How to Avoid Surfing Hazards & Obstacles: Beginning Surfing Lesson

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is John Hickey with Florida Surf Lessons. You can reach us at www.floridasurflessons.com. When starting surfing we want to basically watch out for a few hazards that we have out there. One such hazard is for example that jetty right there. Now where there is a current pushing and there is a jetty, and you push into that, those rocks become razor sharp. You always want to be careful and know your surrounding. If there are any rocks in the water, you want to make sure you are aware where they are at so that you can slide over. Also, people become objects in the water that are hazards. If you run into a person you can hurt that person severely and just as bad as you can hurt them they can hurt you just as well. You always want to watch out for people. It’s a big thing because you don’t want to hurt anyone. Also peers, anything that is demobilized in the water will cause a rough target and is something hard to hit. You always want to watch out for that. Also we have rip currents. Rip currents are a massive amount of water being pushed onto the shore. The water that is already on the shore has no place to go. It is almost like a mini river or canal straight out to the ocean. Now if you want to get out of that you want to swim parallel to each side in order to get out or you will end up going all the way out to the ocean. We will be right back in just a moment."