SURFING LESSON.

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Plain and simple surfing lessons for all those who want to change their life and embark on a voyage of surfing discovery. Read and discover what potential you can unlock in your own surfing ability. By learning to surf, the world becomes seen through a surfers eye. This is a beginners surfing guide to your future.

LEARNING TO SURF.

LESSON 1.

Goofy footer or a natural foot. Left handed people are usually what is called a "goofy foot" surfer.That is with your left foot back at the tail of the board and your right foot forward. Though this is not always the case, many right handed people surf as a goofy footer and visa-versa. It really is what ever you feel most comfortable with. A natural foot surfer would have his right foot at the tail of the board.

To help determine which foot you'd feel more comfortable with practice jumping up placing one foot in front of the other, alongside of your surfboard as it lies on the sand. What feels more natural to you is what will determine what stance you'll take with you in your quest for surfing glory. By doing this a dozen or more times you 'll feel the way that comes easier. Of course don't jump on top of your board, this will cause you to ding or depression your surfboard. Jump along side of it. Be light of foot and aim for a quick one action movement,one foot in front of the other. If you like and have some old carpet or foam, place it on the board and try jumping on your board, however make sure your surfboard is fully supported on the sand.Your back foot should land around 8 to 10 inches from the tail and your front foot near the middle of the board. Remember from the word go, think light, be light. Develop a light approach to your surfing and you you will progress quickly. So many surfers fail in this basic approach, and wonder why they don't seem to get the speed or length of ride others do. The legrope is attatched to your back leg just above the ankle.

LESSON 2. Learning the water. Look at where the waves are breaking the cleanest. From right to left or left to right. As you look from the beach a wave that breaks from right to left is called a right hander, from left to right is called a left hander, no science degree needed here. A wave that breaks all over the place is a mess, a straight a header or dumpy. Chances are 'the mess' is where you'll be paddling out in, to begin learning. Surfers generally are greedy for waves and if you paddle out in amongst the crew and proceed to get in their way you'll be told to please hop out the way, or something a bit stronger in some of limited vocabulary that the lineup contains.
Now I'm assuming you know how to swim, good idea to learn if you don't, but as far as paddling goes swimming muscles and paddling muscles are only slightly related. This is where most surfing beginners fail and either head to the body boarding ranks or armchair sportsman. Paddling is difficult, it will only get easier by practice in the water. So get yourself out there. Remember Lesson 1, stay calm and just feel the surge of the water as you walk out with your hand on the board. While the waves are small and in close to the shore pick your board up and jump over the break. Your hands are holding the surf board in the front half. As you jump over the wave let your feet leave the bottom and put your weight on the front of the board so you glide over the back of the wave. Stand up and keep pushing forward, until you are safely past the impact zone of the shore dump. Okay so now you have a wave that's breaking between you and the beach. If it's dumpy and too shallow there, don't try to surf these, you don't want your board in your face. It's better to wait for a wave that has broken further out and and is a rolling foam of white water as it approaches you.
Your first wave should be a gentle breaking wave that allows you to push yourself off the sand and lets you belly it in to the shore. Remember this is fun, though you may become a bit frustrated, stay cool and cheerful. Don't expect too much but by the first days end you should be lying on your board and paddling a little when the wave catches you and glides you up to the sand on your belly. You should also have had a few trys at getting to your feet. You didn't realise that trying to jump up in one motion was so difficult, did you?

LESSON 3. Now have you done your home work? Thinking about what you have done and what you have achieved so far goes a long way to your improvement. So down to the beach we go. Check out the waves and where it is suitable for you to go surfing. Not in a flagged area now, the clubbies get really angry, and besides all those people get in your way and what you have under your arm can be a weapon of mass destruction if let loose amongst the families. Look for where the waves don't seem to be breaking as much. It might even be an obvious gutter running back out to sea, this is where most surfers will paddle out. Any free ride out the back is more time for riding the waves, and if the surf is big it might be the only place that will let you out.
At this point you probably still wont have a prefence for the direction a wave is breaking, you are probably still on the straight aheaders. No preference is a good thing to hold on to. Many surfers while being competent on their forehand are shocking on their backhand. Forehand is when you are facing the breaking wave as you surf it. Backhand is when you have your back towards the wave. A good surfer shows no preference and is comfortable surfing either way. A right hand breaking wave or 'right hander' has a natural footer facing it, the goofy footer has his or her back to it. It's the opposite for a left hander. Some good surfers can switch stance (switch foot) but for me that's only in my dreams. So surf as many types of waves as you can and waves that break in either direction, most important.
Now learning to surf can take months before you can paddle out to the lineup and stake a small claim on the odd wave that might sneak through on the outside shoulder. So don't be perturbed about your slow progress, just keep practicing lesson 2 until you can feel comfortable paddling into the waves, move out and catch a wave that's about to break, and feel the rush as you belly down the face. If you nose dive the board, then maybe you are lying too far up the board. This is unusual for a beginner. They usually lie too far back on their surboards. Nose diving is usually caused by just being too vertical to the base of the wave. So think about a slight angle as you paddle and take off. Your surfboard is curved up, we call this this the rocker. Some boards have more rocker than others, but that's a bit advanced at this point of time. My point is that your surfboard will fit into the curl of the wave if you angle it a little as you take the drop, making nose diving a rarity. OK before we go to much further lets discuss paddling and getting out the back.

LESSON 4. PADDLING: Paddling is hard for the beginner. As I said earlier your paddling muscles need to develop, and only lots of practice can do this. Because of the beginner surfers lack of paddling strength, they tend to position themselves too far back on the board. Their legs hang too far back without control, weighing down the back part of the board, and their arms are flailing around without any purchase in the water. You must move to a more central position on your surfboard, evening out your weight. By being just a few inches too far back you are pushing way too much water. Your surfboards nose is too high making your arms do to much work and increasing fatigue. Once fatigue gets a hold you are more prone to cop a wave on your head. Or a little white water gets under the nose of your surfboard and rips it out from underneath you.
The idea is to glide through the water. You might be saying that the nose digs in and you slip off the front. This is because you aren't holding your body up from the gut and shoulders. Remember I wrote about "the rocker" in the surfboard, well you too must create a small amount of rocker in your body. So move up your surfboard, keep your legs mostly straight and mostly still, hold your body in a slight curve as if you are a rooster passing the hen house, and with flat or slightly cupped hands stroke purposely one arm at a time towards the oncoming waves. This technique helps distribute the load, it builds up condition in many muscles and minimises fatigue.

LESSON 5. DUCK DIVING: When faced with the oncoming whitewater don't hold yourself back. Get as much speed as you can. A few feet before the wave hits hold onto the rails of your board towards the front, lower your head and push the board under, bend your knee and push with it, gaining further depth. When you are swimming in the surf and you want to go under a wave, you dive deep and and with a purposeful motion to glide yourself through the turbulence. Well the idea of duck diving is the same, only you have a buoyant object in your arms so that's why speed and force are required. Try and stay in control and straight on your board. The board will take you back to the surface. Don't take a rest but keep paddling there may be whole set coming, and usually an extra second is all you need to get through the next wave and make it out the back, where you have earnt the rest. There are going to be plenty of times that the wave will pick you up and send you back towards the shore. You'll gain composure only to be hit again and again. We call this 'getting caught inside'. But never fear, don't get worked up over it and just wait for the waves to lighten up and start paddling again. Sometimes if you are washed down the beach it might be best to head in and walk back up to where you paddled out from, provided you chose the right spot to paddle out in the first instance. Because you are still the beginner you will tire easy, so go sit on the beach for a while and watch other surfers. Duck diving is skill that takes time, by watching other surfers doing it you'll soon pick up the tecnique.

LESSON 6. FIRST REAL WAVE: So finally you have made it out the back and are sitting in the lineup, well maybe to one side of it. First thing to do is have a look back at the beach and pick yourself a marker, a tree usually. This will let you know if there's a rip running and which way you are heading in relation to where the waves are breaking.
Try and sit by straddling your board, it's easy after a few fall offs. just relax into it and control your balance through your legs. After a while your legs will do it themselves. Okay the surf is small and probably a bit mushy. This is the best conditions for the beginner. You see your wave coming, turn the surfboard as you lie back down towards the beach, keep an eye on the wave by looking over your shoulder and paddle. Try to time your paddle so the wave isn't going to break before you or on top of you. You will feel the waves momentum start to pick you up. Paddle hard and fast and leaning forward not back. This is what its all about, remember like in your paddling keep your chest high so you don't nose dive. Head down the face into the trough of the wave let yourself go out in front of the wave, straight ahead is good for now and then do your best to stand and be counted. After several attempts if you succeed getting to your feet, try to stand as soon as you feel the waves surge underneath you and ride standing up into the trough and out the front. Once you feel you have mastered that stand and angle your board along the face and feel the speed. Experiment with turning by putting a little weight on your back foot and lean into the wave. Straighten up and then do it again.

LESSON 7. PROGRESSING: If you are still with us then congratulations, you are ready to wear your boardies with pride and start to work on your image. Image and style go hand in hand in surfing. Remember the three c's , cool, controlled and connected. Most important. Write it on the front of your surfboard so you see it as you are surfing. First off cool, it can help to remember this if you find yourself getting frustrated because you just blew your last three waves, or haven't managed to get one, while others around you are picking them off. Your time will come, move in a little and just take anything, for some reason this can seem to break the spell. Next is controlled. From the start of your surfing you should always analyze your moves and attempt to improve. Don't get caught in a rut of surfing each wave the same way. Build up a repertoire of moves. Watch others and tell yourself if they can do it I can too. Try and always stay in control of your moves. You do this by first knowing a little bit about each manouver. There are a lot of techniques to follow and they will go a long way to enhancing your surfing. The third c is connected. Many surfers make the mistake of two stage turns. They'll start a turn and then have a little break in the middle of it. This usually happens to the surfer who hasn't followed the control 'c'. In their minds they haven't pictured the complete move as one sequence. Not only should a move be a flowing movement but an advanced surfer will have the whole wave as a smooth and flowing sequence. Linking one manouver to the next, controlling and gaining speed as they go. I'm putting the three c's in this beginners tutorial because it is important to develop a good surfing habit from the beginning. You'll progress faster and have a style and basically have a lot more fun, not to mention respect in the line up which means more waves. Good luck surfer, this concludes the beginner surfers tutorial.