- Picking the Wrong Surfboard
Instructors are your best friend when picking out a surfboard. They will help you determine the right board size (i.e. longboard or shortboard), board type (i.e. foam top or hard top), and board volume (i.e thickness). Considerations when choosing a board include your:
- Surf Level
- Age
- Height
- Weight
- Fitness Level (i.e. How often do you work out or do you have experience with other board sports like snowboarding or skateboarding?)
We totally get the appeal of a sexy shortboard, but one of the biggest mistakes a beginner can make is renting or buying one to start with. Surfing is a challenge already. Don’t give yourself an excuse to quit. As a general rule of thumb, beginners should start with a longboard (about 8 or 9 ft. long) with a foam top for obvious safety reasons. You shouldn’t graduate to a hard top until you’ve practiced a barrel roll with your instructor and understand basic surf etiquette, like right of ways and communicating with other surfers in the water.
- Not Warming Up
Don’t be that guy or gal that pulls a muscle and can’t surf for the rest of their vacation. Common injuries like muscle strain are oftentimes avoidable with some light stretching on the beach before your session. Like with any sport, taking a little jog to get your blood flowing beforehand is super beneficial too. It will help increase your circulation and energy level, preparing you to catch some gnar gnar waves!
- Paddling Into the Crowd
So you picked the right board and warmed up your muscles, what now? It’s time to paddle out and take your place in the lineup (the area where the waves normally begin to break). Once you’re in the water, don’t paddle straight into the heart of the lineup. Doing so could put you and other surfers in harm’s way and might prevent another surfer from catching a great wave. Don’t be that person. Instead, it’s best practice to paddle out on the outside of the wave and then once you reach the depth of the lineup, paddle towards it, parallel to the beach.
- Looking Down When Popping Up
Don’t look down, look up! Pro tip: practice popping up on the beach first. This will get your body into the rhythm of things and you’ll be more likely to pop up properly in the water. Bodies are cool things and you’ll find that you’ll naturally steer in the direction you’re looking in. So, if you’re looking down, you’re going down. If you’re looking at that cold coconut water on the beach, that’s where you’re headed. If you have trouble kicking the habit, ask your instructor for a video analysis session. The power of actually seeing yourself doing the things you swear you aren’t doing, will help you tweak your movements and break the habit for good.
- Popping Up on Your Knees
Perfecting your pop up will take time and patience. A pop-up is the push-up like action you take from lying on your board to hopping up into a surf position. One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a beginner surfer is popping up on your knees instead of your toes. There are a few reasons why you should avoid doing this. First of all, ouch! It hurts and can cause injury. Also, it can throw you off balance and slow you down, inevitably resulting in you missing the wave. Like most things in surfing, the key here is practice, practice, practice.