Who can learn to surf is a question many instructors hear. Surfing is on a lot of bucket lists. Young people and especially teen girls see it as something they can do equal to boys in their new found liberties to play sports. Over 60 adults want to test their remaining abilities and join a culture they have followed all their lives.
When I teach Surf Lessons in Oceanside USA, I get all ages from kids to seniors. Age is not chronological as much as functional. One of my best students was 77 years old and a life long heli-ski guide. Advantages are held by those who are flexible, have upper body strength and have active cardio exercise. People who are always learning new physical movements adapt quickly.
When you ask who can learn to surf begin by learning what are the physical requirements and then what are the necessary techniques. Surfing introduces techniques the body has not practiced. People who are always learning new things like yoga or dancing or aerobic classes have an easier time. Surfing takes a little courage. Many people get stopped by the requirement to move from the lying down position to the standing position. They are not sure whether they will fall. Its only water, but still we are not accustomed to falling down.
Almost everyone says its a blast regardless of how they do. Their is something thrilling about being on a board and getting pushed by a wave. Standing up makes it more fun, but surfing immerses one into the ocean where you get to play with the waves and try to conquer the sport of kings.
How to fall when surfing develops with the instincts of experience. One of the things that is constantly on the mind of beginner surfers is falling. When students are in my Oceanside Surf Lessons USA, the fear often keeps them from trying to stand up on the surf board. When you start riding real waves, you fear pearling (where the surf board nose goes under water). On bigger waves, falling brings hundreds of pounds of water on top of you while it is churning.
How to fall when surfing
Watching surfers is a lot of fun. It is also a lot of laughs. It is so much easier to be on the beach and watch the crazy crashes and wipe outs. If you are in the water it is not always so funny.
When you are learning in foam waves near the shore, you want to fall backward to land on your butt instead of forward where you could land on your head. As you start falling off real waves, your instincts get better and you learn to drop straight down into the water or cannon ball.
Know the Water Depth Where You Are Riding
When you ride a board to shore, you have to be careful about just falling off the back. Once I didn’t pay attention to the fact it is was low tide and when I dropped in the water was only about six inches deep. I had a major contusion on my butt for a week. It is always good to sit down on the board if you can without falling on it.
The first thing to do is protect your head and face when you go under water. I always put my arms in front of my face and my hands over my head until I have come up to the surface. I wonder where my board is and I don’t want it to hit me. When you come to the surface you might want your hands on top of your head in case the fins of your board are above you. I have been hit on the head with the fins of my board after I came up and I’ll tell you, scalp wounds make you bleed like a stuck pig.
If you are on a shallow reef you come down on your board so you don’t hit what is below.
In the beginning when you pearl and fall off your board you will do some face plants and full chest plants. These hurt. It takes a while to learn how to turn side ways to the water, cannonball in, or get to your back. When you are being somersaulted under water you do not know where your board is so you want to cover up.
You always want to know where other surfers are and watch where their board is when they fall. Learning how to fall in surfing becomes instinct with experience.
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If you are interested in Learning to Surf in Oceanside, see my Home Page
Learn surfing on vacation in Oceanside to create a recreation that can be enjoyed on many vacations. Along with sitting in the sun, walking for coffee in the morning, fishing, and boogie boarding, surfing is a great destination recreation.
When I teach Surf Lessons in Oceanside USA, my students are from all over the world.
Once you learn how to practice, you can take that knowledge to Hawaii, Mexico, Portugal, and so many other great surf destinations.
You Don’t Need Anything But a Wet suit to Learn
In the summer, you don’t even need a wet suit. Water temperatures are over 70 degrees. In the winter, the water temperatures don’t drop below 60 degrees most to of the time and a wet suit is adequate for staying warm.
Instructors bring the surf boards. If you want to practice after your instruction, there are surf board rentals you can access all week.
Get in Shape for Your Surfing Vacation
You can be surfing on your vacation with just a little physical preparation. Stretching is good for any activity. For surfing, you want to loosen up your hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back. Some side to side twisting is also good. You want to be flexible for executing the pop up and not getting hurt with strange falls.
Upper body strength is important so start doing push ups. If you belong to a gym you are probably already doing upper body weights. Add cables for paddling strength.
Aerobics are also important for any vigorous sport. They help with sudden exertions and recovery.
Surfing on Vacation is a Spiritual Experience
Surfers often go into the water just to “get wet” as they say. There is something special about being in the water, feeling the sun and ocean breezes that makes you feel at one with the earth.
Surfing on vacations can help you make that connection with every place you visit.
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If you are interested in Surf Lessons, see the Home Page
Visit my Face Book page for inspirational photos and quotes
See a dry land and water beginner demonstration
Surfing is not exclusive to the young. Seniors can learn to surf as well as any adults. My oldest student is 77 years old and he got up on the board the first time and most times after that.
Seniors surfing
How to Prepare Yourself for the First Surfing Day
Children, teens, adults, and seniors could all have trouble surfing if they have not led active lives. Surfing is a full body sport. Some of the best prepared adults and kids are those who do gymnastics, yoga, weights, pilates, tri-athlons, biking, running, swimming, soccer, dancing, and so on. I think you get the idea.
In my Oceanside Surf Lessons, many seniors have surfing on their bucket list, but age being functional, not just chronological, many have not stayed active with the right activities.
Surfing has specific muscle groups that are supported with some specific practices. First is flexibility. I often ask my students if they can put their palms on the ground without bending their knees. The pop up loves flexible hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back. There is a motion of getting on the board where you bring your front foot under your chest and place it in the middle of the board.
Upper body strength is important for pushing up with a spring to move the front foot forward to the middle of the surf board. It is one thing to push your body up in the living room or on the beach and quite different in the water. Some instruction videos say practice on your bed if you want to understand how water fails to support you.
Stamina extends your learning time. If students could practice full strength all day, they could almost be pros at the end. Most adults are tired in an hour, kids and teens in an hour and a half, and seniors often in twenty minutes. Iron man work outs are a good model. Participants practice each phase of the contest building stamina and then work with weights for when the body gets tired.
This is not to scare you, but many students who think they are in good shape when they arrive find they have not prepared for the specific demands of surfing. Seniors can learn to surf and make their lives better in the process.
High Volume Surf Boards Make Learning Easier
New adult students should start on 9′ soft top surf boards. Seniors can learn to surf on bigger boards, but when they get too big they allow students to cheat on the proper techniques. The 9′ surf board will support students weighing up to 250 pounds. If weight is not an issue, then this soft top board allows new students to practice the right techniques and learn the fundamentals.
Ideally, after students have learned the fundamentals on a 9′ board, it is fun to step down to an 8′ board. The smaller board is easier to handle, more maneuverable, and more fun once students have learned the basics.
The First Three Things a Student Learns
Adults and seniors can learn to surf learning the first three fundamentals and have a lot of fun.
Paddling on the surf board maintaining balance seems easy, but is trickier than one would think in the water. Students have to maintain the balance of the surf board by lying across the middle stringer with equal weight on both sides of the board. Surfers keep their body pencil straight with both feet together, their head in the middle of the board and then balance the level by moving their butt.
Paddling is accomplished by dropping the arm in the water up to the elbows and pulling straight back along the sides of the board. Paddlers want to keep their chin and chest up to prevent the nose from going under water and to make the pop up easier.
Catching waves is the second important fundamental and many feel the most fun part. When the foam wave is twenty feet from the board, the student rolls onto the board arriving in the middle of the board and starts paddling easy. When the wave is 5′ away the student starts paddling hard. After the wave starts pushing the board, the student continues paddling hard for three or four strokes or until the board is moving without paddling being necessary.
The final fundamental is the most athletic part. Seniors can learn to surf when they accomplish this task and should practice in their living rooms at home before they take their first lesson. Videos below give an idea of how the pop up is executed.
The main four steps begin with paddling for a wave until the board is being pushed on its own. Then the student puts their hands on the board in a man’s push up position under their chest. On the third count, they are pushing off the board with power and bringing the front foot under their chest to arrive in the middle of the board. The right spot on the board is between where their hands were positioned.
On the fourth count, the student is standing on the board with shoulders and hips squared to the front, hands in front of the body, and eyes looking over the nose of the board toward the beach.
Practice Makes Perfect
Students can practice all the requirements before and after they visit the water, just like the pros. Seniors can learn to surf by practicing the physical exercises to get fit and the techniques by doing pop ups in their living room. Getting to the water often helps, but daily fitness and daily pop ups can make the whole process much easier.
If there is a long term commitment to scratch this sport off the bucket list and to continue having fun, the daily routines should become part of the student’s life.
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This is a YouTube pop up video that demonstrates the body motion necessary on a high volume board
The surfing pop up is one technique in a series of moves from catching a wave to riding the wave. What most beginners miss is the timing.
Timing the Surfing Pop Up
When I teach beginner surfers, we start with a dry land instruction. On the beach, everything seems pretty simple and few have a problem learning the pop up technique.
Paddle in front of the wave
Entering the water creates a new dynamic as students have to learn paddle the board as it gyrates in the wave, discern when the surf board is stable and in front of the wave, and then move to a smooth stance. Students have an image in their head of what they have to accomplish, but it may not be in the timing required by the circumstances.
I give students a four count to repeat out loud in the water and times their body movement. Count one is paddling until the board is out in front of the wave. This often causes the biggest problem. If you watch beginners without instructors, they often jump up before the wave arrives. I have to get most students to have patience and paddle until the board is in front of the wave.
At the beginning, I push the students into the wave so I have them going straight and its easy to get in front. Once students get on the board themselves without me pushing, they have to aim the board straight to the beach, paddle until they are in front of the wave and the board is level, and then move into a smooth pop up.
The Rhythm of Surfing
When surfers can quiet their mind and get into the rhythm, the whole process is easier. There are three steps to be accomplished. The surfer has to time the wave and be moving before it arrives. Then when the wave is close and as it begins to push the board (real or foam) the surfer paddles hard for a few strokes. Once the board is moving on wave power, the surfer pops up smoothly into a stance that is balanced on the board.
When the surfer has the right stance riding a foam wave, the board will go straight and few movements are needed. If the board carves wildly to the right or left or the surfer falls off over one of the rails, it indicates the surfer’s weight is incorrect. One of the ways to slow down and get into the right stance is to pause for a second after catching the wave.
I give my students four counts and number two is placing the hands on the surf board in a man’s push up position and waiting for a second. In this second, the surfer assesses if the board is moving straight and level, and then readies his body to make a stand up move. This second prevents the surfer from launching himself onto the board while still paddling in the foam of the wave or before the board is stable.
The surfing pop up is executed at the time the board is in front of the wave and the board is stable. This requires technique and patience.
There are 4 things progressing surfers master on their road from beginners to experts.
Fitness
There are three important parts of fitness for surfers. First is flexibility. When professional surfers visit my beach, I often see them warming up with yoga postures that look like live pretzels. Flexibility helps with techniques and reduces the likelihood of tweaks when you get twisted up on falls.
Surfers work on strength through cross training. Most professionals surf for a few hours and work in the gym for a few hours a day. Upper body, core, and leg strength are all important in technique advancement. Strength also creates stamina. Iron man coaches suggest lots of gym work because when the body is tired, strength will pull you through.
Finally, you cannot minimize the value of nutrition. Body builders say you must eat to build muscle. Runners emphasize a good balance of carbs and protein and fat. Surfing can include fuel before entering the water and recovery food after burning muscle while in the water. Surfing is more demanding than beginners realize and I find that cross training and nutrition are important for longer sessions.
Wave Catching
Beginners learn to catch foam waves. It is easy to let the foam wave hit the board from behind, but it takes timing to paddle hard before the wave arrives and while the wave is pushing the board. After the board is in front of the foam wave, the surfer can begin the pop up. This is discipline and patience.
As surfers learn to catch real waves, they have to intersect the forming wave at the right time depending often on volume of the board they are riding. A high volume long board moves before a low volume short board. A steep wave needs different timing than slow rolling waves. Waves that are too steep at the apex or closing out can be caught at the corners.
Recognizing the type of waves on a sand bar beach is more difficult than surfing reefs where wave usually break in the same spot and form more uniformly. Timing becomes the important variable and one never gets too good at timing.
Riding the Surf Boards
Riding certainly distinguishes the beginners from the experts. What progressing surfers have to learn is patience and the need to continuously practice. As progressing surfers start advancing in their wave catching, they will want to start adding techniques to their wave riding.
Riding varies from riding straight down the face, to carving into the pocket and driving a wave, to making lots of maneuvers. Long boards drive pockets and make swiveling turns from moving back and forth on the boards. Short boards make sharp cuts from moving your weight on the board.
Surfers learn waves and when to gain speed, when to carve, to perform tricks, when to bail out over the lip, and when to turn to shore. Each time you go into the water, you should have some idea of what you want to practice.
Courage
Surfing is not for the faint of heart. Beginners learn immediately that the water is far more powerful than their ability to ride if their technique is not right. Nature offers up the power, but like judo, you have to learn how to use it or the results can be hurtful.
Most pros will say they were intimidated each time they ventured to bigger waves. Pros riding Mavericks or Pipe Line will say they have fear when they go out. The secret is to learn to manage it not make it disappear.
Managing fear is assisted with the right habits of fitness and techniques. Preparing in all aspects mentioned above makes us more skillful and more brave.
Kids learn to surf and enjoy it just as much as adults. Their size and strength are major considerations in how much risk they can take and how fast they advance.
Basics for Kids
Kids love surfing but have to be given special consideration for their size, strength, and courage.
I often start kids on 9′ soft top boards and push them into waves. Depending on their size, their arms may not reach far enough into the water to give them control of the surfboard as the foam wave pushes. I teach them the same count to pop up as I do for teens and adults, but kids get up differently most of the time.
The main thing is to get up smoothly and get the right posture on the board. The front foot has to be in the middle of the board and they have to have their shoulders and hips pointed forward so their balance is equal on both sides of the middle stringer.
Most kids can get to a standing position and ride the board to the beach on small foam waves. I like to try them paddling for their own small foam waves, but sometimes they do not have the arm length or strength to control the surf board.
Once I have them assuming the right techniques I move them to an 8′ board and then a 7′ or 6′. If they have the right technique, they have more fun with a smaller board.
I had one 9 year old girl that with a few lessons progressed to a short hard board and was catching real waves. This is exceptional. I try to help kids progress subject to their level of fear or courage. Waves are intimidating and kids must learn to feel comfort. If they are scared, they won’t learn.
I have had 5 year olds that wouldn’t’ go into the water and 5 year olds that wanted to go out too far. You never know. 7 and 8 seem to be the more adaptable ages where they don’t have unreasonable fears and listen well to instructions.
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For Surf Lessons in Oceanside, see my Landing Page
There are certainly 5 essential parts of the surfing pop up. It looks simple, but new students find that each step has to be included in the right order to be successful.
5 Essentials of the Surfing Pop UP
I will list them and then explain each:
Flexibility
Upper Body Strength
Coordination
Timing
Posture
Flexibility- People from kids to seniors don’t stretch, even athletes. I find most people can’t put their fingers to the ground without bending their knees. I stress putting palms to the ground. We get tight in our hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back. If we are not stretched, we have difficulty getting our feet into the proper position on the surf board. For the buttocks, try standing on one foot and lifting the other leg in the air and holding onto the toes. Straighten the leg. Good for the buttocks and balance.
Upper Body Strength- The advanced surfing pop up requires pushing off the surfboard and bringing both feet under the body to the right posture on the board. In the water it is difficult without upper body strength. I teach beginners to put the back foot on the board and start standing on it while lifting the arms and bringing the front foot to the middle of the board. This doesn’t require upper body strength.
Coordination- For a lack of a better term, I am calling the process of balancing, paddling, timing, and moving to the right posture coordination. A high percentage of new students can’t translate what they hear and see to their body. In general, I find boys don’t listen and only take in half of what is said and girls generally take in 100%. Those who can hear and get their body to follow all the instructions progress much faster. Continuous learning of new body movements through dancing, sports, yoga etc help people learn each new sport faster.
Timing- There are at least 5 parts to riding a wave that have to be put in order. First students have to paddle balanced on the board which is more difficult than you would think. Secondly, the surfer must paddle until they are in front of the wave which most beginners rush and put hands on the board too soon. Thirdly, the pop up motion begins after the board is in front of the wave and has to be executed smoothly and perfectly to keep the board going straight and balanced. At the beginning students put knees on the board or hold on too long and fall quickly.
Posture – Beginners need to be in the right posture on the board to ride straight to the beach in foam waves. Advanced surfers develop how they like to ride the board, but beginners have to get their body weight distributed right. The feet need to be shoulder width apart to create a nice platform. The front foot has to be in the middle of the board at a 45 degree angle facing forward. The hips and shoulders need to be facing forward with the hands up in front to be sure weight is equal on both sides of the board’s center line. A trailing shoulder or hand is the primary reason beginners fall. I use a four count for the surfing pop up to get quick smooth rhythm.
Yes, that is a lot. It is the reason most surfers will say it is the most difficult sport to learn. In the movies it looks easy. If you are serious, you will practice popups in your living room every day and cross train for strength, stamina and flexibility, just like the pros.
Beginner surfers enter a world like they have never experienced. Surfing is more complex than it appears, but the beginner learns 3 fundamentals.
The Basics for a Beginner Surfer
The dry land lesson explains what a beginner has to accomplish to ride a surf board in the shore break foam waves. Then the student has to learn the lessons all over in the water because the dynamics cause lots of uncertainty. Not as easy as it would seem, balancing on the board and paddling level towards the beach are not easy with a tumultuous foam wave pushing from behind.
Having ultimate fun
The most important aspect is the beginner needs patience to paddle until the surfboard is in front of the wave. So many beginners jump up before the wave has even hit the board or too soon while the tail is still in the froth. Kids and sometimes women don’t have the power to paddle until the board is ahead of the wave and to keep it going straight.
Catching the wave is timing. Catching a foam wave requires little skill compared to catching a real wave, but the fundamentals are the same. Start paddling before the wave arrives at an easy pace to get the board moving and level. Paddle hard for 3-5 strokes when the wave starts to push the board. Many beginners don’t change their pace from easy to fast paddling and the wave spins and flips the board.
The pop up is the athletic part of getting to a standing position. The body has to move smoothly and the feet have to land in the right spots and the posture needs to be exact. If the student swings into the wrong posture with the butt over a rail instead of in the middle of the board, the surfer falls in the water immediately. The difficult part of instructing beginners is they want to put a knee on the board first because they are fearful. (watch the pop up video below.)
The surfer has to go from the lying down position to having both feet on the board. The front foot has to be in the middle of the board far enough forward to keep the nose down. The hips and shoulders have to be square to the front with both hands in front. Snow boarders and skater boarders like to ride with a shoulder back and a hand trailing which doesn’t work for beginner surfers.
There are 5 beginner surfer fundamentals that launch a new surfer and allow them to practice on their own. My goal in surf lessons is to teach beginners how they can go anywhere and practice without an instructor.
Learning to surf is fun
Water safety is important. Beginners are vulnerable to getting hurt because they are not aware of what happens with a board and the waves. Most beginners start with an 8′ or 9′ soft top. They are excellent because they have high volume for easy use and don’t hurt as bad if they hit you. Best to keep the board behind you by dragging it backward by the leash or pointing it straight into waves.
NEVER let the board get between your body and the wave because you will get knocked down. When you fall off the board, always know where it is. If you go under water, come up with your hands over your scalp protecting your head from fins in case the board is right above you.
The next beginner surfer fundamental is getting on the board properly. I like students to hold the board with one hand on top and one underneath and in the spot when they roll over their feet are at the very back of the board. Then students put the balls of their feet on the board.
Your nose should be on the middle strip and your feet together in the back. You balance the board with your butt. The board has to be pointing straight at the beach. If you take off at an angle on foam waves, they will turn the board over.
Paddling to catch waves is about timing. Drive your arm into the water up to the elbow and pull in very short abbreviated strokes. You do not want to stretch the arm out like you are swimming; it is too slow and causes the board to change direction with each stroke. Paddle easy before the wave arrives and then at least three hard paddles until the board takes off in front of the wave.
Standing up on the board is about timing, steps, and smoothness. After the board has taken off and the foam is behind the board, put your hands on the board in a man’s push up position under the chest. I call this the rest position as you are laying on your hands. From this position, you push up evenly until your arms are fully extended like in a full push up.
It is important not to stall in this position and be thinking about what you are going to do. Lying down and standing up are the only stable positions and everything in between is unstable. As soon as you have pushed up, place one foot on the board a foot or so from the back of the board, flat on the board and perpendicular to the two rails of the board.
Then you stand up on this foot raising your hands up in the air and keeping your shoulders and hips facing forward toward the beach. Now your front leg has no weight on it and you can drive it to the middle of the board and set it across the center line.
You want your weight equal on your front and back legs. You do not want your nose to be over your front foot in a leaning forward posture. Your feet create a nice platform and are shoulder width or a few feet apart. Your knees are flexed so that you can ride the board once you are up.
The beginner surfer’s first objective is to ride the board straight to the beach on a foam wave without falling off. If the posture on the board is right, the board will go straight and the surfer doesn’t have to do any work.
