Paddling Out To Surf: Your Most Asked Questions

As a beginner surfer, the thought of paddling out into the waves can be daunting. But with a little knowledge and preparation, it doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips to help make your first time paddling out a success.

Why Do Surfers Paddle Out?

In this blog post, we’ll address both terms for this. The paddle-out is a spiritual symbol of surf culture. When someone passes away, it’s a traditional Hawaiian tribute to the life and legacy of the person. It’s a floating memorial held out in the ocean, where surfers and other water sport lovers can honor someone.

Another term for getting your surfboard out into the ocean to catch waves is paddling out. The rest of this article will be about that aspect of surfing.

How Far Do You Paddle Out?

If you’re an absolute newbie you might not be aware of where to paddle. Many first-time lessons have people start out surfing in the white wash. So if you are paddling out by yourself without an instructor you might not know how far to paddle out. If it’s a spot that has other surfers, just paddle out to around where they are. It might vary based on the beach and the tides, so there is no exact spot I can tell you in this article.

Also, it’s important to know that different types of boards can paddle out to different spots. A few months back I was in St Pete Beach, Florida and I had my longboard out. There were a bunch of shortboarders who were out and were pretty close to shore. Out a lot farther were 2-3 longboarders and a few guys on SUPs. My board is a 9’6 so I paddled out and caught waves with the other longboarders. A longboard is way easier to catch smaller waves on, and you can usually catch the wave earlier on than shortboards.

How Do You Paddle Through Surfing Waves?

When you’re surfing, waves are both your enemy and your friend. On one hand, they’re the reason you’re out there in the first place. But on the other hand, they can quickly turn a fun session into a dangerous situation. So how do you paddle through surfing waves?

Knowing where to paddle out is going to make this process easier for you. If you chose to paddle out directly at the peak of a wave, it’s going to be a difficult process. If you can find an area to the side where the waves aren’t breaking (or a rip current is), it will be much easier for you to paddle out.

If you are caught on the inside where a set of waves is going to crash on top of you, it’s important to paddle as hard as you can to try to get over as many as possible. If you can’t paddle over the wave, you’re going to have to duck dive the wave.

We wrote a more in-depth article (and video) about duck diving here.

What To Do If A Wave Breaks On You?

The most important thing is not to fight it. The ocean is more powerful than we are and if you’re going to spend any time surfing, waves are going to break on you over and over again. Learning how to duck dive will help you if you are on a shortboard. Longboarders sometimes can do the turtle roll and other times they can do a duck dive with their board. The pros can duck dive boards up to 9 feet. I’m not a pro, I can’t duck dive my 9’6. On Hurricane swells whenever I take my longboard out, I take a bunch of waves on the head if I time my paddle out wrong.

If a wave breaks on you and your board gets out of your control, your leash is there to help. You can reach down and grab the leash to follow the direction of the board. If you got really wrecked and taken under, reaching down to grab your leash will also help you figure out which direction is up.

When Should I Start Paddling For A Wave?

The first thing is to make sure you are properly positioned on your board. If you’re too far forward on the board, you’ll go over the front (or pearl). If you’re too far back, the back will be down underwater and slowing you down. If you’re in the sweet spot on your board there is no exact estimate for always knowing when to paddle. Some surfers know a break well enough to be able to catch “no paddle” waves, but that is because of how well-positioned they are at the break.

A general rule is that you want to be paddling early enough to be positioned right at the wave when it starts to kind of pull you along with it. There is an art to this. When you are paddling, you’ll notice that you start to go a little bit faster than you were before. That means the wave has started to pick you up and its close to time to stand up.

Through trial and error, you’ll learn this. It’s not something that people just get immediately.

Should You Kick When Paddling For A Wave?

This is another tough question. If you’ve watched the pros, they will sometimes kick to get into bigger waves. But most of the time when they do this, they are on shorter boards so there is space for their feet to kick. If you’re on a longboard, your feet are still on the board so you’ll end up kicking the board and might hurt yourself.

SurferToday.com says that you should kick because the biomechanics say yes. I personally don’t think it’s best for beginners because you might now be that good at kicking. You might be sitting back farther on your board than you need to be in order to kick. Another thing is that beginners are most likely on longer boards and if you’re trying to kick on the longboard, you’re almost definitely in the wrong position on the board.

Be Aware Of Rip Currents

As anyone who has ever been caught in a rip current knows, it can be a frightening experience. Rip currents are powerful channels of water that flow away from the shore, and they can quickly pull swimmers out to sea. It’s almost impossible to swim against a rip current which is what makes them so dangerous.

How to Identify A Rip Current

Rip currents aren’t always easy to identify. They are identified by a channel of choppy water with little to no breaking waves. Depending on the size of the surf, these channels can be very narrow or extremely wide. Many beaches will have lifeguards who put up “High Surf” or “Strong Current” flags that will help you with being aware of a potential rip current.

There is a great video explanation in this video:

What to Do If You’re Caught in a Rip Current While Paddling Out

If you find yourself caught in a rip current, the most important thing to do is to stay calm. Then, swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the current. Once you are out of the current, you can then swim back to shore.

The biggest problem that people experience with rip currents is they freak out. It makes sense, you’re in a scary situation, and if it’s your first time you are being pulled in a direction that isn’t where you want to go. Staying calm and identifying the right direction to swim (or paddle) in well make a huge difference.

Depending on how long you’ve been surfing, you might have noticed that more experienced surfers sometimes use rip currents to help them with getting out to the line up. Rip currents can be used to get out quicker with less energy wasted once you know how to use them. But they can also be extremely scary if you are a new surfer. The longer you surf, the more you will recognize the more experienced surfers and you’ll start to pick up little tips and tricks from those in the line up with you.

If its your first time surfing at a location, you can spend some time watching the water and watching where surfers paddle out. If a lot of them are starting in a certain spot, it’s probably one of the best spots to paddle out.

Conclusion

Surfing can be a lot of fun, but it’s important to remember that there are dangers involved in the sport. By knowing how to identify and avoid rip currents, you’ll be able to paddle out with less worry. If you find yourself caught in a rip current, stay calm and swim parallel to the shore until you are free of the current. Then, make your way back to shore. With these tips in mind, enjoy your next surfing adventure!