How to Surf
Learn how to surf as a complete beginner. Covers choosing a board, reading waves, paddling, popping up, and riding your first wave to shore.
We spent our first surf session getting absolutely destroyed by two-foot waves. Not big waves. Not dangerous waves. Waves that children were riding 20 feet to our left. We got tumbled, swallowed salt water, and spent more time underwater than on the board.
Then on about the 30th attempt, we caught one. Stood up for maybe four seconds. Rode a tiny wave about 15 feet to shore. And immediately understood why surfers wake up at dawn and drive hours for good waves.
Surfing is hard to learn. Harder than most outdoor sports. The environment is unpredictable, the board moves in every direction, and you are fighting fatigue while trying to coordinate a complex movement. But it is also one of the most rewarding things you can learn, precisely because it is difficult.
This guide covers the fundamentals for your first day. Do not expect to look cool. Expect to work hard, swallow some ocean, and eventually have one moment that makes you want to come back tomorrow.
A soft-top surfboard at least 8 feet long (longer boards are more stable and easier to catch waves on). Rent one from a local surf shop near the beach. You also need a wetsuit if the water is below 70 degrees Fahrenheit (most surf shops rent these too). Surf wax for grip if using a hardboard (soft-tops have built-in traction). A leash that attaches the board to your ankle. Sunscreen rated SPF 50 or higher, applied 30 minutes before getting in the water. Rash guard optional but prevents chest and stomach irritation from the wax and board.
Start on the beach with your pop-up
The pop-up is the movement that takes you from lying on the board to standing on it. Practice it on the sand before getting in the water. Lie face-down on the board with your hands under your shoulders, like a push-up position. In one smooth motion, push up, bring your back foot forward to where your hips were, and plant your front foot between your hands. You should end in a low, wide stance with your knees bent, feet shoulder-width apart, and your body turned slightly sideways. Your front foot should point toward the nose of the board at a slight angle. Practice this 20 to 30 times on the sand until the motion feels natural. Speed matters here. A slow, hesitant pop-up will not work on water.
Good to know: Never grab the rails (sides) of the board during your pop-up. It tilts the board and dumps you immediately. Keep your hands flat on the deck, push straight up, and slide your feet into position. Hands on deck, not on rails.
Learn to read the waves
Before paddling out, spend ten minutes watching the waves. Look for where they break consistently. Waves break when the water gets shallow, so they tend to break in the same spots. Look for the whitewash (the foamy white water after a wave breaks). As a beginner, you will ride the whitewash, not the unbroken green waves. That comes later. Notice the time between sets (groups of waves). There are usually calm periods between sets where paddling out is easier. Watch where other surfers are sitting and where they catch waves. Their positioning tells you a lot about the break.
Paddle out to waist-deep water
Carry your board into the water until it is about waist-deep. Lie on the board with your body centered, nose of the board slightly above water. If the nose digs underwater, scoot back a few inches. If the nose is too high, scoot forward. Paddle using alternating arm strokes, reaching forward and pulling through the water alongside the board. Keep your fingers together and cup your hand slightly. Paddle out past where the whitewash is breaking so you have room to turn around and catch it. As a beginner, stay in waist to chest-deep water where you can stand up if you fall.
Catch your first whitewash wave
Turn your board toward the beach. Look over your shoulder and wait for a line of whitewash to approach. When it is about five feet behind you, start paddling hard toward shore. You need to match the speed of the wave before it reaches you. When you feel the wave pick up the tail of your board and start pushing you forward, take two more strong paddle strokes, then do your pop-up. Do not hesitate. The window for standing up is about two seconds. If you wait too long, the wave passes under you. Commit to the pop-up the moment you feel the push.
Heads up: Keep your weight centered and low when you stand up. The mistake to watch for is standing too tall and too far back on the board. Stay low in your stance with knees bent and your weight over the center of the board. Standing tall raises your center of gravity and makes every wobble a wipeout.
Ride the wave and steer
Once you are standing, look where you want to go, not down at your feet. Looking down shifts your weight forward and throws off your balance. Your body follows your eyes. To steer, shift your weight gently toward your toes to go toward the wave face, or toward your heels to go toward shore. Keep your arms out for balance, knees bent, and your stance wide. The ride on a whitewash wave will be short, maybe 5 to 15 seconds. That is normal and that is a success. Ride it as long as you can, then step off the board in shallow water. Do not dive off headfirst. You do not know how deep it is.
Fall safely and respect the water
You will fall a lot. When you do, cover your head with your arms, fall flat rather than diving, and come up with your arms protecting your face and head. The board is the most dangerous thing in the water. The leash keeps it attached to your ankle, and when a wave hits the board, it can snap back toward you. Always surface with your arms up to shield your face. Never paddle out directly behind another surfer. If they fall, their board comes straight at you. Stay to the side. Follow basic surf etiquette: the person closest to the breaking part of the wave has the right of way. Do not drop in on someone already riding a wave.
Your first surf session will be humbling. Your second will be slightly less humbling. By your fifth session, you will catch a wave and ride it long enough to feel what all the fuss is about. The learning curve is real, but it flattens faster than you expect once your pop-up becomes consistent. That one move is the gateway to everything else in surfing. Two pieces of advice we wish we had gotten earlier. First, take a lesson your first time. Surf instructors know where to position you, which waves to go for, and how to correct your pop-up in real time. Second, surf early in the morning. The wind is calmer, the water is glassier, and the crowd is thinner. Plus you get the whole day to recover from how sore you are going to be.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
These are instructor rules of thumb rather than measured figures. Riding whitewash (already broken waves) usually comes in the first session or two. Catching and riding unbroken green waves consistently takes many more sessions, spread over weeks or months. Becoming a confident intermediate who can read waves, navigate lineups, and ride along the face of the wave is a matter of years of regular surfing. Progress depends heavily on how often you surf and the quality of waves available to you.
As big as you can find. Seriously. An 8 to 9-foot soft-top foam board is ideal for learning. Longer, wider boards are more stable, catch waves more easily, and give you more time to stand up. Short boards (under 7 feet) are for experienced surfers. They are fast and maneuverable but extremely difficult to balance on and catch waves with as a beginner. Do not let ego drive your board choice. Every good surfer started on a longboard.
Surfing has risks, but for beginners on small waves at beach breaks, the danger is low. The most common injuries are cuts and bruises from your own board, minor reef scrapes, and occasional jellyfish stings. Serious injuries are rare in small surf. The biggest safety rules are: surf within your ability, never surf alone, check for rip currents before entering, and always cover your head when you surface after a wipeout. Starting with a soft-top board also reduces the risk of board-related injuries.
Strongly recommended for your first session. A surf instructor will choose the right spot for conditions, push you into waves at the right moment, and correct your pop-up technique in real time. Self-teaching surfing is possible but inefficient because you cannot see what you are doing wrong. A two-hour group lesson costs $60 to $100 and will save you several frustrating solo sessions. Many surf schools include the board and wetsuit rental in the price.
Do not fight it by swimming straight back to shore. You will exhaust yourself. A rip current is a narrow channel of water flowing away from the beach. Swim parallel to the shore (perpendicular to the rip) until you feel the pull weaken, then swim back in at an angle. If you cannot swim out of it, float on your back and let it carry you out. Rip currents dissipate past the breaking waves. Once the pull stops, swim parallel to shore and then in. Before surfing any new beach, ask locals or lifeguards about rip current locations.