Messy waves

[Richie_T]

Hi, I live about an hour to an hour and a half from the nearest beach, so check the forecast before I go, alot of times the forecast will say its messy, is it worth me travelling to surf on messy waves, and as I'm a beginner am I going to find it difficult or be able to surf on it at all? Cheers

[drowningbitbybit]

If you're a complete beginnner then messy is usually okay. You'll be surfing on the whitewater anyway.

The thing to look at is the period - a long period (>10s) is good, a short period is bad. If its less than, say, 8s then it'll be a complete mess and just whitewater with few 'defined' waves so that probably wont be worth having a go.

[Hang11]

Surfing messy waves requires a really different technique to riding clean waves. Learning to surf in messy waves, if it's not that big will be harder, because your board will be unstable and lose speed very quickly, but it teaches you to turn and seek out the sections with a bit of power, and to keep high on the face and in the pocket the whole time.

I grew up surfing Brighton, probably some of the crappest waves anybody on the planet rides, because any worse, and it wouldn't be rideable. It always amazes me to see how so many people I know from there can paddle out into decent waves and really charge, and I think a lot of that comes from learning how to grovel properly.

[isaluteyou]

I think its all about getting as much experience on every type of surf possible.

Messy surf can be quite fun because if you get a decent ride it sorta makes it even better because of the conditions - if that makes any sense

[Richie_T]

Cheers, I may try and get down to devon tomorrow, the forecast is for messy but like you guys say I suppose its all experience.

[Otter]

Frankly, 90% of waves are "messy." It is the rare occassion when nice, clean sets come in. Ride messy to prepare for superb.