Once you’ve ridden your first clean wave, you’ll never look back!
Taking a Soup Ride (Foamie) Inside
Walk as deep as you can go. You will still be in the soup. Look for a wave that will be big enough, and would have enough power to lift you to the beach. If you have the ideal beginners board the wave will not have to be that big, but you will still need to paddle for the wave. Choose a wave that you would like to take. Turn the nose of the surfboard towards the beach and pull yourself on to the board, so you are lying flat on top of it. Start paddling well before the wave gets to you in order to build up momentum. Push yourself up and get to your feet but stay crouching to keep as low a center of gravity as possible. You should stand with one foot about 2 feet in front of the other, near the middle of the board.
First Outside Waves
Once riding the soup has been mastered, you are ready to move on to catching some waves from the backline. An uncrowded beach break with small rolling waves will be best for this:
1) Paddle to the outside and wait for the ideal wave. Be sure to sit far enough out. If you sit too close inside you will get a set on your head and if you sit to far on the outside you will not be able to catch a wave. Now that you’ve paddled out and ducked under the breaking waves, it’s time to get yourself one.
2) Sit up and straddle your board with your butt just behind the center point of the board. The further back your butt is on the board, the easier it will be to swing the nose left or right. Pick a wave that has not broken and commit yourself to it. Look which way the wave will be breaking.
3) As the wave approaches, turn the nose of your board toward the beach, lie down and start paddling.
Paddle as hard as you can and lean your weight forward. The natural tendency is to lean back to stop the board from nose diving, but that will only slow your momentum down, which will make it more difficult to catch the wave.
4) Look left or right down the wave in the direction you are going. Don’t look down or straight toward the beach, because your board will follow your head. If you look sideways towards the breaking wave you will start angling your board in that direction and you’ll be able to see what is happening further down the line.
Feel the wave lift you and your board. The idea is to get to your feet just as you feel the push of the wave. Lean forward, push yourself up and get to your feet but stay crouching. Angle the board left or right, depending on the direction the wave is breaking. You should now be sliding down into the trough of the wave. Try to stay as high as possible on the wave since the wave will have more power here than in the trough of the wave. The power will allow you to pick up more speed. The more speed you have the easier it is to make the wave.
Ride the wave as far as possible and feel the stoke!
The key is to not be afraid of the bigger waves, but just to go for it!
