Ever surf a session where the waves are good, but you just can’t seem to get one?
Might be the crowd, or positioning, or your board choice, or any number of reasons. Whatever it may be, things just aren’t coming together. It happens to everyone.
As it turns out, there’s a few tactics you can use to help with that.
Surf coach Cris Mills has shared his tips for catching more waves, and they are as follows:
1. “Learn to read the wave: this will help you get into the right position and increase the number of waves you’ll ultimately be able to get on. A crucial aspect of your surfing development is improving your ability to interpret and react to wave energy.”
2. “Learn to read others: this one can catapult your wave count. Read the room, read the lineup. Read other’s skill, who’s missing waves constantly, who’s the alpha at the top, which waves are sneaking through the pack out the back? Read the crowd! Make sure you’re not snagging anyone’s wave, especially if this is not a spot you usually surf. If you respect the surfers around you, they’ll respect you and let you catch some good ones.”
3. “Place yourself in the power zone: Are you in the best spot for taking off? This ties into reading the waves and others, because if you do both you’ll notice where the power zone is. This power zone is the area where you can get the most momentum from the wave and thus can get an easy take off.”
Seems simple enough. These tips mostly deal with the aforementioned positioning technique. Knowing where to be in the lineup is a key element to catching more waves. It’s not the only one, that’s for sure, but it certainly helps.
Give these tricks a try, and stay tuned for more surf hacks to come.
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