I get lots of emails and questions from people learning to surf or wanting to improve their surfing. In today’s blog, I talk through some tips to help you catch great waves and also share a fun video on surfing technique!
I thought this might be a cool way for you guys to get a glimpse into things I work on in my training. Get ready for lots of surf lingo – I’m going to nerd out here!
Whether you can already shred or you hope to one day learn, this can apply to all of you! Let’s dive in.
Top 3 Tips to Improve Your Surfing:
- Find your balance point – Finding your balance point is essential for staying on you board and not nose diving. If it’s hard to balance, then get a bigger board. Lay on your board and experiment with your weight distribution. Scoot closer to the nose and back toward the tail of the board to find the point where the nose is still above the water and you can paddle smoothly.
- Look Where You Want to Go – One of the most common mistakes in surfing is that people look down at their board, feet and at the wave beneath them when they are popping up. (Popping up is the action of going from laying down to standing up on your board). They get freaked out and end up going ‘over the falls’ (falling down the steep part of the wave and wiping out). Going over the falls can be gnarly! People often fall because they are looking down at their feet or board. Where you look, you will go. It is very important that you look in direction you want to go on the wave from the moment you start paddling and especially when your taking off! Have fun!
- Be on the Right Equipment in the Right Conditions – Learning to surf and getting to be decent is no easy feat. The best learners are the ones who are starting on the right equipment in the right conditions. It is best to be a big long board, around 9 feet long, with plenty of volume to float you well and give you enough paddling speed to catch waves! If you’re not catching waves your not having as much fun or improving. And look for small, gentle and uncrowded waves.
Either way surfing is so much fun… but it is very hard so I highly recommend getting lessons from an expert!
Are you guys still with me or do you need to see some examples? Explaining in writing is not easy!
My friends at OMBE Surf created an awesome video where they broke down my technique on a couple waves. They expand upon each of the tips I listed above and use some of my rides as examples.
Check it out!
I hope you enjoyed watching that video as much as I enjoyed riding those waves! haha. I’m super stoked that you guys are so into surfing (best sport EVER!!) and want to improve your skills!
Hope this was helpful!
