The Journey Towards Having More FUN Surfing

How to Maximize a Surf Trip - Top Three Paddling Focus Points to get the most waves during your week (and to last your whole week)

We just returned from a week in long right point break waves in El Salvador while co-coaching with Dan Mori from Encinitas. It was an amazing week of progression and fun, and a proper blog article about it will be coming next month.

But one of the first things we discussed was how to last throughout the whole week, and consequently, how to get the most waves during the week.

Yes, fitness plays a role. But I say it all the time, you could be the Incredible Hulk, but if you have forty parachutes tied to the back of your surfboard, don’t you think it’s smarter to cut a bunch of them to move more efficiently? And then also use that strength in the correct places in the stroke so you aren’t wasting energy? I digress. The point is, fitness is important, but there are other aspects that should be thought of first.

When coaching surfers in general I have one ma...

Our annual co-coaching trip to Surf Ranch has concluded and I’m ecstatic to report that we’ve hit our priority takeoff goal (and exceeded it). If you recall from last year’s trip, we fell just short of the priority takeoff goal I set for our group each year. This is the primary metric I developed for our group after watching group after group suffer the pain of missing priority waves at Surf Ranch. From watching the strained expressions on surfers’ faces (not as the primary organizer of those trip – rather a secondary coach or consultant for KSWC), I set a goal when I began organizing co-coaching trips. We will strive for a priority takeoff rate of 90% or above.

Why not 100%?

Well, every wave pool has a learning curve because they are all so foreign to our brains at first. Every surfer, no matter their experience, must move through the pool’s learning curve, during which, mistakes will be made, not because of the surfer’s skill, but rather in the process of simply getting used t...

A vital lesson I've been trying to teach my kids is to avoid saying "no" to experiences, especially if those experiences have the potential to help you grow. That growth mindset is critical to living life to it's fullest.

Ideally, there is no guarantee of a good time when saying "yes" to those experiences. That is where the unknown plays a fun role in one's personal growth. 

But at Surf Ranch, it's pretty much a guarantee of a good time. So when my contact reached out and said there was a last minute cancellation and could I fill the day, I said, "yes", and then my blood pressure went through the roof with no guarantee I would fill it. 

I was given two and a half weeks. 

Oops, maybe I made a mistake. 

Well, if that's the case, so be it. But let's give it a try anyways. 

The call went out to Alumni. Last minute day trip to Surf Ranch. Small group. Lots of fun. Any takers? 

"Sounds amazing, but I'm gone that day."

"Wish I had a bit more time - I would for sure have gone on thi...

During the Waco Beginner's Trip last August, I had the opportunity to try out one of their new Barrel waves. Just prior to that, they released an amazing set of videos showing that same wave looking like an easy takeoff, setup, and ride through to the end. 

I should have known better. 

The surfing world is very good at marketing. And the general formula is - get a pro to rip on video or in a photo, and then watch as we all buy what they are selling. 

Like I said, I should have known better. The initial video of the pro surfer taking off on said wave barreling wave profile looked incredibly easy. I promoted it as a great way to learn barrel riding - a warm up to Surf Ranch - take your barrel riding to the next level. 

Oops. That's really all I can say. Because when I tried this new wave profile in August during the Beginner trip (with advanced to expert surfers), I realized the reality of this wave. It was not an easy takeoff, nor an easy set up, and no, it would not be a wa...

Each time we venture to our private island in Baja for a week of surf coaching, we experience something different surf-wise. We are typically blessed with one to two days of larger and more powerful swell, accompanied by fun moderate swell the rest of the week. This is a perfect formula for coaching both from a paddling and takeoff point of view, but also for Barry to coach surf technique and other skills while riding. The ocean normally gives us a small taste of what these surf spots could provide without overwhelming anyone in the group.

This year, we are thankful we got moderate swell. There was less of a taste of the more powerful stuff than in trips past, but the ocean provided waves every day still. I frequently surfed four to five sessions throughout the day, with the least frequent two sessions on the smallest and softest day of the week.

In other words, no matter what the forecast had looked like in years past and did look like leading into this year’s week there, we h...

The Epiphany

A few years ago, I was surfing at Waco Surf with a few clients and friends. We bought a few private sessions and had supplemented the trip with some public sessions. Let’s just say, this was an advanced surf group. We weren’t really looking at any waves below the intermediate level to surf or try out.

In the middle of our trip, in the middle of the day, I was sipping on a tea and munching on a breakfast sandwich. Another group of surfers were starting up their session and I looked up (as most surfers do) when the waves started rolling through.

However, when I glanced up at the first wave, it wasn’t breaking in the typical place in the basin, nor was it as fast, nor as tall. But the surfer delicately paddled in, got to their feet and rode beautifully in the pocket until the wave started to hit an inside section where it started to stand up nicely as the surfer walked to the nose and back.

What the?!?

Waco has a longboard wave? For some reason at this point of going t...

I know, I know. You can go to Indo for a week with what it costs to go to Surf Ranch for a day and a half. Or Fiji, or Mex, or fill in the blank surf location.

And you know, you’re right. Spot on. 100% correct.

But would it be an apples-to-apples comparison on what you get?

Maybe. Maybe not.

Every year I say to myself, I’m not doing Surf Ranch again. And yet, each year I go again, and again. Why?

I just can’t convince myself otherwise.

Contrary to what some people may think, I buy a spot just like everyone else. So it hits my wallet just like it hits yours. And I have to go through the money justification just like you.

So here’s my thought process on it. Agree or disagree, but I figured I would share for the fun of it.

GOAL OF TRIP

First, we need to set a baseline on what is included in each trip, and also level set what my goal of the trip is. The reason why the second parameter is important is because I may very well choose to go on a trip to Indo, or Fiji, or Mexico,...

Much like an automobile, our surfing needs a tune-up each year. Unlike our cars, a surfing tune-up, as I am defining it, doesn’t involve repair. A surfing tune-up is about building neural pathways (new or renewed) so when an opportunity presents itself in the ocean, our brain automatically moves the body parts it needs to in order to achieve the maneuver we sought.

As I’ve mentioned in past articles, Lakeside Surf Rail Surfing Coaching Trip with Barry Green and

From a Down the Line to a Carving Surfer … in 3 Days, the learning curve at Lakeside is steeper than other wavepools. Every wavepool, every surf break in fact, has a learning curve our brain needs to go through in order to get to a stage where we are just surfing (and therefore progressing). Sometimes the learning curve is learning the takeoff, when the wave stands up, when the wave backs off, or simply how the water is moving as we ride the wave. Because Lakeside is so foreign for our brains, it takes a while to break thro...

[highlights video below]

“This is the last year I will run this,” is always what I say a few weeks before each Kelly Slater Surf Ranch trip. The amount of financial, logistical, and anticipatory stress I endure would put any cardiologist on call.

And yet, each year, I am utterly blown away with the feeling of joy and fulfillment the aftermath brings.

Simply looking at the happiness on the faces of the participants is enough to make me do it all over again.

BEST STATS to DATE

On top of seeing their ecstatic faces after each wave, it seems the pre-trip training has proved successful once again (and was so close to the 90% benchmark I set as a goal each year).

Not only did this group register the highest Priority takeoff success rate at 88%, but they improved immensely in both the Pro and Poach takeoff zones (80% and 85% respectively).

AND, of the participants on this year’s trip, only five surfers had previously taken the pre-trip Take Off Training and Preparation Course I...

Edward Thorndike is one of the godfathers of motor learning. He lived in the late 1800s into the early to mid 1900s and studied a variety of different psychological topics.

From his research, I’ve used several key takeaways in adult learning, and have witnessed what I like to call the “learning click”. This is in reference to a client’s body and brain finally “clicking” on what we are working on.

I see the click in the body language and confidence of movement, and whenever I see it, I get this fire of joy deep in my belly. It feels like surfing my first wave all over again. It’s the ah-ha moment and I can visually see clients go through this often when we work on paddling technique together.

On our trip to Lakeside Surf last summer, I got to witness it with a surfer riding the wave. It wasn’t a paddling technique clicking, but rather a surf technique clicking. And it was crazy for me to witness that in the moment (actually I witnessed it when re-watching the video).

This click ha...