Surfing Illustrated

AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO WAVE RIDING

By JOHN ROBISON

The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Copyright © 2010 John Robison
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-07-147742-0

Contents

AcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroduction1. Surfing, Surfboards, and Surfers2. The Coast: A Beginning Surfer’s Guide to Da Beach3. Getting on the Water4. Surf Etiquette5. Reading and Catching Waves6. Riding and Maneuvering7. Surfer’s Swag: A Grab Bag of InformationIndex

Excerpt

Surfing, Surfboards, and Surfers

No matter what your interests or abilities, the coast can be a fantasticplayground. First and foremost is surfing with a surfboard. Surfing can alsomean sliding any type of craft (a surfboard, boogie board, or even just yourbody) down the face of a wave. But if the waves are too small for surfing, youcan still go for a swim, paddle a paddleboard, outrigger canoe, or sea kayak, orgo fishing. If the wind is too strong for surfing, you can try sailing,boardsailing, or kiteboarding. If the water visibility is good, you can gosnorkeling or scuba diving. If the waves are too big, there is always shellcollecting, relaxing, sand castle construction and demolition with the kids, aswell as sex on the beach (the cocktail, that is). The more watersports you try,the better an overall surfer you become. The most respected surfers areproficient in a wide variety of surfing, from bodysurfing to outrigger canoesurfing to kiteboarding. So with all these other options, why surf? Becauseit’s simply the most fun you can have.

“Listen: when someone tells me he or she wants to learn the athleticism, theart, of surfing, my first reaction is invariably, ‘careful, it can changeeverything.’”

—Allan C. Weisbecker, In Search of Captain Zero

HOW SURFING WORKS

To really appreciate surfing, it helps to understand a little bit about thephysics of what’s going on.

Gravity Sports: It’s All Downhill from Here

Surfing is a gravity sport like downhill skiing or snowboarding, with the addedexcitement that the entire hill is moving with you. Mere humans are newcomers tothe sport of surfing. Dolphins and sea lions are the real experts and can surfwaves underwater, and pelicans can surf across the updraft on the face of acresting wave.

Planing

Most surfboards are not buoyant enough to support an upright person in flatwaterwithout sinking, so how is it that surfers are able to stand up and skim acrossthe surface of a moving wave? The difference between skipping a stone andploinking a pebble is speed across the surface of the water.

With enough speed, even large objects like water-skiers and jetboats stopplowing through the water and start skimming or planing across the surface.

Instead of using a motor, surfers use the speed generated by gravity as theydrop down the slope of a moving wave. Unlike a ski hill, a wave slope can changefrom too flat to too steep in a few seconds, so timing and placement arecritical.

Finding the Glide Zone

The glide zone is a constantly moving area where it is steep enough (butnot too steep) for your surfboard to start planing (surfer B). The idea is tosprint shoreward until the glide zone of a wave appears underneath you. If youstand up too soon, before the wave steepens enough, you will sink like a water-skierbehind a boat that has run out of gas (surfer A). If you are trying tocatch a wave that is too steep for your surfboard, the surfboard will nosedive,or pearl, sending you end over end (surfer C).

Catching Waves

Instead of thinking about catching the wave, think about the wave catching upwith you. With practice, you will be able to position yourself so the glide zoneappears directly beneath you just as the wave catches up with you.

Dropping In

Once you succeed in paddling into the glide zone and standing up (this may takesome time), you need to figure out what to do next. If you keep your boardpointed straight toward shore, you will speed ahead of the wave into theflats, where the avalanche of whitewater behind you will soon catch up.Although making drops is great fun, the rides are short, and thisroutine can become tiring after a while.

Trimming and The Glide

For longer rides you need to choose a wave that breaks gradually from one end tothe other (peels) so a new glide zone keeps forming to the side. If youpoint your board toward this new glide zone, you can enjoy a much longer ride.

Trimming is when you line up your board so it stays in the glide zoneall the way down the line, also known as The Glide. When conditions areright, surfers can ride diagonally across a wave face for a mile or more.

Although being in trim is great, from the glide zone you also can sprint outinto the flats for a bottom turn (see Chapter 6, page 140),launch up the wave crest for an off-thelip (see page 149), or carve outto the shoulder and back for a roundhouse cutback (see Chapter6, page 149). But always, at some point, you have to come back through theglide zone to regain your speed.

BEFORE YOU GRAB YOUR SURFBOARD

There are several basic ocean skills you should be comfortable with before yougrab a surfboard.

Swim Practice

Even though you may plan on doing all your stroking while on a surfboard, youneed to be comfortable swimming in the ocean without a surfboard in case youbecome separated from your surfboard. Although you don’t have to be an Olympicswimmer to surf (but it helps!), you should be able to swim in a pool for atleast thirty minutes and tread water for twenty minutes without difficulty. Itis perfectly okay to take a touch-up swim lesson to improve your efficiency.

Once your flutter kick is fluttering and your crawl is more than crawling, youshould gain some experience swimming in the ocean next to the shore in mildconditions. In general, though, places to surf don’t make good places to swim.So before you go, read Chapter 2 about rip currents and check with alifeguard for recommendations!

Dealing with Waves by Ducking (and Not Diving)

Once you’ve found a good swimming spot, the next step is to become comfortablewith the ins and outs of the shore break. The shore break can change from aClass I to a Class V rapid and back again in just a few seconds, so time yourentry and exit to avoid the waves. As you wade out and encounter an oncomingwave, you can either stand sideways on your tiptoes to pass through it, duckunder it, or just act like a tourist and let it smack you. Once the water is toodeep or the waves are too big to wade through, the safest option is to duckunderwater and swim under the turbulence. If you choose to, you can do a low-speed,sinking belly flop and then swim to the bottom. Never dive if there mightbe any obstacles (such as the bottom) to bump into with your head or torso.

Swimming in Open Water

Now that you are beyond the shore break, take a moment to float, relax, and geta sense of the circular motion of passing waves. As you float next to the beach,you will feel a surge toward shore alternating with a backwash away from shore.Predicting these motions is key to getting in and out of the water safely withyour surfboard. Take note of any drifting from longshore currents.

Swimming in the sea is radically different from swimming in a lap pool. For aworkout, swim along the shoreline just past the breaking waves. If there is acurrent along the beach, start by swimming against the current (think of it as atreadmill). Keep your head down and your body level to make progress through thechop and splashes, because swimming with your head up the whole time is slowerand not energy efficient. Do lift your head occasionally and look around to keeptrack of your position. As always, be aware of rip currents (see Chapter2).

Bodysurfing

Bodysurfing is an ideal way to get a feel for waves and develop some coastalcoping mechanisms without having to worry about your own surfboard beating youup. Bodysurfing is also a critical skill for aspiring watermen and -women. Inthe days before surfboards had leashes, when surfers lost their boards theywould have to bodysurf back to the beach to retrieve them.

Start in small, gentle waves (less than 3 feet high) that are breaking over asandy bottom. Instead of a Hawaii 5-o tubing wave, look for gently spillingwaves. Avoid bodysurfing in the shore break where waves (and bodies) breakdirectly onto the beach. Select a place where waves are breaking fartheroffshore for a longer and safer ride.

Ideally, you begin bodysurfing by standing waist to chest deep on a sandbar justa few feet seaward of where the waves break. When a particularly auspicious waveappears and starts to tug your body seaward, push yourself off the bottom towardshore and start swimming aggressively. As the wave lifts you up and surges youforward, take a few more strokes and then extend both hands in front of you asyou accelerate down the wave. Go as far as you can, then wade or swim back outand do it again. If you misjudge the wave and feel that it is going to pile-driveyour body into the bottom, curl up and cup your hands over your head.

Exiting Gracefully

Even if it looks as though you can simply swim toward shore and stand up in theshallows, always look over your shoulder to make sure there isn’t a sneaker setof waves heading your way. If there is some wave action coming, stop short ofthe shore break and wait for a lull between waves. If there is a small surge todeal with, you can swim in with the incoming swell. As you reach the beach,swing your feet underneath you and stand up as the wave surges up the beach. Tocome in with a breaking wave, swim in at or just behind the wave crest so itcrashes in front of you and doesn’t dash you into the sand. As you ride thesurge in, put your landing gear down as before. Exit quickly, before thereceding water washes you back out, and keep an eye out for the next wave.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF SURFING

The most respected surfers are proficient in a wide variety of surfing, frombodysurfing to outrigger canoe surfing. A surf-riding craft needs to be able todo two things: catch a wave, and go where you want to go once you’re on thewave. Some craft, such as sea kayaks, make it easy to catch a wave, but it’s aclumsy ride. Others, such as short surfboards, are incredibly maneuverable butmake it hard to catch a wave. The main focus of this book is on longboards,because they make it easy to catch a wave and are maneuverable enough to turnwhen you need them to.

Advanced Bodysurfing

Advanced bodysurfers use their shoulders and chest to carve across the face of awave. Bodysurfers use specialized swim fins—shorter and stiffer thansnorkeling fins—so they can catch waves in deep water. Fin keepersare miniature leashes that keep the fins attached to your ankles, and fin socksor booties keep your feet nicely padded from blisters. Because walking onshorewith fins is problematic, you have to either walk backward or put your fins onand take them off when you are in the water. Some bodysurfers also use ahandboard to skim across the surface more easily. It is even possible forskilled bodysurfers to surf a wave underwater the way dolphins do.

Bodyboarding and Kneeboarding

Bodyboards (sometimes called boogie boards) are short, soft foam boards thatare four feet long or less. Body boards are the perfect entry into the world ofwaves for folks who already have strong swimming skills but may not be up forwrestling with a surfboard quite yet. Boogie boards and bodyboards are no longerjust toys for little kids and wanna-be surfers. Proficient boogie boarders haveas much as or more fun out there than anyone and are masters of insane take-offsand deep barrels. Because they don’t have to worry about wiping out while tryingto stand up, they can start surfing immediately upon catching a wave. Whilebeginner bodyboarders can have fun without fins, experienced bodyboarders alwaysuse fins to help propel themselves. Use the same gradual approach as whenlearning to surf with a surfboard. A decent bodyboard will have a slick bottomwith hardened rails and a leash that attaches to your wrist or upper arm.

Kneeboards are super-short and stubby surfboards that surfers kneel onto better squeeze into tubes. Although kneeboarding is not nearly as popular asit once was, the short but wide board design has been adapted for standupsurfing.

Kayak Surfing

Because of their faster hull speed and paddle propulsion, kayaks can catch wavesmore easily than surfboards, necessitating great restraint by a kayaker to avoidbeing a wave hog. In the past, kayakers had a bad reputation for ignoring surfetiquette, but today’s kayakers are generally better informed and moreneighborly. Kayak surfing is a good alternative if the waves are mushy orchoppy, but kayaks are generally not as maneuverable as surfboards in steepwaves and advanced conditions.

Surf kayaks have a long hull with a low-volume stern designed to catch and rideocean waves. Shorter river kayaks are slower but are popular for doing tricks ona wave face and in whitewater. Sea kayaks excel in small, gentle surf or swellsbut are the least maneuverable of kayaks. Wave skis are high-performancesit-on-top surfboards.

Landing and launching in the surf zone is more complicated in a kayak than on asurfboard and can lead to some hugely entertaining wipeouts. For moreinformation on kayak surfing, check out my book Sea Kayaking Illustrated(International Marine/McGraw-Hill, 2003).

Skimboarding

Skimboards are oval-shaped, flat, finless boards designed to plane acrossthe beach on the thin film of water from a receding wave. Skimboarders toss theboard in front of them onto the retreating wave, run after it, jump on it, andride it out into an oncoming wave, then ride the wave back to shore, somehowwithout ending up flat on their backs and in traction.

Sailboarding

Sailboarding (also known as boardsailing or windsurfing) isstill a popular sport. Equipment has evolved dramatically from large, stableboards to high-performance wave-carving boards. Most boardsailing is doneindependently of surfable waves, although skilled riders surf on everything fromwind chop to big waves.

Kitesurfing or Kiteboarding

Kitesurfing, or kiteboarding, is a cross between windsurfing andwakeboarding, with a little hang gliding thrown in with gusts of wind.Kiteboards are short compared with other boards, and are more similar towakeboards than surfboards. As with windsurfing, the board is wind- instead ofwave-driven, but waves can serve as ramps for aerial maneuvers.

Paddleboard Paddling

Like a road bike or a sea kayak, paddleboards are made to go fast on long-distancejourneys rather than to make quick maneuvers. Although paddlers mightcatch a wind swell on a downwind run from time to time, surfing itself is not amajor goal. Instead, surfers use paddleboards for exercising, touring, orracing. Paddleboard paddlers may alternate between lying prone and kneeling touse different muscle groups.

Standup Paddleboard Surfing

Standup paddleboards are the perfect choice when you have a long paddle outto a gentle, peeling long-board break. Standup paddleboard, or SUP, surfing is arevitalization of a Hawaiian beachboy trick to stay dry while taking close-upphotos of tourists surfing at Waikiki. Paddleboards are propelled by a longcanoe paddle wielded by a standing surfer. Surfers also use the paddle to helpcarve turns while surfing, compensating for the greater weight and length of theboard.

Surfers use a parallel skier-style stance when paddling and a sideways snowboardor surfer stance when riding waves. Because of their greater ease in catchingwaves, standup paddleboard surfers need to exercise restraint with othersurfers. Other surfers call SUP surfers “sweepers,” “janitors,” or “gondoliers.”Surfers also take out standup paddleboards on flat days for touring andexercise. Standup paddleboards can provide a great workout on calm days with nosurf. More and more folks are using them on inland waterways as well. Think ofit as sea kayaking with a better view and dry shorts (until the wind picks up,that is). The trick is to bend your knees a bit more than you think you need to.

While SUP paddling on flat water is easy to pick up, SUP surfing is not. Evenfor those who can already surf, trying to ride a standup paddle-board in wavesfor the first time is a humiliating experience. Standup paddleboards are evenmore unwieldy than long-boards, and you also have an expensive paddle to keeptrack of, so it is best to learn the basics on a soft surfboard, or spongeboard,first.

Shortboard Surfing

Shortboards are hyper-maneuverable and lend themselves to slash-and-ripriding styles similar to riding a BMX bike, paddling a playboat, or riding asnowboard at a half-pipe or terrain park. Shortboards can surf steeper waves,take later drops, and carve sharper turns than standard longboards.

Big-Wave Surfing

Big-wave surfing is an entirely different sport, similar to snowboarding infront of an avalanche or kayaking over waterfalls. Because large waves travel sofast, it is hard to paddle fast enough to catch them on a standard surfboard.

There are two radically different approaches to deal with this. Traditional big-wavesurfers use long, fast, and narrow big-wave guns to paddle intothese enormous waves. Tow-in surfers team up with a driver on a personalwatercraft who slingshots them down the face, making catching and riding thesewaves much easier. Tow-in surfing is a team sport with surfers taking turnsdriving the personal watercraft. Because there is no need for a long surfboardto catch a wave and the wave gives the surfer tremendous speed, tow-in big-wavesurfers can use much shorter and more maneuverable surfboards. These boardsactually have to be weighted to prevent them from skipping too much. (Thepersonal watercraft also has a safety sled for rescues.)

Longboard Surfing

So if all these other types of surfing are so fun, why even mess withlongboarding? Well, longboards provide the perfect balance between wave-catchingefficiency and wave-riding maneuverability. Longboards are not just forbeginners. They are the perfect tool for zen-like glides across wave faces,soulful carves, and cross-steps for noseriding, the utterly cool sensation ofwalking on water. Longboards excel at catching waves early (farther from shore),and riding smallish and mushy waves. Of all the types of surfing, longboardingis best suited for beginning surfers and is the main focus of this book.

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(Continues…)Excerpted from Surfing Illustrated by JOHN ROBISON. Copyright © 2010 by John Robison. Excerpted by permission of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc..
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