Recreation and sports

 by: Joseph Tierney

The first thing you need when you start surfing is a surfboard. For beginners, it is recommended to start on a longboard because it is much easier to stand up on over a shortboard. You can practice on the beach:

1. Lay the board down on the sand face up.

2. Lay on the board face down.

3. Jump up, pushing your arms out in front of you and moving your legs back onto the board. You want your legs to be one in front of the other. You want to do this all in ONE QUICK MOTION.

4. Repeat this many times until you've got the hang of it.

This is when the real work begins - paddling. The key is to make sure your shoulders are back, your feet are together and you paddle hard. This is what you want to practice while you are first beginning. You will eventually get the hang of it.

Now you are going to learn how to get under the waves you don't want.

1. Paddle as fast as you can at the white water coming onto you.

2. Start to push the top of your board down under the water when you get about 5 feet away from the wave.

3. Next kick with your foot on the tail of your surfboard.

4. Try to create a "scooping" motion with your body and surfboard, going under the wave and coming out the other side.

Congratulations, you just completed your first duck dive!

Now the hardest part of all, actually standing up on the surfboard - on a wave and not on the sand.

Remember what you were doing on the beach in the sand? These are the techniques that you want to apply to this step.

When you are out in the surf lineup and you see a wave coming that you want to catch, start paddling for it. You want to angle your board down at an angle to the face of the wave. Point the board the direction you want to go. When you feel the wave start to pick you up, stand up! You should try evening your weight over the center of the board so you don't fall over. Keep practicing you will get the hang of it.

It might take a little bit of time to get used to, but you can definetly be standing up and riding waves in 6 hours or less!