Imagine the water is spraying on your face, you’re in the high air and the wind is blowing your hair. Then... crash, you're down! It's the joy of surfing, it relieves all the stress a person can feel. Sure it's hard, but once you're on that long board there’s no way for you to turn back anymore but instead you need to enjoy the ride with the waves and sparkling splash of the water.
A lot of people think surfing is easy as that, you just sit on that long board and the rest is easy, but they’re wrong. There are lot of hurdles you’ll face before you can surf well but according to John McCarthy “The moment you learned how to surf that’s the most blissful experience you can have on this planet, a taste of heaven”. Well, once you do surfing without any knowledge you’re just putting yourself in danger so here’s the mistakes a surfer should avoid doing:
1.WRONG BOARD. Make sure the board you're using is not only the one that suits your weight, size, and capability, but also suits the type of waves you're going to be catching.
2.NOT EATING. Pretty obvious here, because you're going to burn a lot of energy out there playing with the waves. Fill up your tummy with food, such as proteins and healthy carbs. Eat lot of fruits and veggies, as well as fresh water and sports drinks.
3.PICKING THE WRONG SPOT TO SURF. The bottom line is that inexperienced surfers should not pick the most critical surf spot in town to practice their art. Instead, they should seek out the opposite. An easy, rolling wave with deep water is very helpful since a reef will only slow down the learning process and cause possible injuries.
4.SURFING ALONE. Surfing with friends nurtures competition and learning. Watching the victories and failures of others will help you learn what to do and what to avoid. Surfing can be dangerous, especially for new surfers. Rip currents, rising swells, sharks, hold downs, jelly fish reactions are just some of the possible dangers you might run in to. Having someone there to help or AT LEAST report you missing is pretty important.
5.NEGLECTING FITNESS. Surfing is after all a demanding physical activity and it, therefore, demands physical fitness.
6.INCORRECT POSITION ON THE BOARD. When paddling into a wave, the board needs to be weighted towards the nose in order for gravity to help you catch it. This means you need to lie further forward on the board than you think.
7.BAD PADDLING/TIMING. You need to be moving fast enough that you stand a chance of matching the speed of the wave when it lifts you. In order to do that, you need to be paddling as early as you can once you've spotted your wave. Paddles need to be strong and deep.
8.MISUNDERSTANDING YOUR CENTER OF GRAVITY. Surfers often panic at the loose, squirrelly sensation of the board, and react with a rigid, upright body position and forward-facing shoulders. This lessens control and leads to wipe outs. You should always crouch low, bending from the hips (not the shoulders), and use your knees and hips to make adjustments. Shoulders should follow the line of the board.
9.NOT BENDING THE KNEES. The key to balance on a surfboard is to stay low avoid excess body moments that may throw you off balance. Bending the knees will help you to ride with the wave instead of the surfboard sliding out from under you.
10.NOT LOOKING AT WHERE YOU'RE GOING. Don't look at your board. Not when you're paddling (eyes forward, head up); and not when you take off and get going (look at the part of the wave you want to be traveling to). Your eyes are your body's natural guide. Where you're looking is where you're going, so keep your gaze over the front shoulder, focusing on your line.
Just remember, if you want to learn how to surf be patient - and watch where you're going. Surfing is just as life, in every obstacles or hardships you face there’s something fruitful waiting in the end. Just motivate yourself with what Kelly Slater said "Your surfing can get better on every turn, on every wave you catch. Learn to read the ocean better. A big part of my success has been wave knowledge."