Felt the power of the waves firsthand? Have you had trouble with controlling your board? Then you’re in luck because we will be discussing just that today. So grab your board, some pen, and paper, and let’s improve your surfing today.
There are plenty of surfing tips and tricks that any surfer, especially a learner surfer must know. One of these important techniques is how to properly control your board.
If you’re a nature enthusiast or feel a great sense of connection with nature, then surfing may be the best sport for you. Surfing, unlike any other sport worldwide, is one of the very few sports that put your hand in hand with mother nature. Knowing this, there are plenty of safety precautions that we need to remember.
Due to the ever-changing nature of the tides and waves of the ocean, as surfers, we need to know how to keep ourselves safe. Board control is one of the most important ones as it teaches us how to act before the ocean or upon entry, as we catch waves, and after when we go out of the water.
Understanding your board and how it works is something that all surfers need to master in the shortest amount of time, because controlling your board the correct way will be the difference between keeping yourself safe, or getting an injury, or even worse, injure someone else.
There are many opinions as to what the best way to control your board is, but physics is physics, and to keep things as simple as possible. Here are three tips to help you control your surfboard:
1. Always hold your board on either side of you, and never hold your board in front of you, when walking into the ocean. The best advice I have for you here is for when you’re entering the water with your surfboard always keep your board on the side. Never hold your board in front of you when you're walking into the water. You’re going to change the beauty that's going on. Trust me, I have seen some knocks of bruises on their forehead because people held their boards in front of them. So, as you’re walking into the water, always keep your board next to you.
2. When you are walking and carrying your board on a windy day, make sure you hold your board on the downwind side of the direction you are walking to. One of the greatest things that you can do for yourselves as a learner surfer is studying the ocean, studying the waves, studying the surface in the water, studying the environment that you will be surfing in. Because that’s going to tell you a lot of information.
When you are walking deeper into the water, and you need to pass over whitewater waves, make sure to lift the nose (front) of your board over the whitewater wave, and not into the wave. Do not ever put your chin down on the board when you paddle. Because the board can come up and knock you. You always want to-I call it the arrogant paddle because you have an arrogant form. You can do this by putting your chest up, head up, while you are paddling. Plus, you have to keep your back arched and you have to lift your chest. Now, you can practice that a few times on the beach.