How to Catch More Waves & Waste Less Energy In The Surf | Secret Positioning Strategies

One of the most common questions I receive from surfers is this. Please tell me about positioning. Where do I sit? What do I do? Where do I go? Help me catch more waves. I've often said that this is one area of surfing that's really difficult to teach. Learning to read the waves is like learning a new language. But, as with everything on this channel, even though spending time in the water will be your number one priority, there are some hints and tips I can teach you to help shorten that learning curve. No little surf sequence today because I got attacked by a foil, a self-imposed foil. Yeah. Whilst you're here, be sure to subscribe to the channel for weekly surf uploads and also join me on Instagram at Kale's Broccoli. Have a look at this gorgeous drone shot. It's pretty. It's majestic. But, if you're a surfer, those attributes are probably secondary to the fact that you can see actual surfable waves right down here. This right here is probably the biggest difference between someone who can read waves and someone who can't. It's an obsession with the ocean and with surfing that really shortens your learning curve when it comes to positioning. When everyone else is gazing out over a beautiful sunset, you're looking at the waves. When everyone's up on the headland grabbing coffee and chatting, your eyes are drifting off to the perfect A-frame that just rolled through unridden. These might not be super healthy attributes, but they are certainly reflective of a life spent dedicated to the ocean. People who read the waves well spend lots of time in or around the ocean observing how it behaves in different conditions. And this is your first recommendation. Get in the water without a surfboard, provided you can swim well, and get out amongst the waves. It's only a small difference, but that slightly lowered perspective whilst bobbing up and down and around in the lineup offers so much insight into how waves behave. It is an invaluable experience to help us become more in tune with wave positioning. Let me guess. It sounds too simple, right? Well, don't discount it too quickly. I've actually had some of my best surfs, my most in-flow, in-tune with the ocean surfs after going out for a body bash beforehand. So the next time it's flat or the waves are uninspiring, grab your boardies, leave the board in the car, and get in the water. So now let's chat about the next step. What are we actually looking for in a wave? Waves change all the time. This is one of the addictive things about surfing, chasing what we know to be finite and elusive, but there are things to look for to indicate a potentially great ride. A lot of this comes down to the colour and shape of the swell line. Notice how up here we can see that the waves coming in are not linear, but actually come in peaks. This non-uniformity creates great opportunity for us because as the wave reaches the shore and dumps its energy, it does so at different times across the swell line. A peak might break here, but the rest of the swell line gradually unloads onto the sandbar for the next three to five seconds. This space, this time difference, it's our opportunity to ride the wave. If we come to this shot here, we can notice a clear apex of the swell, a peak, as it's commonly called. This is where we can expect the wave to break first. We can also guess that this is where the most power is going to be in the swell, and thus, it's where we want to be when we catch the wave. Notice how the colour is different in the wave where the peak is compared to the shoulder. As the light refracts through the swell line as it moves towards the beach, this causes different shades to be exposed, and generally speaking, the darker, richer textures indicate where the peak is, the steepest part of the wave. If we can see that the wave has a clearly defined shoulder, a less steep part of the swell, we can quite easily pick which direction we'd like to surf in, and thus position ourselves accordingly, like this surfer here who paddles with a slight angle in the direction of where he wants to surf. Here is one big mistake that I see a lot of beginner to intermediates make when they're paddling for waves. Don't paddle with your back totally to the wave the whole time. Try to face the wave as long as possible before actually catching it. This enables you to make an informed decision about your positioning as you paddle in, rather than attacking it blind like this. To achieve this while still generating momentum in order to actually catch the wave, try to paddle sideways for the wave, or on an angle so that you can still look over your shoulder as you're paddling for it. I'll often sit deliberately two or three metres deeper than is optimal, just so that I can fit in a few strokes looking at the wave before catching it. You can also sit slightly further in toward the beach than you need to be, so that you can paddle out toward the wave, away from the shore, as it comes in. Then perform a pivot and swing by sitting back on your board, twisting around, and then corking forward to catch it last minute. Honestly, this is almost my number one prescription that I can give you when it comes to positioning better and wasting less energy and catching more waves. Too many times I see a surfer commit to a wave too early, paddle super hard in toward the beach only to have the wave crash on them, or for them to be one to two metres out of the optimal position. Now, in a game of inches, which surfing is, that's a long way. We talked about centring yourself on the peak of the wave, if possible, but let's zoom in on the situation a little more, as it is wave dependent. With this wave here, notice how the surfer is just off to the side of the peak as he paddles in. This slight difference could account for quite a big degree of change in terms of take-off difficulty. Over here, by the steep part of the wave, the peak, it's always going to be a little faster and more intense of a take-off compared to over here. So naturally, you could position yourself according to your own abilities. Personally, I like to take off right on the peak if I can, or even behind it if the wave is slow enough or barrelling, because that way I have the most amount of speed possible to carry into my turns on that wave. As I've said before, a board that's moving fast is much more stable than a slow one. It's just like riding a bicycle. You'll also have to consider what's underneath you for positioning as well. On a beach break like this, wave peaks will naturally concentrate around shallower sandbars because the shallower water causes the wave to dissipate, to crash. As the wave moves along the sandbar, we can find open faces to work with, but they might be inconsistent and even very different each wave. In general, beach breaks are more varied in how and where the waves break, which can be great for crowd dispersion, but not always super helpful for positioning. On reef breaks, because the bottom largely stays the same, we can expect more consistency and trust in how a wave will break, and thus can work out positioning cues on the beach or in the reef itself to help guide us into position for the waves. Knowing a certain location, or learning a certain location very well, is an excellent doorway to catching lots of waves. The other major factor in this equation, of course, is who else is out in the water. The crowd factor. This is something that I've actually talked about already, so I'm going to put the card so you can see that clip somewhere up here. Guys, if you enjoyed this video, make sure you subscribe to the channel, hit the like button, leave a comment below, and also join me on Instagram at Kale's Broccoli. It's a crazy time in the world right now, but surf retreats will continue once things calm down. I'll see you guys soon. 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