Surfing can’t be passed off as just a sport,people that have put in the time to master the act of catching and riding waves have developed the ability to paddle well and have fine tuned the art of turning and controlling their surfboard.
This is all good stuff!!
Though in reality becoming a surfer means gaining an insight into the ways of the ocean. This does not necessarily mean becoming educated in marine biology and the physical makup of the ocean, but more so in the way waves take shape and break as they reach the surf zone.
Imagine you are a NFL or cricket player. When a ball is shot up high into the air and your up to catch it, there are two things that need to happen, you need to gauge where abouts the ball is going to land and what you neeed to do to get their at the right time to catch it.
Much is the same for catching waves, as soon as a football player spots the ball they are aware that they have small window in order to catch the ball, they have only the ability to catch the ball whilst it is in reach.So when you consider that a ball might travel for 300 feet it might be only 7 feet of which the ball can be physically caught.Stay with me here….catching a wave also only provides a small window of opurtunity when it comes to catching it an making the drop. Try and catch a wave too soon and you can paddle as hard as you can but the wave still doesnt have enough steepness and push for you to catch it, catch it too late and you will generally dig the nose of you board or be knocked off one way or the other.