Get clear on what you can do to unleash your surfing potential, meet your goals or just have more fun.
Surfing Better Means More Fun
Wanting to surf better isn’t about being overly serious, satisfying your ego, or taking the fun out of surfing. But you can have even more fun when you step outside your usual zone and take things to the next level.
When your surfing improves more options become available to you. For example, you learn how to handle late take-offs and now you can surf heavier breaks and find yourself getting barreled rather than getting smashed. Or at a lower level you might overcome flaws in the way you try to catch waves, then start to enjoy a much higher wave count per surf.
Surfing’s fun from the day you start, but the better you get the deeper the whole experience becomes. Imagine how it would feel to have the skills of someone like John John Florence, where no wave is off limits and you just know you’re going to clock up minutes of barrel time on every surf trip you take.
Just Surf More
That’s what some surfers will tell you when you ask for advice, but unfortunately, as a late-starter or weekend warrior it’s not that simple.
An entire lifetime could be spent in the lineup with nothing more to show for it than a mediocre cutback and an awkward top turn. Surfer Magazine 2011
There are a number of reasons why just surfing more isn’t the answer to quick improvement. For a start your surfing feels much different to how it actually looks, and it’s possible to be completely unaware of an error that is limiting your progression significantly. Gone unchecked, an issue like that could stick around forever.
Beginner surfers and Professionals are both well aware of the benefits of surf coaching and all pros have taken advantage of regular video analysis in their quest to surf better. Even guys who are celebrated for their lack of training, like Dane Reynolds, admit that they spend hours and hours studying technique on surf videos as well as regularly studying their own footage to correct errors. These guys film and review nearly every single session.
As an average surfer you probably have an equal desire to surf better. Rather than spending thousands on new boards hoping they’ll make you rip, consider whether a little coaching might be more effective (and cheaper).
What Level is this Coaching for?
If you’re not a beginner surfer and you’re not a pro-surfer, you will probably be a member of the biggest group of surfers, those who fall somewhere in the middle – the average surfers. These lessons have been designed for you and the common problems average surfers face.
On my scale this is for Level 3 and 4 surfers, and sometimes Level 2 surfers who need some help with catching more green waves. You can check your level here if unsure.
How I coach Intermediate and Average Surfers:
Sessions can be based around a goal you have, say getting ready for an upcoming surf trip, or we can focus on a problem you’re having. But all level 3 and 4 sessions involve video coaching – the best tool to identify what you need do to improve. This will highlight aspects of technique to correct and limitations in body mobility to work on.
We offer a few different packages, but all of them provide you with a clear process for improvement:
You Surf, I Film
We meet at the beach and I film you for about 60-90 minutes until we have enough footage to see your technique habits. I check everything, how you paddle, pop-up, your stance, your turns.
We Review Footage
After your surf we usually grab a coffee and watch your waves on the laptop. After reviewing them we identify the most important things for you to improve upon. These might be foundation things like stance, or the technique for specific moves such as cutbacks.
Get Clear on Main Issues
You have to understand something before you can fix it. I use sports coaching software to highlight corrections in technique, using splitscreen analysis of you vs pro surfers doing the same movement.
Show You How to Fix Them
Just mentally understanding the correct technique isn’t enough for improvement. I’ll show you land-based training you can do to embed new techniques in muscle memory, and advise if I think any exercises are needed to improve your mobility.
Get Your Foundation Right and You’ll Improve Faster
A lot of the surf tips you see in magazines and Youtube are focused on specific moves such as forehand cutbacks, backhand floaters, forehand bottom turns and so on. They can be really helpful if you already have good fundamentals such as a good pop-up, stance and you know how to compress properly, but if not, these tips can lead to more problems. So it pays to check your foundations before looking at improving specific moves.
An example of this is the bottom turn. Ever heard someone say it’s the most important move in surfing? If so you’ve probably also heard the tip for good bottom turns, to lean over and touch the water. While it’s true good surfers often touch the water during their bottom turns, I’ve seen a number of average surfers ‘forcing’ the touch when they don’t yet know how to compress properly.
The result is that the head goes down, the butt goes up and they fall off the toeside rail. For someone like this, they don’t need tips on the bottom turn yet, they need to be shown the correct stance and how to compress low to the surfboard while staying centred over top of it. Build that new habit and touching the water on the bottom turn will start to happen more naturally and effectively.
Likewise with other areas of surfing, is your pop-up flawless when dropping in to hollow waves? If not, working on that will be a better way to increase your chances of getting barreled than looking at barrel riding tips from pros.
On any given day in Raglan I notice that over 70% of the surfers in the water have issues with their pop-ups and stance that are holding them back. So, if you want to improve your surfing, don’t neglect your foundations.
A lot of my coaching sessions end up focusing on these foundation areas. Here are a few examples of the errors I often see and fix with average surfers:
- Low wave count because paddling for waves that aren’t steep enough to catch or waves that are already too steep
- Lying too far back on surfboard (because of past nosedive problems) and making up for the resulting lack of paddle speed by always catching waves super late, ending up stuck in whitewater
- Taking off in fast waves without the rail engaged so end up going too straight and getting caught behind the first section
- Incorrect pop-up technique, ranging from 2 stage knee popup which makes steep drops impossible, to pretty good technique but ending in an awkward stance and poor first bottom turn
- Squat stance with back knee pointing out, which limits vision (especially backhand), rotation of body through turns, and makes compression after a top turn awkward
- A complete lack of hip rotation while surfing, instead trying to turn with the arms and upper body to little effect
- Surfing with weight always on back foot and therefore finding it hard to generate speed
- Surfing too far out on the shoulder and missing opportunities for turns in the pocket, or not reading waves well
- No extension of body while surfing, always remaining in a low crouch and surfing through the middle part of the wave
- Holding arms too low beside body (common with snowboarders) resulting in bogged rails in turns and a lack of speed
Get a Clear Process for Overcoming Common “Average Surfer” Problems
Us average surfers have a few obstacles in our way when it comes to improving, here are some of the main things:
- body not ready for good surfing – your body adapts to what you do most so if you’ve been sitting all day every day you won’t be anywhere near as ready to rip as some kid or pro that has been at the beach every day since age 5.
- lack of awareness of how you surf – any time you see your own surfing footage you realise that it looks completely different to how it feels. If you don’t get regular feedback either from a coach or video footage you will be unaware of the errors you are making and therefore will never fix them.
- lack of mentoring and advice – rippers often have surfing parents, get sponsored young, go on training camps and get lots of tips and advice all along the way. It’s like they are being coached all the time by knowledgeable experts. Average surfers often lack good advice and have to figure things out the hard way by trail and error.
- limited opportunities for repetition – I think there’s a quote that says repetition is the mother of all skill. That’s why surfing is so hard to master, the waves aren’t always good, the lineups are crowded and no two waves are the same ever. The average surfer generally has to work full-time and surfs with the weekend crowds whereas the pros surf all week, are fitter and catch more waves plus they spend whole seasons in Indo and Hawaii.
- over thinking while surfing – average surfers who started as adults will often put a lot of pressure on themselves and compare themselves to good surfers in the water. This often leads to a negative mindset and limits progress and enjoyment.
- aversion to mistakes – mistakes are vital to learning and rippers understand this. They will sacrifice good waves in the name of progression. Average surfers often view mistakes as a sign of weakness, they’ll try a new move a few times and then give up.
If you really want to improve your surfing you need to address these problems and that’s why I always give you more than just a few technique tips. I know that won’t help too much.
We will look at your surfing holistically, see if your body is moving well and if not, provide some training advice to free it up. You’ll take home all your footage and be crystal clear on how your surfing technique can be improved. I’ll show you how to make up for a lack of surf time with land based training drills such as Smoothstar skateboarding or correct pop-up practice.
You want to work on your surfing on land, so that you can have fun in the water. Let the new muscle memory accumulate so that change happens on autopilot and you don’t need to over analyse and try so hard during your surfs. But you do need to break out of old habits and not be afraid to try some new things, so we will talk about smart ways to do that too.
What You’ll Come Away From the Session With
- An understanding of all the things that have been holding your surfing back and a plan for improving the top 2 or 3 issues
- Awareness of how your body or fitness is limiting your surfing ability and understanding of effective ways for you to fix your unique issues
- An understanding of how your mindset could be limiting your surfing performances and adopt methods to reach potential, avoid choking when it’s pumping, increase your confidence and overcome fear
- Technique ‘chunks’ and cue-words to make learning new techniques or moves easier
- Knowledge on how to train on land effectively
- A sense of possibility about learning new moves or taking on more challenging waves
- More confidence and clarity for when the waves are firing! Perfect before a surf trip to the tropics!
Intermediate Surf Lesson Packages
If you’re keen to give your surfing a boost, I’ve got 3 options for you to choose from:
Private Coaching
“give your surfing technique a tune-up”
Inclusions:
- goal setting and discuss your surfing background
- video coaching session 1.5-2 hours
- review footage and understand key aspects of technique to work on using coaching software
- identify any mobility issues with your body that need to be improved
- discuss land based methods and a process to improve your surfing
- take home all your footage
Private Coaching + Land-based Training Session
“identify everything that’s holding your surfing back and learn effective training methods”
Inclusions:
- goal setting and discuss your surfing background
- video coaching session 1.5-2 hours
- review footage and understand key aspects of technique to work on using coaching software
- identify any mobility issues with your body that need to be improved
- a land based training session that could involve Smoothstar surf-skateboarding, learning exercises and stretches, working on improving stance – depending on your needs
- final review and formulation of plan to improve your surfing
- take home all your footage
Full Day Private Coaching + Edited Footage to Take Home
“get a crystal clear understanding of key techniques”
Inclusions:
- same program as the above plus:
- video coaching session 2 that focuses on embedding the new techniques
- your footage edited with sports coaching software that uses split-screens, slow-mo and markups to highlight key aspects of technique. Great to watch before a surf.
FAQ
Can I book with a mate? What’s the price?
Yeah if you want to share a session that’s fine. It is $150 per person
What if the surf is no good on the day?
I keep an eye on the forecast and will let you know a few days before the session if the conditions are OK and what the best start time is. It’s great if you are in Raglan a few days and can be flexible with the lesson time, that way we can get the best possible conditions.
Can I book multiple sessions over different days?
Yes, if you want to do several sessions it’s great because you can work on technique, get feedback then be filmed again and work on the adjustments. I can give a discount on the follow up sessions too.
