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5 surfing tips are tried, true and proven for anyone wanting to surf their best. Wether they be a fledgling beginner or a pro surfer in the making these same surfing tips applied will noticeably increase understanding, confidence and personal performance.
I taught surfing lessons professionally in Hawaii and California, proudly retiring after tweenty years with a unanimous five star rating on Trip Advisor. An even more important accomplishment for me was teaching thousands of people to surf, from two to eighty eight years old with an Astonishing 100% success rate.
Thought Leadership, as much as my students learned from me I learned from my students. I taught beginning, intermediate, advanced and pro level surfing. What I learned is the same mistakes beginner surfers made advanced surfers would make also. Equally, what works best for beginning surfers also works best for seasoned surfers.
Knowledge is power, if you know what you are doing it makes things so much easier. So take it from me Michael Willis (formerly “a beach boy named Magic”) the following 5 surfing tips will enable you to reach your highest potential in surfing with the least amount of effort. or you can learn the hard way,
- Take the extra paddle
A very common mistake surfers of all levels make is not taking the extra paddle. By extra paddle what I’m saying is …. “When you think you’ve caught the wave, paddle one more time before popping up.
One of the most difficult things beginning surfers often struggle with is proper timing when it comes to catching a wave. Many times they will paddle for a wave and attempt to pop up prematurely before actually catching the wave. Taking an extra paddle sets the timing, secures the take off and gives the surfer ample time to pop up relaxed, smooth and easy on the surfboard.
All experienced surfers take an extra paddle to catch waves (unless it’s a rare no paddle takeoff), however the majority of surfers are unaware that they do it. This can lead to trouble especially for some of the best surfers. A perfect example would be a highly skilled surfer from Santa Cruz, California named Jay Moriarity.
Moriarity was an extremely talented and confident surfer, so much so that he decided to take on the notorious Big Waves of Maverick’s just off Pillar Point Harbor slightly North of Half Moon Bay. He certainly had the ability, right mindset and proper surfboard for the challenge.
One day with a huge swell hitting the coast Moriarity found himself in position to catch perhaps the ride of his life when a sizable wave came his way. He turned to go and after taking a couple of strokes prematurely popped to his feet before he fully caught the wave resulting in a horrific wipeout. Had he have taken the extra paddle Moriarity’s wipe out which was photographed and featured on a cover of Surfer magazine could have been avoided.
- Complete your maneuvers
One of best surfing tips to improve your surfing is to work on completing maneuvers. When I was coming up I was told, “In Surfing, If you are not falling you are not advancing.” The idea being, surfers that fall the most are the one’s pushing their boundaries the most.
Once, I took a trip to Maui and was privileged to catch a booming swell at Honolua Bay a world class wave. The locals were amazing surfers who would push their limits by attempting huge “airs” or by doing super radical maneuvers. The surfers that were pushing hardest were the one’s breaking surfboards and getting injured the most. I notice many of them had knee braces from previous injuries.
I came to the conclusion success facilitates growth. When we make our maneuvers we gain valuable understanding of what we are capable of while increasing our confidence and ability at a natural progression rate. Winning Greenbay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi could not have said it better, “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”
- Ride your waves all the way to the shore.
The value of surfing your waves all the way to the shore are numerous. There is no better surfing teacher than the wave itself and no better way to improve your surfing than time spent on the waves. Riding your waves as far as you can vastly improves your wave knowledge and that’s why this is one of my favorite surfing tips to share.
It takes a lot of skill and understanding for a surfer to ride a wave from start to finish. In addition, paddling back out after a long ride builds up your paddling muscles and surfing stamina. The only times you don’t want to ride a wave to completion is if the wave is closed out or the shoreline has rocks sticking up or other possible dangerous hazards. Get in the habit of riding your waves to the beach whenever possible.
- Be yourself
More than what you do it’s how you do it. Every single surfer has a unique style all their own. Your surfing style is a reflection of your inner soul. Surfing is all about freedom of expression your expression.
We can watch, be inspired and learn from surfing greats such as California’s Rob Machado, Hawaii’s John John Florence, 11 x World Surfing Champion Kelly Slater or maybe even a best friend or someone you personally know, but bare in mind each of these surfers have their own way of approaching waves and so should you.
- Stay Stoked
There is truth to the saying, “the best surfer in the world is the one having the most fun”. The more you enjoy something the more you are going to want to do it, especially if it’s beneficial health wise and other ways as surfing is. Above all the surfing tips, I’d say this one packs the most weight for me ….. keep stoked!
Hard to believe but some surfers do loose their stoke for surfing and life. These surfers begin to complain, the waves aren’t good enough, it’s to cold, windy or crowded etc. They come up with infinite reasons why not to go surfing. They forget stoke is more than what we get out of surfing, stoke is what we bring to surfing.
An example of life long stoke was the legendary surfer/shaper the renowned Donald Takayama. In his youth Takayama excelled at surfing. He won many a surfing contest as his ability was top tier. Decades later Takayama now old would still paddle out sometimes without catching a single wave, he just loved being out in the ocean on his surfboard. After all, more important than surfing performances is having a deep connection with the ocean, nature and life, that’s what surfing is really about.
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Happy Surfing my friends!
