i am a new boater, and i was wondering when is a good time to learn how to surf, and how do i learn? i have done some eddy hopping in the river, and i have learned to peel out into current, but i am not that solid... is this an okay time to start trying to surf? and what exactly does it entail? i can roll, and i know the basics of bracing, is there anything else i should learn before attempting to surf?
cheers
phaedra

If you are paddeling and see a wave just get on it and try to stay on. I don´t know what to say about technique, but it is often easyer to catch waves if you can move side ways into it from an eddy, so you don´t have to much downstream momentum when you enter the wave. Other than that just every wave is different, so just get out there and experiment and have fun.

If you live close to a beach with decent waves, then I would say that is probably the best to to learn. Paddle out to a little past where they are breaking, and then turn in so that you are facing the beach.

Looking over your shoulder, when you see a suitable wave (a big, steep one) start paddling toward the beach. If you tiem things just right, you will be surfing. I would say depending on what boat you have, you probably want to start side surfing or carving pretty soon to avoid pearling (the front of you boat going under water).

If you dont time it well, you will just miss it and have to start over. Dont be discouraged if you dont get it at first, it will come with practise.

if you go to the beach beware your going to get pounded more than once until you get use to it and don't lean in to the shore you will meet the underwater world real fast. Make sure you lean back out to shore if your on a wave. if you got a good roll you sould be fine.

I think what he is trying to say is to lean into the wave at all times, except sometimes if you are right on top of the foam pile you might lean forward for a moment to fall back down into the wave, but other than that... Always lean away from shore

Best bet to start is to ride smaller waves even the broken ones to get a feel of what is happening to you and your boat. once you have got the hang of things try moving out to slightly bigger waves! this way you should learn quicker without getting a big trashing!

Dont rush it either take your time and you should soon become a surfer chick no doubt

oh and if you do flip try to stay relaxed hold your breath and wait for the wave to stop throwing you about before tryin to roll

another good tip is to keep your weight forwwards


go catch sum waves

don't lean forward when your on top of the wave about to drop in, or if you do you will do a kick ass loop

if you dont lean in at the top of the wave then you probably wont catch it. and to avoid pearling and getting destroyed, you can drop in at an angle, and then just carve

or u can do what he said


his plan works alot better than mine and paddle like crazy

either way you are in for a good time

Mmmm im kinda scared now:D

Come on, just go to the Wenatchee (or whatever other river is running near Seattle), and drop into one of those nice waves. You'll see what happens + you have plenty of people to show you the way. You'll be fine, and have tonnes of fun!

If you can master a smooth ferry, keeping the upstream angle right, then 'sliding' onto a wave from an eddy should be fairly easy. once on, you should notice that the water actually 'holds' you - you're Surfing!

In the ocean, you must paddle out, then turn and 'run' with the swell of the wave, until such time as the water propels you forward. At that time, it is important to lean somewhat back, so as not to let the water swell force actually propel you forward off the wave, or up and over, into the underwater world...
once riding, you will want to maintain what whiting calls a 'moderately' aggressive stanch - slightly leaned forward...

Don't get frustrated - it can be a lot of work at first...

And like Martin says... get out and paddle!

Ok now, what all of what these people are saying is correct...sorta. Now what you really need to know is all on this post. When your running a river w/ your friends (of course, for safety!!) and your (friends) tell you to avoid that sticky hole or avoid that ledge hole or even avoid that death hole you must go in and practice your playboating in that hole. Avoid that ______ is secret kayaker/kayaktress language for (don't)avoid that hole because it gives up wicked sweet tricks. I know that this secret kayak language comes as a suprise to you because you are a new kayaktress to the great sport of kayaking, so I'll give you a taste of my plethora of knowledge regarding kayaking...It feels like just yesterday that I was having trouble getting my surf on.... my friend told me to avoid that nasty (as in nasty sweet) ledge hole. I led him on real well like I was gonna avoid it. Yah.. right pass up a world class playspot. I (purposly) missed my boof and I threw the absolute sweetest tricks you've seen. Plus I was in the hole for a really long time, usually I flush out of holes which can kinda piss me off. I had so many retentive ends, cartwheels, loops, space godzillas and even a helix or two. I wasn't even in one of those fancy kayaks for tricks, my boat was like 8 feet long. i don't think even EJ has ever had a ride that good. Plus, I even threw in a little squirt boating and michael jackson for good measure. When i started to tire of throwing the sweetest rodeo and freestyle tricks I simply poped my skirt, did some mystery moves. I had better down time than any squirt boater in a competition. Then i did some moon walking on the bottom the river. Now let me tell you, that was a lot of fun I saw all these memories and my life and stuff pass before my eyes, so righteous. By this point my friend was getting kinda tired (and jealous) of waiting for me to finish my sik trix. He actually got out of his boat and yelled at me to do something so i would get flushed out of the hole. I think he may have even thrown some sort of a cloth bag at me or something, with a string attached to it, so he could throw it at me again and not loose it. The nerve of him OMG, people are so jealous of my skillz. So i finally got out of the hole. My friend was so mad(yah right, JEALOUS) at me that he said he would again take me to this river.

So the point of this story is that kayakers are selfish people who want to save the best playspots for themselves. Do not be fooled. Some of the best playspots are right smack in the middle of class IV-V rapids. Just run those rapids anyway you want. The class I, II, III, IV and V ratings are not actually for danger they satnd for as follows

I- Icky playspots
II- Icky but Intersting playspots
III- (playspots similar to )Insuficient Impotent Intercourse
IV- Introducing Vested interst (in playboating)
V- oVer the top playboating

O.K. now that you have greatly expanded your knowledge base on kayaking either:
1. get off the computer and go put your new knowledge to test
2. Give me a ring and well go run Great Falls together because there are some super sweet playholes like charlie's and subway.

yea just do it. it is not that bad it is fun as crap, by the time one ride is over you will have figured ever thing out. The key point in kayaking is to HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!


PS. what kind of Riot boat is that???

looks like an orbit

1. im in washington state, not wash. dc, although i am going to college in boston
2. orbit 47
3. im surfin' tomorrow wish me luck!!

...kind of off topic, but what college are you going to in Boston?

im actually doing a combined degree program with tufts university and school of the museum of fine arts in boston.....its five years and i will get a BFA from SMFA and a BA from Tufts.. im so fucking excited it will be perfect for me it is the only program like it in the country

That's so fucking awsome. Holy fucking shit. I love ceramics. It's like the greatest fucking thing since running the shit and a few other things but they just fucking slipped my mind... shit!! Are you gonna be a freshman in Boston next year? There's some fucking good creeking in new England. Get your skills up so you can creek cause it's a fuck load more fun than playboating. Peace out bitches.

...well, sorry I lack the enthusiasm of the previous comment, but one of my friends is going to be a freshman at tufts too... you'll probably never see him, but I just thought I would ask

whats his name i will find him on facebook?! does he kayak? cause i need to find people that kayak at tufts. also, tufts really is not that big so i prob will see him! thats sweet tho

well, his name is Michael Levine, and he is not really the outdoor type. He is a pretty sweet actor though. He has a facebook thingy so you can friend him, and if it really floats your boat, (muahahaha, you gotta love the oun...) you can friend me, since we are pretty much best friends now since I gave you a few pointers on how to surf and told about my friend and you future classmate. my name would be Juney Shober, so fire away.

so, Im sorry about the tangent for all of you non-friends of Michael Levine, or class of 2010 Tufts students, back to the topic at hand: surfing, its pretty sweet.

If you have a mostly decent roll (meaning you get it most of the time) just start hitting waves that you see other people on. Yes you will most likely get flushed off the wave the first number of times. Yes you will most likely get lots of practice on your roll but it wicked fun to kayak so who cares.

all that matter about surfing that you look cool doing it plus if you get whiped out just make up a name for it