard to get into...you could see the second wave catching up to the first just as I was paddling and they joined up when I was up and turned the wave into a good one....this is new to me, just started figuring this out in the last month with the constant onshores (I'm not battling the ruthless crowds on the East coast ATM)...tired of waiting for perfect wave I started riding the short period windswell waves which often double up and....surprise....they were actually good to ride....good times....

oldmansurfer wrote:I sometimes change my mind on the spur of the moment right around the time I popup to go the other direction based on what I see the wave doing.

That's a skill I need to work on! Right now, I can't get the longboard to turn quickly because I'm mostly trimming rather than carving. When changing direction or elevation, the move is S-L-O-W like a bus and I have to think ahead and shift my weight well in advance of when the board actually turns. Most of the time, I like the feel of this but when trying to surf like OMS or land a floater through a section it holds me back. Note to self - practice carving.

I think surfing is all about learning what you can do given the board and the wave and what the wave can do. Some people say Gerry Lopez never paddles for waves that he doesn't catch and while this may be good for crowded lineups on the other hand he is no longer learning what waves he can catch or trying to improve on his wave catching. Each wave that comes in you have to evaluate if the wave looks good and if you are in the right place. I make mistakes with this often but I am still working on those skills. As I learn so will the answers. I am lining up deeper and deeper and sometimes I will lineup so deep the wave will break to the side of me in the direction I want to go. Often this would be a sign to go the other direction but sometimes if I am right on it and get a good drop I will bottom turn around the section and get back onto the wave. This came about as I got confidence in my bottom turn. So what you can do will change and this will affect where you should be taking off or what you should be doing on the wave and which waves to catch. Unless of course you no longer want to learn how to surf and are satisfied staying at your current level.

BoMan wrote:How do you choose a "good wave?" If you can share an experience or picture, so much the better! I'd also like to hear about "bad waves" we should avoid.

The art of reading waves is one of the many beautiful things in surfing. Every surfspot has it's unique characteristics, understanding them gives u the edge for good surfing.

Yesterday I surfed this spot on the east coast of Bali for the very first time. There was some sideshore wind and no crowd. I took a good look before I went in, it was 4ft @ 11s and the wave had a pronounced shape, it was like the letter 'C' or more a hook like '(' coming towards you. Is that a Bowling wave?

Depending on the incoming swell the reef setup would produce different shapes of waves. Often on the right side looking from the beach there was an A-frame with a barreling left and a weak right. Other times there were 2 A-frames on both sides of the bowl, and in those situations I most liked the Right of the right side A-frame, that had a steep wall running into the Left from the left side A-frame. It looked sometimes doable to make it around the left-side A-frame/section..

But sitting there u had to be alert for big closeouts that sometimes happened between the A-frames.

Outside in the water u had to paddle south to keep position against the northly current, but there was a clear marker in the water to focus on.

Reading the incoming waves was crucial to avoid the hammering closeouts. I pulled out of some waves at the last minute to see it ending in brutal closeouts. I had my act together that day, I found and rode all the waves I aimed for: barreling takeoffs to the left, hard drops to the right and nearly made that section, and soft shoulder rides on the right.

The reading of the incoming was helped a lot by studying the waves from the beach first, that gave me an idea of what the waves were doing. Once outside I could recognise the different shapes and sizes coming at me and understood how they would develop. Since there was no crowd I could just focus on the waves and pick the good ones.

oldmansurfer wrote:I think surfing is all about learning what you can do given the board and the wave and what the wave can do. Some people say Gerry Lopez never paddles for waves that he doesn't catch and while this may be good for crowded lineups on the other hand he is no longer learning what waves he can catch or trying to improve on his wave catching.

I was thinking about this very thing the other day awhile back....I was halfway through a sesh and I'd caught every wave that I'd paddled for....I had just let a wave go by that I had chased down but didn't think I could catch so I didn't gun for it, and was thinking while waiting for the next set that was it a successful sesh IF I caught every wave I tried for (and let a number go by) or if I tried to catch the waves that I considered uncatchable or marginal and I managed to catch some of those along with all the ones I should have done......I decided that day that I needed to push harder and try to get into waves I THOUGHT probably wouldn't and allow myself to surprise myself and widen my perceptions RE the range of waves I could make. It's working and I'm making waves I wouldn't have tried for.....sometimes.

To learn to read waves you need to first look at them from the shore, see where the waves are doing what figure out how to get out there then have an approximate lineup to get you to that area. When you get out there you look at the shape of the waves and try to figure out which shape is the one you saw from the shore and get a better lineup, then you try to ride that wave. There was a period of time where the waves were breaking 4 to 6 feet for 3 weeks straight where I live (unfortunately that was a while ago) I saw a tubing out peak that looked awesome in the middle of a bunch of other peaks. I went out to find that peak and found it tried to take off on the shoulder but couldn't get enough speed to get into the wave it was really sucking water up the face, so I went to the peak and tried there and once again it was impossible for me to take off so I went to the deep side of the peak and there I could take off but it would pitch over before I could even start my bottom turn. I caught it twice behind the peak and both times couldn't get into the tube it was just sucking too much water up the face for me. There was a shallow sandbar there you could see the sand stirred up by the wave. I gave up and went to one of the other peaks I had noticed and had some really great rides but didn't get tubed. Anyway that is how I learn to read waves. Mostly it involves looking at the shape of the wave and finding out what it does. Usually waves that are similarly shaped will break similarly if they are the same size. Then you have to see what you can do with waves of that shape and size. hopefully this will constantly change. One other thing to do is to watch what other surfers can do. You may think it's impossible to ride this wave but someone else may have the skills to ride it. In my case described above although there were others out no one was riding that peak I tried to ride but I am pretty sure someone could. If it was when I was younger I would have spent a lot more time trying to ride it and it might take me a couple hours to figure out how to ride it, but in my old age I only allow myself 30 minutes to surf so I need to find some waves to ride

That's it right there....you have to sit at the beach and watch the waves...figure out the "tells" that each of the different shaped waves gives away so that you are able to identify the shape wave that you are looking for as early as possible.

I've been going to spots lately where lefts and rights will roll through the same takeoff area....it is exciting not really knowing what you're going to get and taking one or the other as it arrives with only seconds to mentally prepare " I'm going lefty/I'm going right". Good times

Tudeo wrote:The reading of the incoming was helped a lot by studying the waves from the beach first, that gave me an idea of what the waves were doing. Once outside I could recognise the different shapes and sizes coming at me and understood how they would develop.

Big H wrote:That's it right there....you have to sit at the beach and watch the waves...figure out the "tells" that each of the different shaped waves gives away so that you are able to identify the shape wave that you are looking for as early as possible.

oldmansurfer wrote: One other thing to do is to watch what other surfers can do. You may think it's impossible to ride this wave but someone else may have the skills to ride it.

Great advice from folks I look up to. Think I'll spend more time at the lookout before jumping in the water.

BoMan,
It's exciting to see you are "keeping the stoke!" We're having the best surf in Santa Barbara in 5 years. I can only imagine what the surf has been serving you in NorCal. There probably has even been good surf at gentle Doran Beach.
billie

Sitting on the beach watching the waves in a half meditative state is part of overall surfing experience that is not only essential to sorting out what you need to do in the water, but I love it....I'll go to breaks and watch when I have no intention of surfing....pull over and steal 10 min while running errands, go 15min early to work so I can pull over and just soak it up.....

Surfing is the only sport where the surfer can just go and watch the beach even if it is small and no one is out.
Nobody goes goes and watches an empty tennis court basketball court golf course or football field!

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