How Beginners Progress Surfing

Instructor are often asked how beginners progress surfing. It is a long road of patient and regular practice. First the surfer learns the fundamentals of catching waves on soft top boards and riding straight to the beach. Then the surfer begins paddling out through waves to bigger foam waves and then small real waves.

If surfers are not able to catch most every wave and ride most waves to the beach, they need help with the fundamentals. Surfing is a series of techniques that must be applied one at a time. First the surfer rolls over on the board properly. Then he times the wave arrival and paddles hard to get in front of the wave. Then he smoothly pops up and rides straight to the beach without effort.

Learning the Surfing Fundamentals

When the surfer can catch and ride waves he has mastered the beginning steps. Any faults in this process requires more lessons, because progress requires the same fundamentals and is more challenging. Waves get bigger, move faster, have more weight, and cause bigger crashes.

The surfer paddles through waves and turns around to catch the next incoming foam wave. He uses judgement in selecting the right wave and leaves a large enough gap to properly turn around and start paddling. After the surfer can ride bigger foam waves, he should start looking for small real waves.

Real waves require different timing than foam waves. A real wave arcs in a few seconds and the surfer has to be in the arc. The wave rolls under the surf board and then the surfer paddles hard three times and puts his hands on the board. By now the pop up should be quick and smooth so as not to upset the board’s balance.

A surfer learns to angle on a wave by catching a real wave and before popping up, turning the nose towards the pocket. This minimizes pearling and gets the surfer ahead of the falling lip. Or a surfer catches real waves in the corners where the wave is smaller. The surfer paddles at a 45 degree angle towards the beach as the pocket rolls under the board and continues at that 45 degree angle in the pocket.

Have fun.

Learn More

For Oceanside Surf Lessons, see the Home Page

See the Post Surf Lessons Begin with Foam Waves

See the Post What You Learn in a 2 Hour Lesson

See the Post How to Progress in Surfing

See My Dry Land and In Water Demo video

See How to Catch a Green/Real Wave video

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