Surfing Waves

So I was trying to catch some waves today, and I noticed that I couldn't do two things successfully:

1) Sitting flat on top of the surfboard perfectly balanced with no assistance from hands (while waiting for some waves)

2) Turning the board back to shore in one quick and easy motion (in order to paddle for an oncoming wave)

I'm 5'8", and I'm trying to learn on my 7'6" funboard. If you guys have some advice, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

chickentendah wrote:1) Sitting flat on top of the surfboard perfectly balanced with no assistance from hands (while waiting for some waves)

Practise.
And positioning. Depends on what board you're on, but you just need to find the sweet spot and then just practise sitting there. I find (on a shortboard) that you need to sit further forward than you'd think so that the tail of the board (where most of the volume is) is holding you up you as it tries to float.
And when you do wobble, minimise your movements - dont throw your arms about trying to regain balance. A wiggle of the hips should be all thats necessary.

chickentendah wrote:2) Turning the board back to shore in one quick and easy motion (in order to paddle for an oncoming wave)

I'm 5'8", and I'm trying to learn on my 7'6" funboard.

The trick is to sink the tail (ie shift your weight backwards) and make the front of the board come out the water. Then it spins round real easy.

Thanks for the advice drowningbitbybit.

How long did it personally take you to find your sweet spot when you were first learning how to surf?

When spinning around, do we need to also "stab" the board into the ocean w/ our arms for more buoyancy?

yup good advice from drowning there. dont worry it will come with time shouldnt take too long to find the sweet spot.


and we all fall off in the lineup every so often

Assuming your position is right you'll be able to spin the board around by circling your feet in the water. Even on a longboard (positioning is just a bit more important).

Cheers!

-doug

surferdude_scarborough wrote:and we all fall off in the lineup every so often

...in my case every surf...