How to paddle past the breaking waves?
Photo by: Jan Bijl
To catch waves you have to be able to paddle well, but how do you actually do that? Why is it so important and what can you do to make it easier to get past the surf at the next surf session?
Water displacement
While paddling you want to displace as much water as possible. The more water you displace, the harder you go forward. There are several things you can pay attention to while paddling:
It is important to run your arm deep and try to get as big a stroke as possible. You can do this by putting your arm deep in the water and moving your arm all the way from front of the board to the back, along your board. Especially the last bit of displacement takes a lot of effort, but it is important. Make sure to continue your stroke until you almost touch your board again.
Then lift your elbow to do the next paddle stroke. This movement is faster and takes less effort than moving your whole arm out to the side.
Your position on your board can also help you paddle better. Your board should actually lie as flat as possible in the water. For example, if you push/lean too much on your rails, you get more friction in the water which results in less glide... Therefore try to tense your abs, buttocks and back, keep you legs together and stay tight on the center of your board. while paddling, You actually want to keep your upper body still and only move your arms.
"You would rather have three good paddles than ten paddles that stroke the surface of the water and where you don't move forward."
Currents
Currents can be your worst enemy or your best friend while surfing. They can take you a hundred yards to the left or right, but you can also use a rip current to get behind the surf. A rip is the place where the water from the breaking waves flows out to the ocean again. You can use this current to go behind the surf yourself. You can recognize a rip by:
That there are (almost) no waves breaking and that it is often a deeper (and sometimes darker) part in the sea.
It is often the restless part of the sea with small waves and rippling water on the surface..
Occasionally plastic, leaves or twigs float in in which have been taken from the beach.
You often have a rip along harbor heads, rocks or other big things in the water. At Scheveningen for example, this rip is used by many surfers to get behind the surf when the waves are big. There are a few things to pay attention to when using a rip like that to get behind the surf:
If there are many/larger waves you have a larger rip and if there are small waves you have a smaller rip.
If you use a rip to get behind the surf, it is important that you paddle out of the rip in time, otherwise you will be carried out to sea with the current…
Never paddle against the current, you will get tired easily and you’ll never reach the beach that way. To get out of the rip, you have to paddle 90 degrees from the current towards waves. When you get to the waves, you can always catch a wave back to the beach.
Timing
You may recognize the feeling: you've been duckdiving under waves for a number of sets, but you just can't get through. The timing of the moment that you enter the water can help you to get behind the surf more easily. Pepijn always teaches the following points to his students during his coaching:
When a new set arrives, it's a good time to walk into the water. It always takes a while before you reach the break.
Wait in the water hipdeep and start paddling towards the end of the set, the last two waves of the set will probably wash over you. After that you can easily paddle backwards between the two sets. If you go into the water exactly after the set, you will likely get the entire next set on the head. So always first check whether a set is arriving, how big it is, how many waves it contains, and slowly walk into the water when the new set just comes in. When you do this correctly, you can get behind the waves without getting your hair wet.
“It’s my favorite game to play when paddling out. Getting out there without getting my hair wet. It forces me to time the paddle out well and paddle hard. The perfect warm up.”
Stamina
Good stamina is also very important to be able to paddle well. This allows you to keep paddling longer. Getting enough exercise in daily life and being fit is important, because your body then learns to deal with the acidification that happens during the paddling in your surfsession. The best way to improve your stamina is, of course, surfing as much as possible. Apart from surfing you can do cardio such as running, cycling, swimming and rowing. Surfspecific stamina is just a bit different from general fitness. Someone who can run well cannot automatically surf well, but someone who can swim well can probably learn to surf more easily. This is because the stamina they have built up with this particular sport is very similar to the stamina that’s used while paddling.
Pepijn notices during his coaching that the people who used to participate in competitive swimming learn to surf much faster because they can paddle longer before they are tired. They catch a lot more waves, which allows them to practice more often and progress faster that way.
If you want to work on your surfspecific stamina and you can't go surf more often, start with swimming training. This is the way for most novice / intermediate surfers to catch more waves during their surf sessions. Start 1-2x per week outside of your surf sessions with a swimming schedule. You will soon notice that you have improved when you are back in the water after doing the swim workout for a few weeks.
Board, duckdive & turtle role
Your boardchoice can also have a lot of influence on how easily you can get past the surf. Although you can paddle faster with a longboard, it is also more difficult to get through the surf, because it’s harder to duckdive a longboard. With a board that is too small it is difficult to paddle well.
To get past the surf, duckdiving and the turtlerolling can be super useful. With both the duckdive and the turtle role, you try to ensure that you are not (completely) taken by the wave. When duckdiving you want to dive under the pocket, the unbroken part of the wave that is the most powerful. If you don't dive deep enough, you will still be taken by the wave. How to do a duckdive:
Push your board down with your hands.
Then press a knee or a feet on the tail to push the back of your board down as far as possible.
After pushing the tail down you can push your board forward with your hands to get the buoyancy behind the wave. If you do it well, you’ll be launched out the back of the wave.
To properly duck dive you have to get the nose of your board down, lean on it hard and push your board further down with your foot or knee. You can also duck dive with a larger board by push the nose of your board under the water at an angle to the left or right. Afterwards you’ll have to push extra hard with your knee or foot to get the tail under as well.
With a larger board you can also do the turtle role. How to do a turtle roll:
You turn your board over so that your fins are up and you hang under your board. You hold your board firmly.
When the wave has rolled over your board, turn around again. You can then continue paddling until the next wave arrives.
The turtle role ensures that you are not completely caught by the wave, although it is less efficient than duck diving. Hopefully these tips will help you get through the surf easier next time!
FOLLOW PEPIJN ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE:
WANT TO WORK TOGETHER WITH PEPIJN?
A complete and personal training program which suites your lifestyle and works on your weakpoints. A complicated world full of confusing details made easy with a surfcoach that helps you take the next steps in your surfing skills.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“Pepijn has been coaching me for three months and I can highly recommend his online program! The training is individualised, so you get to decide you’ll be working on. Pepijn provided me with a variety of training plans (strength, surf skate, swimming) and he continuously adapted the training over time.”
- Diana Charlotte
