How to Get Started Surfing

Series Summary

Surfing is a sport that catches the imagination. From the Beach Boys to Blue Crush, youths across America and the world are caught up in the mystery and status of surfing. For those who surf, it isn’t such a big deal. But for the Midwesterner trapped in a Chicago winter or the fishmonger selling cod on the streets of Boston surfing might hold the same mystique as a foreign country. English explorer Captain James Cook “discovered” Hawaii for the Europeans. After the captain was killed during failed military “negotiations” with the natives in 1779, Lieutenant James King took on the responsibility of keeping a travel journal of all the strange and exotic customs they’d come across. King’s entry on surfing took up two pages. It is impossible to say when surfing became popular, but it has continually been a central part of Hawaiian culture. Since the United States conquered Hawaii in 1893 and annexed it as a state in 1959, the local surfing culture has been adapted by mainland culture, epitomized in the surfer lingo and lifestyle of Sean Penn’s character Jeff Spicoli in the 1982 movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

In this free video series, expert surfer Schell Michael shows you girls how to surf. You get expert advice aimed at new surfers, complete with demonstrations and anecdotes. Schell teaches you how to get started surfing, choose your first board, pick out a wet suit, find surfing spots, and more. You learn all about board care and how to carry or transport your surfboard. You will learn lingo and terms used by surfers in the water or the pro shop. Schell also teaches you the basic moves: paddling out, getting over waves, catching a wave, standing up on the surfboard, turning, and coming back to shore. It’s all here! Even a tip on changing into your wet suit or bikini on the beach.

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Schell Michael, I'm here with Expert Village and today we're going to be doing a series on how to surf. Already, so we're just going to be talking about getting into surfing and your girl thinking you know, how do I start, where do I begin, what do I wear, you know all these different things and I would say the first part about surfing would probably be finding somebody who's going to teach you and who's going to work with you, finding your instructor. And you can in the yellow pages, you can talk to some friends that maybe you know, who surf, who know of somebody who had some experience or you know, most people just have friends that can teach you but if you can't, you know, actually paying for a surf lesson, I think it's a very smart idea. I grew up around surfing so I have the luxury of just kind of being push, try, then do it. So yeah, when you find that instructor, your best thing to do is just tell him what your goal is, like, where you see yourself going if you want to be serious about it and then you just get started with the basics and it doesn't really matter if it's a guy or if it's a girl. It's your preference. Ladies, I know you like those hot ones. So we do want a guy instructor that could see you having more fun, you know, go for it. Also, when you go surfing, I think it's important to have a body system. I don't ever think you should go out when you're just beginning going out by yourself. If it's you and your instructor, you and a buddy, it's always going to be you and someone else. Cause if something happens and you don't really know how to react, or how the waves are, maybe the surf spot, it's important with somebody with a little more knowledge that you can go with. So don't just go with a yappy! Or somebody who doesn't know how to surf too is very important that your beginning fees are you go with somebody who knows what they're doing as well."