Trying to teach my mate how to surf

[surfaMIKE]

I've tried to teach my mate everything i know, but it looks like she is having a hard time out there. She gets pretty worked and I feel awful everytime a wave comes and throws her around. I know it happens to us all, but I care for her and Im scared she gets hurt and quits surfing forever...

Im very impressed with her because shes real persistent, and I cant wait for her to stand up! I will be so stoked when she does! But Im scared she gets a scare and stops trying to surf.

So what else can I do? Keep on encouraging her? I even recomended this site to her because when i started, this sit helped me loads! Should she just keep on practicing?

[ChasingDaylight]

Oh my word...totally keep practising. I'm super bad and i get so beaten pretty much every time i surf. It's such a learning curve though and sometimes it's just the case that you get stuck in a rut. If she's really persistant now then i'm sure she wont quit. Just keep encouraging her and tell her how to improve (say, work out a bit to improve paddling, or do a million and one pop-ups a day...)

Maybe buy her an instructional dvd (100%surfing is pretty good) or a couple of magazines or something...Something that will get her pretty stoked. Actually, coming from a girls poing of view, a magazine, dvd or whatever that is specifically directed at women gives me SUCH stoke.

Just don't let her give up. It's taken me aaaages and i'm sure i'm not the only one.

[Sillysausage]

first thing is take her into smaller waves to start or keep her in shallower white water while she learns the basics and has got used to wiping out. once she starts improving slightly you can see what she wants to do about going out further.

what board is she learning on?

and yes she should keep surfing as long as she enjoys it

[oldgrom]

Right there with ya bro,,, for sure you only want good things to happen but in reality she is bound to get the same we've all gone through. Leash tangles, bord in the head under water longer than wanted but all in all we still do it right? Chicks are way tougher than your giving credit for (after all they do crank out baby's right !!!)... I just started mine and I worry a but load not only do I want her to succeed and not get hurt but share the enloyment it brings once she starts realy surfing. HA HA mine needs glasses and is trying to surf without them (no contacts ither),,, Talk about me being nerv racked,,,.. I just keep reasuring her and am to very impresed with how she is comming along. Smaller surf easyer days and a board able to float a house on is allso a big helper to me and her so just think about those and as for everything else your fine just keep keep on stoking her,, she'll get it.

[Thibb]

I think girls are also just less used to getting thrown around. Young boys playfight and older boys get involved in sports that usually involve a fair bit of shoving, falling and crashing.

Girls need a bit more time to get used to the whole concept of having their bodies picked up b a wave and then getting dumped, held under and rolled. But they get used to it, all the same.

I've seen three girls learn to surf and two of them eventually got used to the abuse. One never did, but she is happy just to surf broken waves, so she is fine too.

[scsurf]

To me the thing that will keep anyone stoked is to really love the Ocean and being in it.
Then no matter the frustration of learning, you're still having a good time because you're where you enjoy being. As you progress then it only adds to your stoke. Ya?

[oldgrom]

Without a doubt SC ,,, for sure even on crapy days I'm still happier to be out.

[themathteacher]

STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING! The biggest mistake in learning is that no one teaches you to have fun.

Take her only about waist deep in the whitewash. Have her NOT PADDLE, throw herself horizontally towards the beach to gain momentum and pop up, then ride it as long as possible without grounding the board. That is it!

Have her do this straight for a month or so. She'll stand up, she'll ride waves, she'll have a smile on her face every go out and she'll learn! Once she can pop up constantly, almost every time, then the next lesson is paddling, but one lesson at a time.

Most begginers go to the lineup, get worked over and not catch anything and get turnned off to surfing, this will guartee that she has a goog time right away.

[surfaMIKE]

hey thanx guys (and girls). I appreciate it
I dunno about you guys, but I find it easier to stand up on a real wave than on a foamie, so thats why I took her out into real waves, but they were only like 2ft, and it was a pretty weak session, so it was perfect to learn

Dont get me wrong, shes a tough girl. She does full on contact karate, and in her type of karate, if she kills her opponent, she wins (thats heavy!!). But she is a true hippy, no lies. She LOVES nature, especially the ocean, and I honestly can say that she is a surfer, but hasnt stood up yet

She has a second hand +-7ft gun. It was all she could afford, but its in great shape, and she is obviously lighter than me, so the board should be fine for her. But she is really progressing well! On the first day that I took her out, she could sit on the board. I couldnt do that on my first day out! She seems to take the rough stuff as well. She gets worked at times, but she doesnt get out and sulk on the beach, thats impressive! Because all my other girl friends (not girlfriends) that I tought, climbed out in no time! She simply gets back on her board and paddles out again! Thats awesome! So she deffinetly doesnt show any signs of giving up. I just need to wait for exams to pass, and a shweet small swell to come round, then shes gonna have a jol!

Thanx again hey

[twerked]

the gun is probably not helping the whole standing up thing. the narrow pintail makes the rear end unstable in small, gutless surf. the rocker, rails, and entire shape are made for big waves. try to at least rent a longboard and see how she does.

i do agree with the whole real waves vs foam. our lessons are almost always in real waves, but they're maybe shin-thigh, waist at the absolute biggest waves. at that size, the foam can really only push groms. but when it gets bigger, then it's huck finn whitewashing time

[kamikaze272727]

Hey SurfaMIKE, as a kid I used to travel from Durban to Richardsbay a lot to fish the north coast. Sigh* what a nice place. I hope they havent destroyed it.

Could it be possible that just you are concerned about her progress? Maybe she's okay with all of this. Just dont show her that it bothers you, otherwise this will put more pressure on her. I think the idea is take off all the pressure, and forget about the "getting there" and just have a blast.

Before you know it... you know things you didn't know you knew.

If all else fails, give her a 10ft plank. Mmmh.. these are harder to come by in SA... its so shortboard dominant.

[surfaMIKE]

Yeah Richards Bay is an awesome place, dont think I'll ever leave here, but they have sort of messed it up with the development, but we cant do anything about it because the government doesnt give a rats arse about the people

Anyway, Im not trying to push her, I want her to have fun, I think I sometimes forget that it took me a month to finally stand up! But that was because I was a fat arse, and had no core strength. Now she on the other hand has got a strong core, and really has potential, but that still doesnt give me the right to expect her to stand up in the first three sessions. Patience is a virtue, and surfing is patience, so lets just give it time, but I know for sure that she will stand up quicker than me when I started

Thanx guys

[twerked]

honestly, i'd expect her to stand up on her first session, not fully charging or riding open face, but up and standing and riding the whitewash straight in. i've taught many girls on our lessons, ranging from ages 8 to 40+ and i'd say all but a very few have stood up first lessons. a lot of it is mental. is she having kind of a mental block of 'this is hard, i can't do it'? the ones who have gotten up, they weren't going down the line all of the time, a few have (usually the younger groms), but for the most part they do get up and ride for a bit. the only time that they have difficulty is if the conditions aren't ideal, but that's kind of expected, or if they have that aforementioned mental block. and one case the girl was hungover and not feeling well. i think the issues are really stemming from the board