3 Ways to Catch Real Surfing Waves

3 Ways to Catch Real Surfing Waves for the person advancing from beginner to intermediate surfing. Catching waves is an art and to professionals it is a science. Competitions are won and lost by reading the ocean and understanding how the waves are breaking. Beginners start with developing wave catching skills.

A surfer spends his surfing career learning how to ride waves better. Surfers have different ambitions. Some want bigger waves. Some want a certain size and a certain type of wave. The goals are often determined by one’s board, age, skills, time in the water, location, and fitness.

The 3 Basic Wave Catching Techniques

Learning to surf real waves is a challenge that requires fitness, techniques, and courage. After riding foam waves as a beginner, one has learned how to time foam waves, pop up, and ride to the beach without falling off. It is time to move forward catching small real waves in the 2′ to 3′ range. Bigger waves will be targeted after learning on smaller waves.

The first method is catching waves down the face. The surfer lets the wave roll under his surfboard. As the tail is lifted towards the lip, he paddles hard three times. Many surfers also kick to increase speed. As the board has caught the wave and is facing down, he executes his pop up. Then he bottom turns into the pocket.

The second method is to catch the wave but first pointing the board towards the pocket. This can be performed if the wave is not too steep and a 3′ wave should not be that steep. This wave is often the reforming of a wave that already broke on the outside and foamed for a while and then reforms when it hits a bottom obstacle. This doesn’t happen with reefs but is common on sand bottom beaches.

The third method is to catch the corners. Waves are often too big or too steep for intermediates. The wave apexes (foam first appears at top) and then begins a pocket to one or in both directions. The surfer has observed how this is happening and paddles parallel to the waves hunting for the corner as waves break. The corner is not as steep and not as fast. He paddles into the pocket at a 45 degree angle to the beach and allows the wave to roll under his board. He then pops up and keeps that angle toward the beach. At this point, the wave is already closer to the beach than when it first apexed (where the foam first comes over the lip).

On different days, an intermediate will utilize all three methods. Advanced surfers are always trying to catch the wave close to the apex because that is where it is steepest, fastest, and most challenging. In competitions they are judged by the take off point. A progressing surfer wants to learn to take off at the apex.

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