How To

How to Train for Contest Surfing

Contributor
By eHow Contributing Writer
(3 Ratings)

"While I'm free surfing, I'll occasionally pretend I'm in a heat and need to impress the judges. That's a good time to finish waves out and mix it up with new maneuvers," says Timmy Reyes, O'Neill Surf Team rider.

Difficulty: Moderately challenging
Instructions

Things You'll Need:

  1. Step 1

    Have mock heats with your friends in the water and judge each other's waves.

  2. Step 2

    Think about how you'd score your own waves, considering wave selection, number and difficulty of maneuvers, and length of ride.

  3. Step 3

    Paddle aggressively for position while you're free surfing. Remember, competition will be even fiercer in a contest.

  4. Step 4

    Surf your wave start to finish, milking it for all it's worth.

  5. Step 5

    Be creative and mix up your moves a lot.

  6. Step 6

    Ride without a leash so you're forced to lower your center, which will help with your recoveries. Grab your board in case you fall.

  7. Step 7

    Perfect the maneuvers you're working on now but aren't comfortable trying in a contest for fear of falling.

  8. Step 8

    Stay out for long sessions to get in the best possible paddling shape. Contests can be exhausting.

Tips & Warnings
  • "You can practice surf all you want. But there comes a point where you just need to start entering contests to see how you match up against the competition," says Timmy.

Comments  

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 6/30/2006 Catch all the waves you can get - big/small, choppy or smooth, you need to be able to catch anything. Competitions don't always have the best waves, so be prepared.

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