I am new to surfing, but i have been a bodyboarder for over 15 years. So its kind of frustating cause i know all the sweet spots for big waves but i am not currently able to ride them.
I know some breaks within an hour drive where you get somewhat of a long ride on the waves. Also there aint that much of a dropoff at the takeoff and the waves strenght helps me with the popout and with to balance the long rides.
Unfortunately they are too far away to go everyday. So we only go there once a week at the most. The wonder years are gone, now i am married and have to work a lot.
But i can go surfing almost everyday in the city breaks.
So there are mainly 3 spots where i can go to at my level:
1) A begginer break, a long long left reef break the wave is somewhat big now and then but weak so it doesnt provide much of a damage if you fall. Unfortunately the takeoff is exactly over urchin infested reefs. And most of the times it is swallow enough that you can see them as the waves approach.
My last time there i hit a rock with my foot and got a lot of thorns in it.
Lots of all level surfers. Expeirnced ones dont care much for the reef since they have the popup mastered. Begginer ones are just trying to ride the whitewater further left but it doesnt have much strenght so they are called sea buoys.
I catch a lot of waves there but i am too afraid of trying to popup since you can see all the rocks at the break point so if you fall on the popup you are dead meat. So i catch them like a bodyboarder and try to stand up after passing the reefs. LAME
I know! Its very frustrating because there is usually a lot of surfers there and there is a battle after each wave. So when i do win one i usually spoil it by riding it belly down and barely poping up cuase so late in the wave its dificult because the waveit doenst have any strenght i need for pop up or to balance the ride.
2) A very strong beach break where i struggle a lot to get in beacuse of the strong waves and swells and that the waves come very close between one and the other. There are lots of experienced surfers there that love those waves and have no problem paddling out and catching wave after wave.
Good point: The wave strenght allows me to popup and balance for a while as i ride the face of it. Sand bottom.
Bad points: 95% of the time i find myself paddling and get too little ammount of waves. Lots of peopple.
Ex: Yesterday 2 hour super tired session caught only 2 waves.
3) The other one is a very weak beachbrake. I get lots of waves there but since they break all at the same time there aint that much of a ride on them .... just the ride down the face which is usually small and hollow.
This means that i barely have standup time on the waves i get.
Good points: No surfers. Lots of waves.
Bad Points: Eventhough i catch a lot of waves there you dont get much of experience out of them since the ride doesnt last that much.
Sorry for the long post. Please tell me which of these 3 spots you think wouldbe better for me to get the most experience out of them.
