Lessons
01.What You Will Need
02.Surfing Pop Up
03.Waxing Up
04.Paddling
05.Standing Up
06.Duck Dive
07.Surfing Waves
08.Bottom Turn
09.Surfing Cutback

01. What Your Going To Need To Start Surfing

First things first, when your starting out new to surfing you are going to need the following few essentials:
• A Surfboard
• A Leash
• A Wetsuit (depending where in the world you live)
• A block of Wax

With out a doubt the most important thing to start surfing is a surfboard. We delve more into detail about surfboards, leashes, wetsuits and wax in the Equipment section but this first lesson will get you started.
A good surfboard to learn to on is one that is going to float you easily and allow you to stand up on it with the least amount of effort. A general rule is this:

The Bigger the board = More stability, easier to catch waves and stand up, But has little manoeuvrability is and very hard to duck dive.

The smaller the board = Harder to catch waves, harder to stand on but easier to manoeuvre and duck dive.

So for an average adult male around 5’10 tall you will want something to learn on in the region of 7’6 -8ft. The type of board has a huge effect on the ease of learning. By far the easiest to start on are mini mal boards, these boards have the same characteristics of a Longboard with round noses, lots of width and thickness. Surf Schools all over the world use Soft top surfboards which are in mini mal shapes but have a soft foam like top to the board (the side you stand on) and a hard bottom. The reason behind this is to take away the risk of injury if the board was to hit you in the early stages of learning.

A leash is also a very important piece of equipment you will need. Without a leash you will find yourself swimming and running into the shore to collect your board every time you fall off. Also by not wearing a leash you will be putting fellow surfers, swimmers and general beach goers at risk of getting hurt every time you loose your board so its very important that you always wear a leash.

For the lucky people who live in countries with warm climates and water temperatures you can ignore this little bit, for the rest of you however you are going to need a wetsuit. A wetsuit will keep you warm for hours on end and is essential if you want to start surfing in a colder climate. With the technology that wetsuits possess these days it means you can surf in the coldest of waters for hours and hours and actually stay very warm.