The ocean is intimidating to new surfers and advanced surfers but Surfers Learn to Manage Fear. Beginners find anxiety and maybe fear are the biggest hindrances to learning. Advanced surfers know fear is a part of the equation.
Laird Hamilton, the famous water man and big wave surfer says if you don’t feel fear, you have not properly assessed the situation. Yet he has ridden waves over 100′. He was the first to ride Teahupoo in Tahiti in the modern era, started tow surfing to ride bigger waves, and is often the only one of his click in Hawaii that will tackle the biggest gnarliest waves.
Learning to Accept Wipe Outs
Every big wave surfer can recall his worst wipe outs. He can recall the close calls when he might of thought it was the end. I can recall the worst wipe out I suffered from the biggest waves I have experienced. Yet, the wipe outs unless injured rarely keep people from going back in. They almost laugh at what happened. I can say underwater backward somersaults are a real experience. Surfers say you can usually hold your breath as long as necessary and we can go through several thresholds of thinking we are out of air before we get another period of time. When asked about how long Laird Hamilton could hold his breath, he said so far long enough.
So what are we afraid of? The ocean is powerful and we realize right away we are a minimum force in the face of wave power. They can throw you down in a way most people never experience unless they play contact sports. Beginners start near shore in small foam waves that have little force and that 5 years olds play with on boogie board. Nothing much to fear.
Beginner Surfers Have Anxiety About Foam Waves
When beginner surfers start riding their first waves, they have so much anxiety about learning that they cannot focus. I teach beginners a sequence for the pop up in dry land. I tell them they will forget everything when they are in the water and will rely on instincts. Their instincts are all wrong. For some reason our brain cannot figure out pop ups and the timing and rhythm for surfing.
I give students a count to go with the pop up sequence steps and ask them to say the count out loud. It is the best way to over ride our instincts. When students say and follow the count, they have success early. The count is paddle, stop (put your hands on the board) push up, back foot (putting a back foot under the butt), stand (lifting the hands off the board), and front foot (moving the other foot to the nose of the board).
Fear Helps You Focus at a Certain Point
Students have to focus. Many people do not have the coordination to learn new physical things. Its a brain/body coordination. Young girl teens are usually the best because they are involved in so many physical activities. Boys are more difficult because they may be more athletic but they want to do things their way.
Soon after students have made a few runs, they forget about getting hurt. As beginners advance to riding bigger foam waves and then riding real waves they are reintroduced to fear as they get worked by real waves. They know they have a limit of how big they can ride at the moment. Now it is time to improve skills and conditioning to gain the confidence to ride bigger waves. Yet fear is still present.
Big wave riders have said they were terrified each time they moved to bigger waves. Fear is part of the experience. Managing fear is part of the process. The adrenaline kick from fear helps surfers focus. What they are doing has their full attention. That is a good thing.
Read Other Posts:
Beginner Surfers Learn on Soft Tops
5 Steps to Improve Surfing Performance
3 Ways to Catch Real Surfing Waves
Training to Ride the Surfing Short Board
Short Board Surfing Techniques
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