Surfing Waves

Hi-

I am here in N. CA, Capitola to be exact. I ride a 9' 2" noserider. been surfing for years, but very inconsisently, and almost exclusively in 2' slow summer waves. I typically can catch most waves, knee paddling way ahead of the wave , no problem. (of course crowd permitting)

Now trying to surf in the winter is completely different, and I am having difficulty making the adjustment. First off, I am such a slow week paddler, I have been starting too far ahead of the wave, and the competition has already caught it , leaving me in the white water.

How do I get the guts to compete with the crowds(not the usual summertime begginners!)? How do I catch waves earlier? Paddle faster? Paddle on my stomach? (I got in the habbit of knee paddling for my back) How do I pop up quicker? I seem to be too slow popping up. (dry land pop ups don't help!)

Needless to say, I was out last week, in head high surf, for a hour, and caught one wave, and that was only cause I was able to hop on the shoulder! kinda embarrassing...HELP PLEASE

TOMBOY

I'm probably speaking for a lot of the experienced surfers here already: practice makes perfect! takes some strength conditioning, but mostly technique; paddling is a skill and an art that takes time to aquire. i started on a 10 or 12'' learners board, and with a board like that, paddling is pretty straightforward and almost easy. Moving down to a 7'3'' or anything shorter or narrower than a longboard, it becomes more crucial to get the technique down.
I'd suggest practicing pop up on land (or in your living room), and in the water of course (flat or non-flat days). The waves are bigger in winter, so another thing is, maybe riding a 9'2'' maybe a bit tougher? I would imagine, with anything head high, a minimal/funboard would be easier to progress on.

You can use the search function of the forum for more specific answer as to how to improve technique- I've asked this question myself, and got a lot of useful help!

The ABSOLUTE best advice that I can give is to Just keep showing up. Practice, give it an honest effort everytime. People can tell you what to do, but you have to know what questions to ask, and the only way to know that is to keep getting out there, and figure out what you know you are not doing right.

It might take you a whole solid season of paddling consistently before you become a strong paddler, it might take you a whole season of paddling out consistently before you can ride 'em every time, but what you are experiencing isn't weakness, it's just how it usually starts.

Surfing is a lot like Golf, it's frustrating to learn.

My Suggestion, take up swimming (forward crawl, similar to paddling), paddle around on your board, practice your pop ups, but most importantly, BEFORE you go in the water and paddle out, watch everyone for a while, watch how soon they start paddling for the wave, watch how they stand up or pop up, watch them, and watch the waves, study them and know what they tend to do, how they tend to break, etc.

I agree with CJ

Although popping up has little to do with strenght its all about technique getting the technique down only comes after practise you can already popup now make the effort to get to your feet as quick as possible. You will bundle it afew times but if you make the effort you will get the reward.

Paddling on the other hand although technique makes it more fluid and effective it does rely on a bit of arm power. (you will realise that after paddling out in winter surf oooooh those long paddle outs ) So i would do some excerisises to build up your paddling power That should take care of your paddle power and fitnes well that combined with going sufing a lot. To get the technique down practise practise and yeah practise

i see a lot of learner surfers resort to splashing the water rather than powering through it. Paddle like you mean it. This limp wristed paddle does no good

surfishlife wrote: The waves are bigger in winter, so another thing is, maybe riding a 9'2'' maybe a bit tougher? I would imagine, with anything head high, a minimal/funboard would be easier to progress on.

I dunno why I said that, that was a lame attempt to provide suggestions. For some reason it's been intuitive to me that while longboards are technically easier to paddle, they are more difficult to surf in big waves because they may be more difficult to manuever for the same reason they are easier to paddle.


Ugh, please ignore my above post. I'm pretty dumb... I'll leave the advice giving to the pros.

surfishlife wrote:Ugh, please ignore my above post. I'm pretty dumb... I'll leave the advice giving to the pros.

cant see anything wrong with that advice, i dont know why everyone raves about planks being the best board to learn on, a minimal is much more practical for most people.

I can surf a 9' in 9ft+ surf!! It just requires some more balls/stupidity

thanks for all the advice...

Poping up is easy in smaller waves, its more about guts, I feel like I am stuck to the board with glue, in the larger waves...any sugestions about how to gain my courage?

Knee padling vs being on your stomach? Are later take offs better in bigger waves? No way could I catch anything with a shorter board...I have tried. I rode a 8'6" pintail , about 6 years ago, but doubt I could catch a wave with it now. I keep hoping I could get into good enough shape to get back to the pintail.

Hard to teach an old girl new tricks....52 year old surfergirl, in terminal aerobic shape. It would also help if I got to surf more than twice a month!.... Thanks again...
tomboy

tomboy wrote:Now trying to surf in the winter is completely different, and I am having difficulty making the adjustment. First off, I am such a slow week paddler, I have been starting too far ahead of the wave, and the competition has already caught it , leaving me in the white water.

How do I get the guts to compete with the crowds(not the usual summertime begginners!)? How do I catch waves earlier? Paddle faster? Paddle on my stomach? (I got in the habbit of knee paddling for my back) How do I pop up quicker? I seem to be too slow popping up. (dry land pop ups don't help!)

I can catch waves on a 9'2 without paddling, if that helps

edit: more like 1 or 2 strokes, but still

tomboy wrote:thanks for all the advice...

Poping up is easy in smaller waves, its more about guts, I feel like I am stuck to the board with glue, in the larger waves...any sugestions about how to gain my courage?

I'd like to think of it as this. I love being out there so much and being a part of the water, the board, the whole picture; I learn to accept the fact that I'll get worked more than once, and that it's part of the experience. Surfing is about getting acquainted with the waves, which for me is very much a personal thing. That's what makes it so great. The courage comes from the love for surfing, which ought to be liberating and pushing you to go out there more and more and learn, rather than inhibiting you.

If you want to take less of a metaphysical approach of looking at it, try thinking of it this way. Certainly, we can look at the end result, i.e. our ability to actually surf the wave. Either we can do it, or we can't. Take your fear out of the equation, because it doesn't belong- surfing takes physical capacity, mind, technique, awareness, patience, and practice (like any other sport). It can be broken down into a series of steps that you have to discover and learn on your own. My guess is that the pros who can surf big waves utilized their skills at one time or another in reading waves, applying their techniques, and learning from their mistakes to get that good.


Just my thoughts