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The One Trick to Get Good at Surfing

Woman walking out to surf
Photo: Unsplash

Starting something new that we immediately become passionate about stokes our fire and sends our dopamine soaring. It's new and exciting and we want to make our entire lifestyle all about it. Within weeks after taking my first surfing lesson, I was wearing the shirts, hanging the posters and keeping my surfboard strapped to the top of my car wherever I went. My entire identity became being a surfer, now that I felt that I was a part of the club.


The thing is, I wasn't a good surfer. I was out in the water getting my ass kicked for two years while learning how to surf the waves in Northern California. I would try to surf one day each weekend for around four months of the year when the coastal air temperature would reach the mid-to-upper 60s and the water temp was 54-56F. That got me about 15 days or less of surfing each year during my last two years of high school.


While I was enamored with surfing videos and fascinated with learning every unique detail about famous surf breaks around the world, I surfed like a total beginner. My board riding skills from snowboarding hadn't factored in yet, since I was still figuring out how to get outside of the break and catch a wave. It felt like my progress in becoming a better surfer was impossibly slow until I made an important change.


Surfers at a rocky point break
Photo: Unsplash
In one month, I went surfing more days than I previously had in a year

I moved to Hawai'i to attend college and began surfing as often as I could. In one month's time, I surfed more days than I previously had in a year. I loved the frequent swells and wetsuit-free 80F water. I surfed up to five times a week, and with more repetition, quickly started to progress and see my surfing skills develop.


The mechanics of paddling to match the speed of a wave that I was trying to catch and popping up at the right moment became natural and smooth. Through repetition, I learned how to maneuver different turns, and continued to build and connect my surfing skills. There was less to think about while I surfed, as I had more practice and repetitions with time and consistency. My balance and control of the surfboard also became easier and surfing became a lot more fun.


I continued to surf frequently over the next 10 years, finding apartments within walking distances to Southern California beaches . The close proximity to the waves made surfing my default activity. Whether or not the surf was perfect, I changed into my bikini and grabbed my board like it was muscle memory. It was a blissful routine in my life.


Surfers at sunset
Photo: Unsplash

It wasn't that later on I wanted to be a better surfer more than I had in the beginning. In the first two years of picking up a surfboard, there was nothing I wanted more than to be a surfer. But I didn't stay consistent and practice enough to get better at surfing during that time.

My skills developed tremendously as I surfed more days and paddled for more waves

As soon as I moved to an area with good conditions for surfing, my skills developed tremendously as I surfed more days and paddled for more waves. It was all about the reps.


That's true with many outdoor passions. The learning curve can be tough, girl! But putting in the reps, practicing it over and over again, is what it takes to develop new skills. You can make it your lifestyle, but to get good at something, you need to make it your life.


What can you do to get closer to your passions and put in the reps?

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