To surfers.. please help!?

Question

i am in school right now, & we are researching Oceanography for a project.. & my project is about surfing... here are some questions i need answered....

-what kinds of waves do you look for?

-what makes a great surfing wave?

-how do you approach different waves?

-which part of a wave do you ride?

-what conditions do you aviod?

- what are the dangers of surfing?

.. thats about it!!!

please help!:)

Answer 1

I'm going to try and answer your questions the best that I can.  First, I am not quite sure what you mean by "what kind of waves do you look for?"  I assume you are asking what it is surfers are looking for when they are sitting on the beach staring out into the ocean.  Mostly we are getting an idea of the frequency of surfable waves and also looking for the location that the waves are breaking.  We are also looking for "sets."  Sets are groups of waves.  We like to know how many surfable waves come in before there is a break.  As far as what makes a great surfing wave, that depends on who you ask.  Having surfed the East and West Coasts, I can tell you that surfers in Huntington Beach, CA and surfers in Virginia Beach, VA have different ideas of great waves.  It is all personal preference really.  Right or left break, barrel or no barrel, choppy or glassy, 4 feet or 20 feet, etc.

Approaching waves, atleast for me, is pretty much the same regardless of its size and/or break.  Although larger waves are physically harder to paddle into than smaller waves.  I don't really avoid many conditions.  If there is a lightening storm I stay out of the water, but I have surfed Cape Hatteras during a hurricane.  

There are various dangers of surfing though most of them are negligible.  Getting hit by other surfers or your own board, undertow, riptide, lightening, sharks, etc.

Answer 2

i love surfing

the best waves are 4 feet to 7 feet for beter surers and for beginners i would say 2 feet to 3 feet is the best.

waves are formed by storms from a place that reach the beach and the moon has a play in this to.

it depends were the wave is beaking if it is breaking left you padle right and if the wave is breaking right you paddle left.

the best place to surf is away from the white water and try to keep as far as you can away from it and you will be ok aome times you can turn around and get tubed but thats when the waves have to be big and if you know how.

the days i avoid is when it has been raining for 3-4 days because the sewage is bad and it can heart you and also avoid the days when the water is black or brow or if there is a fishing boat near by because the fish guts the fisher men thorw out into the ocean it attracts sharks and lage fish.

the dangers of surfeing is the most comon is tjhe shark alot of surfers are skared to surf and the most dangerous it the reef it can beat you up and and waves are formed by the reef so if the waves are big then that means the reef is shaolw so watch out where you surf.

Answer 3

Fun question, and you get a survey out of it!

-what kinds of waves do you look for?

Ones that are breaking, first off. ;)  Second: waves that are "peeling" as they break, meaning, waves that break as a wave rather than as a wall.  If the wave breaks in a 100 yard section all at once it is pretty much unsurfable.

-what makes a great surfing wave?

There are no two people who will answer the same on this one.  Wave velocity, size, shape and water conditions are largely a personal preference and the different board shapes and configurations are designed to take advantage of different wave types.  In general- as long as the wave is not "walled" or too small, its all good.  I prefer 6+ foot surf myself, but then that's just me...

-how do you approach different waves?

All of them the same: head on, feet last.  Any other way will get you hurt.

-which part of a wave do you ride?

The face, or front of the wave.  When you surf you are really just sliding downhill, over water.  One note about the "size" or wavelength and frequency of ocean waves: depending on who you ask you will get different measurements for the same wave.  Some surfers tend to measure a wave from the "back" side of the wave, while others measure from the front.  BIG difference.  A 6' back can create a 10'-12' face.

-what conditions do you aviod?

Crowds, pollution (right after the first rain in a long time) and "stupid" surf.  If it looks like a washing machine out there, I stay home.

- what are the dangers of surfing?

Pollution.  More people get sick from bacteria washed into the water after a hard rain than you would imagine.

Drowning.  Too many novices get literally in over their head and need rescue.  Good surfers are by definition excellent swimmers (and they know when it is too dangerous to paddle out).  

Novices in crowds.  There are "rules of the road" for surfing and if you are a new surfer in a crowd, you are likely to hit or get hit once or twice in the process of learning them.

Sharks?  Nope.  There are more lottery winners every year in California than there are shark bites.  Same goes for the rest of the world.