When you stand on the shore and watch the other surfers out on the breaks, they make it look so easy. The ease that they display comes with one thing, practice. It takes years of constant practice, surfing all types of breaks, to develop your skills. On this page we will cover some of the basics that will help you get a good start in this wonderful and exciting sport.

Before we get into the technical aspect of learning to surf, there are a couple of points to highlight. Most important is to remember why you became interested in the sport in the first place. Generally it's because riding waves looks like a lot of fun. Of course, there are other facets - the exercise, the creativity and so on - but most importantly, surfing should be fun. Also, there will be times when certain things will seem impossible to master, and this can be made a lot worse when your buddy finds the same task simple. Just remember that it takes time, and everybody learns things at a different rate. If you are having trouble following instructions exactly, don't worry, because these are only guidelines and everybody has their own style. And, as they say, practice makes perfect. So hang in there, don't get discouraged, and above all enjoy it - because that's what it's all about.

Getting a Board

The first step in your Great Adventure is getting hold of a decent board. Here we're casually assuming you are a strong and confident swimmer, because if you're not, don't do anything until you are. The ocean just loves surfers who can't swim. It snatches the board from beneath them and drags them off into its watery depths, chuckling evilly all the while. So make sure you can swim at least 200 yards without sinking. OK. Now is the time for a surfboard. You aren't looking for anything to ultra-hot here. A radical modern missile can come later. Right now you're chasing something second hand and has the following qualities:

FLOTATION		It's hard enough learning to paddle without sinking. Look for plenty of thickness - somewhere between 2 ¾” and 3”.
LENGTH		It will also help stability if the board is between six inches to a foot taller than you are.
CONDITION		It doesn't matter about dings as long as they are repaired cleanly.

A basic single-fin is best, but don't spend years looking for one. A standard three-fin thruster will do as well. A longboard is a wonderful tool for the older learner - very stable and easy to paddle. If you are worried about hard fiberglass, try it first on a soft BZ, Doyle or a bodyboard.

Pick your Surf

Here is your first lesson: wait for the right place at the right time. For your first surf, let's try to get off to a good start in this department. Places that you really don't want to try first time: Incredibly shallow reef breaks Lined-up point breaks Small but heavy shorebreak crunchers What you need is: A nice straight stretch of beach where the bottom slopes gradually into the ocean. A steady swell of around one to three feet, breaking between twenty and forty yards out and rolling smoothly to the sand . Nobody else in the water within twenty yards. This combination will provide you with a comfortable learn-to-surf zone, without the problem of dealing with other, more skillful surfers. See reading the ocean on our Advanced Topics Page to help you tell what to go for and what to avoid.

Paddling, Step by Step

Your first paddling exercises should be in a bay or inlet or some other incredibly flat or still water. Out past the break on a very small day is fine. The first step in getting out into the water is getting to know your board. And here you may find a big surprise. Good paddling, like everything else in surfing, is all about BALANCE. No experienced surfer ever really considers it, but placing your weight correctly over your board while paddling is an absolute fundamental. Make sure your board has plenty of wax or other grip surfacing applied to its deck. Ignore other surfers who may joke with you that putting wax on the bottom of the board will make it go faster. Now walk into the water with your board. Choose a place where the bottom slopes gradually away. Once you're thigh-deep, sit the board on the water next to you. Play with the thing. Roll it around a bit, feel out its dimensions, flip it over a couple of times. Lean on it and feel it resisting your efforts to shove it underwater. Push it away from you and watch how it runs along the surface. Use this to get yourself used to what a surfboard does in water. Now lie on the surfboard, chest down, head toward the nose, rolling on to it from the side. Your weight should be distributed so that the thickest part of your body - the chest and trunk - is resting on the thickest part of the board, usually just forward of half-way. Easy!. If you're blowing this bit, two things might happen; first, the nose may stick wildly up into the air and the board shoot out from under you; second, the nose may sink and the board shoot out between your legs. Do not stress out if this happens a few times. Keep trying until the board sits nicely beneath you without attempting to escape. Try to keep your legs together on the board, but don't freak if they flap over the side. You can fix that later. Now for the simple bit. Paddle! Stroke alternately with either hand as if you were swimming freestyle. Do it very carefully and slowly at first, so you don't hurl yourself off the board. Get the feeling of balancing while moving through the water. Turn by stroking with one hand only, like a rowboat. Practice sitting astride your board by hanging on to the rails near the nose and pulling yourself up. Work on being able to switch from lying to sitting easily and quickly. You may slither around a bit until you get it wired. If undue slithering is occurring, you may need more wax. Make your alternating strokes through the water as long and smooth as you can. For variety, try paddling for quick bursts with both arms digging in at the same time. This is standard procedure for obtaining an extra boost just before taking off on a wave. Basic paddling is simple stuff. You'll find that out after a week or so. Where paddling gets a bit harder is amongst the waves. Here are some things to practice while you're still in quiet water. TURNING This, as you'll probably have figured out from the rowboat-stroking trick, is best done while sitting on the board, not lying down. Two ways, basically: I) Sit on the board in the regulation balance spot and swing your legs in circles underneath you like an eggbeater, rotating the board so it faces in the desired direction. II) Shift your weight rapidly to the tail, sinking it deep, hold on to the rails and pivot the board swiftly, just as if you were twisting your body while swimming. This is pretty advanced stuff and is commonly used by experienced surfers to snatch a wave at the last second. ROLLING Once known as the Eskimo Roll or turning turtle, this is a mystic way of taking your board through the waves. It's also good to know just for recovery purposes. Grab both rails just forward of the thickest part of the board. By twisting you're your body sharply to either side to roll the board beneath the surface, holding the board with its deck facing down. Now roll back upright, twisting your body once again as if you were swimming. If you can't manage the roll-upright first time, just swing yourself out from under the board, flip it over and remount. The Eskimo Roll, or turning turtle is a big deal on longboards, but on shortboards it has been superseded. You will have been able to tell exactly why it has been superseded from the first moment you spent upside down beneath your surfboard with water forcing itself up your nose. A hint: before rolling, take a deep breath. While under, expel the breath slowly through the nose, keeping the old sinus cavity as clear of salt as possible. Simple. DUCKDIVING This is what superseded the Eskimo Roll. It Involves sinking the board with your hands on the front rail and your knee or foot on the tail, and diving underneath the wave. Practice in still water by sinking the nose first, the tail next and bringing the nose out smoothly. A good duckdiver actually uses the power of a wave to help perform this maneuver. Duckdiving is the best way to get under waves that have either already broken or are in the process of breaking. This one takes a lot of practice to get wired, but keep at it - as basic as it is, being able to duckdive well is one of the most valuable skills a surfer can have. Paddling is weird. Almost nothing else you do is anything like it. You're simultaneously pulling through with your arms and shoulders, while holding your arms and upper body steady with neck girdle and back muscles. Swimming is fairly close to it, but doesn't quite match the strain on the back and neck. Weight lifting can't come anywhere near the breadth and fluidity of the paddling motion. So, remember: even if you are super-fit from another sport, paddling will be hard on you at first. You may hurt in strange places where you've never hurt before. This is OK. Don't try too much too quickly, let the stiffness recede before having another go, and your new paddling muscles will get used to it. The most common mistake beginning surfers make is trying to paddle their board from too far back. Place yourself a bit further up on the board and see if it doesn't result in a noticeable increase in speed.

Surf Equipment

At its simplest and purest, surfing is just you, mother nature, your board, and a pair of shorts. But there are other items that are, at times, quite handy and certainly worth knowing about: LEASH Also known as a legrope. Made of polyurethane cord and neoprene- webbing strap. Attaches to plug on deck. Saves swimming for your board. BOARD BAG Comes in anything from toweling to heavy-duty nylon. Important when traveling to protect the board from dings. WAX The ancient and most commonly used form of deck grip. Cheep, handy and melts in the sun. TRACTION DEVICES Stick-on grip patches. Growing more popular as a replacement for wax. Many varieties are available. WAX COMB Scrapes old wax into a sticky, textured coating; removes unnecessary wax. NOSE GUARD Plastic anti-injury device used to cover sharp surfboard noses. DING REPAIR KIT Vital for those horrible moments when your board has an accident. Should contain resin, catalyst, fiberglass, sandpaper, masking tape and a mixing cup. WETSUIT Made from high-tech neoprene and keeps you warm in chilly conditions. Comes in many different shapes and sizes. Necessary in most American waters. SUNBLOCK This stuff is important! Last year more than half a million skin cancers were diagnosed in the USA, and surfers are particularly exposed to the dangers of the sun. And sunburn is not the best way to start a surfing career, anyway. Heavy-duty sunblock is the only way to cover yourself.

The Rules
• HAVE FUN • DON'T PANIC • DON'T GIVE UP

A Few Words About Safety Never surf alone. You don't want crowds, but don't go out of sight of other human beings. Stay near a lifeguard if possible. Always check your equipment before and after surfing. Leashes (if you're wearing one) can get nicks, making them break prematurely. Surfboards can ding, and the resulting sharp edges can cut you badly. Skegs can crack or come loose if you run them up on the sand. Never go surfing until you have checked a break thoroughly (see Reading the Ocean). Don't surf near piers, rocks or other kinds of hard and painful objects until you're a lot better.

Your FIRST Surf

Finding yourself a nice stretch of beach with gentle rollers and no crowds is key to enjoying your first adventures in the surf. It's best to avoid the crowded hot-spots for the time being. The first waves you will catch will be the rolling foamers coming in after the swell itself has broken. Don't worry. They'll be exciting enough. On the way out you should always be facing the ocean with the board next to you or underneath you. It you have it in front of you, the thing will be picked up by a wave and crunched firmly into your face. Use the board to hop over the waves and gain ground. Soon the water will be deep enough to paddle. Watch it. You know how you did all that practice paddling and got really good at it? Well, all of the sudden paddling will become a whole new challenge. You're now dealing with water as a living, moving, breathing substance. Waves will knock you backwards, foam will undermine you. At first this can be pretty exhausting, but eventually your technique will improve and save you a lot of time and energy. DON'T try any duckdives until you've been out a few times and have a feel for it. Catching the wave: This is the part where you will begin to find out just how critical good balance is to good surfing. Watch for a medium-sized line of rolling foam. Once you've picked your wave, turn towards the beach and begin paddling. Ideally you should need four or five strokes before the wave picks you up and hurls you toward the sand. Once you're moving, grasp the rails of your board with both hands, hang on, and dig it. The wave should carry you happily along until it dies out. Two things may prevent this - both of them to do with balance. If you're too far forward on your board, the nose will drive itself deep into the water and leap out from between your legs like a deranged tuna. If you're too far back, your weight will hold the tail of the board down and slow it, so you pass back through the wave, floundering crazily. The perfect position for you to be in is somewhere between the two extremes, so that you maintain a nice comfortable slot within the wave, moving along at roughly the same speed. This speed - the ideal speed for a rider to travel along in relation to the wave - is called TRIM, and is one of the truly epic concepts in the great sports of boardriding, sailing, hang-gliding and flying huge aircraft around the globe. Go back out and keep catching the foamies for a day or so and try moving your body back and forth on the board. This will teach you a great deal about the wonderful world of trim. Spend your first few sessions in the surf bellyboarding in to shore. It might not seem as glamorous as riding on your feet, but you'll learn the basics of surf-riding much quicker - and then when you start standing up all the way, you'll be much better off.

Standing Up

After you feel that you are able to catch a wave, you are ready to stand up. The first thing to do is to find out whether you are goofy footed or regular footed. The best way to find out is to stand on a skateboard or put your surfboard on your bed and stand on it. If it feels more comfortable with your left foot forward, it means you are regular footed. If you are most comfortable with your right foot forward then you're a goofy footer. This matters later for standing up and how comfortable you are going left or right on the wave. Goofy footers will find going left a lot easier in the begining and vice versa for regular footed surfers. The key to getting up on a surfboard is making it one fluid motion from the paddle position to standing. When you catch the wave and your momentum builds, put both hands on the rails, pushing down hard so the board stays in the wave, and to propel you right into a crouched standing position as the board falls away. You should stand with one foot about 2 feet in front of the other, near the middle of the board. Make sure to lean slightly forward while keeping your knees slightly bent. If you lean too far backwards the board will tend to shoot out from under you. Keeping your feet well apart and knees bent will automatically put you in the right position. Your front foot should then push the board down the face of the wave. To turn, lean into the rail and kick your board slightly in the direction you want to go. Holding the same hand as your leading foot out in front of you will aid in balance and control.You should stay in the lower part of the wave's shoulder, frontside (thats facing the wave), and don't try to turn back at first (a cutback). By now there should be a great big smile on your face because now you are SURFING.

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Last Update: February 5th, 2010