SURFING LESSON 4.

PADDLING:

Paddling is hard for the beginner. Girls surfers and surfer girls also have to deal with other things like breasts also adding to the difficulty. As I said earlier your paddling muscles need to develop, and only lots of practice can do this. Because of the beginner surfers lack of paddling strength, they tend to position themselves too far back on the board. Their legs hang too far back without control, weighing down the back part of the board, and their arms are flailing around without any purchase in the water. You must move to a more central position on your surfboard, evening out your weight. By being just a few inches too far back you are pushing way too much water. Your surfboards nose is too high making your arms do to much work and increasing fatigue. Once fatigue gets a hold you are more prone to cop a wave on your head. Or a little white water gets under the nose of your surfboard and rips it out from underneath you.
The idea is to glide through the water. You might be saying that the nose digs in and you slip off the front. This is because you aren't holding your body up from the gut and shoulders. Remember I wrote about "the rocker" in the surfboard, well you too must create a small amount of rocker in your body. So move up your surfboard, keep your legs mostly straight and mostly still, hold your body in a slight curve as if you are a rooster passing the hen house, and with flat or slightly cupped hands stroke purposely one arm at a time towards the oncoming waves. This technique helps distribute the load, it builds up condition in many muscles and minimises fatigue.

hold your body in a slight upper curve

push yourself up in one motion

SURFING LESSON 5.

DUCK DIVING:

When faced with the oncoming whitewater don't hold yourself back. Get as much speed as you can. A few feet before the wave hits hold onto the rails of your board towards the front, lower your head and push the board under, bend your knee and push with it, gaining further depth. When you are swimming in the surf and you want to go under a wave, you dive deep and and with a purposeful motion to glide yourself through the turbulence. Well the idea of duck diving is the same, only you have a buoyant object in your arms so that's why speed and force are required. Try and stay in control and straight on your board. The board will take you back to the surface. Don't take a rest but keep paddling there may be whole set coming, and usually an extra second is all you need to get through the next wave and make it out the back, where you have earnt the rest. There are going to be plenty of times that the wave will pick you up and send you back towards the shore. You'll gain composure only to be hit again and again. We call this 'getting caught inside'. But never fear, don't get worked up over it and just wait for the waves to lighten up and start paddling again. Sometimes if you are washed down the beach it might be best to head in and walk back up to where you paddled out from, provided you chose the right spot to paddle out in the first instance. Because you are still the beginner you will tire easy, so go sit on the beach for a while and watch other surfers. Duck diving is skill that takes time, by watching other surfers doing it you'll soon pick up the tecnique.

A nice arched back allowing this surf girl to come further up the board and evening out her weight on the surfboard.