Getting through waves and sitting in the lineup

[jb514]

I can't really duck dive my board and I'm having trouble getting to the lineup while I'm getting killed by waves barreling down. Once I'm at the lineup I'm have trouble figuring out where to be so that I'm not to far out to catch it, or too close that the wave breaks on me. Is it just a matter of getting stronger and more comfortable swimming in the water?

[zandvoortsurfertje]

First of all to get stronger you need to do swimming, every 2 days a week swim for about 3 quarters of an hour and do all sort of exercises, especially breast stroke (try it without your feet to get stronger in your arms). When you finally reached the lineup, watch a few waves coming by and see were they break, then sit a few meters from the breaking point and watch if the waves break to the left or the right, if they break to the left, go a bit more to the right, and if they break right then go a bit more to the right.

[drowningbitbybit]

You're going to need to learn to duckdive or turtle roll at some point soon, but this also gives us a clue as to what's going wrong...

getting to the lineup while I'm getting killed by waves barreling down

...if the waves are barrelling down on you while you paddle out, your paddling out in the wrong place. Getting out back is 90% timing and route. Go around the impact zone, use a rip, wait for a lull.
Sit on the shore for 5 minutes and see where other surfers are paddling out. They wont be trying to duckdive a barrel.

[jb514]

Mainly the place Im describing is a point break with fairly long waves so its hard to go around them. What should I be looking for when waiting for a lull? Should I start paddling out right when I think a set has ended.

[drowningbitbybit]

Might be hard to go around them, but sounds like its impossible to go through them

As for spotting a lull... experience.
Watch. Watch some more. Dont just go immediately. See what the ocean is doing - how many waves to a set? Time between sets? Are the sets all the same size?
Learn all that, wait for the best moment and then paddle like your life depends on it towards the horizon.

[tony g]

I think you will get way ahead if you devote a couple of sessions to just duck diving. Watch people duck dive on surf videos, and go out and practice till you can do it correctly. Then when you are faced with a wave breaking right in front of you you will be able to handle it and have the confidence to paddle out even if there is not a huge lull. You need to learn to be a good waterman so you are more comfortable out there. Learning to duck dive will help accomplish this. I wish you luck, but what you really need is to put the effort into learning with the attitude of whatever it takes I am going to learn to duck dive.

[jb514]

Well, I'm trying to transition down to shortboarding and I have a 7'0 , 2 5/8 board. So it floats really well. I'm guessing duck diving will till I get a less floaty board.

I think my biggest problem is I try to hard to stay out of people's way. Looking back on my session from today, it seems like I was sitting too far away from the curl. When there are a lot of people in the water, is it okay to "cut" through the pack to get towards the curl? It always seems like when there are a lot of people I can never sit where I want to.

[PredationSA]

It's okay if it's between sets but if it's during the set most people would see it as "snaking" i rate and won't be too happy about that. I've got a 7"4' and i duck dive it. It's ridiculously tiring but it's definitely doable. I rate still try learn to duck dive your board because you'll get some surf specific muscles going if you know what i mean and when you drop down in size, duck diving will be an absolute breeze.

I just takes time, i've been surfing for a year and half or so and i feel fairly good about my skill level but i still don't sit right among the pack because i've always got the thought in the back of my mind of "ah, what if i screw up the wave and then i ruined the chance for someone to get a nice wave. are they going to be angry?" etc. Just got to confident with your skills over time and then you'll be fine sitting with the big boys

[jb514]

Generally, I find myself sitting almost as far out as the pack but too far away from the white water, which I think makes me waste a lot of waves.

Also I just started shortboarding and I'm not quite sure what kind of waves and beaches I should be looking for. It seems like some beaches are just too small, where its mostly longboarders and others seem just too big. I know I should really be working on my paddling but does it make sense to just practice popping up and standing on waves in the white water?

[muzza]

Ive got a very meaty 6'10" swallowtail (2 3/4" thick) and a 7'3" (3" thick) pintail.

I can now duck dive them both, but A) it aint easy and B) it didn't happen overnight.

Practice.

One day you'll find yourself in the path of a mountain of white water comin at you and it's amazing how good you can duck dive if you're sh**ing yourself.

One of the things that I find makes me screw up a duckdive and get mashed is toward the end of a long session and I just don't have any strength left to push it under.

Pushups.

Lots of pushups.

And keep practicing.

And when you finally 'get it' - keep practicing.

[Wave4Surf]

I have a fish 5'0 of BicSurf. With such a board it is easy to do a turtle roll, for instance, through a barrel. But when I'm going to surf, I usually check with my mate what the sea is like, where other surfers are paddling (if there are other surfers), and of course, an open spot in between two areas of waves.

[madcat]

I either just push through the white water or I turtle. I haven't had any luck duck diving from white water, although I can duck dive if it's about to break on top of me and make it through pretty well. My shortest board is my 6' 8" WMD and I can force it under, but not very well.

I've found I can turtle and just roll back onto the board after it passes, I don't lose a ton of ground this way. I try to turtle and pull the nose of my board down so the current will pass over it, sometimes it works great, sometimes not so much. It depends on how big/nasty the waves are.

[noob]

PredationSA and muzza, teach me how to duckdive my board! lol. i have 6'6 fish which is a floater, 22" and 3"thick, damn thing floats likea minimal, hard to push the tail down! how'd you get to duck dive your boards?? tell me pleaseeee

[PredationSA]

I am fairly strong so that does help but there a few things which help. Pushing the nose in with your hands closer to the nose makes it easier since you're forcing less of the board in all at once and something which someone has suggested which i don't like to do because it throws me off a balance a bit is pushing the board in at an angle kinda like a \ (you tilt the board a bit before pushing). Truthfully my duck dives aren't amazing and it's often hit and miss when the whitewash has a fair bit of power behind it because i do struggle to find the perfect footplacement sometimes on the tail for the push down (i think a tail pad would help me with that) but you definitely can get to a level that you'll be diving most successfully. I sometimes duck dive waves that don't even need to be just so i can get that strength going

[madcat]

Something else I thought of that could be useful. When you paddle, make sure you paddle smooth and try not to get frantic or paddle in different directions. Try to keep your strokes smooth and even all pushing towards the same direction. I've started paddling more rather than hopping around holding my board and I am finding if I can get some momentum built I can just motor through the white water.

[noob]

I am fairly strong so that does help but there a few things which help. Pushing the nose in with your hands closer to the nose makes it easier since you're forcing less of the board in all at once and something which someone has suggested which i don't like to do because it throws me off a balance a bit is pushing the board in at an angle kinda like a \ (you tilt the board a bit before pushing). Truthfully my duck dives aren't amazing and it's often hit and miss when the whitewash has a fair bit of power behind it because i do struggle to find the perfect footplacement sometimes on the tail for the push down (i think a tail pad would help me with that) but you definitely can get to a level that you'll be diving most successfully. I sometimes duck dive waves that don't even need to be just so i can get that strength going

i can push the front of my board down easily but the problem is at the tail, it seems to resist every attempt i make at pushing it down using my foot. but if you can do it, might as well practice it