Tips For Your First Surf Lesson
You’ve decided to take your first surf lesson but you’re not sure where to go, what to wear, or how to prepare yourself for the shit show that is about to unfold. That’s alright! Let’s start from the beginning and we’ll get you ready to go!
Finding an instructor
First, let’s find you a good instructor. This can be really difficult for a newbie because you don’t always know what you’re looking at, what to look for, red flags, and you can’t always watch a lesson go down before you pay. But sometimes you can! I’m going to give you as many helpful tips as I can in this department so you can recognize red flags right away, if given the opportunity.
If you are on a beach where they teach lessons throughout the day, watch the lesson first. If they spend less than 5 minutes in the sand and then immediately move to the water, that’s your first red flag that you’re going to be treated as a one-hour money-maker, they just want to make you happy for an hour and then send you on your way with no real learned skillset to continue surfing, if that’s what you want. Most of learning to stand up on the board is developed through muscle memory, which you will learn the fastest on the beach, repeatedly popping up and perfecting that process and your stance so that you’re not trying to learn that on a moving surfboard in the water. Ideally, you want to perfect that on the beach, then repeat it over and over and THEN go to the water with your new skill where you’ll totally forget what you learned on the beach, but you’ll spend the rest of the lesson learning to apply that muscle memory. Plus, there’s a lot to learn about the break, the bottom, where you’ll be positioned once you’re in the water, how to get out through the waves, how to perfect your paddle, etc. These things should all be communicated and taught on the beach. If you don’t see this happening, you might want to find a more thorough instructor who takes more time with their students if you’re really in it to learn it.
Chosing a Location
Choose a location with the right waves for learning, perhaps even where you see other beginners. Learning to surf is always going to be easier when you have waves that break far enough out and still have enough power that the broken wave creates whitewater that rolls evenly to the beach. You’ll position yourself between the broken wave and the beach and learn to catch the whitewater first. Another option is finding a beach where the waves are just super small anyway, and it might be possible for you to catch small, unbroken waves in the first lesson. If you show up at a beach with a lot of great surfers, you might quickly find that you’re in the way. This is only going to hinder your learning ability. You want space to yourself, and you want to be on a beach where other people are learning and you’re not going to get ran over by an experienced surfer.
What To Wear
Now what will you wear? Men, wear some board shorts or swimming trunks that will stay on. If they’re too loose, you’re going to be struggling to keep them on and I promise that when you catch your first wave on that surfboard, your mind will be racing, you’ll feel overwhelmed, and you’ll be trying to remember all of the things you were supposed to remember to do, and then you’ll be trying to pull up your shorts all at the same time. That’s not going to work. Wear shorts that are comfortable, not going to fall down, aren’t too tight that you can’t be active in them, and ideally, have some stretch. In regards to length, too long and they might catch on your knees when you try to stand up, so having something knee-length or a little shorter is going to be ideal. I great little test you can do to test how good your shorts will be for surfing is to just stand up and try bringing your knee to your chest. If your shorts immediately limit that movement, find something with more stretch, or with more room in the legs. You may also opt for a rash-guard as the wax can get in your chest hair and rub those nipples raw. Once you’re a little better, you will be stronger and learn to hold yourself in a way that doesn’t rub you so bad, and the nipples begin to callus a bit, but wax in the chest hair will always be a problem.
Here’s a cute bikini from Auric that holds up well in small to medium surf.
Ladies, those cute little bikinis might not be the best option. Maybe keep those for the pool so you don’t ruin them with surf wax. You want something that will stay on when you’re falling off the board and getting tossed in the surf. Sports bra style tops that fit snug are a great option for learning, and wearing bottoms that fit a little tighter than you prefer will insure they don’t slide down. You have a few other options as well, like a snug one-piece that is built for being active, or even a long-sleeved surf suit. You could get a tight-fitting rashguard to keep that cute triangle top on, and if your bottoms are string-tied, you can just tie them tighter. Another thing to consider is that the surf wax on the deck of the board will rub onto that new bikini and give it a dirty look, so either choose an older bikini, or a cute surf bikini that you plan on dedicating to the surf.
How to Wear Sunscreen
Sunscreen is pretty important, but you can’t put it everywhere. Lower legs are fine to cover with sunscreen, but for the ladies, the backs of your thighs will be on the board when you sit, so you’ll slip and slide. Having it on your back is fine, but don’t put it on your belly or you’l slide right off the board when you paddle. You’ll want it on your face, and often down your hair line, but choose something that’s waterproof 80 minutes or more, and something that is known to work in water sports. Many sunscreens will get wet and go right into your eyes and ruin the whole lesson, so choose a good sunscreen. Another thing to consider is that many sunscreens are extremely toxic to the ocean and a huge percentage of our oceans reefs are already completely dead and sunscreen is one contributing factor. Choose a good sunscreen that will stay on, is build for surfing, and doesn’t hurt our oceans. A quick option is SunBum. They have a high performance sunscreen that I recommend highly! If you’d rather just wear a hat, this is more difficult for learning, but companies like DaKine make waterproof bucket hats that you can pinch down and use for water sports.
Some Tips
A few things to remember is that just because you’re super strong, doesn’t mean you’ll have the right muscles for surfing, so don’t get discouraged! You’ll build those tiny muscles in time. You might be athletic but can’t get the hang of surfing. That’s alright! It takes time, patience, balance and muscle memory. You might be a good snowboarder, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be good at surfing immediately. Give it time. You won’t learn to surf as quickly as you learned to snowboard because there are more variables and more things to learn in surfing. Remember that just because you learn to surf in small waves or the white water doesn’t mean you’re qualified to paddle out with the experienced surfers at a more advanced break. There’s a good chance you’ll get hurt, ran over, or overwhelmed. Remember that there’s a lot more to surfing than learning to stand up. You’ll still need to learn to read the waves on your own, and you’ll need to learn surf etiquette before paddling out with other people. And the most important thing to remember is to have fun or it isn’t worth the trouble!