Intermediate surfers are catching real waves and soon want to move to short boards. They have to learn to Overcome the Difficulties of Surfing the Short Board. The short board is the goal of many aspiring new surfers.
New surfers have to progress through learning the fundamentals on an easier board like the soft top riding in foam waves. This is not wasted time. This is necessary and will lead to faster progress. Each stage of progress is built on the fundamentals of the last process.
What beginners learn on a soft top is the timing of catching foam waves. They learn how and when to paddle to get in front of the wave. This is important later. They must master the pop up and landing perfectly on the surfboard. This is crucial before advancing. They learn how to ride straight to the beach without falling off.
The short board introduces three major difficulties for advancing surfers. The board is lower in volume (length x width x thickness) so it doesn’t float the surfers body above the surface. This makes paddling more difficult. A surfer not fit for paddling will wear out in twenty minutes. Paddling conditioning requires frequent visits to the water each week and/or some cross training in the gym.
The lower volume of a short board introduces the difficulty of catching waves. The soft top can be pushed by foam waves because of the volume. The smaller the volume, the more power is needed from the arc of the real wave. This means the surfer has to learn the timing and positioning of spotting the wave, getting in position to intercept it, and allowing the wave to roll under the board and lift the tail.
The lower volume board does not have the stability of higher volume boards to pop up and ride. If the pop up and positioning is not perfect, the board will get unstable and hard to control. Watch surfers in the line up and you will see they stick every pop up.
The best way to progress from high volume boards to lower volume boards is slowly. Reduce length just 6″ at a time while maintaining width and thickness of higher volume boards. This will give greater maneuverability while maintaining easier paddling, wave catching, and riding. Keep the width at 21+ inches and the thickness at 2 3/4 + inches.
Learn the three ways to catch a wave. First is straight down the face. Begin with 2′ to 3′ waves just as you did with soft tops. Advance to bigger waves when you have the confidence and courage.
Catch bigger waves at the corners. The wave apexes where the foam first comes over the top. This is where it is steepest and most powerful. You also have to catch it there to get the right of way on the wave. The surfer closest to the apex has the right of way. When catching waves at the corner, watch for surfers already on the wave.
Catch the wave down the face, but before popping up, push the nose toward the pocket. If the waves are not too steep, this gets you into the pocket ahead of the falling lip quicker. Sometimes there are only a few maneuvers possible on sand bar bottoms with close out waves.
Have patience, build strength, learn how to position for real waves, learn how to operate in the line up, learn how to fall, get out when you are tired, look at videos, read books, talk to other surfers about techniques.
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