Luckily, we're not as equipment-heavy as, say, skiing or windsurfing.
You're going to need:
A board.
A used board is generally your best bet when starting out. Chances are
good that you're going to ding it up just carrying it around. There are
different types of surfboards.
Something to wear.
Hopefully this is nothing more than a bathing suit. But if its
necessary, and you can afford it, a new wetsuit can be a pretty good
investment. See the upcoming FAQ on wetsuits for recommendations.
[Mary Ann Davidson / madavids@us.oracle.com / adds this tip]
As a hard core surfette, I would add to your FAQ for the gals
interested in surfing - stick to one piece suits when starting to surf,
unless wearing a wetsuit (in which case it doesn't matter.) You can
quite easily find yourself wearing a one piece suit after a wipeout if
you insist on wearing a two piece suit as a novice.
A leash.
Once upon a time, boards had no leashes. If you lost your board, you
swam to shore. Only the best surfers could venture out to some breaks
because losing your board could mean the destruction of you or your
board. Surfers were stronger swimmers and more all-around watermen. It
also meant that there were loose boards flying all over the place at
some breaks.
For good or ill, those days are gone. Just a word of advice for the
beginner: Treat your leash as if it were not there. Do not rely
on it to always bring your board back to you. If the section you're
riding starts getting gnarly, pretend you're going to have to swim to
shore if you bail.
Some wax.
You can usually wheedle wax out of a surf shop owner if you buy
anything there. Some surfers pride themselves on never having bought a
bar of wax. If the deck of your board has some form of traction pad, you
might not need the wax.
Sunblock.
For those surfers living in areas other than Seattle or England, sun block
is often necessary - the net.wisdom on this is Bullfrog, with Aloe Gator
also getting favorable reviews.
Most of these can be found at your friendly neighborhood surfshop.
IMHO, one of the most important things to have in learning to surf is
someone to surf with. Aside from the obvious safety reasons (it cuts your
chances of being eaten by a shark in half :-) ) a partner will give you
moral support, keep you stoked when you get frustrated, keep you from
sleeping in when its good, talk you into paddling out when its big, and
mostly be a friend.
There are two schools of thought here:
Find someone good to teach you to surf. and
Find someone else who wants to learn and teach each other.
I subscribe to the second approach, because that's how I learned and
because when one person is better than the other, someone is usually not
having a very fun session. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy teaching
people. But if its cranking on the outside, either I'm gonna be bored on the
inside with the beginner, or he's gonna be in over his head on the outside.
[Ken Strayhorn Jr. / kes@acpub.duke.edu / accurately adds:]
Your friend you must choose carefully. He will become your brah,
and over time will mean more than anyone else on this planet. Besides
surfing, you will drink copious amounts of beer, smoke pounds of pot, and
chase boxcar loads of women together. You will lend each other money when
times are tight. You will never ask each other for gas cash. You will inform
him when his ass crack is showing over his pants. If he doesn't like the
woman you are seeing you will drop her like a hot rock. Conversely, if your
new woman thinks your brah is a jerk, that's a sign that she's a bozo and
should be avoided.
Boards and wetsuits will be shared. You will hoot for each other on fine
days. You will badmouth anyone who drops in on him. People will come to view
you as a team. Surf nazis will avoid you because they know that to fight one
of you is to fight both of you.
And, years later when you are 40 years old and you and your brah are
sitting on a break somewhere listening to the younger guys yacking it up,
you will smile and know deep in your soul that there is nothing finer than
surfing and the people you do it with.
Go to your nearest surf shop and ask people where a good break to learn
is. Be honest about your abilities, surfers are a pretty friendly lot. Also,
watch for the upcoming FAQ - "Where can I learn to surf without being
killed, beaten, or eaten?"
Sit and watch the surf for a while. Watch what people are doing. Where is
everybody sitting, where do they paddle out. Where do the waves break? As
waves get bigger they break further out, so if everyone is sitting farther
out than where the waves are currently breaking, it means that there are
bigger sets coming. Watch for them.
Stretch. While you're watching the break, stretch your arms and back.
Limber up.
You've noted where other people head out. Wax your stick and head down to
that spot. Put your leash on. (Digression: Decide whether you're going to be
a regular-foot (left foot forward) or a goofy-foot. Try both while standing
on shore and see what feels better.) Put your leash on your back leg. Walk
your board out until the water is about waist deep and hop on. Position
yourself on the board so that the nose is just barely (2-3") out of the
water. Too little and you'll be going under, too much and you'll wear
yourself out pushing water.
Go for nice, even, alternating strokes. When you have to get through the
whitewater get up some speed and then either:
Plow right through it.
Raise your chest up with your arms so that the water passes between
you and the board.
Turtle. Just as the wave is about to hit you, roll over on your back
(roll the board too), and pull the nose of the board down. Then roll
back up.
Duck-dive. Raise up on one knee, push the nose of the board under the
wave and follow with your body. (This takes lots of practice). (See
following notes on duck-diving)
Bail. Make sure no one is within 20-30' of you, get off your board,
and dive for the bottom. This is for emergencies only. You lose a great
deal of distance this way, and you endanger people around you.
I have found a few things most helpful in my duck-diving:
Try to have some forward momentum before you give up paddling to begin
pressing your board down. This provides some counter to the force of the
wave in the direction of shore. Even if it is just a couple of strokes
before the angry whiteness consumes you, you will come out further than
a couple of strokes ahead of where you would have it you had not gotten
going forward.
Push your board as deeply under as possible. The more of your body
that you get above water quickly will result in getting the board deeper
under. Sometimes I even tilt my board to the side in the water so that
there is less resistance to it going down. Some people use only their
arms and their knee(s) to push the board down. I like using the ball of
one of my foot instead and to raise the other one high to provide more
weight on the board.
Immediately before the surf subsumes you, pull yourself down to the
board and angle the board slightly up to the perceived other side of the
break. Too much angle and the nose of the board will catch the break and
push you backwards. Not enough and the back of the board will be caught
in the suction of the wave as it rushes by you and it won't help pull
you through. If you have the right upward angle, and your hands are
toward the front of the board, probably about where you press up from,
you can thrust the board to the other side of the wave and it will help
pull you through.
A key is *not* to stay under for as long as possible, just to start deep and
shoot up as far on the other side of the turbulence as possible. The sooner
you get back up the surface and balanced on your board, the sooner you are
able to start paddling again... and that's the only way you really get
outside anyway.
Once you get to where people are sitting around (in the water, if they're
on the beach, you've been paddling the wrong way :-) ) sit back and take it
easy for awhile. Watch what others are doing. A nice gesture is to say hello
to the others in the water. This lets them know that you acknowledge their existence
and will not run them over or drop in on them. Don't be chatty though. A
simple "Hello", "Howzit", "G'Day" or li'dat is
fine.
This is the first of many hurdles in learning to surf. The wave knowledge
- knowing which wave to paddle for and which to let pass, and the timing -
when to start paddling, how fast, how much to arch your back, and when to
get to your feet, are things that no one can teach you. They will come with
time spent surfing.
One tip I will offer: when trying to stand up, stand up. Don't get to
your knees first, that leads to kneeboarding (A curable illness).
[That said, Clark Quinn / cnquinn@cs.unsw.oz.au / graciously offers these
tips:]
Don't go to the most crowded/famous. Start at a mellow beach. Gentle
waves. Sand bottom. Broad sand beach. You can't run before you walk.
Paddle out, and try to catch the whitewater in while riding on your
belly. (If you've body-boarded or body-surfed before, skip to step 5)
You may have to adjust how far forward/back you lay on the board. You
want about an inch of room between the nose of the board and the surface
of the water. You'll need to be paddling in and have the wave catch you
and push you even faster in the same direction. Stay on the board as you
zoom towards shore. Steps 2-4 may best be accomplished on a mat or a
boogie board or something else easy to get "wave knowledge".
Once you can reliably pick a wave and catch it, start trying to angle
this way and that under control. Try going both ways, left and right.
When you can zoom back and forth at will, you're ready for a bigger
step. Take a wave right before/where it's breaking, and ride it while
turning to keep right at where the wave is breaking. Figuring out just
where to paddle to so as to catch the wave at the right spot is a major
part of the game.
When you can catch waves reliably, you're going to want to try riding
them standing up. Paddle and let the white water catch you. As soon as
you're moving, jump to your feet. This is difficult. It's really worth
it to practice the jumping from prone to your feet on land first and get
it well-rehearsed before doing it on a moving board on the water. Foot
placement is crucial. You'll want your back foot near the tail of the
board and your front foot somewhere in front of that, near the middle of
the board, say. Look at other surfers. Practice on a rough template of
the board on the ground. Ride the wave in. Depending on the size of the
board either balance on it (bigger) or move it to stay underneath you
(smaller).
Once you can reliably get up, you want to start angling while riding
the white water. Both ways, zooming back and forth under control.
Once you can do that, move to catching the wave right where it is
breaking. This will get trickier, because you'll have a more vertical
take off point and the board will have a tendency to sink the nose as
you go down the face of the wave. You want to catch the wave by angling
in the direction the wave is breaking.
I'm not sure 2-4 are necessary (certainly not for someone who's been in the
ocean on other things, but probably are a good safety precaution.
Surfing tends to be pretty free form but there are certain accepted rules,
mostly based on safety and common sense.
Wave Ownership (The My Wave Rule)
The person closest to the breaking part of the wave has the right of
way.
Caveat: If someone is up and riding, paddling into the wave behind
them does not give you the wave.
Also note: In many low-key breaks, the first person paddling for the
wave owns it. Do not expect this to apply in crowded conditions.
Dropping In (The Thou Shalt Not Rule)
Dropping in is taking off on a wave in front of someone who is already
up and riding. Don't do this. Ever.No exceptions.
Paddling Out (The Eat It Rule)
When paddling out, if you must get over a wave that someone is riding,
paddle behind them (On the white water side). This generally means
getting stuffed for the sake of someone else's ride. Take comfort in the
hope that they would do the same for you. Do not paddle in front of
someone unless you are so sure that you will be 20 feet in front of them
that you are willing to bet the well-being of your board/car/nose on it.
About 8 or 10 months after I started surfing I happened to write a little
note on my blotter-style desk calendar:
June 9, 1984: Surfed 3s, good day
As the months went by I continued making little notations. I kept the
calendars, year after year. Now, I have a decade's worth of blotter
calendars stacked on my desk. Just looking at the notes can sometimes bring
back the session in vivid detail. I usually would note the surf heights and
who I surfed with.
If you've got a calendar, give it a shot. Years from now, if you somehow
find yourself far from surf, you'll look back on some classic times spent
with great people and say "Eh, mahalo Chrispy, shaka brah".
