From mcf@cs.nott.ac.uk Wed Nov 13 13:28:53 1996 Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Beginner requires help! From: mcf@cs.nott.ac.uk (Mike "Frankie" Fraser) Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 13:28:53 GMT Hi, I've just managed to join a surf club in Nottingham(UK) who run regular trips to places like Bude and Newquay. I've never been surfing before, although I'm a fairly decent skateboarder and have snowboarded twice. Can anyone give be any starters hints / the differences between the sports. Frankie ps. No flames for the "computer scientist" tag please. I'm a researcher in virtual reality. From dew@znet.com Thu Nov 14 21:24:49 1996 Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Beginner requires help! From: "Bonzer" Date: 14 Nov 1996 21:24:49 GMT Mike "Frankie" Fraser wrote in article ... > Hi, I've just managed to join a surf club in Nottingham(UK) who run > regular trips to places like Bude and Newquay. I've never been > surfing before, although I'm a fairly decent skateboarder and have > snowboarded twice. Can anyone give be any starters hints / the differences > between the sports. > Mike, the best tip I can give you is to be determined. For most, learning the art of surfing is a pretty steep learning curve. You just have to shuck off the frustrations and stay with it. Being a member of a club will help considerably. When first starting, it's always better if you have those around you who can help and advise. I still thank some long time surfers for taking me under their wing when I was just starting out. Not so much that they were awesome teachers, but they provided the moral support and encouragement. Also, they alerted me what I should be prepared for, the good and the bad. And that my friend, helps a whole lot. The fact that you ride already will help. Skating and boarding both have their roots in surfing. While they are not exactly similar, the balance and weight shifting in turns, etc., can be easily extrapolated to surfing. The big difference you will exerience is that in the case of surfing, the medium moves. You will find that to be a big difference. Most of all, don't take yourself too seriously, be respectfull, and have fun. That's what really counts. -- See you out there, Bonzer - http://sd.znet.com/~dew/images.htm -----the best surfer is the one having the most fun----- From msalamon@la.hodes.com Fri Nov 15 00:18:38 1996 Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Beginner requires help! From: msalamon@la.hodes.com (Mark Salamon) Date: 15 Nov 1996 00:18:38 GMT Keep skateboarding is my advise, and watch as much surfing as you can (videos, magazines) to pick up as much wave knoledge as you can. And swim if at all possible- you need to build up your upper body. There are muscels that are unique to surfing, but swimming probably comes closest. G'luck. In article , mcf@cs.nott.ac.uk (Mike "Frankie" Fraser) wrote: > Hi, I've just managed to join a surf club in Nottingham(UK) who run > regular trips to places like Bude and Newquay. I've never been > surfing before, although I'm a fairly decent skateboarder and have > snowboarded twice. Can anyone give be any starters hints / the differences > between the sports. > > Frankie > > ps. No flames for the "computer scientist" tag please. I'm a researcher in > virtual reality. From dp025@seqeb.gov.au Fri Nov 15 03:48:12 1996 Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Beginner requires help! From: dp025@seqeb.gov.au (D.Pritchard...Bear) Date: 15 Nov 1996 03:48:12 GMT In article , mcf@cs.nott.ac.uk says... >Can anyone give be any starters hints / the differences >between the sports. | > V O.K.Frankie..... 1: you don't sit and watch bitumen lines slide down the street when you skateboard. 2: you don't have the pleasure of neoprene next to your skin, ditto, (unless you're a bit kinky) 3: your girlfriend/wife/boyfriend/whatever doesn't say "how long you gonna be in??" 4: you don't drive all over the country looking for a street that's breaking/windless/offshore/bigger 5: unlike snowboarding, avoid the white stuff. O.K. off ya go! :-) :-) I'm sure the people in the surf club (presuming there's at least _one_ surfer already in it) will help you out with the hints. Be prepared to give up anything else in your life, if you _really_ become a surfer....and/or spend a good part of it frustrated !!! waves... -- Bear Email: dp025@seqeb.gov.au From tmark@psych.ucla.edu Fri Nov 15 05:55:00 1996 Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Beginner requires help! From: tmark@psych.ucla.edu Date: 15 Nov 1996 05:55:00 GMT In , mcf@cs.nott.ac.uk (Mike "Frankie" Fraser) writes: >Hi, I've just managed to join a surf club in Nottingham(UK) who run >regular trips to places like Bude and Newquay. I've never been >surfing before, although I'm a fairly decent skateboarder and have >snowboarded twice. Can anyone give be any starters hints / the differences >between the sports. > Don't buy a small board, even if that's what you ultimately want to ride ! I have seen people who bought 'shortboards' that were a lot bigger than what they would 'ideally' ride, thinking that the extra volume would float them enough to learn, and that they could save having to buy the shortboard they really want to ride later. They sometimes end up flopping around until a) they get frustrated and quit, or b) they buy a longboard or funboard and start talking trash the very next day. Somewhere in _Science_ there is a formal proof that difficulty in catching waves rises with the cube of board length lost ;-) While I have seen some other people learn in relatively short order on pretty small shortboards, I wouldn't count on this happening. One might think that the fastest route to learning to shortboard is to start riding one right away, but the exact opposite might be true. terry tmark@psych.ucla.edu From Bob@pontlliw.demon.co.uk Fri Nov 15 14:40:15 1996 Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Beginner requires help! From: Bob@pontlliw.demon.co.uk (Bob Mortimer) Date: Fri, 15 Nov 1996 14:40:15 GMT mcf@cs.nott.ac.uk (Mike "Frankie" Fraser) wrote: > Hi, I've just managed to join a surf club in Nottingham(UK) who run > regular trips to places like Bude and Newquay. I've never been > surfing before, although I'm a fairly decent skateboarder and have > snowboarded twice. Can anyone give be any starters hints / the differences > between the sports. Frankie, As a somewhat elderly (36) novice myself I'd suggest that what Bonzer says about determination is right. I'm sure the skateboarding and snowboarding will stand you in good stead (I have done neither!). I'd suggest getting yourself 'the right board' - if you get too short a board you'll not have a chance in the small stuff, and the bigger waves are hard to learn on. When your friends in the club tell you "you'll be OK, it's only 3 feet today", what they really mean is that the faces will probably be 5-6 feet, you'll spend nearly half an hour paddling out, and will be exhausted by the time you do get out there! Also you'll get a good sinus washout for free! You'll find out what I mean. Get yourself as fit as you can - there are plenty of messages in here about that. Basically you need good cardiovascular fitness (try running or cycling etc) and good shoulders/arms/abds etc - try lat pull downs, triceps curls etc in the gym. And then you'll need some waves ... Bob -- Bob Mortimer E-Mail Bob@pontlliw.demon.co.uk From dagum@barrel.asd.sgi.com Fri Nov 15 19:38:23 1996 Newsgroups: alt.surfing Subject: Re: Beginner requires help! From: dagum@barrel.asd.sgi.com (Leo Dagum) Date: 15 Nov 1996 19:38:23 GMT In article , mcf@cs.nott.ac.uk (Mike "Frankie" Fraser) writes: |> Lines: 10 |> |> Hi, I've just managed to join a surf club in Nottingham(UK) who run |> regular trips to places like Bude and Newquay. I've never been |> surfing before, although I'm a fairly decent skateboarder and have |> snowboarded twice. Can anyone give be any starters hints / the differences |> between the sports. |> The biggest difference between the sports is that you can't ride a surfboard until you can stand up on it. That's what makes the learning curve steep. Learning to stand up (on a shortboard anyway) will probably take you as long to learn as it it did to ollie. The other difference is that you can only surf when there's waves, and until you develop some good upper body strength and stamina you probably won't get more than a dozen tries per session at standing up before you're noodled out. The snowboarding learning curve is like bodyboarding, don't expect to be carving waves after two days like you probably were on snow. Make sure to get a big floaty longboard to learn on, that will speed up your learning curve considerably. Also get a good wetsuit and booties, you won't have too much fun if you're cold all the time. Good luck, - leo -- Leo Dagum Silicon Graphics, Inc. Mountain View, CA 94043 (415-933-2179)