Surfing Waves

I already know what most people are going to say to this question, that it is just experience but I'll ask anyway.

When the waves get a bit bigger, bigger for me being 5-6ft + I always seem to hesitate when looking down at the big drop in front of me, normally i paddle as hard as i can but I still feel I could do with more speed, (believe me I have watched every single video ever made for paddling tips) but as the wave comes under me and you start to point downwards something in my brain says, 'what, you want to paddle downhill, are you crazy' then I either try pop up too soon or the waves goes right by.
Last night i committed myself more and took a few more paddles facing downhill and making sure the wave has caught the board before popping up and caught me a couple of awesome waves.
But my question is, how do you know when to keep paddling down the face of the wave or abandon as I just think I am going to get caught by the lip and thrown towards the beach.
I Imagine it depends on the kind of waves, ect but is the best thing just to go for it anyway and you'll learn eventually or is there any tips?

I ride a 6.0 37lt swallow tail or a 6.1 31lt squashed tail.

You covered the answer in your second paragraph. You are at the right stage of your surfing journey, the talk is always about committing and a now you will find out the safety you get from committing as opposed to a last minute pull back.
Always match the speed of the wave and go hard and smart at those last extra paddles.

You will be amazed at some of the drop you can manage , way beyond your fear limits.
Feels awesome when you do !

I paddle for waves that I don't catch. When you are learning and improving what waves you can catch and what waves you can't will change so it is a constant learning process until you stop learning or improving. I am all for taking little steps. Do things that are within your comfort zone or only slightly out of it. In your case besides learning paddling for waves you probably also need to learn to position for waves better. If you are in a better position the waves will be easier to catch. Anyway it's all a learning process until you quit learning

With the limited amount of info and no video to review your paddling technique, I’ll just give my best guess-tamations.
1) if you have a problem, go back two steps. So it’s a combination of your weak paddle, improper board and ( maybe ) where on the wave you’re trying to take off. You got a bad domino effect going.
2) paddling “harder” don’t matter. A batter and golfer can just grit his teeth, grip it and rip it, BUT if he doesn’t make contact with the ball it don’t matter. Question: are you holding your breath ? Are you cupping your fingers ?
3) does the take-off problem go away on 3-4 footers ? Only on 6 footers ?
4) what size board did you ride before the 6’0” and 6’1” ?
5) confidence. You got a weak paddle, wrong board, bad timing and not strong knowledge of the waves, which leads to lack of confidence. I wonder if you are only ( can only ) go for the un-wanted “scraps” the other local rippers are passing up. Those might be the double-up jacking close outs you’re getting stuck up in. You might not have the confidence to sit in the pack at the peak where it’s best ( and easier ) to get on.

Taking the drop is my favorite part of the ride. I enjoy falling out of the sky and landing on the bottom of a wave. I love hairy late takeoffs. It wasn't always that way. I worked at it pushing my self a little bit every time I surf. I purposely position myself where I think I will get the latest takeoff I can handle. If waves are bigger and I find myself hesitating, I will stop right there and wait for the next wave. In critical situations you have to commit, hesitation will make you much more likely to fail and the consequences on bigger waves are too great for me to risk. I will bail on waves where it gets too steep for me, this would be where my paddling isn't getting me into the wave as fast as the wave is getting vertical. Usually the wave will break right in front of me when I stop. I still do drops where it's fairly vertical so I am stopping on waves where it will be beyond vertical by the time I popup and get moving. Now I might still attempt and make smaller waves like that but on bigger waves I don't feel my skills are good enough to do that reliably. But it was all small steps in learning for me. Once I became familiar with the waves and my board and I was comfortable in the lineup I moved a yard deeper in the lineup from where I was comfortable. I kept doing this and I still do this. I however have the luxury of often being the only one in the lineup where I surf. you may need to heed the rules of the lineup and go back to the end of the lineup with every wave you miss.

mg100 wrote:When the waves get a bit bigger, bigger for me being 5-6ft + I always seem to hesitate when looking down at the big drop in front of me, normally i paddle as hard as i can but I still feel I could do with more speed,
I ride a 6.0 37lt swallow tail or a 6.1 31lt squashed tail.

You probably wouldn't be looking down at a big drop if you were on a longboard because you'd already be surfing the wave. My first rule of thumb that applies to a surfboard dimension is that the length of your board will determine the difficulty of your takeoff. In other words, the longer your board is the easier your takeoff will be. So you have a couple of ways of dealing with your problem. If bigger waves sketch you out, then get on a longer board to make the takeoff on those waves manageable. The other route is to work through your fear or go back to surfing smaller waves. Good luck.

mg100 wrote:I already know what most people are going to say to this question, that it is just experience but I'll ask anyway.

Yes, experience lets u read the waves better so u know where to be and what to do.
I remember of my learning period sitting in the line-up and looking at the waves seeing nothing of interest, when the guy next me suddenly starts paddling to position himself about 6 meters away to take off on a wave I never saw coming..
If u put in the hours then u will recognise the shape of the right wave in the far distance, u will learn which waves to let go and where to position yourself for the waves that are worth the effort.
Keep looking over your shoulder to see what the wave is doing while ur paddling for it so you can make last moment adjustments or bails.

Thanks a lot for all the helpful replies, most appreciated

waikikikichan to answer a few of your questions:

waikikikichan wrote:2) paddling “harder” don’t matter. A batter and golfer can just grit his teeth, grip it and rip it, BUT if he doesn’t make contact with the ball it don’t matter. Question: are you holding your breath ? Are you cupping your fingers ?

I never thought of my breathing before but I would say I might be holding my breath, i'll pay attention to this when I am out tonight.
Fingers are slightly open.
I try and reach forward as far as I can and use a deep paddle.
Legs together.
elbows high in the return stage
chin down
Last time I was out I tried something new which seemed to help - a video said to roll your body slightly while reaching forward to get a longer reach, (head straight though) and imagine you are trying to wriggle your body forward on the surfboard as you do a few last paddles.
I had a bad neck and injured shoulder before I started surfing so I think it is just strengthening them and surfing as much as possible, which is around 3 times a week or as much as the conditions let me.
Or maybe I know what I should be doing as above but not doing it correctly, I might ask someone to watch me to get an idea.
I have been surfing around 2 maybe 2 1/2 years now and I'm 36.

waikikikichan wrote:3) does the take-off problem go away on 3-4 footers ? Only on 6 footers ?

Yes, and I am guessing it is because the 6ft waves are traveling faster and so your paddling speed is more important, and this is the reason I am high in the lip still paddling downhill.

waikikikichan wrote:4) what size board did you ride before the 6’0” and 6’1” ?

I started on a 9ft longboard, then dropped to a 7'4 minimal, then 6'7 hybrid - I have now the two boards mentioned 6'0 and 6'1,with the longboard still in the garage too.

waikikikichan wrote:5) confidence. You got a weak paddle, wrong board, bad timing and not strong knowledge of the waves, which leads to lack of confidence. I wonder if you are only ( can only ) go for the un-wanted “scraps” the other local rippers are passing up. Those might be the double-up jacking close outs you’re getting stuck up in. You might not have the confidence to sit in the pack at the peak where it’s best ( and easier ) to get on.

,
I dont have a problem with my pop up or bottom turn and just started working on my cut backs so I don't really want to go back to a bigger board (unless the longboard for flatter days) although after getting frustrated with my 31ltr recently taking my 36lt swallow tail out gave me more confidence again.
You are 100% correct about position in the line-up, I do have confidence to at least try get in the middle of the pack but when I do this I almost catch nothing, the local guys who have been surfing forever always catch the waves first and I cannot out paddle them, there is not really a line up at my break, it is everyman for himself, the person to catch the wave closest to the break first wins and people paddle around each other.
Luckily it is not always that busy and there are other brakes I go to if its too crowded in the water.
I am also still learning the ocean too I agree.

I understand there is probably nothing anyone can help with without seeing a video or something.... but it was nice to get your comments so far

In terms of paddling for a wave, you want to gain speed as fast as possible. You get this better through short fast and somewhat shallow strokes more than long deep strokes. It’s like a running sprint start - first few strides are shorter but quicker and it brings you up to speed faster

It’s only a minor thing in the whole scheme of ‘what it takes to catch a wave’ but it can make a difference. Reach forward but only as far as you can without adding time. Pull back as fast as possible to your hips only, and then up. Keep hands close to the board (not wide).

When paddling around or out, certainly slower deeper paddles are more efficient at eating up the distance.

Tudeo wrote:

mg100 wrote:I already know what most people are going to say to this question, that it is just experience but I'll ask anyway.

Yes, experience lets u read the waves better so u know where to be and what to do.
I remember of my learning period sitting in the line-up and looking at the waves seeing nothing of interest, when the guy next me suddenly starts paddling to position himself about 6 meters away to take off on a wave I never saw coming..

THIS the other day....was out and was quite uncrowded (surfed the onshore side of the island).....there were three others on the peak I was on, plenty of waves for everyone. I noticed the woman on the peak only paddled for medium smallish waves that came more from the south.....anyway, I see a perfect one for her bubbling up on the horizon....so I turn and stare at her.....she sits on her board and just looks at me....so I do a widening of my eyes and stick out my chin....she still doesn't move....so I get her stare with mine then turn to look over my shoulder leading her eyes to the wave, doing a side head flick in the direction of the building wave....then I do the wide eyed chicken chin thing and she gets it and hurriedly tried to get into position but was too late by then. I gave her my last look for the day which was a raised eyebrow shoulder shrug. She moved off the peak after the following set where she again went 0-5.

When learning you miss a lot of opportunities to ride a wave, actually every miss is a lesson.. But also you get into waves you wish you hadn't..
I did my first surfing in serious waves in SW-France, and still remember this one time, I was already frustrated of missing many waves but this time I was sure I had a good read on a wave I was sure to catch. When I paddled for the wave, from the corner of my eyes I saw the other surfers frantically paddling out and away. If I wasn't so high on adrenaline this would have caused me some concern, but I was too busy catching my wave. Which I did..
It was a big 1.5oh closing out wall that I took somewhere in the middle and that hit me in the head when I was at the bottom. It also gave me my first serious hold down experience. To make matters worse it was the first wave of a big set.. When I grasped for air from the hold down the next wave hit me, and so on..
When I finally made it to the beach my friends had a good laugh about it and explained me to never catch the close out walls. It took me some time to get over the shock and to get back in the water. Lesson learned.

How about your angle? Do you paddle directly towards land, angled towards the open face or opposite angle of that? I try to adjust according to the type of wave, or where in the wave I take off. But on the podcast mentioned in another new post on this forum, the surfcoach suggests to paddle with a slight angle away from the open face. Im curious of how this works, and gonna try it
tomorrow:-)

Angling toward the breaking part of the wave might help depending on where on the wave you are lined up. I rarely do that.

gsseirik wrote:How about your angle?

Taking off at an angle and riding waves rail to rail from the back helps this longboarder to have fun in bigger surf. I need the greater board volume to catch faster waves but once I'm up it really helps to keep the nose above the water so I'm turning with a 4 foot rail instead of 9 feet.

The angle of paddle for take off is a depends!
Often as I paddle I adjust the angle based on what is happening with the wave and other surfers.
Since I have a good bottom turn I often paddle towards the peak to get a steeper more powerful bottom turn as my starting move. Also cuts off snaking, if there is a competitor ( who is Notdienst their turn) i may fake out a direct paddle into the space he is paddling for. (Set that up though you have to win and make the wave). Alternatively you can give way and say "you go I take the next" good vibe maker. A once only offer.
Back to angles, a down the line angle, can give an answer to a steeper face with then since you are standing with some speed a down the face towards the. Beach straighten followed by a bottom turn to initiate speed.

All the choices are there

Tudeo wrote:When learning you miss a lot of opportunities to ride a wave, actually every miss is a lesson.. But also you get into waves you wish you hadn't..
I did my first surfing in serious waves in SW-France, and still remember this one time, I was already frustrated of missing many waves but this time I was sure I had a good read on a wave I was sure to catch. When I paddled for the wave, from the corner of my eyes I saw the other surfers frantically paddling out and away. If I wasn't so high on adrenaline this would have caused me some concern, but I was too busy catching my wave. Which I did..
It was a big 1.5oh closing out wall that I took somewhere in the middle and that hit me in the head when I was at the bottom. It also gave me my first serious hold down experience. To make matters worse it was the first wave of a big set.. When I grasped for air from the hold down the next wave hit me, and so on..
When I finally made it to the beach my friends had a good laugh about it and explained me to never catch the close out walls. It took me some time to get over the shock and to get back in the water. Lesson learned.

Reading your post so reminds me of me stupidly trying to get my first green wave at Tarnos plage last year, luckily for me I only had two on the head hold downs, lesson learned and I was definitely all shook up after.

Its serious sh*t when you feel these powers for the first time and understand how easy it can go wrong.
Here in Bali I often read about the people who, unlike us, can't tell the story afterwards. This happened just yesterday: http://www.balipost.com/news/2018/02/18 ... ung...html
It's the classic story: tourist not understanding the dangers goes surfing/swimming, gets dragged out in a rip, then hold down by waves.. This time they saw it go wrong and tried to rescue him but were too late. Often they just disappear to have their bodies found by fisherman on the other side of the island.
I would like to see some more serious warnings aimed at tourists of the dangers of the surf here. But bad for business so it's given minimum attention, what I see of it..

Tudeo wrote:I did my first surfing in serious waves in SW-France, and still remember this one time, I was already frustrated of missing many waves but this time I was sure I had a good read on a wave I was sure to catch. When I paddled for the wave, from the corner of my eyes I saw the other surfers frantically paddling out and away. If I wasn't so high on adrenaline this would have caused me some concern, but I was too busy catching my wave. Which I did..
It was a big 1.5oh closing out wall that I took somewhere in the middle and that hit me in the head when I was at the bottom. It also gave me my first serious hold down experience. To make matters worse it was the first wave of a big set.. When I grasped for air from the hold down the next wave hit me, and so on..
When I finally made it to the beach my friends had a good laugh about it and explained me to never catch the close out walls. It took me some time to get over the shock and to get back in the water. Lesson learned.

When I go out in bigger surf, I have a rule I try to stick by. I don't take off on junk. Actually, I try to stick by that rule on all waves, but when I get tired I can get sloppy and forget. I don't mind bigger waves if they're well-shaped. Good waves, in my opinion, are safer. Choppy, wind-blown, closing out, big waves are just plain dangerous in my experience. I try to watch out for slop waves and avoid them. They're not worth your time anyway because they close out or have sections that you can't get around etc. If I get an injury or a hold down on a really nice wave, I can chalk that up to the risks of the sport. Getting an injury on a wave that wasn't worth taking off on in the first place, is really annoying--I judge it as me simply surfing badly.

Wave selection is the art of surfing.

The more different kinds of waves you can ride the more fun you will have surfing