Beginner Surfer Mistakes on Catching Real Waves

beginner surfer mistakes catching real waves

Many beginners attempt to catch real waves without adequate knowledge and so there are Beginner Mistakes on Catching Real Waves. Many times I coach intermediates that are having difficulties and that is because they have not learned the basics beginners need to learn.

Before progressing to real waves, surfers should be able to pop up and ride straight to the beach on a foam wave. If surfers fall off the board it indicates their pop up and stance are faulty. This is a problem beginners and intermediates often have.

Having the Correct Pop Up

The pop up has to land the surfer square on the board with hips and shoulders square to the front. I call it pushing the box. Imagine a tall box in front of you and you have to push it ten feet. Your feet are apart and your hands are in front of your body on the box as you push. This is the stance for surfing other than you need to be upright with weight equal on front and back leg.

In catching real waves, most beginners want to chase the wave from behind. They imagine catching it and paddling out in front. The problem is they will miss the wave or go over the top and straight down. The surfer has to let the wave instead, roll under the board from the back. As the wave lifts the tail, the surfer then paddles hard three times to get down the face before popping up.

Recognizing the Right Waves

Beginners may not recognize rideable waves. In a reef break the waves are usually rideable. In a sand bar bottom waves can be closing out or walled off so that they are hard to catch and ride. Observe whether there are other surfers out and whether they are riding waves.

The close out is a quick breaking wave. The surfer often has to catch it and then point the nose toward the pocket before popping up. This may avoid the quick falling lip and give him a short ride before the whole wave closes out.

Waves only arc for a few seconds so the surfer must be in position. Notice where the waves are breaking. Then patrol the area by paddling parallel to that area waiting for a wave to form. As it is forming decide whether to paddle out a little, parallel, or in further. Slide into position and point towards the beach or toward the pocket. As the wave rolls under the board, paddle and execute a pop up.

The reason many beginners don’t like to be in front of the wave is that if the timing is wrong, the wave breaks on top of the surfer. This is the timing difficulty of catching real waves that has to be learned. Surfers spend their whole career trying to improve their wave catching ability. Pros say that catching the wave is everything and that everything else is routine.

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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