How do you get out in reasonably sized waves? Help please :)

[devon_sup_surf]

Hi guys,

I have been SUPing for about 6 months now and supp surfing for 4 months. I just love it.

I'm fortunate to live in the south west of England where the surf is reasonable, but unfortunately the conditions make getting out back quite tricky.

1) frequent waves- typical time period is 8-10s in "good" surf
2) very frequent onshore winds
3) beach breaks so no deep channels or quiet zones where one can paddle out
4) undefined sets mean there are not many quiet periods to power out to

Add to that im only a (fairly good) beginner and I really struggle to get out in the surf. Typical conditions are waist-head high and the White water just batters me. After getting knocked off the board by some white water, by the time I have pulled the board back (10' leash and the boards usually upside down) the next wave gets me.

From what I have read on here the following techniques work

1) try to duck dive the board with a big push down near the nose of the board.

But I find the wave just hits my body and knocks me off anyway. Going side stance and it's tough!

2) stand on the back and try and ride the board over the wave

I just get knocked for 6 in reasonably big white water, as does the board

3) kick the board up over the whitewater as you fall backwards and hopefully go under the wave

I haven't tried this yet- it seems like it could work? Although the onshore wind may make it dangerous. Plus i still have to swim back to the board, by which time the next wave has hit me.


Anyway- now you have read all my noob excuses can someone recommend the most appropriate method I should work on above, or a new one perhaps?!

Any advice would be great thanks

[PonoBill]

Practice, practice, practice. First get your head straight--short period waves don't have much oomph (technical term) near the peak of the wave, so you can push through them pretty easily. There simply isn't much water up there.

There are a million ways to get through a wave, and which ones work for you depend on your stance, your board, and your experience. The easiest thing to do is just plow through. Pay attention to when you fall. Most people fall after the wave has gone past, in the turbulence. If that the case, then you're already there, you just need to practice staying up once you've made it. Putting your paddle over the wave as you pull into it helps your power, but you generally need to hold the blade in a brace position to stay on the board once the wave passes.

Think positive. If you think you're going to fall--you'll fall.

Even in closed-out shore break there are high and low spots in the waves you're trying to get over. You'll see more experienced people magically making it over unbroken waves. No magic, they're just reading the surface better than you do. Practice that. And charge the waves, don't putter. You need speed and confidence. If you have that it's easy.

[devon_sup_surf]

Ok thanks for the advice- although just to be clear it's the whitewater from broken waves I struggle with- not the peaks of unbroken stuff.

But you're dead right come to think of it- half the time it's after I have punched through the wave I fall off- so it's at least partly a balance issue.

Which technique should I practice- that's my next question?

[Caribsurf]

It's easy to stop paddling and feel like "wow I made it" when you power over or through white water.  The time to paddle hard is once you get over or through the wash as there is a lot of confused, turbulent water in it's aftermath and you want to get out of that and out to the break.

I used to get so pissed when I was starting out when I would get through some big white water in tact, only to fall  on the other side.

Also when approaching white water, get some paddling momentum and attack IT and be the aggressor, don't wait for it to hit you.  Also, be aware that in an instant your board can be slammed back into your face.  I always have my arm and paddle prepared to block.

like Pono said , practice, practice, practice..the more surf sessions you have, the more comfortable and familiar you will be paddling out.

Finally, don't waste necessary energy paddling out, have a plan.  I always hang inside patiently, dodging smaller inside breaks waiting for the right moment.  You mention 8-10 period waves, that's pretty good spacing.  I see so many guys get worked over and over again almost to the point of giving up, when if they had just waited a a few minutes , they may have gotten out with dry hair.

[PDLSFR]

Also the more familier you become with your local surf break, you will find a spot that is usually easier than other spots to get out.

+1 for what Pono and Carib said about practice, even when the surf is horrible get out in the mush chop and windblown slop as the more you get used to punching thru the better you'll get.

[surfcowboy]

Search the forum, there's a lot here on that. You'll find that there are a million techniques for doing this but most involve being on your feet as prone or on your knees you have little control.

Also, choose your spot and conditions when you're a beginner. I used to watch the forecast for when a certain spot was 0-1 and go out because I knew I could handle knee high there. Over time I got better. I honestly wished I'd taken up regular surfing and body surfing earlier as many times even today I'll choose a different board if conditions are beyond my SUP skills.

Patience and perseverance are key and as you search you'll see many of us here progress over the years.

[SUPcheat]

I timed my maneuvers in short period stuff this last winter.  The time it took me to get to my knees if I was in the water was 4 or 5 seconds that I could have been paddling.  I got more in the habit of prone paddling to get those few extra seconds going out rather than trying to kneel or stand, and you can learn to prone paddle into the waves without getting knocked off.

If you can roll off the wave without falling off, than you can consult the posts above.  I usually can make three or four white waters standing up before a toss off, but as stated, white water stand up takes practice and it is the luck of the draw. 

Pono is right, the guys who have been doing it a long time know when to roll off the waves, and they have an uncanny ability to find the channels and stay up and out of harms way.

I still find myself doofusing in the whirlygigs a lot more than I would lilke.

[stoneaxe]

I love the challenge of getting over shore break. I think it, almost more than anything else, differentiates SUP from prone. Certainly in regards to the workout we get. You want to get better faster....go out when its waist high at 6 seconds and just stay in the impact and whitewater zone. Make mother nature your personal trainer and the waves your treadmill. The workout in the whitewater and chop is what changed my life...embrace it.

I used two very different boards on Saturday in pretty close to the exact conditions you describe, waist+, onshore, bumpy, etc...My 10-6 and my 12-6. How you take each board over whitewater is very different. Generally the smaller the board the more the technique is focused on agility......bigger boards on power. I love taking almost any board out in those conditions...when it starts getting head+ it starts getting dicey. You'll get there...just TOW. 6 months in I was still falling on knee high whitewater FWIW...

[Subber]

Ok thanks for the advice- although just to be clear it's the whitewater from broken waves I struggle with- not the peaks of unbroken stuff.

But you're dead right come to think of it- half the time it's after I have punched through the wave I fall off- so it's at least partly a balance issue.

Which technique should I practice- that's my next question?

Lots of good advice (as usual).

I'm thinking that if you are falling mostly after you have punched through the wave (whitewater)
that you are almost there.  -- At that point you need to make sure you get your paddle in the water
(or even have your paddle in the water a bit before) - the paddle is your third leg - you "brace" with it
against the water - you may have to push either direction on the paddle blade to help stay upright.

I will go through small white water in parallel stance but anything bigger and I switch to staggered
stance or surf stance as I want more for-aft control and want to be able to keep the nose from
shooting up.

You may want to test standing at different positions on your board - more forward or more towards the
rear to change the level of the nose going through the whitewater - to figure out which standing location
works best for you for that board.  For small balls of whitewater you might want to go under or through it
at a certain angle; for big balls you might want to go up and over it.

Again, get that paddle back into the water as you go over or just after you go over.

[SaMoSUP]

One other thing to try is weighting and unweighting on the board or pumping your legs. I find that when I slightly unweight on the board by pulling my legs up when the bulk of the whitewater hits you, the board can float easier above it than if you had your full weight on the board trying to plow through it.

[Bean]

In addition to all the good stuff above, look for a nice rip to help you get out.  Even a beach-break that may appear featureless has to have an outlet, especially on the outgoing tide.

[supsurf-tw]

If the whitewater is just too big to paddle through you just have to bail. If there are more behind it it helps to have a tail handle and hold the board close then when the set's over jump back on and resume paddling. Trying to get back up between waves sometimes is a waste of time, depending on the period. Try to just lose as little ground as possible. If you're getting hit when you first paddle out it may be you aren't timing the sets well. It's just a lot of practice and patience when you're taking a 10 wave set on the head.

[clay]

Hi,

I find the conditions you are describing to be the most challenging on a SUP.  I find once I fall off or go sideways I'm hosed and end up getting beat back to shore, rather than fight it maybe ride back in to where you can stand, recollect, and then try again.

I made this video a while back, the first technique is what I do in short period stuff.  If it's small enough I sometimes stay on my knees and do the same technique of pulling myself over the whitewash while bracing.

Hope this helps:

"This first technique I heard about via a friend saying Kalama does this:
Plant the paddle right in front of the wave/foam and pull with the paddle up and over the wave and use feet to push up and over and then immediately brace with the paddle once you have enough momentum to get over the wave.

On the second wave I kicked the board up the face and over the wave while I the rider fell backward into the face, the idea here being to get the board over so that it doesn't drag you back or hit someone.  On my attempt in this video I muscled the board up and through the lip and bailed/fell off before I fell down the face (on a bigger wave this might not work).

And on the third wave I collected my board and put my paddle under my chest so I could quickly paddle with my arms to get past the final wave.  I do this on smaller waves when I am pretty sure I can make it, I only do this when I suspect I won't make it if I take the extra time to stand up."

[nalu-sup]

Here are a few thoughts that improved my success:
1. Paddle as hard as you can in a semi surf stance right before impact. A side by side stance will not provide enough fore/aft stability. You want the board to encounter the white water with as much forward momentum as possible. Think "I am going to hit the white water", not "the white water is going to hit me".
2. Be sure that you hit it at exactly 90 degrees.
3. Exaggerate absorbing the white water with your legs so that it does not bump your center of gravity upwards. Your legs can come almost up into your chest so that your head stays as level as possible.
4. I do one last hard stroke just before hitting the white water, and then as I flex my legs up to absorb, I bring my paddle blade forward out to the side so that the back of the blade planes across the top of the white water like a third leg.
5. Once on the other side, I flex really low with the back of the paddle on the surface and 90 degrees out to the side. If you do this correctly, your handle will be 90 degrees to the board and almost level with the water surface.
6. I quickly continue to skim the back of the blade forward across the water and then roll the blade in to start pulling forward to build up speed for the next wave.
The key to all this for me is that the back of paddle blade never leaves the surface from the time I encounter the white water until I start pulling in that first stroke. I try to keep the back of the blade planing forward over the white water into a super low 90 degree brace on the other side, and then continue the blade moving forward along the surface until I can start that first pull. A planing blade is far better for bracing than a sunken blade, and a blade that is in the air is no good at all.

[GizzeeNZ]

I'm with Bean.......identify the rip and chuck yourself in the middle of that. Try and paddle out when possible......stay calm and conserve strength when not possible......if a lull comes paddle like crazy