06/2014
Michael As you might have heard, I've taken off two months from work at Yahoo earlier this year to learn surfing. During the first month, I kept driving down to Pacifica (15 miles south of San Francisco) almost every day, and caught some waves in the ice-cold water with my Alaska-grade Wetsuit and a newly purchased Foam Board. And then we went to Hawaii for three weeks, where I started exploring some surfspots on Oahu, mainly around the Waikiki area.

Recently, it's been going quite well with my surfing. I can't take monster waves yet, but I'm catching a lot of smaller ones and often manage to stand up tall and proud, surfing towards the beach. It's hard to believe how difficult it is to learn these simple steps, because you have to do about five different things in perfect timing or you'll paddle around in the water for hours without catching a single wave standing up. That's why I'm going to share with you what I learned, so you'll get a head start!

What I didn't know at all before I started was how waves build up and break in the first place. I'll let you in on a secret: They get created by raging storms at sea, often hundreds of miles away, and keep rolling in so-called "sets" towards the coast. A "set" consists of about five or more waves, approaching in quick succession, about 20 seconds apart from each other. When they're through, there's often a pause of a few minutes before the next set rolls in.

Often times it's quite hard to paddle out onto the Pacific waters when sets of waves keep coming in. They're pretty powerful and will push surfer and surfboard back towards the beach with significant force. In some cases, when they collapse directly above the surfer's head, they will push you under water and create strong turbulences that prevent you from swimming back to the surface. With overhead-sized waves, this so-called "hold-down" can last for 5 to 10 seconds, during which you can't do anything but remain calm, hold your breath, and wait for the situation to straighten out. Sooner or later, when the turbulences are gone, you can swim back to the surface, catch a deep breath and continue paddling. More experienced surfers avoid these situations by paddling fast towards the approaching wave, and start a so-called duck-dive maneuver shortly before they get hit. By submerging board and body at full paddling speed underneath the wave, they escape the current and simply continue paddling after the wave has gone over them. After crossing this so-called "impact zone" with the breaking waves, the ocean becomes a lot calmer, the waves in this area aren't breaking, just lifting the board gently while they're passing through. This is where all the surfers in the so-called "line up" are lurking while resting lazily on their boards, waiting for the perfect wave to catch.

Only waves that are just about to slowly collapse are suitable for surfing. And only if they don't break everywhere at once, but slowly from left to right (as seen from the beach, so-called "Lefts"), or vice versa ("Rights"). If the foam at the top is coming down at the same speed across the entire length of the wave, that's a so-called "Closeout" which causes the surfer's "wipeout", who get burried under water because the wave is directly crashing down on them.

Experienced surfers are riding waves sideways, always slightly ahead of the breaking foam chasing them from one side. If the turbulent water catches up with the board, it starts shaking and becomes really hard to control, often causing the surfer to fall. But beginners can utilize the turbulent waters of collapsed waves to obtain the necessary push to get the board up to speed, enabling them to stand up for the first time. This so-called "pop-up" needs to be practiced over and over again by paddling like a madman, getting caught in the collapsed wave's current, then jumping up into a crouching position, and finally standing straight up. Advanced surfers jump onto the board after paddling like crazy into unbroken waves, and using the gravitational force created by the water slope of the wave.

It's an almost spiritual experience everytime this all works out. The thrust created by the wave is very powerful and seemingly comes out of nowhere, and if one manages to stand up, the board keeps going and going and going and it's like being on top of the world for a few seconds. It's hard to comprehend from just watching other surfers, you really need to experience it first hand to believe. I for one am enjoying it so much that I've made it a habit to load my wetsuit and board into my car every Saturday morning, drive down to the beach, paddle out and catch something like four, five good waves within an hour, to head back home so that we can still engage in some weekend activities later.

• More topics you might be interested in:

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  	Top Products: Dryers for wetsuits and surf booties

  
  

• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Surf Etiquette
  	Rustic Oyster Lunch at Point Reyes
  	The U.S. Tax Return
  	Nicosia Cheese Company
  	Top Products: Dryers for wetsuits and surf booties