A Newbies Guide for Newbies

[garbarrage]

you been to a surf town yet? have a look at some of the shops... can't say about over there, but you can get some really good deals on second hand boards in Lahinch and Bundoran over here (2 well known surf spots)... been tempted a few times even tho i get boards cheap through my girlfriend.

[phillwilson]

Hi all...

Well, Ive finally gone and done it!!!

in the end I went for the Pinoa I had ridden in my last sesh. I loved its light weight and semi-floaty feel so I dug deep, pleaded with Mark at Fluid Concept in Scarborough
and got what I consider to be a real good deal.

Board Bag Leash Fins Wax for £250


I had very nearly chosen the M8R8's Konzo board because of its cheapness but I was so pleased I hadn't....I'd made the choice cos I was happier to pay more and know there's a guy across the beach who will show me how to repair dings/give me advice and buy the board back at a good value once Im ready to move on , but when I got home I had an inbox with three real bad horror stories from Konzo owners I had emailed from ebay...they all said how thin and fragile the glass job is on the konzo.

Sadly I havent had the chance to surf it yet at the sea was as flat as glass all weekend...roll on thursday tho!!

[phillwilson]

Sorry...just to clarify

Konzo = Bad
Pinao = Good

imho

I just read back the last post and thought it might sound like i didnt like the one i bought.I doooooooooo

[garbarrage]

think everyone has a soft spot for their first board...
now get out there and enjoy it fingers crossed for ya to get waves..

[surferdude_scarborough]

good choice of surf shop. sound blokes at fluid concept. even if theyre only there at weekends.

[phillwilson]

Ha yer, deffo, Mark even offered to come down on thursday and open up for me to get my board early...lucky for him there was nada to surf on so I waited patiently(ish) til saturday.

my fingers are still crossed to get out tonight

[phillwilson]

..........................09/July UPDATE...................

Well, a fair bit to share with all my fellow newbies today.

Went to Cayton last nights and it was an evening of firsts.

. First meet with a member...Hi surferdude_scarborough, saw you get some good waves, hope you had a good one

. First surf adventure without someone I knew previously... this was pretty weird cos the later it got the less people out in the water, made be feel more vunerable then I thought it would, but possibly that could be because of the next "first"

. First time out back AND first riptide....Basically when I got down to the beach I noticed that the lineup seemed to be full of mainly competent people ...everyone was out in a proper lineup rather then standing waist deep waiting like there normaly is a lot of round here.... I didn't want to get in anyones way as the last thing i want is to ruin someone elses ride...im a noob willing to pay my dues to those who have gone before...

sooo

I decided to try getting outback, first time I managed pretty well, get there, picked a place where there was less people..said my hellos to surferdude_scarborough and waited about a bit..eventually i went for a wave, caught it, but as it was bigger then anything I had been on before, i ended up clinging ot the rails and just got a big bodyboard ride back in.

seemed fun so I went out for another go..

This time i found it harder to get out and after I stopped paddling I seemed to keep drifting, this is the daft bit... I KNEW what was goiing on, i had found my way into a rip, and I KNEW what i was supposed to do about it, BUT instead of going along parrallel for a bit then going back in I paddled as quick and hard as I could and wore myself out, then got a bit more worried that I had just worn myself out!! ...lucky I managed to have someone there within ear shot which reasured me and eventually I got into a spot where the waves started bringing me in. (cheers dude).

soo my advice to others in my situation is ;
TRAIN harder then me, Im going ot rectify this as soon as possible, down at the baths tonight practicing my crawl.
PICK a small day to go out back for the 1st time and take more time to study the locale..rips etc..
BUDDY with someone cos god knows you might just need em.I think someone at your ability or just beyond is a good bet as you wont cramp their sesh but you wont feel as daft being on the inside if someone else is there with you.

anyways after that little episode I decided to find a spot where no one seemed to be likely to coming in from behind and stuck to where i could still just reach the bottom.

I did feel a bit of a knob on this big long board only just out to sea when all the other guys on their short bords where WAYY beihind me (innit supposed to be the other way round hehe) but hey...I got much more stand up time after that point in the smaller inside wave.

Ended up being a good learning sesh initself because I got to figure out a lot about what waves will give you a ride and which will f%$k you up.

up to that point I dont htink i had ever "got" wave logic but after missing a fair few and getting dumped and spun by many more, Im learning.

not to early, not to late..i know its all written on here already, but i figure I needed a few examples of each before I "got" it

anyways think thas about all I have to pass on to people for now.
Im still loveing this fun/frustrating sport

Peace
Phill

[phillwilson]

Hey all, here we go again with my ongoing surfing report.. hope someone might still find this useful?

nothing tooooo major to report today,

I went to Cayton and had what is for me, an extra long sesh. made it down for mid day and was in til half four then grabbed a yummy hotdog from the guys up at tthe shop and had a relax before hitting the waves again til half seven.

the morning was messy but fun and the later sesh was great with lots of thinking time between waves to get my head round what im doing wrong.

would deffo advuce to people in my situation to take the wave interval info almost as importantrly as swell when picking where to go.

if the waves r coming thick and fast then first up your battling to get out with your untrained arms and big clunky board, then when you get the waves are pushing you all over the shop and you cant really tell a good un from a bad one so you end up just thinking bugger this , catching any old wave and making a hash of it ....well I do

when the waves were more mellow and ten seconds apart, i found i could see what i wanted comign get my board to posiiton then get on and start paddling before it arrived. much more fun much more stand up time.

the other thing worth a mention is that I met a great guy as i was heading down the path who chatted to me and surfed the first couple of waves with me, this meant heaps as i was surfing alone. he lent me his board which was a
Local Hero 9.4

wow, what a ride, initially it felt like i was taking to sea with a door, but boy did it glide, it took everything and was sooooo stable.

its actually started me thinking i thought have gone for a longer wider board , i would deffinatly recommend anyone who it thinking 8ft is at the max of what they want to invest the wee bit of money a rental is , and go for a nine and half just to try it, your milage may vary, but i kinda wish i hadnt put the "oh i dont want to ride anything as big as that" hat on until i had tried it...sure it may be more then I NEED, but it was a lovely way to catch waves.

[RJD]

I went..

borrowed 9fter
bought 8fter
..
bought 9fter.

extra size/float makes a lot of difference.

As to interval - or period - its a major part of what makes a wave, 4-6 seconds is iffy 10-15 is typicaly good.

[phillwilson]

Hello hello,


well, I guess it goes to show the people around you who love you know you better then you know yourself......

I have now added to my Quiver a 9.4 - 24 - 3 longboard....and I couldn't be happier!!!

seriously, note to all who look at this thread as newbies looking for a little starter advice...
GO BIG...at least try it, even if you think them mini mals look cooler, and are worried your learner muscles might get tired with a big heavy board (this is what I was thinking)

dont worry about it, get a big board and you will feel the benifits.

I bought the board and went straight out to Scarbs last night to test out it. I got a feeling it wasnt really a longboard night, bit big and dumpy and no one else in the lineup seemd to have anything bigger then a 7.something

but of the waves I got, the board locked into like a charm and I LOVED how stable it was to ride.

cant wait to get out again

[rich r]

I never understood why people feel that standing in the water, then jumping on their board at the last minute to paddle for a wave is a good idea.

It takes more energy, you don't get a good sense of balance, and you are slower on the take-off (or quick-paddle out to avoid a rogue wave impact).

[phillwilson]

I never understood why people feel that standing in the water, then jumping on their board at the last minute to paddle for a wave is a good idea.

Err, i think its called learning? I would much rather be out back with the rest , pulling in lovely big waves and long rides, but ten sessions i dont think that is realistic for my abilities, it scares me a bit to be honest!! I feel in the way of those who have more skill to make better use of the real waves then me...so I stay on the inside, this in turn means keeping my feet planted and having to go at the last minute (especially when the waves are thick and fast. )

are you saying that I should aim to go out on the longer wave periods? if so I whole heartedly agree cos that does at least give me more time for adjustments and like you said, to stabilise the board.


I'm hoping to get a few more sessions on the inside to hammer down my take offs and try to get my body more used to turning, then hopefully Im going to find a more able surfer who will maybe give up a bit of his or her sesh to take me out back with them and kinda talk me through what to do while there, how to not drift out to sea and how to know what to go for a wave and stuff. I dont think I will be too bad in the end, i think i just need a bridge between the comfort of the inside and the unknown of the outside

[rich r]

Are you inside of the impact zone, taking whitewater, or just on the shoulders? Is it a reform section?

I'll assume you're not riding whitewater. If so, then you're not standing right inside the impact zone, either, I would hope.

In the remaining cases, there is no reason you can't be sitting on your board, even in a reform section. Unless there is something about the break that I'm not aware of (which is, of course, completely possible since I'm all the way over here in the States).

To address you later concerns -

What waves to take - same principles you use to choose waves inside. there is no extra magic or secret to it, really. You just have to learn how to observe and predict based on experience.

Also - You're not going to drift out to sea. If you watch anyone sitting on a board outside (grab some videos, even), you'll see they are usually totally relaxed and still (most of the time). In most conditions, you just float in the same spot with minimal adjustment.

The exception to this is when there is a heavy drift along the coast due to a localized system. Typically, the drift will be up or down the beach - so you paddle out in front of a parking lot and by the time you get out, you're a mile down the beach from where the parking lot is. In this case, you won't go out to sea, but you can end up having to walk a lot on the beach.

See, riptides going OUT to sea end after they loose their power. Rips are cause because all the water pushed up on the beach is trying to rush back to sea. But something (sandbar, coral, etc) prevents that, and a small hole opens up and that ends up being the path the water takes - a lot of focused energy. But once it clears that and is swallowed up by the massiveness that is the rest of the ocean it looses its power and the tide takes back over.

[phillwilson]

Hi Rich,

thanks for taking the time to contribute to my learning like this,

first up a few questions

...on the shoulders?
...Is it a reform section?
I could guess what these are but im not sure? is the first like a green wave just before it makes a C and falls over, the second, it that when its been whitewash and then had a second go at building up to a wave?

if so then
A ...yes even tho I am on the inside I am trying to catch unbroken waves and
B... to be honest, i dont go for whitewash, but more out of not wanting to look so kooky...I actually catch and stand on more white wash and have lots of fun, but i am dubious i will progress doing this so i tend to take a beating getting pearled by the greens then once the beach has cleared and its growing dark I get a few fun whitewash waves just to have the thrill of standing and being pushed along...yer I know baby stuff, but hey!

as for the crux of the lesson you are putting forward, yes I could sit on my board on the inside in waist to chest high waters (thats how it is at my beach) but i didnt because
a. I thought i would look like a silly wannabe...kinda of the mental equiverlant to me sat on a bike in a wheelie possition but with staibiliser on...(dunno if thats too werid to see where im going)
b. I figure its more effort to stabilise in you get pushed back to the beach by all the waves you dont want to catch when at the moment i can simpily put my feet on the bottom and glide my board over the waves and more or less stay put....is this not a good way to learn?


Thanks so much to answering my three concerns , this has given me an urge to go out and try it back outside again (shame theres no waves at all at the mo)
i think i just got spooked when i realised i couldnt touch the bottom and i was kind of out there fending for myself, i didnt want to rely on anyone else or ruin there session , but at the same time I arnt young and gung ho enough to go against my bodys instincs when its telling me it isnt somewhere it feels comfortable.

I am going to try and meet up with another more experianced longboarder i know and just kinda shadow him, im sure with someone to line up alongside I will feel more at ease...this was certainly the case the first time I absailed , i was about to say i couldnt do it when a complete stranger started to go over along side me...i figured , well it aint killing them....


cheers for the tips

[2scoops]

Grrrreat thread
Really enjoying your learning curve (as we seem to be around the same level) although I feel you may be better than me.

Keep up the good work

[phillwilson]

Hi 2scoops,

so glad to hear someone else is finding this at least a little interesting in some way.

hows your surfing going? are you hitting any particular sticking points and have you had any break throughs? always eager to hear anything that has worked for anyone at a similar level to me.

Phill

[drowningbitbybit]

yes I could sit on my board on the inside in waist to chest high waters (thats how it is at my beach) but i didnt because
a. I thought i would look like a silly wannabe...kinda of the mental equiverlant to me sat on a bike in a wheelie possition but with staibiliser on...(dunno if thats too werid to see where im going)

Nah, standing next to your board or - even worse - lying on it waiting for a wave shouts kook/wannabe/learner/not-so-nice-names far louder than sitting on it ever will.

If nothing else, you have a much better view of the coming waves when you're sitting on your board. And its a nice relaxing rest

[drowningbitbybit]

i think i just got spooked when i realised i couldnt touch the bottom and i was kind of out there fending for myself, i didnt want to rely on anyone else or ruin there session , but at the same time I arnt young and gung ho enough to go against my bodys instincs when its telling me it isnt somewhere it feels comfortable.

And as for this one, I think most people (or at least most people that start surfing as a grown up) feel that way at first. I know I used to.

However, once you get out back, you'll realise just how much easier it is than being in the impact zone. And having a lot of water beneath you is comfort rather than a fear (taking the drop into shallow water can be a scary scary thing).

Do it a few times, and then after a short while you'll be wondering what all the fuss was about

[phillwilson]

Cheers for yer more fantastic words of wisdom and encouragement.
there is a mini swell coming in right now so Im packing off as soon as I leave work tonight should be in Scarborogh by half seven, hopefully there will be something at south bay but if not then Cayton.

have decided if I get to south bay then Im going out back and Im just going to give it a go..see what happens, somehow south bay always seems "safer" then cayton so i think it will be a good experiance.

fingers crossed but not when paddling!!!

[voodoocol]

mint thread i`ve been/am going through a lot of the same stuff at the mo... you will probs see me falling off at cayton in the near future..unless it`s anything like sunday just gone when i fell asleep out back along with another bazillion peeps waiting

cheers