learninghowtosurf.com

So you want the perfect board huh?

You’ll need to get your bottom contours sorted (and I don’t mean your ass bro!).

Contours on the base of your board channel water to affect speed, stability and manoeuvrability.

The three main types are flat, concave and convex. All three contours can be blended together for different effects.

Flat.

It’s, well, flat. Boards that are flat from tip to tail are sweet in small, soft, crap waves but will struggle in anything decent and at higher speeds.

Flat. Photo: Surfing Waves

Convex.

Convex is when a section of the base sticks down below the rails. The most common convex shape is called a vee.

Vee. Photo: Surfing Waves

These boards are very forgiving. They push water out to the side to give stability, control, and easy edge-to-edge transitions.

A convex contour creates drag and will slow you down. It’ll also amplify the effects of your rocker, making the board more manoeuvrable and easier to turn.

Shaper’s Journal say vees are crucial for big boards (they make the size of a gun or a longboard manageable).

Vees are also primo learner boards.

Many shortboards (for all levels of riders) will also have one or two small sections of vee, usually near the tip and/or tail to free it up so you can get slash-tastic.

Concave.

Parts of the base are scooped out to channel water underneath the board and towards the back. Concave increases speed, lift and responsiveness.

It’ll also give you extra boost through turns when more weight on the back foot forces water tightly through the fins and off the tail.

Surfline says concave makes a board accelerate quickly from almost any point on the wave, but it also makes turns ‘sticky’ and hard to adjust.

You can have single or double concave, or both.

Single Concave. Photo: Surfing Waves

According to Surfing Waves, single concave “is designed for speed and works well in fast, large clean surf. This shape is does not perform well in messy, lumpy surf and as such is not a good choice for a surfboard you want to use in all round conditions”.

Double. Photo: Surfing Waves

You can get a looser ride by having single concave that blends to a double concave.

Tip from Shaper’s Journal: “To create looser boards, single concave carries further towards fins before double concave develops. To create drivier boards, double concave carries further into the board from the fin cluster.”

Channels. Photo: Surfing Waves

Channels are multiple grooves along the base. They create heaps of speed.

Surfline say, “In the hands of a skilled rider, channels produce extraordinary length through rail turns and provide wave “feedback” unlike any other board. But they’re difficult to manufacture, unpredictable in choppy surf and perhaps best suited to expert riders and/or flawless surf conditions.”

-

Now go check out the base of your board. Is it right for you?

Let’s pimp your ride.

First you’ll need to decide whether you want to paint the whole board, or just do a groovy design. I’ll walk you through both processes.

Step 1: Stuff You’ll Need.

Acrylic auto spray-paint:
- Undercoat (1 x 150ml can).
- Main colour (I used 3 x 150ml cans of Holts, colour: Aurora).
- Clear top coat (about 300ml).

If you want to do funky designs you’ll need water-based paint pens. Legendary board artist Drew Brophy sells Sharpie pens here.

One roll low-tack masking tape.

One sheet 600-grit sandpaper.

A newspaper.

Step 2: Cleaning.

Set yourself up in a well ventilated area, out of the wind or you’ll get bugs stuck all over the dam thing.

Pull the stomp pad off carefully (gently pry it with a scraper as you pull). Or you can leave it on and tape over it with newspaper later if you want to do a quick job and paint around it.

Now clean that board. I mean really clean it. Scrape the wax off then scrub the board thoroughly to remove all traces of wax, salt and grime (you can use a Wax Pickle for this). Don’t use any harsh solvents or your stick may melt into a bubbling mess. Repair dings.

Step 3: Sanding.

Give it a light but thorough sand all over. Don’t be a lazy bastard when it comes to sanding. I skimped out on this step and the paint’s chipping off in places.

This is particularly important on high wearing areas like the nose, rails and tail.

Step 4: Spray Painting.

Set the board up so you can hold the cans vertically when spraying. Use long, smooth horizontal strokes that overlap a little.

It’s preferable to do a couple of nice even thin coats as the paint will drip and look crap if you spray it on too thick.

If you suck at spray painting practice on newspaper first. Paint the less visible areas to begin with (like around your fins or on top of your deck where your wax goes).

Read paint instructions for drying time.

One layer of undercoat, then two coats of your primary colour. Give a light sand between coats.

If you want to have multiple colours tape off other areas with newspaper to protect them.

Step 5: Funky Designs.

If you want to get crazy use water-based paint marker pens to do designs. They allow a lot of colour and detail.

You can also tape off stencils any spray ‘em.

You’ll find some podcasts by Drew Brophy here on how to get creative.

Sketch a draft first. Brave Surf recommend you THINK BIG for your design, since small stuff wont show up.

Don’t worry if you mess up. Just tape over the rest of the design, re-spray where you stuffed up, then start again.

Step 6: Topcoat.

Finish off with two or three layers of clear topcoat.

Now you can say it’s a Tuflite and flick it to a punter on eBay.

You’ll make millions.

Photo: www.drewbrophy.com

Are some of your crew loosing the buzz and getting you down? Do you feel like your boys have aged before their time?

Forget those guys for a week and go shredding with some grommets.

Grommies go hard no matter what.

They charge the big days; but they also surf when the waves suck and still get stoked.

Grommets push their limits and psych each other up all day. There’s a lot of laughs thrown in the mix and boy do they progress FAST!

Being a grommet does have its downsides though. Shan Railton says their main concerns are getting the bash from older surfers, getting constantly dropped in on, and being dunny flushed in the local loos.

Shan puts this down to one thing: Jealousy. Yip that’s right. Deep down we all know grommies have got it sweet.

You can learn a lot from these young guns. Their raw enthusiasm will get you amped and they might even teach you a few new tricks if you promise not to smash them.

Sucking at paddling just plain sucks.

Power is important; but you’ll have to pay attention to technique if you really wanna paddle better than your mates.

More Glide.

After reading Total Immersion (a killer book on swimming) I realised that it wasn’t necessarily the strongest swimmers that were the best. The smoothest swimmers are the ones ruling it. Same goes for paddling your surfboard.

The important point here is to focus on gliding through the water and minimising drag.

In Richard Schmidt’s Learn To Surf article, he recommends taking fluid, relaxed strokes.

He also says we should minimise unnecessary body movements.

Stopping my hips rocking has had a sweet improvement on my speed, increasing it by around 10%. I also noticed I was reaching too far and the shoulder twist was increasing the rocking. I’d recommend you reach out nice and long but don’t over-extend and cause your stick to rock.

Positioning on the Board.

Positioning on the board is also key for gliding: Too far forward or too far back and you’ll slow right down. If you’re centred on your board and it’s lying flat it will glide faster. Lie your board flat in the water without you on it to find out how it sits best.

When you’re paddling, glance down at the nose as a guide for your positioning on the board. Try to keep the tip just an inch or three above the water (depending on your board size). Keep tweaking your body position back and forward till you find what Wanna Surf calls your sweet spot.

I’ve found my sweet spot is basically going as far forward on the board as possible without nose diving on take off.

Align yourself to the stringer (if you have one). Feet together-ish.

Plunge Arms Deep.

Let your hand enter the water smoothly. Plunge arms to the elbow, then pull down and back (this is the only time your arm should be tensed) then relax as your arm exits the water and glides forward again, just over the top of the water without touching it.

Make sure you don’t plunge so deep that your arms twist back in underneath the board. They should stay parallel to your stringer for the full stroke.

Turbo Boost.

For a final burst to get that wave, I give a few quick kicks.

I also like to hit the NOS button sometimes and throw in two butterfly strokes at the last minute for that extra speed to start steaming down the face.

—

Click here to check out the Total Immersion book so you can learn how to paddle faster than your mates.

Core muscles are crucial to really get your shred on.

Paul Frediani says not only are they the centre of your power, they’re also the centre of your balance and help you transfer from trick to trick.

What’s more, if they’re in shape you’ve got a much lower chance of getting injured. Which means you’ll be ripping harder and ripping longer.

Your core muscles are your abs and lower back. Alex Kolovyansky recommends push-ups and sit-ups to strengthen them. Do at least 30 of each, three times a week. Pretty simple huh?

If there’s a swiss ball lying around your house do your sit-ups on it. That’ll work twice as well.

See you in the water.

After a solid battering on a 5 foot day a few weeks ago I thought there has to be a better way.

Wouldn’t it be sweet to make getting hammered by a thundering wall of water less dangerous and less stressful?

Underwater rock running is the key. And no, it’s not just for the pros.

You can do it in the sea, river, or pool. If you’re desperate I suppose you could hold your breath in the bath.

1. Find a large rock or other weight. Transworld Surf suggest a backpack full of bricks.
2. Run it underwater for 10 meters (33 feet) then drop it.
3. Come to the surface to catch your breath then dive back down and repeat step 2.

Slowly increase your running distance and depth.

Do it with a mate - who ever gets the furthest after four dives wins a beer from the loser.

You’ll be amazed at how quickly your lungs improve. Now bring on that 6 foot swell!

I can’t stop thinking about it. I check the surf report every few hours. Instead of working I often just “finger surf” my keyboard, slashing up the space bar like a fat frontside face at the local. And even if there’s only a ripple in the Bay I’m out there shredding it brah!

I’m hooked - well and truly hooked.

I’ve been learning how to surf for a year now. It’s been a wild and wonderful ride. But sometimes it’s also been pretty tough.

You see I’m just thirsting to get better and I’m sure you are too. When I see those rulers in the pocket I think: “that’s me man, I’ve got to get there”.

This blog is here to help you progress. It’ll get you catching more waves, making more sections and slotting more barrels. You’ll find plenty of ‘how to’ info on things like trick tips and reading the weather.

Thanks for bearing with me while I get this site set up. We still have some work to do but should be all good in a couple of weeks.

This blog will improve your surfing.