Surfing is a very interesting sport and people love the sheer thrill of riding on the surface of the water. The first thing a beginner needs to learn is to lie down on the board. He can do this taking the board to the beach, digging the fins into the sand and laying down on the board. It will then be good to mark the surface of the board where your chin ought to be, with wax. When the board is taken into the waves, be sure to push the board nose first.

And climb on to the board lying down with your chin on the wax mark. If you find the board’s nose digging into the water (pearling) then slide back a little towards the tail and make a mental reference of how far that is from the wax mark. If you find your board cocking then slid up a little toward the nose and make a mental reference of how far your chin is from the mark.

Now after you have stabilized your body while lying down on the board, it is now important to learn how to paddle. You need to use both hands alternatively as though you were swimming the freestyle. This will help giving you continuous motion and will even help you catch the waves. To learn to sit on the board, you need to be calm and patient.

There is no written learning for this; you will get this by practice. As your turn comes to stand on the board, you need to bring your chest to the board and with your palms hold the edges of the board and lift yourself up by sliding off, raising yourself and sweeping your feet under you. You need to then stand on the board with your feet at shoulder width apart, making sure your knees are bent and that you are looking forward and not at your feet.

Some of the safety tips that are advisable to follow are–

• Make sure your board has a nose guard as this will help averting at accident in case of a collision.
• Always surf with a buddy; it is always better to have somebody keep an eye on you.
• Do not use the surfboard tail first, as the fins on the tail are designed for control only by always keeping the nose first.
• Wear a rash vest to avoid board abrasion that may lead to rash.
• If you have a fall then quickly place your hand at the back of your head like you were resting on a hammock and try and join your elbows, stay down for a little while and watch if there are any oncoming boards and when you come up, come up facing the beach first and then look for your board.