Alright then lets get down to business, only 2 articles to go. You now know the right surfboard for a beginner, how to paddle it, and get out through the surf, so in this article we are going to cover the fun part, catching the wave.



Catching the wave:

Now that you have made it out the back, straddle your surfboard so your bum is just below the center. This makes it easiest to swing the board around when a set comes.

You need to sit up like this, and face the horizon so no waves take you by surprise. However you also must remember to keep checking the shore, choose an easy to spot landmark, and hang out around the front, this way you can see if you are drifting away.

When you catch your breath, and you see a nice small wave, that looks full enough to pick you up, but isn't just going to stand straight up and dump you, turn your board around to face the shore, lay down with your weight cantered, and begin to paddle.

Getting your position right takes a bit of practice, so remember that if you are lying too far back, it creates resistance in the water, slowing you down. This in turn will cause you to drop off the back of the wave.

If you are too far forward, you will roll or flip down the face of the wave. The trick is to stay forward but keep your chest up. Ideally you would stand up just as you begin to drop down the trough of the wave, but in the beginning wait until you have dropped down to the flat water just in front of the wave, it will be easier to stand up down there.

You need to paddle as hard as you can straight towards the beach. When you get more experienced you can angle your board more, to head along the wave. But since you just want to catch the water in front of the wave, just head straight.

Once you have caught your first wave you are going to need to stand up or pop up to your feet, so we will cover this lesson in the next article, so stay tuned.