How to Surf: Beginner's Guide to Surfing

Copyright www.how2osurf.com 2011

Surf it All!

Guidelines

About Surfing


TITLE

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Table of contents

Chapter 1

How to surf? 4

Positioning 8

Padding 8

Turtle Roll 9

Sitting 12

Duck Dive 12

Pop up 14

Catching/Riding the wave 15

Chapter 2

Your Surfboard and Fins 16

Tips on making choice of your board 17

Tips on how choose of surfboard fins 20

The Shaper 21

Chapter 3:

Talk like a surfer 23-30


Chapter 4:

The Unwritten Law of Surfing 31

Rules/Law of Surfing 32

Don't Drop in 32

Right of way 32

Share the wave 32

Don't be a snake 33

Chapter 5:

Healthy surfing 34

Why do you surf? 35

How does surfing change my life? 36

Surfing can cure depression 36

Surfing is addictive? 37

Exercise & lose weight surfing 38

o Weight lifting 38

o High cardio work out 39

o Yoga 40


o Live a healthy habit 42

o Can a large person surf? 43

o Can a fat person surf? 43

Chapter 6:

Safety Health Tips 44

Sunblock for surfer 45

Prevent Hair Damage from Sea and Sun 46

How to treat Sea Urchin Sting? 47

Maintain surfing physique 48

Chapter 7:

Surfing Trip 49

Pack for surfing trip 50

Why Travel for a Surf vacation? 51

Know about the Locals 51

Big wave surfing 52

Where is the best spot to learn to surf? 53


Chapter 1

How to

Surf?

For the first few days try to learn how to swim, make sure you

are well equipped to prevent you from drowning. See to it

that you acquire life jacket and other equipment. Catch the

small and breaking waves that are close to the shore. You

should look for small breaking waves that you can handle,

don’t be eager to catch the big ones yet.

Ensure that you are holding your surfboard in a position

where a wave cannot knock it and hit your face or other body

parts; prevent yourself from injury. Hold the board out at

arm’s length with a hand on each rail. Keep your head up and

leap over the oncoming white water as you walk your way out.

Take a look around to make sure you are not about to bump

into somebody else’s way, or that you are not directly on

someone’s back who may lose hold of their board. It can be

horribly terrifying seeing an approaching wave and a massive

long board coming towards you.

Be very vigilant, active and careful at all time, and everything

should be fine.

Keep going out until you reach a desirable depth. Keep an eye

out for waves that are breaking towards you remember to

jump.

We are now in a point to position yourself on the board. Enjoy

every moment because there is no turning back as waves will

be coming to you. Don’t be afraid with the big waves as it is

just part of becoming a surfer. Bring your buddy with you, you

can take picture or video if you want to capture the moment

with your first surfing days.

Take a deep breath and be calm. You are now at a

comfortable depth where the whitewater is rolling towards

the beach and almost welcomes you. Position your board at

your side. Keep an eye on the waves that are coming towards

you, choose one that is big enough to pick you up and take

ride you through. Try to do this over and over until you

succeed. If you are using the beginner's board, long and

heavy, the wave should not have to be that big, and you'll

hardly exert an effort to paddle. On a very light shortboard,

you may have to work a little harder and struggle handling a

bit.

Some experienced surfer look back at their first wave and feel

like listening on music while riding the wave, smooth and easy

as they say.

When the wave is about to reach you, push the surfboard

towards the beach and, at the same time, pull yourself on to

the board so that you're lying flat on top of it. When you are

lying balanced on top of your surfboard, paddle with both

arms as the wave approaches from behind. Keep paddling as

the wave starts to pick you up. You should feel the board rise

in the water as the wave picks you up, and you'll feel an

increase in your speed as the wave starts to take you. With a

bit of luck you'll have caught your first wave. Some

experienced surfer describes their first wave as magical. So


you’ll have to catch the moment because first wave will be the

first.

Before you engage on the wave learn these first.

Positioning

Take a note after you surfing lesson so you can get back from

it and do this again until succession. When you’re on top of

the board, you may be too far forward the nose dips in the

water and you begin to nose dive. The water hits you in the

face and you’ll drink plenty of sea water. Try lying a little

further back on your board the tail dips in the water, you

tumble and get thrown and you’ll drink sea water as well. As

the wave starts to take you, arch your back a little to put more

weight on your legs. Try not to catch a wave that is in the

process of breaking just yet. This will pitch you forward. The

wave passes you by or you can't catch the wave. You may be

too far back on the board. Try shifting your body up and down

the board to ensure the nose is not underwater; the nose

should just be picking up the surface.

Paddle faster and keep paddling until the wave passed. At

first, it's a good idea to practice catching waves without

attempting to get up. This will give you the feel of catching a

wave and help with the timing that is required to pop up. You

may also want to try positioning yourself in calmer water to

make it perfect. So now you can catch the whitewater waves

in to the beach but first you have to learn how to paddle

perfectly first before you want to stand on the surfboard

when you are heading into the beach after all. As you progress

further with the positioning, you will be out in deeper water

and will have to control your surfboard while you are out

there, and to learn how to get through larger breaking waves.

Paddling

It's important that you take a note and list key points you

want to learn later on. See and examine these key notes you

may encounter when you are out on the sea. If you can't

paddle fast enough to get out beyond the breaking waves to

line up, you can’t catch a wave decent enough to make a ride.

If you paddle slowly you'll never catch a wave and you can end

up stuck in the breaking waves that can be harmful, you’ll

probably drink a lot of water when you’re in the middle of

breaking water. If you paddle long enough to get out of the

breaking water, you will tire yourself and potentially

dangerous so you may want to consider surf buddy when you

think you are not fit enough. Take note that paddling requires

fit body; paddling will burn out your shoulder and should ache

after the end of your training.


When you are on the board take this steps in positioning

yourself when you are paddling. Don’t bother waves banging

to your face; it is part of the learning process and part of

surfing generally. Learn this lessons how to paddle and how

not to paddle. Paddling is easy when you are using the long

board; long board is stable and can do a straight line or when

you are aiming straight forward.

It is very important that you have learned positioning yourself

in the board without paddling yet so that you can get the

feeling of being comfortable with your board so that paddling

will be easy. Position your body where the nose is just inches

up the water and the tail does not fall under water. Tuck your

feet keep your body centered. Align your body parallel to the

board to avoid falling over. Stretch your hands out and start to

paddle.

Keep trying until you are moving fast enough before testing on

white water waves. Remember that it will take a lot of

practice and time in perfecting proper positioning with your

board. You can also consider practicing on calm water and

take your time to paddle. Paddling takes lot of energy so make

sure you are fit, after a while and after sore shoulder you will

get the hang and you can paddle fast enough to catch huge

waves. But before you can surf, take a lesson on turtle dive

and sitting on your board.

Turtle Roll

Turtle Roll: the method of dismounting yourself out of your

board when you’re lying flat paddling your way out the

breaking waves, it is an important method for those with

beginner board or long boards where duck-diving is difficult.

Basically, when a wave hits you and you are not ready or not

balanced, you hold on to the sidings of your board and flip

over sideways with your board and make sure the nose is not

tilted up to make sure the wave will not lift up the board and

throw you out of your board. Hug the board with hands locked

up. The wave will just go right over you. Once the wave is calm

enough, just flip back over and shift your body over the side

and end up at the paddling position again.

See these illustrations for orientation:


Step 1: Be ready for the roll and straighten your body with the

board. Grab the sides of your surf board.

Step 2: Roll over to the side before wave impacts.


Step 3: Grab or hug your board so that you will not be thrown

away.

Step 4: After the wave passed, point the board towards the

line and paddle.


Sitting

Notice that pro surfer sits on their board after breaking the

white water. They do this to relieve stress on their front body

and to take a view on the upcoming wave. This should be a

key feature in catching the big wave if you’re good enough of

picking wave perfect for you. You can also take a rest with this

position especially when you are tired after long paddle. This

is also considered as a position where you are ready to mount.

After paddling, begin to balance yourself, place both of your

hands on the side of the board or the railings, then get ready

to push your body up. Push yourself up gently while sliding

both your feet at the side and keeping your balance.

If you will not do this perfectly usually at your first few tries,

you will see that the board will shoot up as if a “tomahawk”, if

you are far back and nose dive if you are far front. Don’t be far

in each side as you will fall over in this case, be ready to dive.

Spread your legs sideways to balance yourself and keep your

body in the center of the board. Take some time to practice

this part but it shouldn’t be hard enough once you’re keeping

your balance. After a little practice you'll soon be capable at

getting into the sitting position. By the time you perfected this

all this part you will be stirring in and out the water fast and

you should be ready for mounting yourself for your first wave.

Duck Dive

Duck diving is a dismount where a surfer is paddling in knelling

position and dives under the wave prior to it hits him or her

together with waves are huge. Duck diving is the method that

a surfer nose-dives under an oncoming wave as he or she

paddles out of the breaking wave. Ducking under the wave

ensures that all the progress made by paddling out is not lost

by being washed backwards by the wave. The bigger the wave

the more it will be clashing to you, the more important it

becomes to be skilled at duck diving. This method should also

be perfected especially when you are in the bigger waves. The

bigger the wave the more risk of getting tired.


See illustrations on how to duck dive:

Try to do this action on your pool if not on a shallow beach

first before trying on the waves. You can drink bucket full of

sea water if you are not ready to face the waves.

1) Push your whole body up to a crawl position.

2) Nose dive as deep as you can, grab the sides with both

hands.


3) Pull up, repeat this again if wave is coming towards

you.

Prepare yourself when the wave is coming to you. Put your

hand at the rails of your board and exert pressure. Place your

knees in the center of the board and nose dive in one constant

motion; dive as deep as you can to avoid being carried by the

wave. Under water, paddle as fast as you can. Underwater,

hug to the board with your knees and hands, and roll over

with your back and the board upside. Keep Hugging the board

while you are upside down and make sure the nose is down

into the water so the wave can't wash you out. Be sure

nobody is up on the surface when you roll back upright and

continue paddling with all your strength when the wave has

washed past you.

Pop up

The pop up is the move that will take you from the sitting

position to paddling smoothly to the upright position on your

feet. Essentially you have tried your first pop up tryout from

the safety of the water.

This method is really essential in the development of your

surfing lesson; stand up and slide your proper feet as swiftly

and smoothly as possible, that is what it is all about. Make

sure that you are quickly up and have the correct positioning

stance. If you are not comfortable practicing in on the

crowded beach, try to do it in your home. This method is

prepared at the moment when you have done enough

paddling to catch the first wave you're waiting for. The pop up

is basically positioning yourself from the sitting position to

paddling to standing with balance and other called it with

grace. Instead of placing your legs and body straight, you need

to bring your legs up and under your body, planting your feet

in the correct position, placing your left leg first if doing a left-

hander wave if you are regular footed and planting your right


foot first if you are goofy footed. The same rule applies with

the right hander wave.

Catching/Riding the wave

Lying on your board with the paddling position; put your

hands on the rails or at the side of the board. Paddle your way

to catch the wave. When you have sufficient speed to catch

the wave, hold the rail, pull your legs up under you, twist your

body and board around to the correct angle, for the beginner

just do a straight forward approach. Slide the correct foot up

to the nose of the board, position your back foot and lower leg

with pressure resting at the rear of the board. If the front foot

is firmly planted in the correct position, make the squat

position.

Positioning is exceptionally significant when it comes to

surfing. If your feet are not positioned properly, automatically

you'll fall off or you’ll be unable to maneuver to the correct

angle. If you're not in the proper position with paddling or

lining up for the waves, then you'll find yourself taking a

beating each time you surf. If you are not properly positioned

when riding on the wave, then you'll be unable to keep up the

thrust necessary to ride the wave.

(Illustration shows surfers paddle out to the lineup.)


Chapter 2

Your Surfboard

& Fins


After you have the theory on how to surf. Let us now choose

what board fits you.

Tips on making choice of your board

Before we move on how you will pick your board we shall

know what kind of board you will be using and what board will

fit your weight.

See these illustrations:

If you are just beginning to learn how to surf then pick the Soft

board as it will be fit for beginners. Why? Because short board

needs a lot of strength to paddle whom beginners don't have

unless fit enough to paddle to the lineup. It will only hamper

paddling for beginners and will result to frustration and

fatigue.


For beginner class if you haven't entered surfing school or if

you have this is the proper board you will practice on. The soft

board or the “foamies” is very easy to carry because of its

composition so therefore light. With its design the board

makes it very easy to paddle because of lightweight composite

and easy to pop up because it is stable enough to stand up,

most ideal for beginners.

Short Boards


Long Board or

Funboard


Tips on how choose of surfboard fins

The choice will be yours to decide but if you are just a

beginner, try to make use of cheaper ones as you may have to

change more often as a result of shifting to a different fin for

better wave performance or damaged fins considering that

beginners tend to break fins quite often.

Fins design is great help for professional surfing contest.

Attaching fin will definitely improve maneuverability but they

must be accustomed to the fin they are using. The thruster or

tri-fin is the commonly used for surfing tournaments. The

single fin is mainly used for longboard surfing.

Here are some fins available on the market:

FCS (fins)

FCS are the leaders in the industry of surf fins. They come to

stock on most new boards, and there is a very large variety of

aftermarket fins to select from.

Future Fins

Future fins are probably the second most popular fin system.

Similar to the FCS fins; Future fins have a wide selection of

aftermarket setups.

Red X

Red X fins are known for their customizability. While not as

common as FCS or Future fins, Red X fins are becoming more

popular every day. The Red X fins is also known to have a very

strong base that can slide along the board.

Lock Box

Lock Box fins is not as common among the average surfboard.

They are usually installed in custom boards. They have

common features to the Red X brand in that they slide up and

down the board.

O’Fish’l

O'Fish'l fins are also known for their customizability. Unlike

other fins this system can interchange different fins quickly

without need for tools.


Pro Teck

Pro Teck fins are known as "Beginner fins" because of their

concern with safety. The Hawaii-based company produces

flexible fins that cannot cut a person.

The Shaper

A shaper is a person who builds and fashions surfboards

manually.

In the beginning constructed from wood, nearly all modern

surfboards are manufactured from pre-formed polyurethane

blanks or perhaps Styrofoam right after fine shaped by shaper

using variety of tools which ranges from surforms, rasps,

sanding machines and planers.

Once the appearance is sculpted from the foam core, the

shaper can finalize the build by layering fiberglass sheets

covering the deck and bottom by laminating all these with a

thermosetting resin like polyester.

The majority of shapers these days design surfboards by using

distinct computer software which are later supplied to a

computer cutting facility which will mill the raw foam blank

around 90% of the completed shape allowing the shaper to

fine tune the blank to the final form prior to glassing .

This process enables the shaper to create a very accurate and

reproducible design that could be conveniently fine-tuned and

modified.


Wooden surfboards are making a comeback being an

environmentally friendly alternative that require ultra-light

boatbuilding capabilities.

Numerous skilled shapers actually contract out the highly

specialized lamination to professional "glassers", an individual

who laminates fiberglass to a foam core of the surfboard by

using thermosetting resins such as polyester or epoxy. By the

end of this process fins and assorted plugs usually are installed

following this process and therefore the final product is

quality sanded and often glossed with buffing substance and

special glossing resin. Whilst shaping, the shaper usually

considers the technical specs of the client surfer, and molds

their board to accommodate the user's personal surfing style

and wave of choice.

The shaper is a lot of help especially if you are into

competition. They are expert that will cater your

specification. You can befriend with them and you can almost

have a pit stop every time you need tweaks to your board.


Chapter 3

Talk Like a Surfer

A_

ASP – (Association of Professional Surfing)

Areal – a maneuver in which both surfer and board launches

into the air to the top of a wave and landing on the

same wave. The surfer sometimes grabs the rail of the

surfboard for stability and to control the surfboard

A-frame – a shape of the wave where it forms a letter A and

the wave breaks nicely

Axed – when a surfer wipes out and hit heavily with the lip of

the wave

B_

Back door – a surfer starts from behind the peak or a section

on a hollow wave, and surf through the barrel or tube

of the wave to the other side of the peak

Backing off – when the wave passes from shallow water to the

deeper water and the wave breaks slowly

Backside – when a surfer’s back is facing the face of the wave

also known as backhand or the behind

Backwash – when a wave hits the shore and backfires. The

backwash creates spectacular explosion when it

collides with the incoming wave. Usually happens

when there is a sea wall

Bail/Bail out – to abandon the surfboard before getting wiped

out

Barrel – a wave’s curl or face where the surfer rides on and

which the water forms like a barrel, also called as tube.

Break – or a wave which is also categorized into 3: Beach

Break where the wave break into sandy seabed

typical for beginners, Point Break where the wave

break into a rocky point which is dangerous and Reef

Break where the wave break into a rocky or coral reef

bed.

Board – surf board

Types of board:

Short Board – or Thruster which size varies from 5’8” to 6’10”,

the nose is pointed and the tail is blunt. Due to its

shortness you can easily perform carves and

maneuvers.

Long Board – size varies from 7’2” to 9’ and has a rounded

nose and tail

The Fish – is almost the same as short board but the tail is cut

like the mouth of a fish, the length is 4’8” to 6’ and has

more width that makes it more rounded shape

The Gun – is shaped like a short board but length like a long

board shaped like a.

Biscuit Board – 6’ under, short and rounded.

Etc.

Board shorts – a short worn while surfing, usually light and

quick drying also worn on warm waters.


C_

Carve – when you make a turn on a wave, also called carve

because it left an impression like carving on the wave.

Caught inside – a circumstance in which a surfer is trapped

between the shoreline and breaking waves. This

usually means the surfer will have to wait for a lull

between the larger breaking waves for a chance to slip

into clear water.

Channel – shape of the bottom of the board where grooves

are cut lengthwise along the surfboard, usually

through the tail half.

Chinese Wax Job – when applying wax underneath the board

Choppy – bouncy wave condition due to high wind velocity

hitting the water.

Clean – good surfing conditions with decent wave, a smooth

or glassy ocean surface and very little onshore wind.

Offshore winds blowing into the faces of the waves can

create clean waves.

Clidro – when a surfer moves up and down on the face of the

wave while surfing down the line

Climbing and dropping – moving up and down the face of a

wave as you surf down the line, very good technique

for gaining speed with each turn.

Close Out – where a wave breaks together with its length all

at once

Clucked – being afraid of waves

Comb/Wax comb – a tool to remove or scrape the wax from

the board

Consistent – a surf condition when waves are coming in very

repeatedly and in predictable quantities.

Corduroy – swell lines that look like corduroy.

Cowabunga – the ninja turtles often say this word. Slang is

from 1960's surf culture surfer’s cry as they climb a

12 foot wall of water and "take the drop."

Cross Step / Stepping – surfer’s technique when riding a

longboard where they move up and down the

surfboard.

Cutback – making a cutback is reversing the direction that you

are surfing in one smooth fluid move.

D_

Deck – top side of the board where you stand on.

Ding – damage on the board

Double up – when two waves combine, often creating a more

powerful wave with twice the amount of energy and

often creates a tube.

Drag – the resistance of water as it passes through the board.

Drive – the effect of wave’s pressure pushing your board

forward, which creates acceleration down the line on a

wave.

Drop – the initial part of a ride when a surfer slides or drop

down the face of the wave. It's also referred to as

"taking the drop."


Drop In – is against the rule of surfing. A drop-in is where a

surfer catches a wave without having priority to his co-

surfer. When a surfer catches a wave but somebody

catches it first, sort of stealing the wave.

Duck Diving – is diving under or plunging an oncoming wave in

a paddling position.

E_

Eat It – wiping out on a wave.

Eddy – is a circular movement of water, air, or wind that

develops on the side of the main body of movement.

Eddies will develop in areas adjacent to where the

main body of movement is interrupted by projecting

obstructions like points of land or islands. Southern

California is a classic area for a near-shore south wind

eddy system when strong northwesterly winds blow in

the outer waters. Point Conception, the offshore

islands, and low-pressure inland all contribute to the

development of the eddy circulation.

Epic – top class surf or extremely good waves; description of

an awesome wave or surf session

F_

Face - The steep part front of a wave and where most wave

riding occurs.

Fakie – when a surfer rides backwards on the surfboard, tail

first.

FCS – (fin control system) this is a type of fin that is fully

detachable from the surfboard. It's ideal if you break a

fin (you don't have to get a new on glassed back on), or

if you are travelling.

Fin – a control mechanism attached to the tail and bottom

part of surf board which is used for mobility and

stability also called a skeg.

Firing – where the surf is really good and the waves are

breaking nicely.

Flat - The steepening shoreward front of a wave, where most

wave riding occurs.

Floaters – a maneuver which the surfer rides over and along

the top of a breaking wave, sliding across broken foam

or a pitching lip, then drops back down into the main

part of the wave.

Foam/Foamies – a liquid material used to mold the surf board

after it hardens or the white water bubbles left over

from a breaking wave.

Frube – unlucky surfer who does not catch a wave for the

whole surfing session in the water

G_

Glasser – person who is employed to laminate surfboards

using fiberglass resin

Glassy – this is ultra-clean surf without a ripple that often

looks like glass.


Goofy / Goofy Foot – surfing stance with your right foot

forward

Gidget – this is the nickname for a small female surfer

(derived from “girl midget”)

Green Room – part inside the tube or barrel

Gremmie / Grommet / Grom – nick name for novice or a

young in-experienced surfer.

Grubbing – falling off your board while surfing

Gun – see board

H_

Hang Eleven – when a male surfer rides on the board surfing

naked

Hang Ten – an execution on a longboard where a surfer plants

both of his feet on the nose of the board also a brand

of surfing magazine.

Hard core – extremely dedicated surfing fanatic or committed

to the surfing lifestyle.

Ho-dad – anyone who annoys board riders while they surf or a

non-surfing beach bum

I_

Impact Zone – the part of the shore where the waves are

breaking

In the Soup – term used when a surfer is on the foam after the

wave breaks

Indo – short for Indonesia

J_

Junkyard Dog – awkward surfer with poor style or a surfer

who only surfs crappy waves

K_

Keg – see barrel

Knee boarding – another kind of wave riding with your knees

using a special knee board.

Kook – a novice, beginner or someone who is not very good at

surfing

L_

Layback – is a surfing maneuver where the surfer literally lays

his/her back on the wave. It's one of surfing's more

extreme tricks.

Leash – is the cord that is attached from the board to your leg.

Line Up – is the place just outside the breaking waves where

surfers wait for their waves

Locked In – when a wave crashes and the surfer is carried in it

Lull – is when the wave goes flat and consistent breaking of

the wave.

M_

Men In Grey Suits – slang for shark

Mullering – high level of wipe out

N_

New School – the term given to trick surfing — airs, shove-its,

etc

Noodled / Noodle Arms – exhausted or tired arms


Nose – front part of the board, 12 inch from the tip

P_

Paddlepuss – someone who stays and plays in the whitewater

close to the beach

Party Wave – usually a long wave surfed by several people at

once

Peak – a part of the wave where water is most high or the tip

of the wave also when a wave swells at its highest.

Perl / Pearl – this is a common term describing when a person

buries the nose of their surfboard in the wave and goes

"over the falls”.

Pipeline – is a surf reef break located in Hawaii, off Ehukai

Beach Park in Pupukea on O'ahu's North Shore. The

spot is notorious and famous for its huge waves

breaking in shallow water just above its sharp and

cavernous reef, forming large, hollow and thick curls of

water that surfers can ride inside

Pumping – it is when the waves are decent and strong; used

also to describe surfer when generating speed

Q_

Quiksilver – one of the largest and famous surfing apparel

manufacturer in the surfing world and normal people

alike.

R_

Rail – the siding of your surfboard where you grab for areal

maneuver etc.

Rail Bang – the instance where you fall off and take the

surfboard between the legs and it hurts

Raked Over – to be hammered by incoming waves while

paddling out

Regular / Regular Footed – surfing with your left foot forward

the opposite of Goofy Footed

Rip / Riptide – a strong current moving opposite to the

upcoming wave. Rip currents are water channels that

flow away from shore. Since these currents lurk in

seemingly calm waters, tired or inexperienced

swimmers or surfers can be swept away. A riptide

usually has a width of forty or fifty feet. By paddling

parallel to the shore, a surfer can escape the rip

current.

Rock Dance – when a surfer maneuvers into and out of the

rocks

S_

SAS – Surfers Against Sewage.

Shaper – the one who sculpt, curves, plain and sand your

board. Surfboard worker aside from designer and

glasser

Shove-it – shove-it is a maneuver where the rider shoves the

surfboard round underneath the feet, 180 or 360

degrees. It's a good trick if you can do it.

Shubie – surfing enthusiast who buys surfing products and

don’t even surf


Sick – a surfer who does an impressive move or a very

impressing maneuver

Skeg – native name for fins

Slash – a maneuver where a surfer turns rapidly on top of the

wave to throw a spray of water.

Snake / Snaking – a greedy surfer who steals a wave

Sponger – bodyboarder

Stick – slang for surf board

Stoked – being happy or very happy

Swallow Tail – is also a surfboard tail design that looks like a

stinger

Swell – as a surfing term, it is where from the sea, the water

start to take a shape of a lump before it takes became

a wave. It is generated when wind blows consistently

over a large area of open water, called the wind's

fetch. The size of a swell is determined by the strength

of the wind and the length of its fetch and duration.

Switch Stance – when a surfer’s stance switches from regular

to goofy foot or otherwise

T_

Tail – simply described as is the lower part of the board.

Tail Designs: Squash Tail, Squash Tail, Thumb Tail,

Rounded Pintail, Pintail, Baby Swallowtail, Baby

Swallowtail, Bat Tail and Wing

Tail Slide – is a move where the tail of the board slides across

the lip of the wave.

Thruster – popular name for a tri-fin short board or three fin

surf board

Tube – or barrel

Turtle Roll – is a technique to avoid wipe out on a long board.

The surfer rolls on the side to avoid the wave from

hitting him/her

Twinzer – a popular name for a four fin board

U_

Underwater – under the water

W_

Wax –it is used to provide traction of your feet to avoid

slipping

Washing Machine – is getting caught and spun around by the

wave

Wedge – a wave condition in which two waves converge

together and merge in from the sides to create a more

powerful A-frame type of wave. A wedge can be

created by a reflected wave bouncing off an obstacle

like a rock, or wall and then merging with the original

part of the wave that came straight in. A wedge can

also be created by a portion of the wave refracting or

wrapping in from deeper water like a channel or

underwater canyon to merge with the original part of

the wave coming straight in. Wedges create good

shaped waves with rights and lefts, along with more


powerful waves than normal, which naturally attract

good surfers.

Wetsuit – it is a suit that surfer wears on a cold seas to

prevent heat from escaping the body

Wipe-out – falling of your board

X_

Xtreme – extreme surfing


Chapter 4

The Unwritten

Law of Surfing


Rules/Law of Surfing

Every sport activity must have its own rules especially in the

crowded sport or recreation. Rules keep participants focused

on what they are doing and prevent any accidents from

occurring as well as keep friendly atmosphere in the

environment. Surfing must have its own basic rules that

should be planted in every surfer’s mind. Surfing is a highly

hazardous sport not just because of the water but because of

the jam-packed participants that may be unfamiliar with the

rules. Some of these rules may not be thought by some surfing

schools but it’s important that common surfer must have the

common sense of these basic rules on surfing.

Don’t Drop In

I reiterate that dropping-in is where a surfer catches a wave

without having priority to his co-surfer. When a surfer catches

a wave but somebody catches it first, sort of stealing the

wave. It is a sin on surfing to drop in from your fellow surfer

not only you can cause trouble with your co-surfer but you

could cause accident toward him/her. When accidents do

occur, rescue may not be that easy most especially if there is

no rescuer available.

Right of way

The surfer who paddles out to the line-up first should have the

right of way. You can own the wave unless the first surfer on

the line-up gives you a go signal.

Share the Wave

Sharing the wave provides healthy environment with your co-

surfer.


Don’t be a “Snake”

As we all know greed is a deadly sin and it could be deadly as

well on surfing. Snaking can cause accident when that surfer

you snaked upon does not know. You may collide to him and

then one of you or both possibly will caught-inside the wave

which is a deadly consequence and what might he do to you

as revenge.


Chapter 5

Healthy Surfing


Why do you surf?

There are no shortages of reasons why we surf. Others serious

surfer junkie does it as sport some as recreation on weekends

and other just want to try the sport.

The confessions of a Hard Core surfer:

Number one on the list is that they say “surfing is a lot of fun”,

definitely surfing is tons of fun. (1) When it gets into your

system you can barely notice time passed. That shows how

fun surfing is. (2) There is no better feeling than surfing. It is a

wonderful union of near silence and total solitude with

incredible excitement, all at one time. It is so much fun. (3)

Riding the wave gives so much thrill, being in the water is the

best place to be “at peace” and the sunset is breathtaking. I

couldn’t be more thankful than being alive. (4) The wave is a

powerful force to be wrecked with but when I surf, I can tame

the wave which gives me so much power than the wave. (5)

Riding the wave boosts adrenaline to your system which gives

you excitement and you can’t help but smile. (6) Surfing is like

the closest thing to flying. (7) It relieves my stress and it clears

my mind. It takes you into another dimension. (8) Its

rewarding when you catch the perfect wave after waiting so

much time. The patience pays off. (9) Apart from having fun, it

gave me a healthy body. (10) It gives me determination, when

I wipe-out, I get up and catch that perfect wave again. It is also

the best time to practice my skill. I realized that I can integrate

surfing with my life, having determination in life. (11) With

this fun, I realized how little in life I actually needed to be

happy.

So the surfers themselves said it all. Surfing is so much fun

with a huge after effect of happiness and excitement.

(See?)


How does surfing change my life?

The first impression that we hear about surfers are thrill

seekers and even don’t take life seriously for having fun all day

but we don’t really know what is on the back of their minds

unless we hear from them.

Here were what they spoken:

(1)From a low level person who don’t understand life and low

social aptitude, I regain my composure and relieved my

depression so now I just another guy in the face of the world.

(2)I just found out that I am a sporty type and an outgoing

person. I moved out from the city to live near the sea. I

learned to surf, never thought that I will be fit and happy for

years.

(3)Before I was a laid back type of a person, I lived in a slow

going life, after work I go to home and no outdoors. Now I

enjoyed the outdoors and especially the sea. I never went

back doing those days of being a couch potato. On weekends,

I enjoy surfing with my dudes.

(4)Surfing had been my religion but after crazy wipe outs it

made me closer to GOD, I think he always guide me through

the waves. I never thought I could love life more and love

other people’s life as well.

(5)I’ve moved near the beach, I learned to surf since then I

enjoyed life in general, I’m healthy and fit as can be.

Most of these surfers in particular clearly changed their life in

many ways; being healthy, lost depression, enjoyed life and

pure fun from having no fun at all.

Surfing can cure depression

Surfing or any other sport activity has proven to relieve

depression. In order to keep your physical and psychological

health is in-fact extremely imperative that on a regular basis

you exercise a sport activity. Currently there are a lot from

that you could very well select without doubt there will

certainly not be an issue in choosing one. Anytime selecting a

sport is without a doubt very critical to discover one that is

well suited for you and your physical condition.

Around the planet folks are generally exercising all kind of

sports that have tremendous impact on your own physical as

well as emotional situation. Being physically and mentally fit

isn’t that hard and expensive to invest. All you need is a board,

wave and the sunshine.

Having friends also keeps individual from depression. You can

meet lot of friends on the line-up as well or your lover.


Surfing is addictive?

Yes in some cases, some serious surfer feels tired or bored if a

week passed and still didn’t surf. Majority of psychologist said

it is more on the adrenaline addiction “feel good drug”.

Adrenaline junkie is a term used to describe somebody who

appears to be addicted to epinephrine (endogenous) and such

a person is sometimes described as getting a "high" from life.

The term adrenaline junkie was popularly used in the 1991

movie Point Break to describe individuals who enjoyed

dangerous activities for the adrenaline "rush". Adrenaline

junkies appear to favor stressful activities for the release of

epinephrine as a stress response. Doing this may result in

physical harm because of the potential danger. Whether or

not the positive response is caused specifically by epinephrine

is difficult to determine, as endorphins are also released

during the fight-or-flight response to such activities.

To be informed what an adrenaline addiction is, you have to

know what the symptoms are. Addiction leads to craving but

unlike artificial drugs, adrenaline is natural to our body and

therefore the symptoms are not obvious. Adrenaline junkie

don’t realize that the effects of adrenaline isn’t found doing an

activity, it’s found before doing something, as that’s when the

adrenaline starts to build up, doing the activity dissipates the

chemical. Hence the nerves disappearing as soon as example

someone steps onstage or begins a performance or

competition. When adrenaline is often ejected by your body

for example every day, the body actually memorizes the

feeling and can cause to the release a lot earlier than required.

A normal build up, can occur anywhere between 0-15mins

before an activity. This will be uncontrollable at first and may

take many months of frequency before the signs are obvious.

Eventually though, you can get to the stage where you can

trigger the affect by thinking about the activity in any

situation. Now I know this isn’t showing the effects of an

addiction, its merely showing how the cause can lead to the

effect and the recognition of how it can be summoned with

thought.

As more adrenaline is rushed to your body, that individual can

no longer accurately measure risk of his activity. A person is

more likely to take a chance and gamble on a situation. This

can favor surfers into contest as they can pull of tricks without

hesitation. The payoff is greater reward but more afterwards

leading to a further risk required next time for the same rush

as accident may occur due to lack of judgment.

Prolonged doses of adrenaline, without dissipation, can lead

to serious long term effects like anxiety attacks.

You can consult a physician or you can control the amount of

surfing you’ve practiced. Apparently this implies to avid

surfers only with the habit of going to surf almost every day.

The adrenaline causes you to feel good and make you

confident more often. That is why it keeps you from


depression. So adrenaline may not be a bad drug after all

unlike artificial drug that causes apparent damage to health

and mentality.

Exercise & lose weight surfing

Surfing bums do get very healthy and fit body. Envy? Fit

persons always get a lot of attention and they do have a great

deal of confidence. Don’t worry, there are hundreds of things

you can perform depending on your health situation and your

routine even if you are far away from your surf session. Being

healthy and fit is the closest thing from drinking the fountain

of youth. Tons of weight loss programs were scattered on the

net by way of tapes, nutrition books etc, yes it can help you to

be fit and these techniques have leaked so let us explain this

here together with the activities surf bums are doing while

surfing or not.

Weight lifting

Some say lifting weights won’t get you thinner, don’t get me

wrong but there are training routines you can follow to lose

that extra pounds. Lifting weights have a setback though; it

needed to be coupled with diet meals. This can also help you

paddle an extra mile whilst the later didn’t. These are the few

of what weight lifting grant you; as I said, it can help you

paddle more unlike before because of the core strength and

muscle endurance it provides, helps you avoid injuries like

broken bones because it will strengthen your muscle/muscle

mass, for girls it prevents or lessen the risk of osteoporosis or

lose of bone mass when growing old, it aides faster

metabolism therefore it helps you burn your excess fat to

convert it to muscle tissue and burns your meal faster, it

improves your coordination and balance and increase your

confidence and self esteem.

Refer to your gym instructions before you do it on your own.

Unrehearsed lifting can promote to injuries and uneven

muscles build up.

Surfer revelation:

“There isn’t two ways to lose weight, there is only one; burn

off more calories than you eat it is as simple as that. Running

is fine but you can run all day and still not lose weight if you

eat loads (come and look at the fatties on running machines

down my gym if you don’t believe me). Also don’t stay away

from complex carbs; you want those in your diet.

Really the best way is to work out how many calories you use

in a day and plan out your diet around that, a high protein diet

would be what I recommend and plan it around 5-6 small

meals a day instead of 3 big ones

btw, I know a bit about this, I lost over 50lbs in under a year


without losing a single pound of lean mass just by doing

weights, surfing and planning my diet.”

High Cardio work out

Surfing is a high cardio work out but if you are aiming to burn

flab of fat, you can try some of other work out routines and

you need to burn enough calories to make a significant

impact. In order to lose a pound in one week, you need to

create a 3,500-calorie deficit; in other words, you need to

burn off 3,500 more calories than you eat. A 30-minute power

walk on flat ground burns about 120 calories. So, to burn out 1

pound of fat by walking, you'd have to adjust it for more than

2 hours a day.

High cardio work out does not need two hours of work each

day and does healthy eating habits. So try to quit on that

heavy meals regimen to reach your goal of being a surfing

bum. The best way to lose fat is to create a calorie deficit by

burning calories through exercise and cutting calories you eat.

For instance, in a whole week, you may cut 250 calories per

day by eating low calorie diet or light food in other word limit

your eating habit but don't skip meals otherwise you'll starve

and in return you'll eat more for the next meal. Meanwhile,

you could burn an extra 250 calories a day by taking a one-

hour walk or a half-hour jog.

Cardio exercise is the main factor of a weight-loss plan. You

also need to revamp your eating habits and embark on a

weight-training program. Also, keep in mind that losing weight

is not as easy as it sounds on TV diet commercials. It takes a

lot more commitment than just drinking that delicious shake

for breakfast. And it takes time. Realize, too, that your gene

plays a large role in weight loss. It's easier for some people to

lose weight than it is for others.

“There are two easy things to losing weight:

1 - heavy cardiovascular workouts (running, swimming,

surfing, biking)

2 - eat healthy (self explanatory, stay away from complex

carbs, sugars, calories, etc.)

Run as often as you can. I don’t know your level of running,

but if you can discipline yourself you should be doing

anywhere from 3 to 5 miles a day at a decent pace. Try to put

in a 20 mile week if possible, remember that it won’t be easy

to lose 30 lbs.

Swimming is great to fat burn, too, but you have to do it in a


larger quantity than running. You'll have to do at least 3000m

a day to see any results from swimming but it’s still great

exercise and it increase strength really well.

It just comes down to self-discipline. If you can have a good

workout routine and a good diet, then in no time you'll be

where you want to be but it won’t be fun. I’m sure you will be

bored to go running 5 miles a day, or swimming for 2 hours

straight. Just do it for the surf. That’s all we've got in the end,

anyways.”

The average calorie burned in an hour while surfing is 110.

Yoga

Yoga is as they say in direct opposite of weight lifting,

although the common denominator is your healthy well being

but the style is totally different. Quite a lot of surfers believe

that weight lifting will only make your body bulky and difficult

to move so therefore it will hamper your dexterity. While yoga

make your body flexible and in great balance but while

extreme surfing demands more strength, you can also lift

weights but either way you can chose or fuse them to make

you a better surfer. Now we’ll talk on how yoga can lose your

weight and fit and increase your performance.

Surfing is always recommended to be paired with a form of

exercise to avoid muscle cramps and injuries or something

that gives emphasis on stretching such as yoga. Yoga can work

your body parts which are not typically worked out on surfing.

With this, you are assured that you've got a complete activity

for your entire body.

It can revitalize your self-awareness making your body and

mind co-exist in perfect equilibrium. Yoga sharpens your

concentration, helping you to obtain perfect stability.

Because yoga is a form of stretching exercise, it will

significantly improve the flexibility of every part of your

body. Being flexible is vital to consistency of the board

while surfing a wave. Flexibility achieved by applying yoga

to surfing also helps you move with more freedom,

balance and comfort. So therefore it is a lot of help in your

surfing.

Patience is a virtue, especially on surfing. Certainly surfing

takes time to perfect and you will need to have a great

deal of patience in order to leverage your surfing skills.

With a little more practice, you will get more

understanding of reaching your body's equilibrium

however this may require time. Some may learn to surf in

just a couple of days yet some may require several weeks

or months with a very long learning process. Using the aid

of yoga, meditation and breathing techniques will help you


become a more patient surfer. The widened patience that

you gain from exercising yoga can even be beneficial while

waiting quality waves while on the line-up.

“Yoga is great for improving:

over all fitness and cardio

patience

dexterity and suppleness

focus and concentration

all of which are needed for surfing.

It's not all about contorting yourself into odd postures and

meditating. There are many different forms of yoga, and if you

look into it you will find one that is right for you. Hatha yoga

forms tend to be gentler and less dynamic, which is a good

intro for beginners.”

Right Nourishment

It is perhaps the most hurtful of all in healthy surfing plan.

Food is very difficult to get rid in excess. Just by looking at

tasty foods, you can’t help but be tempted. You do need more

food to replace that calorie lost during surfing but eat a

healthy food. Eating less food while surfing can harm you, our

body is like a car, it also needs fuel but in order for us to gain

that extra mile, we need to eat good nutrition.

Eat an organic food which is now wide spread in the market,

health and free of chemicals. Lessen your eating of packaged

or processed foods; some of the ingredients were harmful

chemicals to preserve the food but not your body. Avoid too

much sugar.


Eat a balanced carb and protein diet not a low carb diet. Your

body need to replenish the energy lost during surfing by

eating carb rich food and protein for muscle tissue

regeneration also it is needed for the brain to function well for

better decision making not risk making.

Rich protein foods are meats; chicken, fish, dairy goods;

cheese, milk and beans. Rich in carbohydrates are rice,

oatmeal, taro, potato, corn fruits and vegetables.

Drink a lot of water, water evaporates quickly out your body

through perspiration due to heavy cardio surfing plus sea

water only stimulates quick lose of water to your body. Drink 8

glasses a day or more if you sweat a lot. Water helps

metabolize the food that you eat so that your body will

function well. Rehydrate to avoid heat stroke.

Live a healthy habit

If you want to be fit with consistency rather than just having

your weight bouncing up and down as you diet, give up, and

back on a diet.

Change your life plan.

Diets and weights are all very well, but most people lose

motivation or put it back on once they've hit their target

weight.

The motivation for going to the gym, swimming lengths, eating

properly is more or less, roughly, give or take zero if not done

regularly.

Cycle for instance 30 miles a day. Surf instead of sitting on the

couch in front of the TV, walk instead of riding a car. Do

something fun instead of going to the pub.

What I mean is, as well as the diet etc, once the weight is

off, keep it off and stay fit by maintaining the habit.


Can a large person surf?

Some may find it awkward and you may find it hard to do trick

if you aren’t that mobile. But with a little enthusiasm and

eagerness you can learn to surf and maybe this will add you

additional dexterity. Try to see a board from the illustration

that will carry your height and choose the one with extra

thickness (3 inch) so that you will float and paddle.

Before you buy a board, just rent first to keep you from buying

more surfboard before you trim to your regular weight.

Can a fat person surf?

Yes you can if you have the desire. It is a very fantastic site

when big surfers learn to surf. You will empress the crowd and

with a little side effect that will make you pleased. Surfing can

nip away those extra inches from your body.

Try to practice first or learn lessons with few crowds and make

yourself a pro. Crowd maybe annoying sometimes and you

could lose your enthusiasm and you may never learn to surf.


Chapter 6

Safety Health Tips


Sunblock for Surfers

You can’t enjoy too much fun in the sun without sun block.

Over exposure to the sun with its harmful ultra violet (UV)

rays is the main cause of skin cancer. UV rays can trigger skin

cancer by emulating changes in the cells of the skin. Also it will

cause your skin with nasty sunburns and other indirect effects

that could later on develop like cataracts.

Consider these healthy tips that may help you prevent UV rays

from penetrating your body.

1) The best sun block of all is the natural protection with

the shade like hut, T-shirt, hats and natural body

protection like vitamin D. If you are only sightseeing

and not planning to surf for the day.

2) Try to wear long sleeve shirts to cover body and arms.

3) Wear sunglasses if you may because harmful UV rays

will be dissipated with anti UV sunglasses.

4) Try to surf when the sun is off its peak early in the

morning and late in the afternoon or as much as

possible avoid surfing from 10:00 am to 4:00 in the

afternoon.

5) Sun can still penetrate through the clouds, so use sun

block when eager to surf.

Sun block choosing tips:

1) Sun block contains substance that aides to prevent

harmful UV rays that can harm your skin. At least 3

substances were normally found on sun blocks these

are: Zinc, Titanium dioxide, Avobenzone or Mexoryl SX,

if found more than this, try to avoid buying unless you

needed to supplement other deficiency of your body

like vitamin D and with anti-oxidant to lessen wrinkles.

2) Choose sun block that is water resistant that won’t

deter fast or sticks with your skin longer. All that sea

water and perspiration will wash away those cheap sun

blocks.

3) Opt only cream based sun-block and stay away from

powder or spray based. Powder and spray based sun-

block contains small particles that may be harmful

when inhaled.

4) Good news is that the sun provides vitamin D if sun is

at its low peak.

5) Bad news is that too much vitamin A may only speed

up growth of tumor on your skin “as study shows”.

6) Pick sun-block with SPF 15-30 only as you desire.

Higher SPF only tempts you to stay on the sun longer.


Prevent Hair Damage from Sea and Sun

Yes sea water and sun can damage your hair. Why? Because

hair contains 10% moisture and other compounds found on

our body. Sea and sun dries that moisture and leaves our hair

dry and brittle. This only helps to the demographics who want

to look good with their healthy hair especially the dudettes

and other fussy dudes out there. Surfing is fun but only in the

water, what if you are trying to impress a guy or a gal but in a

bad hair day. You can try this few techniques from the expert

on how to care for your hair from the sun.

1) Before you go out surfing, dampen your hair with

saturated water, it will avert sea water from soaking in.

2) Use mild shampoo or never shampoo at all when

surfing; it causes the natural oils to wash away from

your hair, a vital ingredient that protects your hair

naturally.

3) Apply sunscreen to protect your hair from drying up

moistures.

4) Or you can use conditioner for more moisture and

protection to your hair

5) After surfing, use detox shampoo to remove sea water.

6) If possible, invest on weekly deep condition.


How to treat Sea Urchin Sting?

There are hundreds of known species of sea urchins and few

of those can deliver some nasty sting. Sea urchins are found

anywhere in the globe. It has spiny stingers and other species

is known to have venom. Its spines alone hurt badly when

stepped upon or touched plus venom adds extra tingle when

triggered. Due to numerous species of sea urchin, we cannot

determine how to treat injuries with standard.

These are the few known example on how to treat sea urchin

sting. Choose on what you prefer.

When you stepped on a sea urchin, this will really hurt

extremely more over when you step on big ones.

Seek medical attention if near the hospital.

Some marine biologist say to pee on the spines and with

effect. Ammonia from urine helps neutralize the venom but it

won’t dissolve the spines. Spines will just dissolve on their

own. Don’t try to dig deep to get them out.

Soak towel on vinegar and put it on wound when you don’t

want to pee on the wounds.

Some doctors say that urine will only infect the wound.

Soak your feet on hot water to ease minimal pain.

The best way to avoid sea urchin injuries are wearing shoes

and be vigilant to avoid side reefs because that’s where they

are hiding.


Maintain surfing physique

If you’re dormant on surfing for a month and gained lot of

fats, surfing may not be easy for you. Paddling will become bit

of a drag. All those shoulder muscles has slept and needs to be

awaken.

Before you think of having a rest on surfing in just a while or a

month, find ways to maintain your physique by exercising or

other activities that can maintain your strength and cardio.

So that when you miss surfing, getting back should be hassle

free and no more sore muscles.

Try some of these exercises for your shoulder muscle maintain

or gain strength for paddling.

You use your chest and shoulders quite a bit while surfing,

especially when paddling and when popping up to ride a wave.

The bench press is probably the most popular upper body

exercise, but other useful ones are lat pull downs, tri-cep pull

downs, curls, even simple pushups and other shoulder

rotation exercises.

Maintain your dexterity and mobility by stretching to make

you more flexible and mobile, which allows you to accomplish

more on your board. You can do simple stretching exercises

almost anywhere, and yoga is an option for a more structured

activity. Pretty much every muscle can benefit from

stretching, including hamstrings, calves, pectorals, and the

lower back stretching, including hamstrings, calves, pectorals,

and the lower back.

Keep your leg’s strength for extra balance and to handle

maneuvers when you get back to surfing. Properly working

out your legs also will help you avoid injury to your ankles and

knees. Examples of leg and lower body surfing exercises are

squats, lunges, hip abductions and adductions, and calf raises.

Once you’ve surfed, you’ll always surf. But before you go back

surfing after long vacation, take extra precaution because your

body is not as better as before but if you are exercising, risk of

having an injury is slim. Surfing is exciting and fun sport that

can make you happy with just a little amount of money.


Chapter 7

Surfing Trip

Pack for surfing trip

Panning for a surf vacation? It is better to be prepared

whenever you are in a surf trip on the road and on the beach.

A well planned trip is very rewarding when you are enjoying

your time spent at the surf camp but you must pack things you

desired to be satisfied and what things you needed the most

with surfing before you get there. You can follow this

reference if you like on what to carry for packing your things

up.

Bring two or more surfboard with you, your favorite and your

back up. You can never be sure when your surfboard breaks

“hopefully not”. But if you have the economic advantage at

your side then its ok to bring one, you can always buy another

board but if no surf shop available near, so then you’ll be

forced to bring a back up. Surfing is never a surfing without a

board.

Don’t forget the surfing requisites, the leashes, lot of wax, fins

with extra set, fin key and wax comb.

Bring also a repair kit for your board or ding kit before it crack

even more or hurt you for the worst.

Then pack with you your body essentials like sunblock,

wetsuits, boardshorts and insect repellants.


Why Travel for a Surf vacation?

Surf travel is one of the great passions to some and they have

done many surf trips to exotic locations as well. Some have

done extensive travel outside of surfing, but surf trip has

always been the favorite way to see the world. On a surf trip,

you typically end up at some exotic location like South

America, South Africa, Hawaii and South East Asia etc.

Typically this exotic location you end up in is somewhere

many only see in postcards of some perfect island paradise.

Also, surfing a few hours in the morning and evening leaves

you plenty of time for relaxation and to get out and see the

sites and meet the locals.

Included in the list for travel is to take their first surf trip with

the purpose of learning to surf by finding a good surf camp. A

sample "where to surf" guide as I've said with this book will

reveal hundreds of surf camps around the world. There are

many surf camps in places like Costa Rica, Mexico, Indonesia,

Australia and Hawaii that specialize in teaching people how to

surf. These surf camps are often a week long and are staffed

with skilled surf instructors. By the time you leave, you will be

an intermediate class surfer that can pop up on a wave and

ride. Very satisfying vacation indeed. Other surf camps are

intended for professional surfers and offer tours to surf spots

you never knew existed. Some of these camps are setup to

cater to women surfers as well with weeklong women only

sessions.

Try and visit other country to travel at least a few times a year

on a surf trip and enjoy the beauty of places with adventure. It

is always great to see new locations and experience new

culture.

Know about the Locals

Like in a society, or even with your other buddy, surfing has its

dark side. Surfers that surf the same spots a lot start to feel

like that spot is theirs or like being a territorial animal. They

like to take a sense of ownership of the spot. Some locals feel

like they should get all, or most of the waves out there. New

people who show up are considered intruders. Localism may

show itself as; someone yelling towards you, dropping-in on

you, flattening your tires, waxing your windshield, or even

throwing your shoes and or back pack in the water, along with

many dirty tactics. Here are some things you can do to be

accepted with the locals. Respect the locals, if you are a

beginner you probably should not surf the same surf spots as

them. You will most likely just get in their way, and give

yourself and the locals a bad experience. Be patient enough to

gain your respect from them. When you are ready to surf with

them, just try to be nice and give them smile. You will find that


most of the locals are regular guys and gals who when treated

nicely, and with respect will respond in the same way. Avoid

being a show off. Don't contest with the bigger waves and

don't show that you are far more superior. It's is very difficult

to be friends with the locals especially if they don't know your

dialect, language gap is always the barrier to get acquaintance

with other locals. Always lower your tone when you speak to

avoid misunderstanding. Once you've gain their respect, they

can never be that bad at all. You can even have a plus if they

tour you around and show their hospitality.

Big wave surfing

Big Wave Surfing is a discipline within surfing in which

experienced surfers paddle into or are towed onto waves

which are at least 20 feet high almost like a tsunami, on a gun

surfboard that has less drag and fast moving. Sizes of the

board needed to successfully surf these waves vary by the size

of the wave along with the skills the surfer uses to reach the

wave. A larger, longer board allows a rider to paddle fast

enough to catch the wave and has the advantage of being

more stable, but it also restricts maneuverability and surfing

speed. In early 90's, tow in surfing was introduced. This type

of surfing involves being towed in to massive waves by Jet Ski,

allowing for the speed needed to successfully ride. Tow in

Surfing greatly influenced board size, allowing surfers to trade

in their unwieldy 12 ft. boards for the sake of light, 7 ft boards

that allowed for more speed and easier maneuverability in

waves over 30 ft. By the end of the 1990s, tow in surfing

allowed surfers to ride waves exceeding 50 ft. Tow in surfing

also is a great help during wipe out and rescue where jet skis

run across big waves before it breaks at them.


Where is the best spot to learn to surf?

The expert says that the best part of the world to surf is in

Australia and Bali Indonesia. These islands are outfitted with

surf schools for beginners and some of the barrels as well for

the expert class.

You can also check the internet for more detailed guidelines of

where you will plan to surf and vacation.

http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/and here are some places

where you can surf in your continent to your locality and

check on that site if there are available resorts that can cater

your needs or whether you’re planning to visit these places

and in the same time learn how to surf.

• Australia

• Azores

• Bali

• Barbados

• Brazil

• Fuerteventura

• G-Land

• Galapagos

• Hawaii

• Hinako

• California

• Costa Rica

• Dominican Republic

• Ecuador

• El Salvador

• England

• Florida

• France

• Ireland

• Java

• Lanzarote

• Madeira

• Maldives

• Mentawai

• Mexico

• Morocco

• New Zealand

• Panama

• Papua New Guinea

• Peru

• Philippines

• Portugal

• Tahiti

• Tonga

• Puerto Rico

• Samoa

• Senegal

• South Africa

• Spain

http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/


• Sri Lanka

• Sumatra


Thanks to the reader, all this is possible because you want to know about surfing. Thanks to the surfing world and the one who gave

us this wonderful curls. This book is made possible because you want it. All of these are answers to your questions. It does have a

disclaimer though. Some of the information may not be that accurate and outdated but I have tried to update it. All in all, this book

serves as a guide to all your surfing needs.

How to Surf: Beginner's Guide to Surfing

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Transcript of How to Surf: Beginner's Guide to Surfing