SURFING: 2011

BEFORE YOU GO

Before you start, follow these "Golden Rules" to the letter:

Never try to learn your first time when the waves are so challenging that the surfers in the water can't catch many good waves.
Never get between the shore and your board while standing on the bottom.
Never turn your board sideways to an oncoming wave.
Always put your hands over your head when you fall off.

Learning how to stand up on a board is not an easy thing to do. In addition, simply learning to paddle out through rough breaking waves, sit on a board outside, and then paddle into a wave takes considerable balance, strength, endurance, wave knowledge, and patience. Since these techniques take time and practice to learn, and the beginner should not be expected to have success the first time out.

Usually by the second or third time out, beginners will start to acquire some balance and be able to catch and even stand up in a shorebreak wave. From this point on, the more you surf, the better you get. This section is intended to outline a basic learning approach for beginners who are somewhat athletic, but have never surfed before. Average students should be surfing on a low to intermediate level after two weeks of regular practice spending two to three hours per day. Less practice time will extend the learning time somewhat, while irregular practice will extend the learning time a great deal.

Before going to the beach, a few practice sessions on a skateboard can greatly increase your learning speed. Turning a skateboard with long, smooth maneuvers on a slightly inclined hill is very similar to turning a surfboard for the first time. The longer and flatter the skateboard, the closer to a surfboard it feels. Find a gently sloping paved hill and practice making turns by using your body as a weight rather than just twisting your body and jerking your feet. Practice at banking on a steeper hill section is also good. Smooth turns are necessary for stylish surfing.

BOARD SELECTION AND FIRST TIME OUT

Find an old surfboard that is big for your size and floats you well. A good starting size for a 120 lb surfer is 6'10", 7'2" for a 140 lb surfer, and 7'6"+ for a 170 and above surfer. The board should be rented or borrowed from a friend if possible. New boards should not be purchased when learning to surf. Beginners cause a lot of wear and tear on boards, plus the bigger board may become cumbersome as the surfer gains more ability. In addition, new boards loose considerable resale value after they are dinged or shattered a few times. Once the beginner is able to catch a few waves on a regular basis, finding an acceptable design and size will become much easier.

Take the board to an uncrowded beach break to start with. Uncrowded conditions may be difficult to find, so go to the beach early or plan to stay late, when the wind dies down just before dark. Nothing is more upsetting to an experienced surfer than having a beginner paddling around in the surf line on a crowded day. It is also dangerous for the beginner since you may loose your board and have it hit someone else, or have a less experienced surfer not control his board and hit you. Small breaks and shore breaks are usually a haven for beginners, so you will have a lot of company. In all cases, make sure you use your leash.

Paddle your board out to where good rolling soup can carry you towards the shore. You will probably need learn how to move you board around and paddle about in bumpy conditions, so just lay flat with your legs slightly apart straddling the board. When you paddle, place one hand in the water and stroke at a time. When you paddle for a wave, start paddling well before the wave gets to you in order to build up momentum. Also, never paddle in front of another surfer.

To turn gradually while paddling, just lean slightly to the side you want to turn towards. When you get to a small rolling wave, aim the board directly towards it, hold each rail near the nose of the board tightly and do a push up. The soup will wash between you and your board and not bounce you around as bad. Make sure you hold the board near the nose as holding on the sides may result in the board smashing against your face.

At first, walk your board as far out into the surf as you can. When you think that you are far enough out that the soup will push you towards shore, turn the board towards the beach, and let the oncoming wave carry you. If you're sitting on the board, turning it to catch the wave may be difficult at first. Just sit upright towards the tail section and use your hands and feet to paddle in the direction you want to turn. Allow plenty of time to get completely turned before the wave hits. Don't let the wave catch your board sideways, sitting on the board or standing in the water, especially when the board is between you and the wave. The picture shows me riding the soup into shore during a contest.

Don't try to stand up initially. Instead, as the wave carries you towards shore, try to become familiar with how the board responds to leaning forwards, backwards, and to each side. You also need to learn how far forward you can position yourself in order to prevent the board's nose from catching into the wave. Nosing into the wave, called purling, will usually result in your quick exit from the board. Finding the correct balance point to prevent purling is absolutely essential when you take off on an outside wave.

After you have learned to catch waves easily while lying down, you are ready to try standing. When you catch the wave and your momentum builds, hold both rails and push yourself into a standing position. You should stand with one foot about 2 feet in front of the other, near the middle of the board. Put whichever foot is the most comfortable in the forward position. A "goofy" foot has the right foot forward while a "regular" foot has the left foot forward.

Lean lightly forward while keeping your knees slightly bent. The board will shoot out from under you if you lean too far backwards. To turn, lean into the rail and kick your board slightly in the direction you want to go. Holding the same side hand as your leading foot out in front of you slightly will aid in balance and control. Stay in the lower part of the wave's shoulder, frontside (facing the wave), and don't try to turn back at first (cutback). When you feel comfortable frontside, lean back on your rear foot and slowly throw your weight towards the bottom of the wave face. This will initiate a cutback.

FIRST OUTSIDE WAVES

Once riding the soup has been mastered, you are ready to try a breaking wave. Here again a small uncrowded beach break will be best. Paddle to just outside of where the waves start to break. This is called the surfline or lineup. If the wave breaks in front of you, you can get through the soup in several ways. For waves that aren't large, perform the push-up move used in the shorebreak, or a so called "duck dive" to get you through. As the wave reaches you, lean well forward and push the nose down. Keep your head against the board as well.

This procedure works best on shorter boards, but will likely still move you towards shore. Another approach when the waves are larger is to roll over when the wave hits, wrapping your arms tightly around the board. I believe this is called a "turtle". It works effectively with most size boards. Another way of getting through is to simply turn the board towards shore and remain sitting while the wave hits.

This last method works with longboards in smaller surf. Basically, stand up with a parallel stance slightly forward as the wave hits. The wave will roll over the board and through your legs. In all situations, aim for the oncoming wave before the curl while paddling out if possible.

In the early days before leashes, it was a common practice to bail off the board just before the lip broke if you couldn't make a larger wave. The board was heavy enough that you could push the board hard and its momentum would carry it over the wave's crest. The surfer would then swim under the wave and to his board before the next wave hit. This maneuver is not practical with leashes and light modern boards.

The next issue to understand is that of wave courtesy. In general, the surfer farthest back in the breaking part of the wave has ownership. Don't take off on the shoulder in front of someone. Paddling out in front and across a standing or paddling surfer is also poor manners. However, two or more individuals paddling for the same wave is acceptable with the first up usually the one who gets the wave. This can sometimes cause a problem when a longboarder paddles from outside and everyone else is waiting inside for the wave to get steep.

You're now ready to catch an outside wave. When a wave approaches, paddle to the side of the peak youwish to ride. At first, try frontside rides only. Turn your back towards the wave while looking over your shoulder and start paddling. This time angle the board slightly away from the peak and not directly towards shore. Time yourself so the wave doesn't get too steep or break before it reaches you.

Standard Frontside Ride

Paddle hard and lean forward as the wave reaches you. When you feel your momentum start to accelerate as the board catches the wave, stand up and lean into the wave's shoulder slightly. This action will began your initial turn. If the turn is executed too soon, this wave will be missed completely. Practice will help you determine the correct moment to initially stand and turn.

After standing and your initial turn, try to keep low on the wave's shoulder at first. Turn back (cutback) by leaning on your rear foot and turning the board slightly towards the breaking wave or aim towards shore if the wave breaks or is so slow that you keep outrunning it. Don't try any major maneuvers or try to catch a larger wave until you can make a few turns without falling off on smaller waves.

Standard Cutback

Surfing on larger waves follows basically the same procedure when dropping in, except that hollowness and size will determine how soon to turn. More speed is gained by waiting until the wave reaches its crest before turning. Very large hollow waves, like at the Pipeline in Hawaii, require the surfer to dropwell down the face of the wave without loosing any speed in order to prevent going "over the falls" for a bad wipeout. Over the falls occurs when both the board and surfer are carried over the wave when it breaks.

Smooth and Easy Backside

Taking off backside isn't much different than frontside except that now your weight is centered low towards the inner edge on the middle of the board. A slightly wider stance will help. Don't point the board nose high on the wave as you will have a hard time staying on the wave face if you do.

The basics of paddling into a wave, standing up, turning, and staying with the wave must be mastered before giving any attention to the more radical maneuvers possible on a surfboard. The majority of these maneuvers require the use of centripetal force to hold both surfer and board in the correct place on the wave. Learning such positioning and use of momentum takes several years of work.

DEVELOPING STYLE

Developing Style
As your technique develops, and you think your style needs a change, first be sure of which way you need to go. Look at some films of yourself on an average day and determine if you are too jerky, overly uncontrolled or radical, or simply not flashy enough. A lot of quick turns from the tail, stiff legs, too wide a stance, or swinging your arms a lot are all indications of unnatural balance and jerkiness. One turn and then a lot of cruising in a safe spot on the face is a sign of sluggishness. Never losing your board is a sign of overly conservative surfing, while losing your board nearly every wave in a difficult spot is a sign of over aggressiveness.

The fastest way to improve style is to have a special board designed for a specific purpose, and not necessarily one you will be able to sell easily once you are done with it. This is why many professionals wait until they have access to special boards before they improve dramatically. When turns need to be smoothed out and slowed down, get a large slow board, slightly wide and thick, with rounded or egg rails. A rounded diamond or rounded square tail is preferred with a good size larger fin. If more power needs to be developed, the same board could be used but with a pin tail.

The final way to improve style is with lots of practice in various conditions. Surf big Hawaiian waves in the winter, point breaks, quick reef breaks, beach breaks, and close beach breaks or shore breaks. Each break type will contribute its own characteristics to your overall style.

WHAT KIND OF SURFBOARD SHOULD I GET?

ANSWER: A long, wide, stable surfboard, about 9 or 10 feet. If you're a kid, go about 8 or 9 feet.
WHY: Because this kind of board will be easier to balance on. You need to get your balance first, get used to the way the board glides along with the wave. It's kind of like the first time you rode a bike. Difficult at first, but once you get it, it's easy, and you wonder why you thought it was so difficult to begin with.

WHERE CAN I GET ONE OF THESE STICKS?
See, you're already starting to talk like a surfer dude. A surfer sometimes calls his board his stick, just like you did in the last question.
ANSWER: Check the used boards racks in the surf shops. This might take some time, but it's the best way. You don't need a pretty board, and a few dings is okay. It's not the glass job that's important when finding a board, the important thing is the shape of the board. You can also get a softboard, which are a lot easier to learn on.

WHERE SHOULD I SURF?

ANSWER: THE WHITEWATER AWAY FROM OTHER SURFERS: Head off down the beach away from any surfers. What you need when you start is whitewater, the wave after it has already crested and broken, and is rolling in long even white lines toward the beach, as in the photo below.

WHY THE WHITEWATER: Everyone starts in the whitewater. That's where you practice standing up and keeping your balance. Once this gets easy for you in the whitewater, then you can go "outside" to the unbroken waves on the smaller days, like the wave in the background of the above photo.

WHY AWAY FROM OTHER SURFERS: It's a safety issue. You're going to find that moving the board around the way you want is tough at first, and until you can paddle and move the board around quickly to where you want to go, it's best to stay out of crowds of surfers. A good part of surfing is just being strong and agile and being able to move the board around in the water quickly and with some degree of control.

THE GOOD NEWS: The whitewater down the beach from the crowds of surfers is always uncrowded, and it's just as much fun as more advanced forms of surfing, and especially fun if you've never surfed before.

HOW DO I GET MY SURFBOARD OUT THROUGH THE WAVES?

ANSWER: Go straight out through the oncoming whitewater.

WHY: Because a surfboard reacts just like a boat when going out through the waves. A surfboard is kind of like a boat without sides, and with a real narrow bottom. The same dynamics of a boat applies to a surfboard when taking it out through the surf. You wouldn't take a boat out through the surf at an angle and expect to have much luck, and it's the same with a surfboard.

ALWAYS TAKE THAT SURFBOARD STRAIGHT OUT THROUGH THE WAVES

HOW DO I STAND UP?

THE MONKEY METHOD

1. LIE FLAT ON THE BOARD, RIGHT DOWN THE CENTER OF THE BOARD, WITH YOUR FEET JUST TOUCHING THE TAIL END (OVER THE FIN) OF THE BOARD.

TRY IT ON THE BEACH FIRST: Lie down on the board, right down the center, with the toes of your feet just touching the tail-end (called the tail block). Think of the sand as the water, and see how your surfboard lies perfectly flat on the sand with the front (called the "nose") of the board just a few inches above the sand. It has to lie this way out in the water, too. That is flat on the water, with the nose just a few inches above the surface of the water. So if the nose is sticking too high in the air when you're lying on it in the water, then slip forward a little to get the board flat on the water. Likewise, if it seems like the nose is down touching the water or close to it, slide a little back on the board until it's flat.
Also be sure to lie right down the center (from nose to tail) of the board, and the board is not tilting either to the right or left while you're lying on it.

2. WHILE LYING ON THE BOARD ON THE BEACH, DO A PUSH UP ON THE SURFBOARD, WITH YOUR HANDS ON THE SIDES ("RAILS") OF THE BOARD.

3. IN THE UP POSITION OF YOUR PUSH UP, DRAG ONE OF YOUR FEET UP UNDER YOU, AND PLANT IT RIGHT UNDER YOU IN THE CENTER OF THE BOARD.

4. PUSH UP ON YOUR FRONT FOOT INTO A STANDING POSITION.

You are using your arms like legs as you drag your foot up under you, using your arms like legs just like a chimpanzee or gorilla does, which is why we like to call this method of standing up "The Monkey Method".
You know how a gorilla walks, and that's what you have to do. Put all your weight on your arms, all your weight off your legs, as you drag one of your feet up under you and plant it in the center of the board.

5. YOUR STANCE ON THE BOARD SHOULD BE JUST LIKE STANDING AT BAT AT SOFTBALL, WITH YOUR FEET LIKE IN THE DIAGRAM BELOW:

YOUR FEET SHOULD BE SIDEWAYS ON THE BOARD, MAYBE POINTED A LITTLE FORWARD IN THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT, AND YOUR FEET HAVE TO BE RIGHT DOWN THE CENTER OF THE BOARD.
Stay flexible in your "softball" stance with your knees slightly bent, and your feet far apart, but only as far apart as is comfortable for you, given your height and the length of your legs.
And Remember, THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN KEEPING YOUR BALANCE ON THE BOARD, IS THAT YOUR FEET HAVE TO BE RIGHT DOWN THE CENTER OF THE BOARD. So however you end up getting to your feet on the board, just remember that you need to get your feet across the center of the length of the board in order to ride.

THE KNEE METHOD

GET TO YOUR KNEES ON THE BOARD ANY WAY YOU CAN, THEN PULL ONE FOOT OUT AND PLANT IT IN FRONT OF YOU IN THE CENTER OF THE WIDTH OF THE SURFBOARD. THEN PUSH UP ON YOUR FOOT INTO A STANDING POSITION.

It is also important that in both the monkey method and the knee method, that you START OUT WITH YOUR BOARD FLAT IN THE WATER, AND RIDE THE BOARD FLAT IN THE WHITEWATER. If the nose of the board seems high while you're riding, lean forward or try to scoot your feet forward until the nose of the board is down and the board again flat in the water.

HOW DO I CATCH WAVES?

Take the board straight out trough the whitewater to between waist to chest deep. Remember to take the board straight through the waves. The board will react just like a boat, and you wouldn't take a boat out at an angle through the waves, now, would you?
Turn the surfboard around so the nose of the board is pointing toward shore, while still in the whitewater. Also be sure to stay away from other groups of surfers in the water. This is a safety issue, because you're going to find that moving the surfboard around in the water is difficult at best, and until you can paddle around quickly through the waves, it's best to stay out of crowds. (see "Where should I surf")
Wait for a long even strip of whitewater to approach you, then get on your board so that it's flat (from nose to tail) in the water, and flat across the width of the board, and at least start out in a stable position on the board.
So now you're laying on the board pointed toward shore, with the whitewater fast approaching your feet. When the whitewater gets about 2 feet behind you, give the board a couple paddles, and if the board is big and buoyant enough, it should almost catch the wave on its own. At first the wave will bounce you a little. If it bounces too much, wait until you're riding smoothly along on your stomach on the board, then go ahead and stand up.

THE RULES OF SURFING

DON'T TAKE OFF IN FRONT OF SOMEONE ELSE
The surfer who takes off nearest the peak and catches the wave first has the right of way. Once someone is up and riding, do not attempt to catch the wave if it will place you in their path. This is the number one rule in surfing, and breaking this rule is the biggest cause of altercations among surfers in the water.

WHEN PADDLING OUT, STAY OUT OF THE WAY OF RIDING SURFERS
If you are paddling out, and another surfer is riding, it is your responsibility to get out of the way and not ruin the surfer's wave. For example, If the surfer is riding toward the left on the wave, it is best to paddle right, parallel to the oncoming wave and out of the rider's way, instead of trying to paddle over the green, open face of the wave and potentially in the path of the rider.

THE RULES OF SURFING


DON'T RIDE A LONG BOARD AMONG SHORT BOARD SURFERS
If you are riding a "long board," it is always possible to sit further out than the riders on "short boards" and catch the wave way before the riders on short boards have a chance to catch it. There are some long board riders who ride long boards just because they are not skilled enough to catch waves on short boards. Then they ride in spots where only short boarders ride, and catch the good waves on a regular basis. What they are doing is stealing waves from others, and should be held in the same contempt as horse thieves of the Old West.

FIND YOUR OWN SURF SPOT
As a beginner, when you are still gaining knowledge about moving the board around in the water and catching waves, it is best to find your own spot away from a break that has numerous surfers riding it. When you surf a part of the beach which no one rides, it is like going back in time to beginnings of surfing when there weren't a lot of surfers in the water.

IT'S OKAY TO BE A BEGINNER, BUT DON'T BE A "KOOK"
Everyone starts as a beginner. But as long as you follow the rules, show consideration and make efforts to stay out of the way of others, you will never be a kook.

Octopus vs Shark! WHO WINS?! Real Live VIDEO

Real life! Octopus vs. Shark. Who wins?!

While watching the CREATURE FEATURE "Octopus", I wondered, 'Do octopus really have teeth? Turns out they do:
http://www.wonderquest.com/octopus-teeth-eyes.htm

The largest one found, on record, was over 600 lbs. with an arm-span (tentacle span?) of over 30 feet. Makes the movie a little more believable, huh. My search also turned up this awesome video clip (above).

The movie "Octopus" was actually better than I expected. Better than B. It might take itself a little too seriously at times (It could use a little more CREATURE and a little less FEATURE), but it does have a Denzel Washington look-a-like (Mr. Brickman) and a cute little marine biologist (as usual for this genre).

Is it just my imagination, or did she really start with a Russian accent and then switch to American? Anyway, if you like this genre, I think you'll enjoy. They saved the best for last... with the cruise liner. At least hang in for that. It's fun.

And don't miss the "octopus ballet" below. It's really cool.

GORGEOUS Alicia Marie BUTT Exercises! Fitness Model Images Female Body Builder

Image by maximolly via Flickr

Introducing Alicia Marie's BUTT moves:

Here's the link to her YouTube Channel:http://www.youtube.com/user/ClubAlicia

And for a thousand more pics CLICK HERE.

Serena Williams Skimpy Bikini Pictures in Miami

Tennis Player Serena Williams flaunted her bikini body and showed off her muscles in a sexy bikini at a Beach in Miami wearing a Skimpy Bikini with some friends.