Surfing mistakes don’t only happen to beginners. Pros have nosedived on takeoff, not accounting for the wave’s slope. Surfers are constantly distracted while riding waves and wipeout, unaware that another wave is sneaking up right behind them, followed by a third behind that one. Beginners have their own set of mistakes that most experienced surfers have learned not to do from spending hours in the sea. Trial and error make one a better surfer. Here are 14 beginner surfing mistakes everyone does.
1. Forgetting Or Deciding Not To Warm Up
Some people think that surfing isn’t a real sport. Nothing is further from the truth. The body needs to be in an above-average condition to surf; one can’t surf if one isn’t physically fit.
All sports, baseball, football, track, and most others require the athlete to warm up first. Warming up gets the blood flowing through the muscles, tendons, and joints you’ll use when paddling and pushing off the board.
More than preparing you physically, warming up gets you in the surfing mindset. You can swim to warm up, jog a little, or do stretching exercises on the beach before you hit the waves with your board and surfboard leash.
2. Using The Wrong Surfboard
If you ride anything other than a longboard when you start surfing, you’ll wish you did. Longboards are the surfboard that beginners should use until they learn how to balance on the board. Longboards have a lot of volume, which means they’re the most buoyant board you can use.
Shortboards are more susceptible to the movement of ocean water. If you use a shortboard, prepare to fall off and get back on a lot. Longboards are used by beginners and by pros because of their buoyancy, but also because they’re easy to navigate on big waves and point breaks. A longboard is between 8 and 12 feet in length and the board of choice for most surfers.
3. Not Keeping An Eye On Your Surroundings
On days where the waves are great to surf, there will likely be a lot of surfers in the water with you, especially during the prime time hours of the day.
Some of the worst accidents that occur in the ocean are when surfers and their boards collide. Surfers run into each other because they don’t pay attention to what’s around them. Sometimes you have to have eyes in the back of your head.
Keep a respectable distance from other surfers, pay attention to the tides and the currents, and you’ll stay safe on the water.
4. Not Staying Aware Of Ocean Conditions
Rip currents were mentioned briefly above. When the waves are breaking, some surfers focus just on paddling and preparing to ride.
They don’t notice until they look at the beach that they’re much further from the shore than they were when they started surfing.
Surfers get caught in rip currents without even being aware of it and put themselves in danger of being pulled far out to sea, making it harder to get back in until they’re spotted by a lifeguard.
Knowing how to swim out of a riptide is key for every surfer. Swim parallel to the beach until you are out of the current, then double back and start swimming closer to the shore but still parallel to it. Double back again until you get out of the current, then swim directly to the shore.
5. Not Remembering To Paddle Out Of The Whitewater
Beginners start surfing the smaller, foamy waves before graduating to the bigger ones. Their efforts at paddling are much greater when they go right through the whitewater to get beyond it.
Paddle wide of whitewater and avoid going through it. Also, determine where the wave lifts the highest just before it breaks, and position your board about 15 to 20 feet beyond the wave break. It is the perfect location for you to push up off your board and ride in the current right to the wave break.
6. Not Becoming The Best Swimmer You Can Be
The closest sport there is to surfing, is swimming. Surfers spend hours in the water, mostly paddling and kicking, some unaware that paddling is almost the same thing as freestyle swimming.
Getting to the wave at just the right time requires speed. If you’re not in condition, you will miss a lot of waves.
Swimming builds up the muscles of your upper body – arms, shoulders, chest, neck, and your core. Virtually all the muscles of your upper body are used to surf, and the better you’re conditioned, the faster and better surfer you will be.
Baseball players are good batters and fielders; they can’t be one without the other. You can’t be a good surfer unless you’re a good swimmer too. Aspire to be a great swimmer. Spend time swimming in a pool as well as the ocean. Practice your freestyle and try to swim faster.
Dolphins and sharks are fast in the water, and humans should remember that to have success in a water sport like surfing and swimming, they need to remember sea creatures and how well they’ve adapted to the ocean.
Swimming well means you can swim out of rip currents and being physically toned means you’ll have much better reflexes too. Remember that being a great swimmer will always make you a great surfer.
7. They Don’t Wear Rash Guards
Rash guards, or “rashies”, are shirts made of nylon and spandex or polyester. Rash guard athletic shirts protect surfers against rashes in the water when your body rubs against your surfboard, especially elbows.
Wetsuits provide protection, but on days when you don’t wear one, your belly is pressed against the surfboard. If the board is overdue for a wax your abdomen will likely get scraped up. Rashies protect all your upper body. You will be glad you wore it, especially when having a busy day at the beach.
Rash guards will also protect you from sunburn. When we’re focused totally on the waves, as we should be, we forget that the ultraviolet rays of the sun are attacking our skin.
8. Neglecting Cardio Exercise
I wrote at the beginning that surfing is a sport, just like any other sport. Anyone who says different has never surfed. You need to be physically fit to surf. Beginners assume all you do is just paddle and learn where to position your board to ride waves. Wave riding is only a tiny part of surfing.
It’s estimated that surfers spend 90% of their time in the ocean paddling and kicking. You’ll regret not being in good shape when you run out of stamina while everyone else keeps going and going. But it doesn’t have to be this way; you can have the same energy level as anyone else if you exercise a little when you’re not surfing.
You can lift weights, but not to increase muscle mass. If you belong to a gym or you have weights at home, focus on your upper body. You don’t have to go all out either.
Perform curl repetitions for your arms, lift the weights over your head for the shoulders, and some bench pressing for your chest.
Aside from weights, pushups, and situps may be all you need to substitute for weights. Ride a bike every day or as often as possible, and swim as much as you can. If you don’t have access to the swimming pool, go to the beach without your board and swim laps parallel to the shore.
Activates like running, bike riding, yoga, and swimming are excellent in building your cardiovascular system. You need to get your heart pumping fast because your heart rate will be high when you surf. Cardio health means natural stamina, not something out of a can or tablet.
There is a direct relation between fitness and energy. Spend a few days a week getting the heart pumping fast, then hit the beach and see how much more fun you’ll have – and how much better a surfer you will be.
9. Dragging Your Surfboard Over Sand Or In The Water
When an experienced surfer spots a beginner dragging the nose or tail of his surfboard along the sand, he may roll his eyes or get angry at how dumb those surfers are acting.
Dragging a surfboard is the opposite of being cool. As it’s dragged, the surfboard is scraping against sand, small stones you can’t see, and wearing down the wax you spent so much time putting on.
Nothing damages a surfboard more than dragging it behind you. Always carry your board under your arm, like textbooks. You can slap rest it on the top of your head. Love your surfboard and remember how much you ride it to waves and how it rides waves so well.
10. Not Taking Surf Lessons
Imagine you are teaching yourself how to play the piano. You may be highly intelligent, and you pick up new concepts quickly. You learn fast and within 6 months you can play chords and heave a good enough ear to play songs you like.
Now imagine that you went to piano lessons to learn instead. At the end of six months, you can read sheet music, understand music dyna=cis, learn to play with syncopation, and can take on bigger challenges, like Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, because you can read music and you leaned proper fingering.
Surfing isn’t like playing the piano. But the process of learning is the same. There are deep complexities involved in surfing, such as their center of gravity, how to ride point breaks, and the current paddling technique. You can be taught how to wipeout safely, how to approach a barrel wave, learning how to pop up correctly, and much more. All of this you might be able to learn on your own, but at a much smaller learning curve.
Surfing lessons can teach you in a month what it would take you 6 months to learn on your own. The greatest surfers took surfing lessons, admitting that they needed to know more. Taking instruction from someone with years of surfing experience is invaluable.
You will learn the proper way to paddle and ride waves, what kind of wetsuit to wear, and most important, how to stay safe in the ocean.
11. Not Having The Correct Posture On The Surfboard
If you have the right stance on the surfboard you will be able to break through a wave successfully. A lot of beginner surfers use the wrong posture and wipeout early.
Most of the weight the surfboard carries is at or near its nose. When you pop up, your left leg should be beyond the center of the board, and your right foot at the center.
Your hips move down, and your legs are bent. Use your arms for balance. When you pop up, move from a flat belly on the board, to standing stance as quickly as you can.
It’s a great idea to practice pushing up off the board in your spare time. You can do it at home, or on the beach.
There are 2 ways to push up – going from flat to standing in one move or taking the 2-step approach. This is when you move from a flat position to having your knees and hands on the board. Your knees are near the board’s center. Next, you move into a complete stance, left foot in front of right, at a slight angle towards the edge of the board.
If your posture is bad, it can be dangerous and will result in falling off the board. Always remain in good posture near the center of the board. The most buoyant area on a longboard is the center of the board.
12. Having Bad Timing When You’re Catching A Wave
Surfing is all about timing, knowing exactly when to pop up and prepare to ride the wave. You mustn’t be too early or too late.
Paddle out towards the wave as soon as you spot the one you want to ride. Maintain your speed and be ready to sprint just before you pop up. Get synchronized with the wave; move as it moves. Understand its behavior.
As soon as you feel it lifting you above the water’s surface, push up off the board with the correct posture described earlier. If you time it right, you’ll enjoy a great ride.
Great timing comes with experience, so don’t worry if you’re out of sync the first few times out. When you know how the wave rises and breaks, you’ll be in the zone. Give it time, you’ll fail until you succeed.
13. Not Wearing A Wetsuit Correctly
Wetsuits are an important part of surfing, especially when the water gets cold. They are made of neoprene, a synthetic rubber. Neoprene is soft and clings to the body. Wetsuits have many layers.
When you enter the cold water in a wetsuit, a small amount of water seeps through to the layer of the wetsuit closest to your body. The water becomes heated to the same temperature as the body and acts as a barrier against the cold. Wetsuits protect you from becoming hypothermic. Hypothermia is a serious condition that can result in loss of consciousness and even death. It is critically important to maintain your body temperature in the water to stay safe.
There is one, and only one, way to wear a wetsuit. Some beginners wear their wetsuits inside out. Others wear them back to front.
It is admittedly a challenge to know which way is the right way since a wetsuit doesn’t come with many guides. The best thing to do is to find the logo of the brand of wetsuit. The brand logo should always be worn in the front of the body.
Tuck in the boots and gloves into the wetsuit instead of keeping them separate. The entire body must be covered in the neoprene contained in all the parts to properly protect your body from hypothermia.
14. Waxing The Surfboard The Wrong Way
A beginner needs to have someone with experience show them how to wax their surfboard the first time.
Never wax both sides of a surfboard. Only the side that your body touches should be waxed. Wax goes only on the top of the surfboard.
Wax should be applied to about 2/3 of the surfboard, and no less. Apply wax also to the rails, or the sides, because your hands will frequently be on the rails between paddling and when you pop up.
Don’t ever surf without waxing your board first, You will get scraped, and get rashes if you don’t wax.
When you buy the wax you’re going to use on the board, ask one of the staff at the shop for the best wax to use for your type of board since there are different types.
Warm water requires thick surfboard wax and thinner in colder temperatures.
There is a lot to learn, and I can’t stress enough that you must have patience with it. Nothing worth anything in life comes easy, and surfing is one of those things. Keep fit, use common sense, and take your time, and you will fall in love with surfing.
Remember, the best way to learn to surf is by relying on someone with surfing experience. Go to a few surfing lessons and gain the wisdom you’ll need for years of pleasures in the ocean.