Surfing Waves

Hi everyone new to this forum and first post here. I have been surfing for an year, can take off and trim when i chose the right wave... but still have a problems reading waves. Sometime i can tell when the wave is a left or right or closing out, sometime it´s not really clear for me and don´t know which wave of a set is the good one , especially when is closing out here and there and there´s only a few surfable corners. Please help, thank you! [/list]

wave selection is something that only comes with experience. thus we cant really help you pick which waves are best. close outs are usually pretty obvious though.

have to agree with above - wave knowledge cannot be taught it must be experienced

I respectfully with qualification disagree. I do belive wave selection can be taught but not on a forum. It is something that you have have people teach you in the water but like the others have said it does take time. If you have a buddy that is better at selecting waves watch what he does and ask him why he does what he does this will help you learn faster. I spend a lot of time with my kids teaching them about wave selection. My son is really good at it and my daughter is right around the corner.

I would suggest that you sit on the beach and watch the peak you plan on surfing. If it closes out most of the time, you can expect it to close out most of the time while you are out there. If it breaks with a clean shoulder, you can expect it to break with a clean shoulder while you are out there. Different beaches reaction different to different swells and tides, so there are no set rules about wave selection. It's learned. One of the best ways to learn wave selection is to go out without your board. Try body surfing a few, you'll get a darn good idea about what the proper position on the peak should be, but remember, peaks have a tendency to move inshore or outside depending on the size/strength of the wave.

Keep the stoke!

Thank you all of you guys for the info! I guess I´ll need to spend more time on the water and observe the waves carefully!