Good preparations for first time surfing?

Question

Ok so in the past few months I've been getting more and more interested in surfing. The main problem currently is that I'm in college that spans through the summer, not to mention, really the only spots where you CAN surf in my area are Victoria and Tofino, BC (I'm on the mainland in Vancouver) so getting over the the island isn't exactly something you do in a day.

All is not lost however, as I have two weeks in September in between quarters to go and if I can make it happen, it would be fantastic.

My question is, to the seasoned surfers here, what would you recommend I do to prepare myself for lessons, as I've never snowboarded, skated, or anything similar before and also, unfortunately I've developed a bit of a beer gut that I'm working on when I can...

Any tips/advice?

Cheers

Answer 1

I love to surf, and I am really happy when other people learn to enjoy surfing, too. Surfing is an ocean sport. before you decide to surf, decide to know and understand the ocean. Learn to be at home with its currents, rips, undertows and sometimes BIG waves. I don't just mean being good at swimming in a pool, the ocean can be very unforgiving. I have seen lots of really good pool swimmers have to get rescued. So it makes sense that the best way to prepare for surfing is by swimming. Of course, you have to swim in a pool at first, because you live far away from the ocean. But, everybody has to start somewhere.

Lessons are usually the best way to start, unless you have lots of pals who surf who can teach you. You have to learn surf etiquette (so the experienced surfers in the line up don't want to drown you), how to paddle and take off on a wave, and how to ride a wave.

I learned how to surf on my own, but that was 42 years ago, and there were a lot fewer people in the water. The line up wasn't crowded, and older guys and my friends spent time being informal instructors. And aside from that, I had spent years before that swimmming, body surfing and body boarding in the ocean. By 13 or 14 I had years of ocean swimming experience. I spent almost all of my teen years, swimming, sailing, surfing, scuba diving and fishing.

Since you are going to be starting out "from scratch" you want to swim, do some upper body workouts (When I went to the gym.... I did lots of dumbell bench presses and seated military presses) and leg/trunk exercises to help you "pop up"; squats and, dead lifts if you use weights and squat thrusts and mountain climbers without.

Be careful of what you read here on line. There are lots of really well meaning young folks who have neat answers about surfing, but at 56, I tend to classify anyone under 25 as a kid. After I found this site, I figured that I could answer a few questions, and spread the 'good news' of surfing. After you learn to swim and master the ocean, get your REAL advice from a surf shop, where industry professionals earn their rent money selling surfboards. However, if they think you are just a 'kook' tourist out to rent a board, you won't necessarily get the best attention.

Work on basic conditioning, and when you get there, really hone your ocean skills by swimming and body surfing. And please uderstand, that in two weeks, you may grasp some of the basics of surfing, but that is really not enough time to really learn how to surf. So, get in condition, work on your water skills and have fun, and maybe next year you will have more time to work on surfing.

By the way, don't worry about the beer gut, mine is Olympic size, and I can still surf.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Honeslty I would probably go swimming in the ocean if you can, the hardest part of surfing is catching waves.  So the more exposed you are to waves the better.

Also if you can get on a board and paddle around in a pool or a lake or something.  Its very important to get used to balancing your stomach on a board while paddling, if the nose of your board is sticking way out of the water you won't ever catch anything.   So just getting to the weight distrobution will help you a bunch.

Have fun!

Answer 3

Hi CP,

John makes some good points in his answer to your question. I thought I might add some more to this though.

Since you have no experience in any board sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding etc, balance may be an issue. There are some easy to-do exercises that can help with this that you can perform over the coming months. Currently there is nothing online that really shows this, however we are building a platform at the moment that will cover this (will not be ready until end of August). If you want to email us we can send through some of the information earlier.

Are you familiar with swiss balls? These are great tools as well, that you can find at any gym. As a surfer your CORE muscles are key for balance, posture and fitness. If you can get these in shape before your surfing you will accelerate a lot quicker in learning.

I would also grab a mates skateboard if you can and have a play with that. You can get the feeling of a moving board underneath you. This wont be exactly like a surfboard however will help.

Swimming, running, weights, stretching and balance will get you into good shape so that you hit the ground running when you start.

Hope that helps mate.

mesurf

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http://www.mesurf.com.au