Dispatch from our Surf House in Hossegor;
In a bid to accelerate your fledgling surf skills, the team here at our surf house in Hossegor have identified some of the most common surfing style mistakes every learner surfer makes. Read about them below to take your surfing to the next level.
You can be at the top of the food chain in your profession, a competitive athlete in another discipline or that person who’s naturally gifted at just about everything else they do. But when it comes to surfing, you’ve got more chance of successfully pushing a trolley of spaghetti up a steep hill than mastering it first go.
The struggle that comes with learning to surf is undoubtably one of its biggest appeals. Big effort equals big reward and such. The drawback, however, is that style is one of the main, if not the main component in good surfing. And nobody new to surfing looks cool when they’re just starting out.
Lucking for you though, our surf house in Hossegor have had enough beginner surfers come through the doors to know what the main style mistakes are and also know how to fix them. So check out the latest dispatch from the desk of our team if you’d like to refine your technique and start surfing better.
Bending at the hips instead of the knees
It’s only natural that you’ll bend at the hips instead of the knees when standing up on a surfboard for the very first time. The reason behind this is that you’ll be trying to maintain your centre of balance, and the best way to do this is by staying low on your board.
The problem here is that staying balanced by bending at the hips is harder than if you were bending at the knees. It also looks pretty darn crook, too. So the next time you stand up on a surfboard, try pretending like you’re sitting on a chair and send your bum towards the deck of the board. Bonus style points to those who can also turn their back-knee inwards.
Looking down at the surfboard
One of the most common style mistakes we see people who stay at our surf house in Hossegor make is that they look down at their surfboard when learning. This pulls the weight of your head and shoulders forward, making balancing extra difficult and falling more likely.
Instead of letting this style flaw ruin your surf session, practice keeping your chin level with your leading shoulder and looking about 5 – 10 metres in front of you. Not only will this help your spatial awareness, you’ll also find your posture and your poise will improve.
Not paddling hard enough
Paddling is a fundamental part of surfing, however, the team at Southwest Surf House all agree it doesn’t get talked about enough within some surf schools. Correct paddling technique lays the platform for good surfing and it nearly goes without saying that the better you paddle, the more waves you’ll catch.
A common fault we see in beginner surfers though is that they don’t paddle hard enough or stop paddling altogether as soon as they feel the wave underneath them. Which can result in them falling off the back of the wave before they’ve even gotten to their feet. Our advice? Better to catch it and pop-up late then not catch it at all.
Looking for the ultimate learn to surf holiday? Book a stay at our surf house in Hossegor and enjoy delicious food, friendly staff and an effortless surfing experience in France.