Paddle Out on a Surfboard

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Mike Sanders and I'm going to tell you a little bit about how to paddle out in to the water once you got your surfboard and all your equipment ready. There's a couple things to keep in mind, where the waves are breaking, what kind of break it is, is it a point break, you know does it break one direction all the time, is it exact same wave, is it a reef break that's you know, out in the water a little bit, you gotta get to sometimes and it's breaking different positions but generally the same wave comes every time. Or is it a beach break where you got long open sandy beach waves, peeking left and right, coming at you from all ends? Now the point break, it's pretty easy to get out. You can either go through the point and paddle straight out and get right to where people are sitting where the waves are breaking or you can walk around, if the waves are coming diagonally, you gotta walk around and paddle out where they're not breaking. You really don't want to be where the waves are breaking when you're trying to get out to them. You want to get out and position yourself to be out of the wave's way, to be out of the surfer's way if there's somebody surfing on the wave. It's a good idea in general to wait for a lull and that means just when the waves calm down and there's not as many coming at you, there's not as big. It's a lot easier to get out. If you see a deep spot or a channel where no waves are breaking, where there's you know, the waves back off, they don't pitch anymore. They just back off and kind of roll in. That's a good place to aim for. I can't stress it enough how many people will just show through a spot, say, oh look, people are surfing out there and paddle right out in front of everybody. They get in the way, causes you know, it's like a three car pile up on the freeway or something like that. It can be bad you know. People get hit with boards all the time. It's not pretty. The best thing to do is be patient. When you get to the beach, watch the waves, see how they're breaking. See where they're breaking and where they're not breaking. And you want to be where they're not breaking when you're paddling out. That's pretty much how to paddle out. Get to where the waves are breaking."