THE CRITICAL POINT OF SURF LEARNING
Perhaps the most important stage in the learning process to surf is to know and master the precise moment just before the start.
It's just a few milliseconds where your body posture, the decision you make and the attitude with which you face that moment, can make the difference between a solid take off or a complete failure.
You can recognize a beginner from miles away when paddling for a wave.
At that moment, your board perpendicular to the wave begins to pick up speed, the tail of the board rises, and the tip quickly plunges forward and down.
HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU SEEN YOURSELF IN THIS SITUATION?
that's the call "critical moment of surfing", just when you and your board start to pick up speed and there are 3 possible outcomes:
SITUATION Nº1.
instinctively your body leans back, taking most of the body weight towards the tail of the board. Immediately the board loses speed, and the wave passes under your board, without having a chance to pick up speed, let alone stand up.
I know, many times you want with all your strength and will to go forward, since many people have told you so. But there is something, you don't know what, that doesn't allow it. there is a neuroscientific explanation for this phenomenon, which we will not go into detail at this time, but which we will summarize below. You and your body want to go forward and ride the wave, but your brain and your protective instinct, no. AAutomatically, these generate subtle movements in your muscles, changing your posture, preventing you from having the proper position and causing you to fall.
This friends, is a very common situation in the first months of surfing and quite complex to bear. Basically what we are going to do with the systematic practice of surfing is re-program the brain , so that he stops interpreting the take off movement as something dangerous. This will allow us to finally move forward with confidence, "coming down" the wave and having a chance to pick ourselves up.
SITUATION Nº2.
You, your body and your board at full speed rush forward and down, the tip of your board makes contact with the water, it "burrows" and the tail violently rises forward, launching you like a real catapult. You spin around in the wave several times, you can't breathe, you feel like you were underwater for minutes. It was close, it has not been a pleasant moment.
This situation is a true classic of the first sessions in surfing. Normally this happens between the first and the tenth session (let's call it the novice stage), since the beginner does not know fear or "danger", so he goes forward with all his body and will (maybe too much). The most paradoxical thing is that this beginner is doing what must be done, go forward, bring the weight of the body towards the nose of the board to lower the wave. The problem is that during those critical milliseconds, the beginner does not know how to "tune" that impulse, that is, he does not know how to modulate or fine-tune that movement. An experienced surfer seeks and regulates this movement by raising or bringing his chest closer to the board, to give you more drive in small, slow and "fat" waves or less drive for larger, vertical waves.
The falls, the blows against the bottom and the repetitive lack of air during this movement of taking the wave during the first sessions, is responsible for creating that feeling in our brain. protection instinct that we mentioned in point 1 of this article. It follows from this, and what I am going to say is quite paradoxical, that the novice surfer (between sessions 1 to 10), is closer to surfing than the aspiring surfer (the one who is between sessions 11 and 50). ), since he goes with greater determination (and without fear) to catch the wave (even though he does not succeed).
SITUATION Nº3.
You paddle with power, the wave takes you, you feel your board rise and after the tip goes down quickly but in a controlled way, you raise or bring your chest closer to your board, regulating the speed with which you go down. Just before reaching the bottom of the wave, you can push off with your arms, jumping off your body and quickly placing both feet on the board at the same time. You are standing, on the wall of the wave. You are surfing!
This situation is ideal, and so it should be. go forward with determination, go down the wave, regulate the descent, feel stable and get up, in that order.
HOW CAN WE DOMINATE THE “CRITICAL MOMENT” WHEN LEARNING TO SURF?
1. Practice!
There are no magic formulas, as I mentioned before, remember that you have to re-program your brain not to feel fear, that is, to go against a natural protective instinct, and this is only achieved by "teaching" them through repetition, that it is not dangerous and that you can dominate and control that critical moment. Having control of the situation, knowing your body and controlling your board even before standing on it.
The worst that can happen is take years in situation number 1 (and it's terrible), where session after session, your wave counter equals zero, you spend most of the day frustrated and watching others catch waves and surf.
2. Use a suitable table.
The correct choice of the board is probably the biggest key in learning to surf. A board with an adequate weight distribution, light and with good buoyancy is essential. personally I always recommend Double Agent 7.0 of Flysurf. It is a board that gives beginners a lot of confidence, very stable, and allows you to safely increase your number of waves and surf.
3. Strengthen your lower back muscles.
They are responsible for lifting or bringing your chest closer to the board. In other words, they allow you to regulate how fast the wave lowers during the "critical moment".
I hope friend that this article has been able to help you improve in the long process of learning to surf. Constancy makes the master of surfing. Reading the sea is very important and using the right equipment too. See you on the water!.
Team Flysurf.
