What’s the first thing to know about surfing?

Beginner surf lesson: your very first time surfing

This blog post was inspired from a student of our surf school. I happened to be at the beach with her and we were talking just before getting in the water. And she asks: ‘So if you had to tell me one thing about surfing, what is the first thing to know?’

 

Note: this was her first time surfing. And I thought: ‘This is a hard question!’ Yes, there are plenty of things to know about surfing and you always learn new things but what if you had to just limit your answer to one thing? What advice would you give a person on his very first day of surfing? Tough one eh?

Position on board, paddling, popping up:

I first thought of giving her practical tips such as: your position on the board, paddling, popping up, your body position while on the wave, where to look at, how to make that turn and so on…

What really matters: Have fun!

But that’s way too much information and she only asked about the single most important thing to know. So personally, if I had to give one single piece of advice to somebody surfing for his very first time that’s what I would say (and that’s what I actually told her):

‘Just have fun and enjoy your surfing.’

What does this mean to me? Take it easy, do not stress about getting a lot of waves, do not panic if you have a wipe out, do not worry too much about the people around you (yes, that’s the hardest one I know) or in a nutshell: just enjoy it!

After all psychology in surfing is a hundred times more important than practical tips – at least for me. And with the correct psychology, most surf sessions can be fun.