Only Surf Once A Year On The Biggest Days?

Why do so many beginner & below average surfers try to surf on the biggest days? Great question and one I have pondered for so many years!

You see it at every swell, hordes of surfers coming from anywhere and everywhere to paddle out and catch the wave of their life. In the parking lot telling stories of the last great swell, waxing their boards, doing strange stretches and body movements. Then, the moment of truth…the paddle through the relentless sets to the outside.

One problem, a massive percentage of these surfers haven’t paddled out in months, or in many cases even longer. Where have they been in between? There have been tons of days with waist high rippable waves. There have been even more cruisy longboard days. But now, it’s overhead and a brutal paddle out and they all appear.

Now comes the downside to surfing a handful of times a year when it’s maxed out…you get worked. Your noodle arms can’t handle the paddle out. If you are lucky enough to make it out you sit there and wait for the perfect soft take off on a shoulder, which never comes. Or worse, you go for broke and we all watch and chuckle as you get taken over the falls and get drawn and quartered under the surface of the sea.

My suggestion… learn to surf in average-sized waves first. If you are a capable surfer, don’t wait until it’s maxing out to surf. A true surfer is in the water at any opportunity the ocean gives us and when the conditions are firing, we are truly prepared. Go surf!!!