Does anyone have any surfing tips?

Question

I am new 2 surfing and i love it but need (relly need) any tips plz!

Answer 1

SMILE =] and have funn

surfing is a hard sport to do but if ur having funn with ya mates it make it worth while. just keep practising and over time you will improved and be able to do tricks

have funn surfing =]

xx

Answer 2

surfing stickers on your car and posters on your wall won't make you any cooler.

Answer 3

There are no RULES for learning how to surf. Go to a good local surf shop and talk to the surfers there. They will give you good advice for what works in the local breaks you will be riding.

Learning to surf is more than just standing up on a surfboard. If you are going to surf, you should be a competent ocean swimmer. Not just good in a pool, but able to swim in the surf, and when the undertow and rips are strong. I have seen lots of good pool swimmers get rescued. Being able to handle yourself in the water is super important. Lots of people ask questions here, about paddling, and duck dives etc. The real problem they have, is that they are either not skilled in water craft, or not strong swimmers (paddlers). Don't forget, your original surfers were true watermen, who surfed, swam, canoed and did deep, free dives.

Once you get that far, I would recommend some surf lessons. Go to a REAL surf shop (not a bathing suit store that sells some surfboards). The folks there will rent you a board if you don't have your own and hook you up with some lessons.  Much more important, is for you to learn surf etiquette. A good instructor will make sure you understand the "rules" so that everybody else in the water doesn't want to kill you before you get good at surfing.

Learn to watch the waves. Unless you are lucky enough to surf one of those breaks were each way after another are exact clones, you have to learn the pick the wave you are going to paddle for. Judge you distance and time to catch it. You have to be alert to who else in the line up might make his or her move, too. You have to paddle, feel the take-off and get up, WITHOUT LOOKING BACK. It's that last second, hestitant, look over the shoulder that screws up lots of newbies. You need to feel the wave, you don't need to see it once you start to paddle.

Don't worry about doing "tricks". I don't even like the word trick when used to describe surfing manuevers. Watch other surfers, and imitate their moves. Don't be afraid to wipe out,  remember, you have learned to be at home in the water. Do what feels good, and comes natural, not what might be the 'fad' of the day. Surfing is the greatest free style sport there is. Stay free.

I have been surfing for 42 years, and I ride both long and short boards, once you learn (properly) you will have fun for life.

Answer 4

First I would recommend getting into shape because surfing uses very specific muscles you may not be using now.

You need to do push-ups and bench presses to build your chest muscles, (pecs), so you can push yourself up to stand.

Next you need to do pull-ups or lat pull-downs to work the muscles along your sides, (lats), that you will use to paddle.

A little running will build your cardio and legs muscles.

Then I would take a couple of lessons to get the basics down.

After that it's just going to take time in the water.

I always recommend that beginners get a longboard, (at least 9' long), as these are the easiest to catch waves with and balance on to stand up.

And finally this site has a great article called 'Learn How to Surf in One Day' that I think is terrific:

http://www.BeachTrading.com

Good luck and have fun!!  :-)

Answer 5

Trick tips:  Here's the basic guide to all the tricks I know, cutback, floater, getting air, 360 on wave, and I think this is just an informal trick but starting out on a wave backwards and riding your board backwards on a longboard.

Cutback- Go down the side of the wave, look for about a 5-10 foot clearance of no breaking and instantly turn your board towards the breaking part of the wave and than turn it the opposite wave just as fast, also, do not try and do this like 3-4 times in a row, you will make the entire wave break and there will be nothing left to surf.  

floater- When you see the wave is closing in on both sides do the first half of the cutback trick and than turn your board towards the way you were going before you turned.  Than while you are at the top of the wave stay there and pump(push your board up and down while standing on it) your way onto the top of the break.  This is my "signature trick"

Getting air- This is one of the simplest things to write down but one of the hardest tricks to perform in surfing.  For aerials you will need to instantly turn your board to the wave when it is just about to curl over (turn towards the curling over part of the wave)and than kind of pump your way over the breaking part, eventually you will learn how to gain enough speed and get some aerials in.

360- pretty simple trick, all you need to do is the same things as the cutback except, get a little more speed and rather than turning in two different directions turn instantly towards the top of the wave and than make that same turn you just did again back to the bottom only going towards the break again... you will learn this one in about a total of 5 hours trying it, it's very simple.

Backwards surfing- Get your longboard turned backwards when the flat bottom side is under you and the fins are on the opposite side of the board.  Paddle this out as hard as you can and try to focus most of your weight towards the center of the board rather than the back.  This is another easy trick that only gets to be a little hard when trying to turn back towards the right way(the most fun part in my opinion).

Now for standing, I probobly should have done this first.

I'll give you the rules first:

1. Never get up on your knees, very bad habit and will make you lose half the wave.

2. Practice popping up, popping up is when you grab both rails of your board and "pop" yourself up without getting on your knees.  This is extremely easy with practice, you can learn it by practicing on the beach.

3. Indo-boards are your friend, an indo-board is a barrel with a board on top, it helps you train balance and become an overall better surfer.

4. When beginning surfing start in the white wash or the white foamy part of the wave.  When you become more experienced paddle onto the regular wave surface and make sure your board is pointing 45 degrees in the direction you want to go down the wave.

5. That's all, there's your surfing tips.