Surfing Waves

Hey guys and gals,

I've been reading the forum for awhile and I just started to surf a few weeks ago. I always wanted to get into it but circumstances always got in the way, procrastination, etc. The end of this summer, however, I'm going to Costa Rica with my girlfriend, and decided that I wanted to figure out how to do it before I go. I'm 36, and wish I had started sooner, but I'm thrilled that I can enjoy this awesome sport for a long time to come (I hope).

Anyway, I read a ton of stuff on the pop up, and practiced quite a bit beforehand to make sure I had the strength to do it in the water. I took my first lesson a few weeks ago in really choppy conditions, and while it was fun and challenging, the instructor was a kid who told me nothing more than what had read on my own online and in this forum (in his defense it was a really rough day, and I think he was a bit overwhelmed just trying to keep me from getting stuffed by the unpredictable waves). I was able to stand up a few times on the first day, but it wasn't really anything close to riding a wave- more of the standing up too late after the wave has passed, or standing up in the whitewater and then falling off because the wave has died out. Lots of hard wipeouts and pearling too, but all taken with a smile! But even just standing up for that split second was enough to leave me wanting more. So I went for it and bought a funboard from a local shop and just resolved to get out there and figure it out on my own.

The second and third time out were pretty tough- just figuring out the board and trying to figure out the trim and get used to the feel was challenging enough w/ out the waves coming. I kind of just chalked my first few outings up to just trying to get comfortable in the water paddling and sitting out there balancing on the board and moving around (and most of all wanted to have fun). I did my best to stay away from crowds and find my own little waves. My beaches are on the east coast (US)..surprisingly, while these beaches are pretty crowded in the peak of summer, there are lots of jettys up and down the beach which serve to create workable little swells up and down the coast, so each time out I was able to find something pretty nice to surf for a beginner.

Anyway, the third time out I was getting a little overwhelmed. In retrospect, I had no reason to think this would ever come easy, but I'm somewhat obsessive I guess and just wanted to be in control, even though with surfing it is the opposite- you are slave to the wave in the sense that whatever the wave is doing you have to work with it. So being a control freak I had to let go a bit and just try and go with it.

Anyway, during this session I'm watching this older guy surf and pop up (really smooth surfer), and I kept noticing that when he popped up his board didn't move an inch, and his popup just looked effortless. It was just totally stable as if it were on land. So this helped me to step back and think about what I was doing out there instead of just flopping around and getting frustrated. So I remembered the advice given in this forum about how it's easier to pop up when the board is more stable, and the way for this to happen is when the board is moving fast after you catch the wave. So, thinking about that helped, and the way I was popping up before my board was moving all over the place and it just felt impossible, because I was not doing it at the right time, and it actually felt harder than doing it on land.

So, I forced myself to suck it up and use my board as a bodyboard, and just ride a few waves in on my stomach, trying to feel how the board planes through the water on the face of a wave. I think this helped me put things together somehow, because after that I popped up on a wave before it broke and it felt 10 times easier, and just the same way guys in here talk about not knowing how to describe the popup, this felt like the same thing- it just happened, whereas before I was thinking about 10 things at once and could barely get up. BUt this time there were no steps to it, no knee first or anything like that, and it seemed to take very little effort. Man did I race back out to the "lineup" after that, hooting and smiling the whole way! I finally felt that stoke that people so often talk about...just every synapse in the body firing in turbo mode! Then looking out and seeing dolphins out there jumping around with the sun shining- what a sport!

The 4th day (yesterday) I was able to pop up successfully pretty much every time except for the odd stumble or late takeoff. My point in writing this is to just give my thanks to all the people who wrote about their own experiences in here and to encourage others who are in the same boat to stick it out and try to listen to people in this forum- they are really spot on with a lot of the advice. Most of the thoughts I had about catching waves were taken from descriptions on this forum, and they really gave me thoughts and things to focus on while I was out there struggling.

I kept going back to the tip fact that it is much harder to pop up in whitewater, and that popping up on the unbroken wave is much easier than popping up on land, and you don't have to be super strong to do it. And all that was very true for me.

Oh and another thing that really helped me was keeping my knees together on the board for balance. Before, I found myself kind of straddling the board with my knees to help with balance as the waves roll you around. And this might feel like it is helping, but I noticed that when I started to paddle for a wave, if I got my knees in place together on the board, this facilitated a much more synchronized popup and just made the board feel more stable during those split seconds during the takeoff.

Anyway, sorry to have made this so long, but I'm infused with so much positive energy I had to let it out! Can't wait to figure out how to make a bottom turn! Thanks again everyone for contributing, it helped me a ton. Now I'm hooked for life!

WTG Dave Man o man did you make me relive things. It sounds like your on your way to a lot of fun.

Where are you located? I see you say that there are a lot of jettys so your not close to me.

Keep that stoke.

Justloafing,

It's the most fun I can remember having in a really long time.

Closest beach to me is Ocean City, Md..that's where I've been going to learn. A little further up North is Bethany Beach, Indian River Inlet in Delaware, and Cape Henlopen at the Northern tip..pretty long stretch of coastline from MD to DE and can usually find something to work with...and even on the weekends it gets crowded but it's spread out so getting your own waves is not too much of a problem. And there's no bad vibe at all, everyone is pretty cool- lots of beginners and summer tourists/weekend warriors so we're all in the same boat pretty much.


I'd love to check out Hatteras too sometime..maybe this winter when the crowds die down and my skills are improved.

Hey DaveO glad things are working out for you.


I'm about 20mins west of OC.

(I haven't been on the forum since the middle of July, been pretty busy with work.)

Thanks drifting. Man I wish I lived that close..I'd be going in the morning before work! I'm about 2.5 hrs out, so can only get there on weekends. Guess I"m gonna need to move closer now

Personally I think the term "pop up" is misleading. The veteran surfer doesn't pop up, he/she takes off. That is the difference between a veteran and a newb. You mentioned in one of your posts how effortlessly the older surfer seemed to launch into the wave. He didn't "pop up" I bet, it was an effortless take off honed by probably years of practice. Don't think "pop up," think "take off."

Otter,

I agree. When I thought of popping up before, I had images of a more explosive move, but when I saw the good surfers getting up on their boards they didn't look to be straining at all- they just got to their feet in a smooth move. It was quick, but smooth, and more like "getting" up rather than "popping" up. Also when you catch the wave at the right time, it seems like gravity is helping you get to your feet. I remember someone describing the board as "planing," where the front of the board is kind of sticking out from the wave, and the back has "caught" the swell of the wave- it seemed as long as you don't have your weight towards the front/nose of the board (a lot of people stress arching the back right before you catch the wave, which helps keep the weight towards the center), there isn't much you can do to knock the board off balance at this point because the action of the wave curling pushes up on the board to stabilize it, and the speed of the wave once the fins catch stabilizes it laterally..but I guess that's where experience comes in because that part of it seems to be the thing that is all about feel and trial and error (lots of wipeouts for me!). I think it's human nature to back off or panic when you feel the speed of the wave for the first time..a lot of my first attempts were stalls where I tried to stand up but the wave had passed because I feared that drop in and didn't want to pearl again and eat seashells!

But I think if the wave is caught correctly, at that point the legs/feet are being lifted by the water and they have very little weight to them, so when I pushed up from my ribcage my feet kind of just fell into place naturally, and I felt very little strain trying to swing my hips or feet around. This is how I knew whether or not I was doing it right (at least it felt right). Then the action of putting your feet on the board naturally puts a little more weight towards the front foot because you are kind of going downhill anyway, and that gives you the momentum to drop in and ride down the face of the wave ( i kind of pictured it as a skater standing with his board at the top of a half-pipe, and when he puts his front foot on the board he drops in..that's how it felt anyway). In any case when it all came together for me I felt like I won the lottery or something.