I started surfing each summer for two weeks on yearly family trips to North Carolina. I rode a 9-foot log in gutless summer surf and sometimes SUP surfed.
That was the extent of my surfing experience when I took a trip in the middle of the pandemic down to Carmel, in Central California, to surf with my brother.
That’s when I started trying to learn how to surf on a shortboard. (I am indeed a Covid surfer). It’s also when I started surfing more than a few times per year. Which meant I had to start surfing at home in the cold, not-beginner-friendly Bay Area.
As of this writing, I’m closing in on two years of surfing roughly 3 days a week—more when there’s swell, less when there’s not.
And this is my take on whether surfing is hard to learn.
Again Yes, Hard to Learn, Especially on a Shortboard
I had surfed on longboards a few times a year for at least seven years or so when I jumped on a shortboard. The first thing I did, if I caught a wave, was get stuck on my knees.
That lasted for at least my first six sessions on a shortboard. Then after a few months surfing I’d get one good wave per session and blow at least two. And the rest of the waves I’d paddle the wrong way or take off in the wrong spot.
The only maneuvers I’d semi-learned to that point were popping up and dropping in. Though in my defense I did surf at Linda Mar in Pacifica most of the time, which is very close-out forward.
In the time I was making the switch to the shortboard, I rarely rode any other kind of board. I only had one anyway, and it was borrowed: a 6’4” Rusty Piranha.
At 195 pounds, it was probably a little small for me, but it was what I had and I could catch waves with it even if it wasn’t pretty.
How Hard is it to Learn? Is it Worth it?
If you’re asking how hard it is to surf, you’re either considering whether it’s worth taking up or you want to settle a bet.
I can’t settle the bet. It’s an impossible question. But I can tell you why it’s worth it.
Why it’s worth it
I’m still not very good at surfing. A lot of the time, I’m in the water with children. And they run circles around me.
But I am a lot fitter, I’ve met nice people, explored new places, and I’m much more skilled and knowledgeable in a beautifully useless sort of way.
I’ve also surfed in exotic places and made great memories.
Surfing is escape. Your phone is inaccessible and you have to pay attention. There’s nature all around you — dolphins, birds, fish, kelp, cliffs, rivers, wetlands. And in this environment you look for unpredictable moving blocks of water to ride.
If you’re just starting out, those unpredictable moving blocks will find you, toss you, swirl you around, and hold you down.
You’ll also miss most of the waves you paddle for.
And on the waves you do catch, you’ll usually be in the wrong spot, somebody will already be on it, you’ll blow it, or you’ll chicken out. You also may get yelled at by salty locals for making mistakes.
Also, most of the time, the waves won’t be that good. But subpar conditions almost shouldn’t matter to you as a beginner, because you can’t do much with good conditions anyway. I speak from experience.
These are the two things that make the difficulty of surfing worth it: the struggle and the escape. If you don’t want to struggle, you won’t enjoy learning to surf.
How to Make it Easier: Equipment, Fitness, Friends, and Expectations
Switch off onto a longboard
If you can, start on a longboard or at least have one you can use. I think I would’ve learned faster had I spent a little more time on a bigger board while I was learning to shortboard. Actually I think I’d still benefit a lot from riding a bigger board when the waves are small.
The reason I say that is because the bigger board gives you reps. And reps are everything when you’re learning to surf on a shortboard (or any board really).
Get the right kind of shortboard
I could make do with the board I started with, but it wasn’t making things easier for me. So after several months surfing, I bought a used Creeper that was thicker, wider, and flatter than the Piranha which made it easier for me to catch and surf waves.
If you’re starting out on a shortboard, your best bet to narrow your search for the right board is to figure out your Guild Factor.
The Guild Factor is the ratio of the volume of a surfboard to the surfer’s weight. So if you weigh 90 kilos and your board is 30 liters, you have a Guild Factor of .33
(Note: There’s a lot more that makes a board ideal for you than volume but it will get you in the ballpark.)
For reference:
| Level | Guild Factor |
|---|---|
| Advanced, extremely fit, high performance surfers | .34gf to.36gf |
| Typical fitness with average, to above average skills | .36gf to .38gf |
| Domesticated, lower fitness, desk jobs, and Weekend Warrior surfers | .38gf to .42gf |
| Novice surfers, or surfers with extremely small surf, thick wetsuits or adverse conditions | .40gf to .50gf |
Surf better waves
Obviously you might not be able to control this.
But you should know, the better waves you have access to, the better you’ll be at surfing. Because it’s all about reps. And when the surf is good, you get more reps. I improved more in a one-week surf trip to Nicaragua than 3 months at home.
Get in better shape
There are three very good reasons being in better shape will make you a better surfer fast:
- More confidence paddling out
- Endurance to keep surfing
- Reduced likelihood of injury
Confidence, endurance, and durability all help you get more reps.
Find a friend
Learning anything difficult is best done with a friend. At the very least, you’ll have someone to talk to while you wait to blow another wave. Plus, friends tend to push you to paddle out more often, which means more reps.
I’d suggest checking Facebook for a surfing group near you. That’s what I did and I ended up meeting a bunch of surfing buddies that I surfed with all the time.
Book a trip
I’m all about enjoying the process, but I also tend to have more fun when I can do something well. Plus, the better you get, the more conditions you can comfortably surf in (which means more reps).
So my goal was to get past the absolute beginner stage as fast as possible. To do that, I took multiple trips down to SoCal and one big trip to Nicaragua. Those trips got me on waves that were much more consistent and suited to my skill level and helped me improve a ton.
If you can, book a trip to consistent, beginner-friendly waves—assuming you don’t have some nearby.
According to SurferToday, learning to stand up and ride a wave takes between a couple of hours and one month. But the real answer depends on your fitness level, how often you surf, and your access to waves.
Surfing is difficult because it requires you to predict where and how a wave will break, position yourself correctly, paddle with good form, spring to your feet onto an unstable board, and then ride that wave with speed and flow. And that’s to say nothing of the difficulty of finding good waves, competing with other surfers for waves, and having sufficient endurance to paddle long distances.
While it won’t be as easy as it is for a teenager, learning to surf at or after the age of 30 is far from too late. If you can do a burpee and you know how to swim, you have the physical capability to learn to surf.
The best surfers are almost exclusively in great shape. Surfing at the highest level requires explosive lower and upper body strength. But surfing is as much or more about technique and skill as it as about physical fitness. So no, you don’t have to be in shape to surf. Though if you want to surf for a long time, minimize injury risk, and avoid soreness, being in shape is a requirement.
Surfing for the first time is best done under the watchful eye of a professional teacher, or at least another experienced surfer. If you’re trying it on your own, which isn’t recommended, stick to the whitewater. Your goal should be to catch a broken wave and get to your feet.
