Help deciding the best place to surf for my level.

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Help deciding the best place to surf for my level.

Postby Pornstar » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:47 pm

Hello, i live in Mazatlan, Mexico.

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. :P

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 :oops: 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.
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Postby Big Man » Thu Jul 31, 2008 8:21 pm

Forget the stick,stay with the bodyboard :wink:
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Postby Thibb » Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:15 pm

I would say, practice your pop-up at spot three. Once you really get it down, you should be making 80 to 90% of your pop-ups. Then move to beach one, which is also a beginner break and should not be too much harder so you will keep making the pop-ups, and wear summer booties to protect your feet. Does that make sense to anyone else?
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Postby the.ronin » Thu Jul 31, 2008 11:58 pm

Mazatlan is hands down my favorite place in Mexico. Not necessarily to surf but just to visit. I rememember having the best tasting fried fish at one of the palapas maybe midway down the malecon... $1 Pacificos was also nice. We got wasted :lol:

Are these spots along the malecon? I do remember seeing some cars drive by with boards but never saw surfers in the water – then again the surf sucked.

I think you can get a lot out of both #1 and #3. Wear booties. And although #3 sounds like one big close-out fiesta, I wouldn’t discount learning to take off on fast waves. It forces you to launch at a really tight angle which is a good skill to acquire on small fast waves.

So how do you say “sea bouy” in Spanish? :lol:
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Postby garbarrage » Fri Aug 01, 2008 12:19 am

once you are taking off successfully the second one sounds like a great place to build up your paddling strength... something you may be lacking from the bodyboarding....
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Postby hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf » Fri Aug 01, 2008 5:49 am

who needs surf when youre a porn star
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Postby Rodrigo » Fri Aug 01, 2008 10:15 am

hawaiiSUCKS

always wondered about your name - why does it suck ?

interested to hear...
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Postby raekwon chef » Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:03 am

Rodrigo wrote:hawaiiSUCKS

always wondered about your name - why does it suck ?

interested to hear...


Short answer: Traffic, heavy reverse discrimination, graffiti painted by plastic thugs. Did I mention reverse discrimination?

But yeah, the surf is great. Everyday is a good day for surfing.
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Postby pkbum » Fri Aug 01, 2008 12:02 pm

hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf wrote:who needs surf when youre a porn star


amen for sticking it in.
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Postby Pornstar » Fri Aug 01, 2008 11:28 pm

hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf wrote:who needs surf when youre a porn star


I tought it would be as easy to ride a board, as it is to ride a broad. :p

Well i have discover the art of getting into the lineup on No. 2.

So i guess I´ll have to be patent and to learn in the few waves the good guys let me.

Thanks guys.
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Postby Ged » Sat Aug 02, 2008 10:02 am

Those thorny sea urcins are horrible. How sharp is the reef itself?
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