Will surf on reef for the first time.. probably

[BaNZ]

What is going to be of more importance is your ability among a group of more able surfers.
let us know how you go

I've been a total hazard to myself and the others. Kept losing the board completely. Didn't realised how unfit I am, people in shortboard can paddle out faster than me in a long and thick board. Surfed 4 days and still can't catch any waves, I don't even remember when was the last time that this happened. I just can't paddle hard enough to catch anything and if I do, it is a late drop and I loses my balance.

The fins done more damage to me than the reef has. I landed on the fin with my thigh when I tried to pull back on overhead waves and thank god I was wearing thick wetsuit. Saying that my thigh is bulging a bit.

I just can't bring myself to surf white wash. Everything just feels wrong and frustrating. First time wearing hoodie and boots. I think my balance is really affected by it plus the lack of fitness to catch overhead waves. The wave isn't even moving that fast. It's annoying that I know I used to be able to surf in these conditions but now my body can't. Just can't wait until we get under 4 feet waves here..

[jaffa1949]

One thing becomes clear, people who get to surf a lot, get more " match fitness" + their timing and general wave sense is better too.
That is not happening for you!
Add to that having to paddle wetsuit rubber, all adds to a downgrade in ability
Trouble is we remember where we were in skills prior to the time off and we believe that is where we will resume!
WRONG.
This is particularly relevant at your level because there is still no inherent muscle memory, or instinctive skills that you can call on.
Top all this with a crowded busy line up with better surfers with attitude, you were bound to struggle.
Next Time Maybe

[BaNZ]

My thigh is all bruised up today Taking a break today.

Might go back to surf white wash again but this is ridiculous. I definitely can catch green waves but probably not with my useless arms.

Still got 2 more weeks of surfing here. I'm just hoping that my fitness level will return and maybe I can once again enjoy surfing. I just can't believe 6 months hiatus makes such a huge difference. So frustrating!

[waikikikichan]

where is the surf camp or local guy you were suppose to surf with ? The thing about reef breaks is it breaks at a certain spot. Surf with him and have him point out where exactly to sit. I know it sucks being in a wetsuit and your out of shape, but POSITION and TIMING is more important than POWER. Every foot off that spot, it becomes such and such % harder. If you're sitting off to the side of the peak , you might as well be sitting in the players dug out instead of the batters box.

You might say, you don't want to get in others peoples way at the peak. Well again, surf with him and split the peak with him. He goes left and you go right. He'll protect others from coming around your backside.

Your getting hurt going over the falls with the board between your legs ( and getting cut by your fins ). By pulling back you probably in a more worse situation than had you got to your feet. There are however, waves that aren't suppose to ridden. But you said others are surfing there. If they're all shortboarder and your the only long(er) boarder, than that could be it.

I can't say "commit", "man up" or "paddle harder". You either got to go surf and enjoy riding waves or sit on the beach.

[simonsesurveying]

Sounds like you are having a hard time. Surfing is about about having fun. If you are not having fun at the peak surf else where. This time of year in peniche mid week you will find a nice lonely peak try walking north from where you are. Reef/beach there is no difference supers is considerably heavier than lagide. Just enjoy what you are doing and don't put so much pressure on yourself.

[BaNZ]

where is the surf camp or local guy you were suppose to surf with ? The thing about reef breaks is it breaks at a certain spot. Surf with him and have him point out where exactly to sit. I know it sucks being in a wetsuit and your out of shape, but POSITION and TIMING is more important than POWER. Every foot off that spot, it becomes such and such % harder. If you're sitting off to the side of the peak , you might as well be sitting in the players dug out instead of the batters box.

You might say, you don't want to get in others peoples way at the peak. Well again, surf with him and split the peak with him. He goes left and you go right. He'll protect others from coming around your backside.

Your getting hurt going over the falls with the board between your legs ( and getting cut by your fins ). By pulling back you probably in a more worse situation than had you got to your feet. There are however, waves that aren't suppose to ridden. But you said others are surfing there. If they're all shortboarder and your the only long(er) boarder, than that could be it.

I can't say "commit", "man up" or "paddle harder". You either got to go surf and enjoy riding waves or sit on the beach.

I'm not going with the guys because they only go in when it is overhead to double overhead.
I know where exactly to sit to catch the wave. Most people on the break goes left and I don't want to get in other surfers way so I go right. Right is harder to catch as it is less steep but slower. The other surfers I met are actually really nice and encourage me to sit with them. But I just can't duck dive with an epoxy 7"6 board so when big set comes in, I'm really dangerous as I throw my board back and dive under.

I actually had a better day yesterday, the waves were much smaller and I really took my time to pick something I'm comfortable with.

Have attached some photos here http://imgur.com/a/ETTEv As you can see if I sit closer to the peak, then I'll nose dive. If I sit slightly further, then I don't catch the waves. I'm still trying to find the balance. Struggling as I normally surf a 9". The guys tell me to stick with the mini mal and switch to a fibreglass board as they think the conditions are too big for longboard. This was today . Needless to say I didn't even bother getting into the water. Tempted, but I'll conserve my energy for another day.

[BaNZ]

Sounds like you are having a hard time. Surfing is about about having fun. If you are not having fun at the peak surf else where. This time of year in peniche mid week you will find a nice lonely peak try walking north from where you are. Reef/beach there is no difference supers is considerably heavier than lagide. Just enjoy what you are doing and don't put so much pressure on yourself.

Indeed, I'm having a hard time. I think I just need to man up and go for it! Actually I'm unable to surf alone, so I will only go into the water when there are some people in there.

[oldmansurfer]

You need to work at your fitness between surf sessions so you don't have that excuse for not catching waves. Nice looking surf (except for the wetsuit conditions)

[drowningbitbybit]

Indeed, I'm having a hard time. I think I just need to man up and go for it!

We've all been there. I'm there quite often

Looking at the pictures*, it looks like the right is just fading out? Seems like one of those waves where it looks ever so tempting, but then has no oomph to get you moving both before and after you've caught it.
I'd stick with the left, maybe a little further out on the shoulder to compensate for the longer board and so you can paddle over the top of sets without needing to duckdive.

You'll end up missing those that are already taken by someone further inside, but if the crowd is friendly like you say, then they should let you have a couple (possibly with a round of applause when you do get one)



* always hard to tell from pictures. I might be talking nonsense.

[jaffa1949]

I'm not going with the guys because they only go in when it is overhead to double overhead.
I know where exactly to sit to catch the wave. Most people on the break goes left and I don't want to get in other surfers way so I go right. Right is harder to catch as it is less steep but slower. The other surfers I met are actually really nice and encourage me to sit with them. But I just can't duck dive with an epoxy 7"6 board so when big set comes in, I'm really dangerous as I throw my board back and dive under.

I actually had a better day yesterday, the waves were much smaller and I really took my time to pick something I'm comfortable with.

Have attached some photos here http://imgur.com/a/ETTEv As you can see if I sit closer to the peak, then I'll nose dive. If I sit slightly further, then I don't catch the waves. I'm still trying to find the balance. Struggling as I normally surf a 9". The guys tell me to stick with the mini mal and switch to a fibreglass board as they think the conditions are too big for longboard. This was today . Needless to say I didn't even bother getting into the water. Tempted, but I'll conserve my energy for another day.

Let's go through this step by step and it all may seem patronising but you really need to hear a few things.
A 9ft board can be surfed as big as you want to go, a lot of short boarders think big boards can't do big. Wrong. That was another big ask for you to go short, you need to surf a familiar board that you can paddle.
You need to work on your positioning at the take off point and if the other guys are giving you room and encouragement, have go at a good take off.
Timing and positioning are critical.
It is actually a fairly easy wave but not at the level you surf at.
Good positioning takes an amazing amount of work out of paddling.
You still approaching waves like a white water takeoff.
In the sequence of the left you should have been standing by shot 3 but you struggle with the pop up
Lastly you need to get your duck dive/ turtle rolling working, throwing your board is so dangerous and you won't tolerated doing that for very long.
I don't think we even discussed previously.
Can you swim well, or are you depending on your leash to be a saving grace?
I am asking all this as I have been following your posts since day 1 in Taiwan as 冲浪爷爷 for you and there are some things that are not doing as well as I would hope for you!

A video clip , not a Go Pro selfie of your surfing would be a great help
EXTRA EDIT. added after looking at the photos duh on my part.
So i add this.

I had a look at the attached photos, the right is what is classed as gutless, to have any hope you needed to be closer to the peak there is virtually no power to do anything except wobble.
The left you took shows you are still very much trying to take off on wave like it's white water.
Your paddle style has a flip out to the side, pull your hands down along the rails of the board not further out like flapping flippers. Immerse your entire arm so the whole forearm becomes a paddle blade .

[oldmansurfer]

A little safer than tossing your board is to make sure you swim forward to the end of your leash then swim down. This pulls the tail down so the wave won't likely catch it and tow you. The other thing is to paddle out of the lineup then back out. Nothing works if you don't have the cardiovascular conditioning.

[dtc]

I agree with Jaffa. In the last sequence of 4 photos, it really looks like your paddling is letting you down. Not enough speed. Dig deeper, more power. You shouldn't be nose diving/almost on that wave.

Do you feel like you are holding back a bit because you are worried about the size or steepness? Not taking that last stroke?

It happens. If this is you, do this. Tell yourself that you WILL catch the wave, no matter what. Paddle and commit. Just do it, overcoming the second thoughts. After you do it once, it becomes so much easier the second time.

[oldmansurfer]

if it were me on that wave nose diving before I popped up I would think I needed to arch my back more on the takeoff or paddle a little further back on the board so I don't push the nose under water. The place I would want to be is right at the peak but further out so I can get a running start on the wave and paddle up to speed before the wave gets to me and starts to break especially with a long board or my fungun. Actually if I were surfing those waves I would probably want to line up on the opposite side of the peak from the direction I want to go and drop below the peak as it breaks and snap a turn off the top right off the bat. I love cranking a hard bottom turn. The easiest place to takeoff is somewhere around the peak you just need to figure out the timing.

[BaNZ]

Guys! I made great progress today. Well, most probably because I went back to the longboard and that's what I'm most comfortable with. Read through all the suggestions. Managed to surfed overhead waves and not once did I nose dive. Just have issues with paddling as I'm unfit. It is a long way to the lineup, probably around 75 to 100m. In normal conditions, I can swim that far. But each time when I tried my failed turtle roll. I either get pushed back for a good 5-10 meters. Or the wave ends up catching the nose and flips me over. I just can't push it down far enough. I'm also doing it badly because when I roll over, the wave push the board and it hit the top of my head. I read that people normally get hit on their face so they tend to extend their arms. But I'm trying to pull the board down so I'm obviously doing it wrong. Saying that, I'm less of an hazard now but sometimes I still ditch my board when a big wave is coming and only when there is no one behind me. I know I'm a hazard so I went to another break and there was just two of us.

I caught two really good waves today. I kept checking my position while I was on the wave but I wasn't near the lip at all. I was about 4-5 meters away but I rode all the way back to the shore and did some turns on it. Then I had trouble getting out again, used all my energy just getting out.

My paddling is definitely letting me down, because the other guy surfing with me was 41 yrs old and in a shortboard. This was when I just got into the water and was full of energy. I couldn't even catch up to him when we were paddling out and there were no sets coming. When I tried to dug deep, I get tired very fast and need to rest.

Great suggestion and advices, I was a bit depressed and scared to go out today. But I think I made great progress today and it gave me a bit of confidence back.

[oldmansurfer]

to do a turtle roll I keep my elbows over the board and next to my head so that my arms take the hit and not my face. I surf an 8 foot fun gun and regularly surf with another old man surfer guy who surfs a very long longboard. He can get into waves before me (he is really out of shape) and I can get into waves before the shortboarders so he lines up outside of me and me outside of the shortboarders. Great to hear you are more confident about it. I regularly surf without any other surfers nearby and on a typical day I never do a turtle roll. I just paddle around the surf or time my entry into the danger zone (where the waves are breaking) In most situations where other methods of dealing with oncoming broken waves aren't enough I do a half duck dive. I maybe do a turtle roll about once a month also abandon board about the same. When I am way outside I paddle around the surf so I don't need to do anything. Of course I am fairly fit now (much more fit than you anyway) although still overweight You might consider coming out of the water if you are really close to shore and rest and wait for a break in the waves to go back out through the surf. I usually stand on the sand bottom and rest and wait for a break in the waves then paddle out. If waves come in I either dive down and pull the nose of the board down with me with my board on my right side where I hold the board while I wait or if the waves are small enough and the water shallow enough I stand and lean into the waves and hold the board above the wave, however you might not want to do this on a reef bottom.

[dtc]

This might sound strange, but turtle roll and then push the tail up with your foot while under water. Sort of like an upside down duck dive. This will push the nose down. I also find it hard to drag the nose down, especially with a wetsuit you are too bouyant.

But great on your progress. All it takes is one or two waves.

Ps mid 40s guys can be very fit. 30 years of constant surfing builds up a huge fitness base, even if the person looks a bit chubby or whatever. Don't compare yourself

[waikikikichan]

I grab further up on the board right as the spray of the white water gets to me. Roll at the very last moment. ( most beginners roll too early ). I pull the nose/deck to my forehead so the board is already on me. It's also creates a wedge to penetrate the wave like a Spartan Phalanx. I also kick like hell under water to provide forward driving force. Don't just wait for the wave to pass over you. Match your power to it's power.

[BaNZ]

This is me when I try to turtle roll. Just before the white water hits me, I shift up to the nose and grab the rails there. Then I roll over. I'll ask my gf to take some videos of me failing badly later lol. Wave looks small today, I'm so happy. Can't ask for a better Xmas present.

Merry Christmas to you all! Hope we all have a clean glassy day.

[BaNZ]

I'm the one in a longboard and a hat. Crosswind and very crowded. But had fun overall. In the end I was so close to smashing my board on the rocks, I didn't know there were rocks there.

My paddling is a joke I don't seem to be moving forward at all and it seems that I paddle faster when I don't try and sprint for the waves.

I was sitting the furthest out from the line up. I knew I should sit closer with the other min-mals. But every now and again a big sets does come in and I don't want to be endangering the others just in case I don't paddle out in time or fail my turtle roll and loses my board.

[jaffa1949]

BaNZ that video show why your paddling is in effectual.
You don't paddle alongside the rails of the board you do some sort of demented spider flip out paddle and lose all your energy. The amount of spray shows how much energy you are wasting.
Try paddling alongside your rails from the furthest reach to the point where they naturally exit the water, it is like a swimming stroke which you can enhance further by pulling the stroke under your rails slightly.
Your positioning is better but still too far back on the board.
Put your feet together and down on the board when they flip to either side they act as outrigger brakes and unbalance one side, flipping one in the air does the same thing + you have to bring it down before you pop up.
You also are in no man's land in positioning at the break too far out for the smaller one and inside for the bigger ones.
Have a critical look at the difference between what you when you catch a wave successfully and all those other times.
I don't think you dropped in but because you were so far out on the shoulder the other guy could have turned and taken off inside of you well after you had caught the wave.
He wasn't in any of the early part of the ride.
Your surfing is improving ( when you rode the right better than I had expected) , for your own improvement do some swimming when you are not surfing and do some paddle work on flat days get rid of the flipper flapper technique and sick frog leg flopping.
Even experienced surfers don't always succeed with their turtle roll but it improves.

One final point, you are courteous in your thinking but there has to be some consideration of the fact of better surfers being able to be aware and get out of the way when you are riding.