Learners guide to avoiding dramas in the surf.

[Mr_momo_32]

Equipment- I would say total learners should start off with one of those soft deck surfboards or mals.Maybe even a bodyboard even just to learn
about the ocean and its workings for a while.
A single fin is also good as you have less fins that can cut you, and they .

great idea all round!
do you mean a soft deck mal?
becuase there's nothing worse then a lerner on a large fiberglass mal,
who surfs around other people, im surf most people have had to scramble out of the way, dodge or suckdive one before...

[squidly]

Always a brilliant idea to remind everyone, novice or advanced, that safety should always come first out in the surf. Even the most advanced surfers assume everyone should know the rules of the water, and sometimes those assumptions can lead to mishap. Better to be safe than sorry.

[vortex]

I'd like to also add that it's poor etiquette to travel to surf in crowds. Yeah it's great fun surfing with mates but in surfing the less people the better - more waves for everyone who's out.

In my opinion, travelling with more than two mates is too many. But even then, less is more. Little example: Was surfing a reef a few hours out of Sydney. Just me out, about 3-4ft sets, which only came through about once every 15 minutes. I was floating around, it was fun enough. Pretty quickly, 3 carloads of kids showed up (that's 12 people) and paddle out. It's just not thinking - there's just not gunna be enough waves to go around.

Guard makes a good point about sussing the ratio of how many waves are coming through and how many people are already out there. What impact will four more of you have on everyone elses session - is it worth it or will you just spend too much time floating around waiting for waves and basically just get on everyone's nerve? Might be a better option to just head to the next bank/reef down. Maybe it's not AS good but you'll probably get more waves anyway.

[brendo]

you should send your thread to all the surf schools, or better still make a pamphlet and sell it to the surf schools to give to the learners, as it should be mandatory to learn all this before starting.

[savesealrocks]

seriously guy's, you're goin a bit soft i reckon.

there's no dignity in surfing these days.............Learn from experience, not a web page.

[bringbackmacca]

Work your way up to the hardest.
So start with bodysurf then try mal riding then try the stick then once you think ur ready try the bodyboard

[seedyk]

Work your way up to the hardest.
So start with bodysurf then try mal riding then try the stick then once you think ur ready try the bodyboard

you have to be joking. stick riding has a much harder learning curve to begin with, and to master, than bodyboarding ever will. it requires much more precision and control over a wider range of body movements with a much less stable centre of gravity as well as much more use of bodily weighting, not to mention when as a beginner you spend most of your time wiping out and learning how to find your balance where as bodyboarding you can throw yourself into it straight away.

[vortex]

I think he was only "baiting"...

[Chrisp]

I think he was only "baiting"...

and quite an impressive catch really

[Mr_momo_32]

I'd like to also add that it's poor etiquette to travel to surf in crowds.

A-MEN to that!
i think its especialy important if your goin to surf a secluded break.

[Partypooper]

One thing that annoys many surfers is when you find a peak to yourself
others follow. Please try to look around for other banks as most surfers prefer a spread of crowds, not being followed by everyone.

True that. I was at copa with a mate. fairly large crowd out so i decided to move a tad north to the next break. no 1 there and within 5 mins of me catching wave after wave, half the crowd comes over. disgraceful

It was probably cos i looked so good

[Butts]

Guard, some very good words of wisdom there
I hope the right people take note.

[smackthatlip]

How's Dylan doing now Guard? Hope he's recovering well! Have to agree with the fact that you can't assume that everyone knows what's going on in the water these days. Used to be if you saw someone in the lineup over about the age of 18 you'd automatically assume they'd know about ' surf etiquette' cos everyone used to start surfing really young and by your late teens you'd have heaps of experience. Today with the huge beginner boom going on you're just as likely to see a bloke in his 20/30's causing havoc in the surf without a f@#cken clue as a little mini-grom. In fact the older they are the worse they are because a lot of these 'late-bloomers' reckon they know it all and would'nt listen to advice. If I was really cynical I'd say there should be a cutoff age but you can't stop anyone from enjoying the best, equal best thing in the world I reckon one thing that would be good would be to put up more of those 'surf ettiquite' signs up. The ones like at Anga's after the whole sorry saga with Nat Young. One good thing about the increased numbers these days at least is that you're more inclined to explore for waves and secret spots now remain secrets

[vortex]

I'd like to also add that it's poor etiquette to travel to surf in crowds. Yeah it's great fun surfing with mates but in surfing the less people the better - more waves for everyone who's out

I've heard of making a virtue of necessity, but this is ridiculous

vortex... your "surf etiquette" is nothing more than a reflection of the fact that nobody likes you

Should it bother you that a lot of the time i surf, i travel alone? Probably not. But you still seem to be. Flattered, thanks.

What's your suggestion, anyway? That you'd rather me roll in a crowd? Would it even affect you? There's little evidence to suggest you're anything more than a sour old fark who never learned to swim so sits in his office cubicle all day "worrying about how many people like him" by talking trash on a surf forum. Never actually contributing. Just popping in to put someone else down. Heaps of people must like you.

Lighten up kiddo, stop worrying so much about what other people think of you. Wink farken wink, arsehole.

[Clarky]

HAHA onya vortex, and good advice from everyone.
i reckon ya gotta keep in mind that almost half the fun of surfing is watching sick waves, seeing ya mates get good ones, keeping fit, testing yourself, and just the atmosphere.
THEN... then when ya actually getting sick waves it amplifys the experience.

fcuk i like duckdiving alot of the time even, open your eyes next time its clear, looks bullshit, we all take the ocean for granted, as much as we are thankful for it. we still abuse it.

[Twisty]

Another tip for learners that I always find useful is to recommend that they keep the hell away from the beach and keep their ferret faced mugs indoors.

[vortex]

hahahahahhahahahaha

[Dingus]

I always suggest to ppl who ask me about learning to surf, that they should start off BBing because it's so easy.

That's what I did and there's nothing wrong in it I reckon. Started bodysurfing, then BBing, then jumped on a mal. Kinda allows you to appreciate the good things about them all too.

Now only if I was good at any of them....