Learn To Surf
How to walk on water in 7 easy steps.
INTRO
Surfing has given me many unforgettable years of fun, health and recreation. After teaching beginning surfers for more than 20 years, I've seen the long list of obstacles that they have to overcome in order to learn. To put it bluntly, surfing literally takes years to master. But with the help of this instruction, you should be able to avoid many of the common mistakes that students make.
CROSS TRAINING
It always helps to start when you're young, but age isn't nearly as important as physical conditioning. The best cross-training for surfing is swimming. As you'll quickly discover, at least 95 percent of your surfing time will be spent paddling rather than riding waves. To make this a bearable experience, you must have a strong upper body. A pool will work, but the optimum option is open-ocean swimming. It will help your conditioning and confidence in all types of ocean conditions. Sooner or later, your leash is going to break, and when it does, you'll be infinitely safer if you know what to do. I'd recommend a workout regimen of three days a week with a mixture of long-distance and sprint swims. Also, I recommend taking a course in CPR before you start spending extended periods of time in the water. The ocean is unpredictable-always be prepared for the worst.
Editor's Note: Santa Cruz surfer Richard Schmidt has been at the forefront of big-wave riding for the better part of 20 years. A multi-year invitee to the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau event and the Men Who Ride Mountains contest at Maverick's, Schmidt's greatest competitive achievements came in 1990, when he finished third (after scoring a perfect 10 on an impossible drop) in the Eddie Aikau event in mind-bending 20- 25-foot conditions. Although his big-wave game is still sharp, Schmidt has, over the past decade, focused most of his energy on giving others the gift of waveriding. His Richard Schmidt Surf School, founded in 1984, has taught thousands of beginners the art of waveriding. For more info on his school, log on to: www.richardschmidt.com
or e-mail him at: [email protected]
Playing The Field Part One »
