Beginners surfers are intrigued by how they Can Progress to Surf the Short Board. The movies portray experts surfing on short boards and ripping through the waves. It takes time to learn the ropes and progress with skills, physically, and develop the necessary courage.
Surfing is an exciting sport that has millions of addicts all over the world. Both short boarders and long boarders are equally intrigued and love the benefits. It is a connection with the ocean. It is a test of personal capability. It is a test of what someone can learn and the kind of conditioning they can embrace.
Where to Start
Beginners should start with a foam soft top riding foam waves. They learn how to time waves, how to catch them with excellent paddling, when to pop up, and then how to ride to the beach. Surfing is timing and rhythm. Each step is important. Catch the right wave, paddle to get in front of the wave, execute a smooth pop up into the right stance, feel the board with the feet to guide it straight.
A beginner pop up has the surfer paddling, putting their hands on the board in a man’s push up position, pushing and placing one foot flat on the board under the butt. Standing up to release the hands from the board and move the front foot to a stance that is like pushing a tall box with the hands in front.
The advanced pop up is similar but after the push up, the surfer moves both feet to the board at the same time. The hands must be in the air when the feet are moving to position. The finish stance is the same as the beginners.
Progressing to Bigger Foam Waves and Small Real Waves
After the surfer has learned to ride foam waves to the beach they start paddling out to ride bigger foam waves and start looking for small real waves. Small waves often have to be caught at the corners after the wave breaks at the apex and the pocket starts to roll. The surfer paddles into the pocket so that he is aiming at 45 degrees toward the beach so the pocket rolls under the board.
This is good practice for catching a real wave down the face. The beginner pop up is adequate for the small real waves and gently breaking real waves on reefs. If surfing on a sandbar bottom beach, waves might break as close outs, fast and steep. At this point, the surfer wants an advanced pop up.
Moving to Shorter Surf Boards
The surfer can practice the advanced pop up on an 8′ soft top. He learns to pop up fast and smooth. He learns to stick his feet perfectly and be in immediate control of the board. This is preparation for moving to smaller boards. A smaller hard board is going to be more twitchy when the surfer pops up so he has to have a perfect pop up and stick the stance or the board gets out of control.
The surfer should only move down the length of the board in 6″ increments maintaining the width at 21″+ and the thickness at 2 3/4″ plus. This keeps the paddling easier, catching waves easier, and riding easier. The smaller the board gets, the more challenging each of these aspects become. As skills, conditioning, and courage increase, the surfer can keep moving down in 6″ increments. At 6’10”, he has arrived at short boards.
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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