So you have a surfboard and your ready to go. Your board should be rather large as the first article indicated, and float well.

The smaller your board the harder it will be to paddle, you will need to balance it, as well as deal with the added resistance of the board sinking or sitting lower in the water.

Either way, you now need to get feel for your surfboard, big or small, before taking on the surf and swell.

Find a calm section of water, a beach with no swell or even a river, it is not necessary, but if you can get your position right on the board before going out and getting hit by the swells, you will get through the breakers more easily.

When you feel your comfortable to head out in the smaller swells. Walk your surfboard out to about knee to waist height. Then lie on the surfboard so your weight is central, keep your chest just above the middle, then when your ready, and the board feels stable, level out your surfboard by leaning forward and start paddling.

The further back you lay on the board the more resistance you will encounter, you don't won't the nose to far up in the air, as the tail will drag in the water more.

Once you get to choppy water and whitewash, keep your chest raised off the board as much as possible, it will help the nose of the board rise over the little stuff. If that nose goes under you will loose momentum, and possible even get pushed backwards.

You should be using deep strokes, and have your hands cupped to get the most speed out of your board. By creating more resistance with your paddling and using more energy on each stroke you will move much faster.

While you might use more energy on your strokes, you will get out faster, and have to deal with less sets of waves, so in reality you will use less energy overall.

Alright then, once you got that down pat, the next step is getting through the larger or breaking waves, so read the next lesson to learn how to duckdive and roll.