Learn how to surf and you will forever be stoked. Surfing is a sport that just keeps on giving, the more you learn the more enjoyable it becomes.
When it comes to surfing, knowledge is power! That’s why this article is designed to give you an insight into what you can expect when learning and why it’s different from other sports. If your looking for advice on getting started visit our Beginner Surfing Tips page or better yet, if you really want to learn to surf you might want to check out our international surf coaching camps .
Is it Hard to Learn How to Surf ?
If you are trying to surf in waves that are not suitable for beginners or are using a surfboard that is not right for you, you will undoubtedly find learning to surf hard. If you go about it the right way, everything becomes a lot easier, although don’t expect to be a pro over night, surfing takes time, our goal at surf your best is to simplify the process so you learn quicker and easier.
Why is Surfing Challenging to Learn ?
When watching a surfer catch and glide across a wave, well, it looks pretty darn simple.
This is a bit of a misconception, there are actually many parts that make up surfing and some of them are not so obvious to the naked eye.
Like most other sports, surfing is made up of physical skills, these include paddling, popping up to your feet and turning your surfboard.
These skills require a certain level of fitness, agility and coordination that can be achieved with practice, how much depends on how athletic the person.
Where surfing usually catches people off hand is the other skills required that are a little more behind the scenes. I am not referring to any physical skills but instead the mental side of surfing, the ability to read waves.
What is Reading Waves?
Learning how to read waves is a huge part of surfing, often, good skateboarders or snowboarders who you would think would pick up surfing quickly due their experience still have trouble catching waves. This is because they are yet to learn how to read waves.
This is something we focus on a lot in our surf camps and I won’t delve into it to much in this article but here is a very simple run down of what it’s all about.
Waves need to be caught at the perfect stage, every wave breaks differently so that ‘perfect stage’ is different for every wave , bear with me here , so in order to successfully catch a green wave you need to be able to ‘read’ the wave as it is approaching to position yourself perfectly to catch it, this is what surfers refer to as reading waves.
Reading waves is a skill that comes over time and without it successfully catching and dropping into green waves is pretty dam hard.
This is what really separates learning surfing from learning other sports, the ocean is ever changing and having the ability to for see how a wave is going to take shape is just as important as having the skills to ride it. Once you start to figure it out, your wave count will rise and that’s when your surfing will really start to improve.
That’s a bit of an insight into learning to surf, if your ready to learn more check out our Beginner Surfing Tips.