WHERE TO STAND TO CATCH MORE WAVES?

Close your eyes and remember your classic surf session. Ask yourself, How many times during the session do you paddle with all your might and can't catch the wave? How many times do you paddle and the wave lifts the tail of your board ending in a spectacular shake?. How many times do you ask yourself, how do others do it? Here we give you some tips on where to position yourself to catch more waves in your session.

In this brief surf tip for beginners, mainly graphic, we will show you the different phases of the wave and where to position yourself to catch more waves. This way you will be able to maximize the “useful” time (if there is any useless one) of your session, avoiding uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situations.

Who has not seen in the water those people who They are ALWAYS at the right time and place to catch a wave. That even before a wave disturbs the horizon, they are perfectly positioned in the place where the wave will rise, and it will take them gently on a long journey to the shore, (so envy!).

They are people who are either very lucky, or every cell in their body is in tune with the sea. That "sixth sense", as some call it, exists and develops over time. Like any good mystical element worth its salt, it cannot be explained in traditional scientific terms (and that is where the “non-physical” dimension of surfing begins).

Surfing scholars can speculate that the experienced surfer's degree of understanding of the ocean is due to predicting his behavior based on previous patterns. This hypothesis is very interesting, since we are taking concepts and a neuroscientific approach to describe a "sports" activity (concepts that I will not go into detail on this occasion). Even more so, when you ask the surfer how he has achieved it and you find a brief: "I don't know, you just feel it."

WAVE PHASES – Where to position yourself to catch more waves:

Let's go to our thing. In the image that we can see below (Figure 1.), there are the 3 phases of a wave:

PHASE 1 – FULL PHASE:

It is where the wave just forms (angles between its wall and the horizontal from 170º to 120º). It can be seen on the horizon as a barely visible disturbance that advances (hopefully towards us), but that does not have the capacity to push us or carry our board even with our best efforts.

PHASE 2 – TRAINING PHASE:

When the wave begins to take shape (angles less than 120º), and the peak of the wave rises. It has excellent "surfing" potential if we paddle properly. The mass of water begins to make contact with the bottom (sand, rocks, etc). This is the phase that you should look for in your sessions and always try to position yourself and row in it. You will find a wave that will gently push you and a perfect ramp to lower the wave at an angle of 120º or more, with enough time to get up. This is the most "inhabited" place of the wave and where everyone wants to be, so do not expect solitude in Phase 2.

En Flysurf, we promote the work in the limits of Phase 1 and 2, with bullion tables surfboards for beginners and intermediates, which have a buoyancy and weight distribution specially designed to take the wave in early phases, with safety and time for the pop-up.

PHASE 3 – CLOSING OR BREAKING PHASE:

The wave already formed (angle of 90º or less), advances quickly and strongly, the upper vertex (or peak) exceeds the base of the wave and begins to break. This can break ordered in sections and other times closing the entire wall. The wave continues to make contact with a shallower and shallower bottom.  Very important surf tip: It is possible to catch waves at this stage, but requires superior skill, agility, and observation. The wave is very strong and many times you require very little or no paddling to be able to take it. Many times it only takes a correct positioning of your body to prevent the wave from lifting the tail of your board above the horizontal.

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DURATION OF THE PHASES

What depends on how long each phase lasts? Mainly from the bottom of the beach where you are surfing. The shape of the wave is a direct reflection of its bottom. Therefore, waves with bottoms that change abruptly will have phase 1 of full and fast breaking (phase 3), with often a non-existent or very short formation phase (phase 2).

TIP:

REMEMBER: The waves are dynamic elements, so the phases are constantly changing according to where you are in the line-up. For example: at moment A you can be right in Phase 1 and at moment B in the middle of phase 3 without having physically moved from the place. As you improve your sophisticated skills, you can get closer to the main break and peak. This is where you will often find a clear area that many prefer to avoid due to the disastrous consequences that it implies (vertical falls from the peak of the wave, or direct blows against the bottom, for example).

Tip, always watch the phases of your local surf. Study, learn to read it and over time you will understand it perfectly, managing to anticipate its movements and situate yourself in the right place whenever you want.

A hug to all and practice!