Despite being one of the coolest sports you can get involved in, surfing can also be one of the most physically demanding and potentially dangerous for the ill-prepared. Knowing how to surf, what kinds of water to avoid, and other technicalities can play a significant role in your success. One of the undeniable things you should know before surfing is how to swim, as not knowing should keep you out of the water indefinitely.
While such a fundamental principle may sound like a joke initially, your comfort and confidence in raw swimming ability will govern how much effort and time you can sink into learning to surf, primarily because if you lose balance, you will fall into the water. No amount of attached string to the board will keep you afloat, or in any measurable level of safety if you cannot keep your head above the water.
What Things Should You Know Before Surfing?
As with any new activity, there are core fundamental concepts that need to be embraced to expedite your learning process, or allow you to make strides in progress without putting forth excessive effort. This is not to say that cutting corners will happen, but time investment to progress ratios exist for a reason.
How you manage your time, what mental state you need to be in, and how knowledgeable you are about the ocean itself, and the animals within, can all be contributing factors in you becoming a truly competent surfer, or another person who can stand on their board for a few seconds before making a nice splash.
1. Remain Calm
At the beach or any open water location, there are usually plenty of people about, talking, yelling, and various activities to observe, as well as distractions. However, keeping a level head will allow you to assess your surroundings, gauge how you need to navigate each wave, and position yourself for upcoming challenges, never mind making note of other potential surfers or hazards that might be just beneath the surface.
A calm mind will also allow you to keep yourself focused on the task at hand, which will initially be maintaining your balance on even waters, and gradually progress into steering, micromanaging movements you need to make, and making quick observations about how you intend to navigate.
2. Know Your Limitations
Everyone would love to believe they are the hero of their own story, with undaunting will, unwavering focus, and an unyielding amount of determination to overcome anything the world can throw at them. However, while this is a charming notion, truly investing yourself in such a mentality can be very dangerous, if not outright deadly.
Feeling yourself become more fatigued or overestimating your swimming ability can have extreme consequences in the long run. It is best to listen to your body and your gut and navigate your situations accordingly, with complete honesty with yourself and those around you.
Peer pressure isn’t something that exists only in a school-based setting; plenty of people have fallen prey to trying to overdo things because they want to impress their friends or make a name for themselves. Unfortunately enough, high risk does not always mean high reward; typically, it means the complete opposite. So, take your time and be mindful of what you are capable of.
3. Follow Surf Etiquette and Follow the Rules
As with any sport, there are specific rules and guidelines that everyone is expected to follow. Some may be out of tradition for the sport itself, whilst others have become second nature due to safety reasons. Regardless of which came first, the old mantra of “When in Rome” fits quite nicely here.
While we won’t dive into every individual rule, one of the most common ones would be respecting others’ time and safety. Avoid “bailing,” which is essentially jumping off your board, as it can then fly off and hit someone, either directly or their board, causing them to fall, or even worse, causing a chain reaction, respecting wave priority, and once again, knowing your limitations.
Allowing yourself to be a student forever has its unique advantages. It fits nicely into surf etiquette as well, primarily because everyone starts as a beginner. Most people have no issue with teaching newbies the ropes, especially if shown appropriate respect, and are willing to listen to the words they say.
4. Read Surf Reports (Wave Conditions)
In much the same way, someone might watch the weather channel for updates on what to expect for today’s weather. Surf reports function similarly, but instead give you details regarding how the waves of an area will likely behave, with things like their heights, directions, and specific overlays between wind and more. It is pivotal to review these before hitting open waters, as it can be dangerous otherwise.
It would be unfair to say you will never reach a point where you can tell at a glance how waves are behaving, and have a native “feel” for what you might expect, but this is truly veteran knowledge that takes years, if not decades to speak towards with confidence, even then, sparing a few moments to glance at surf reports will not hurt you, and as such the few seconds you invest is well worth it in the long run.
5. Practice Your Ability to Swim Better
How gracefully you can swim can easily transition into how well you pick up surfing. Not directly by talent to stay on the board, but how quickly you can recover and get back on your board again. Things like endurance, control, and your ability to hold your breath in a pinch are all extremely valuable skills when learning how to surf.
Assuming you can trust in your swimming skills with a high level of confidence behind them, struggles and complications that can happen will cause you much less stress, and you’ll be able to maintain a level head and escape the situation much more easily than someone who is panicking, merely trying to keep their head above the water.
6. Know the Ocean Safety Aspects
A quick overview of Open Safety Aspects would boil down to a list of rules and expectations you should follow to keep yourself and others around you safe.
At the same time, some might be common sense, like don’t drink alcohol before swimming, others might be more nuanced, like knowing of specific indigenous wild life that can prove dangerous (sharks, certain kinds of jellyfish, etc), proper swimming techniques, sufficient swimming knowledge, staying near a lifeguard, and avoiding rip currents all fall within this umbrella term.
If you are uncertain of the full scope of these rules, it is highly encouraged you divulge the time to not only read them at depth, but do so with the understanding that you can learn something from them, assumption in regards to you knowing how or where to swim in any of these rules could put you in a dangerous situation.
7. Respect the Locals and Their Rules
Different strokes for different folks is yet another adage that rings true here; not all areas approve of specific behaviour, and some might encourage it. While you might be new to the area, it’s good to familiarize yourself with the local rules and regulations and understand the general guidelines and expectations when entering certain beaches and locations.
In most situations, people will be more surprised than annoyed that you did. Even if it sounds like common sense or a generalized expectation, do not assume; seek clarity whenever possible so you can always remain safe and welcome.
8. Be Patient as Learning to Surf Takes Time
Falling off your board for the eighth time in a row without seeing any significant progress can be demoralizing, especially if you are learning with friends who are showing gradual improvements. Still, it’s imperative to understand that this is simply part of the process. Mistakes need to be made so you can build a solid foundation of what not to do, and unfortunately, there are sometimes a lot of errors to be made.
It would be wise to view learning to surf as more of a journey, something to be done gradually and over time, than a race to get yourself on that wave and be as gnarly as possible. Having the right attitude and respect for a nice pace will mean volumes more than attempting to rush things.
9. Make Sure to Respect the Nature Around You
Any sport that is done around nature should come with the mandatory understanding that you are a visitor at best in foreign lands. The fish, corral, and anything in between were there before you arrived, and all will remain long after you leave. So, taking care of these core elements and safeguarding them so future generations can continue to appreciate them isn’t just a good idea; it’s mandatory.
The notion that someone could potentially litter carelessly, or be destructive just for the sake of doing it isn’t the kind of mindset you should have when embarking on any journey outdoors. Still, even more to the point, such actions rarely benefit you in the long run. They can either run the experience for themselves (getting you banned from specific locations), or cause entire areas to become shut down due to your and other people’s collective actions.
10. Join Surfing Lessons or a Surfing School
While it is entirely possible to learn how to surf on your own through trial and error, surfing in itself is a very community-oriented sport, and to that end, there are a myriad of different learning opportunities at your disposal. Anything from surfing lessons to an entire surfing school can help you not only improve your form, but can also get you prepared for some truly remarkable feats.
Surfing schools, for example, can sometimes be so prepared that they have indoor surf simulators, which will allow you to practice the various stages of surfing at your own pace, with a licensed instructor guiding your every move, ensuring you will inevitably succeed.
What Is the First Rule of Surfing?
The most basic rule of surfing boils down to respecting the priority of who “gets” the wave, meaning which person, in order, is allowed to surf a wave. Typically, this is done depending on their position when the wave crests, establishing a natural order for everyone to operate on.
Seeing as this is a rule, there are ways to break it, for instance, “dropping in” would be someone opting not to give the previous surfer ample room, but instead joining them and taking up room on the same wave, potentially setting up an accident, or not allowing them to enjoy themselves freely, this behavior is very heavily frowned upon.
What Is the Hardest Thing to Do in Surfing?
Assuming for just a moment that we aren’t speaking of specific tricks or nuanced aspects of surfing, then the definitive answer here would be managing to juggle both balance and proper coordination whilst navigating the ebb and flow of nature itself, in real time.
While that might not sound very difficult to do on paper, the act of surfing is an incredible feat of dexterity and constant situational awareness that some people struggle to achieve. Never mind the prerequisites like being a competent swimmer and knowing what to do in dire situations.
How Difficult Is Surfing for Beginners?
There may very well be more difficult sports, but surfing ranks highly among the raw amount of knowledge and firsthand experience required actually to surf on a wave, never mind the necessary steps to do so with any real skill, and then begin showing a level of expression behind how you surf, or enjoy the moment.
In a word, you might not be able to call someone an actual surfer until they’ve had potentially years of experience, because “getting lucky” and riding a wave, and repeatedly being able to catch whatever waves (safely) come your way, are two very, very, different scenarios.
How Often Should You Surf as a Beginner?
Managing to get out and attempt surfing at least two to three times a week would be ideal, but between busy work schedules, life, and other complications, you might not be able quite to hit that number, especially if you need rest time in between opportunities, to that end, at least twice a month would be the ideal goal. Still, even then, that’s more to prevent losing skill than actually gaining any.
What Is the Cardinal Sin of Surfing?
In just about every group, and almost every location, the act of “dropping in” is vilified in most communities, primarily because it just boils down to someone being incredibly impatient. Still, the consequences of doing so put not only yourself at risk, but everyone around you, purely for a few moments of fleeting enjoyment and satisfaction.
The worst part about dropping in is it is a public declaration that you not only think you are more important than everyone around you, you are also stating to everyone that you do not care for their safety, and perhaps worst of all, couldn’t care less about the culture of the sport itself, if there were anything you should avoid like the plague, it’s dropping in.
Conclusion
Swimming is undeniably the most important thing you should know before surfing, but after that, respecting others, being coachable, and understanding that the ocean is not innately your friend, and that it should be respected would be some of the most pivotal bits of knowledge anyone should take away from these fundamental values, and that nature should always be treated kindly.