How to Progress in 3 Surf Lessons should be a good start for advanced surfing. Most beginners are intimidated in their first lesson because it is a brand new experience and the surfing waves feel powerful. Regardless of what most have been taught in the dry land lesson, they default to their instincts.
Students learn or are told by their instructor that their instincts are wrong. Surfing is a brand new experience and it is not as intuitive as websites on the internet. Some people, however, get the feel right away and their natural athleticism helps them adapt. Very few people fit in this category.
The Basics of Moving from a First to Third Lesson
In a first lesson, I have given new students a dryland lesson to teach the basics of doing the pop up and the timing of catching a wave and standing up. I give them a count for the sequence and say I want them to say the count out loud in the water as they progress through the sequence. Most students won’t say it out loud at the beginning. They prefer to react to their anxiety and rely on their instincts. They soon learn this is the wrong path.
Once students realize their way is not the best way, they start listening. Students that are skateboarders, snowboarders, or have tried on their own have lots of muscle memory that works against being a good surfer. Once they can settle down and slow down to understand the timing and rhythm of catching a wave and standing up on the surfboard, they progress quickly.
Some students are able to stand up and ride easily to the beach during their first lesson. I have these students paddling out and turning around to catch bigger foam waves. Others need the second lesson. At this point, they have calmed down and don’t have to go through the basics again. They are also fresh at this point. Students in their first lesson are getting progressively more tired as they are getting better.
In the second lesson, the students should be paddling out and turning around to catch waves. At this point they are getting very comfortable in the ocean. They are deciding which waves to paddle through and which waves to turn around and catch. Now they are able to practice on their own after a lesson and enjoy the experience.
The Third Surf Lesson
If the conditions are right, the student should be able to look for real waves in this lesson. Real waves require more courage because the board goes faster and points down hill. There are also brutal crashes with pearling and face plants. The timing is different on a real wave. With a foam wave, the student was letting the wave touch the tail of the board and feeling the push. With a real wave, the surfer paddles ahead before the wave completes its arc and feels a more subtle push of the wave rising behind him.
The surfer by now must have learned to paddle fast or have the power to get in front of the wave. Many kids and adults are too weak to paddle fast enough on the first few hard paddles. Other than going down the face, the surfer also learns to catch the wave at the corners where it is not steep and pearling is not a problem. This is a timing technique that requires spotting the wave forming and paddling toward where the pocket will be.
A third method for catching a real wave if it is not too steep is to paddle to catch it and before popping up, push the nose of the board toward the pocket and then pop up. In this case, the board is less likely to pearl and the board is already headed for the pocket and ahead of the falling lip.
Progress depends on a surfers physical capabilities, ability to learn, courage, and feeling the ocean.
Why not be physically ready to improve learning?
27 Great Exercises for Surfing
Read Other Posts:
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3 Ways to Catch Real Surfing Waves
Training to Ride the Surfing Short Board
Short Board Surfing Techniques
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