Surfing Waves

ive been surfing for awhile, but looking at how rarely i actually catch unbroken waves, you wouldn't be able to tell.

i've been surfing on and off for about 2 years (by on and off, i mean, EVERYDAY whenever i have time off from school, which is about for a few days every 3 months, or in the case of winter break, 2 weeks). and when i'm away from the water, i stay in pretty good shape by swimming (40 laps at least once a week, when i have more time about 3 times a week, and running/cycling in between.)

now i consider myself a pretty active person. i've always worked out and stayed in shape, and i have pretty strong upper body strength. so why is it that people who seem out of shape, and are riding shorter boards than me catch waves so much more easily than i do? mind you, i am riding a 7'6", 22.5 wide, and 3 1/8 thick egg shaped board. it cant get much buoyant than that than going 9 foot. ive been tearing apart my technique for quite awhile and cant figure out what i'm doing wrong. as far as everything else in surfing, i'm pretty decent on. that's everything but actually catching the wave. can anyone help? please? is there anything technique wise that might be stalling me? when im popping up could i be back foot heavy and forcing the tail back? im tired of catching a wave every 2-3 sessions. thanks.

First thing that comes to mind, wood be timing the wave right. Only way to remedy that is spend as much time in the water as you can.

Second thought wood be commitment. When you paddle for the wave are you sure your really giving it all you can? Possibly getting spooked due to a previous bad wipe out?

I got beat up pretty bad during a nice hurricane swell we had a few years back. After that I had a hard time catching waves. I was catching maybe 2 out of 10 waves I went for. Then one day my wife was watching me from the beach. When I went back in, she told me I was hesitating every time right before I'd catch the wave. Next time I went out. I found out she was right. I guess I was subconsciously spooked, and never realized it. It was easy to get over after I found out what the problem was.

well, what i was also trying to get at, was how people can turn around at the last minute, take one or two strokes, and then catch the wave so easily? is timing that crucial or are those guys just really really good?

maybe you should speak to surferdude_scarborough... he's a legend at the whole 2 strokes thing!

er dont look at me i dont know how i do it!! i blame my board.

most use i can do is make sure that you choose a wave early and go for long, deep, hard strokes

james

When this happens to me - every time I haven't been surfing for a while!! - I forget about catching unbroken waves, or anything remotely big, and go and spash about in the whitewater.

Find yourself a nice beach break, and paddle for a few broken waves . Forget about getting the pop-up right - sometimes I just bodyboard in - I'm sure it looks hysterical on a 7'2!

Soon you'll be catching these baby waves without thinking about it, so I just keep going out a little further, working up to the big boys! Also serves as a nice little warm-up to stop pulled muscles.

Let us know how its going!

Catching unbroken waves is all about positioning. It easiest on the peak ie the first point where the wave turns critical and starts to break, harder on the shoulder ie any point where the wave is breaking once it begins to peel.

This means paddling into a wave just before (and I mean just) or as it breaks, although on a mellow beachbreak where the wave is spilling you can get away with a later takeover and still make a green face. You will get it wrong sometimes when you are learning and get a proper pounding, backwards over the falls, if you're not then you are probably trying to take waves too early (exceptions are super skinny folks on 10foot criusers who can catch waves v early).

Watch what other surfers are doing. You'll see several things:

They hang around in groups on the outside just beyond where the best peaks are breaking
They don't paddle for every wave by any means
They identify their wave early and are as likely to paddle sideways/diagonally for a good few strokes to get on the peak before turning and taking off.
They miss loads of waves and pull out early.

On a beach break it takes experience to learn which wave will break, where and when as sand banks may not be very defined and so the peaks move around a lot. You can do worse that watching were the best wave of the last set broke and paddling just outside that point as that may well be the best place on the next set (or maybe not . . .)

Unfortunately the best peaks will have the best surfers on them so you may have to settle for second best or hike down the beach a bit if your're not up for competing for waves.

On reef and point setups the take off point is much more predictable, but usually requires much better timing and tend to be v competitive so I would leave until your happy with your surfing.

Generally, don't stress about it too much, just watch other surfers and keep trying, anyone who tells you they found it easy when they were learning is telling porkies!!

Ed McDead wrote: anyone who tells you they found it easy when they were learning is telling porkies!!

Aint that the truth

well i sit out back and see a wave and just paddle my socks off, but im on a longboard so its probably different

don't stress about it, I just got reminded today that I'm still learning how to paddle and position myself for waves...

This arvo the waves were 1ft, except for the rare set of 3 ft waves coming from a slightly different direction. I was waiting out the back for the 3footers (of course), and when a set finally came through, I was a little too close to the break, and a little late, and ended up nosediving, then being swept over the falls then being tangled in my leg rope and getting washed almost all the way in to the beach, trying to get my legs free from the rope...

Anyway, all my mates who were watching had a good laugh, and I learned my lesson about positioning...

So, If you really do want to just paddle once or twice before popping up, make sure you're in the right spot.

if you paddle really early for the wave and go almost as fst as it it shouldnt be a problem.
make sure when your paddling the board isnt moving from side to side. To prevent this put your head up high and keep your nipples off the board, just a tad higher. Observe the locals who know what they are doing, also if you fel like its going to pass you lean forward more to make the board "tip" in.
make sure your board is flat on the water.

I experience the same problem. When I catch the wave I nose dive, when I try to pop up earlier I end up standing up on my board watching the wave infront of the passing, when I paddle hard and wait a little bit then pop up I end up catching white wash!

I catch the most waves the first 2 hours I'm out there...after that my shoulders and arms start to tire & it affects my paddling strenght, so I catch less waves.

you should go closer to the breaking point of the wave, it is timeing, not paddle strength that matters the most, I must say I have basically the same problem, but it is because I freak out when on the top of the wavce ready to take off, because the only cathable waves I have to my access are 5ft plus (hawaiian scale, meaning overhead+ surf) exept if I am luckey the day and get a nice shoulder hight wave, but I am slowly getting used to it, and I am catching more and more waves.