141 Stop Paddling for Waves - The Beginner Surfing Advice Nobody Gives You
What if catching more waves as a beginner had less to do with paddling harder, and more to do with timing and wave selection?
Many beginner surfers waste energy chasing every patch of whitewater, only to miss waves, struggle to stand up, and finish each session feeling frustrated. In this episode, surf coach Michael Frampton explains a simpler approach that helps you conserve energy, choose better waves, and develop skills that will support your surfing for years to come.
You’ll discover:
How to catch whitewater waves without paddling by using a simple, well-timed movement
What separates strong, smooth whitewater waves from weak, turbulent ones
How timing, ocean awareness, and efficient habits can help you stand up more often and learn faster
Play the episode to start catching better waves with less effort and build the foundational skills every confident surfer needs.
To download the free PDF: "The Intelligent Beginners Guide to Surfing" click this link:
https://mailchi.mp/surfmastery/the-intelligent-beginners-guide-to-surfing
Transcript:
Welcome back or welcome to the Surf Mastery Podcast, the podcast that helps you to be a better surfer in and out of the water. I'm your host, Michael Frampton, and today's episode is for beginner surfers. Now, I've been a surf coach for over 15 years, and I've worked with hundreds of surfers, including the absolute beginners. And I've realized recently that this podcast doesn't actually have much information for the absolute beginner, so I've got a couple of absolute gems here for you. Tip number one is to stop paddling for waves. Firstly, let me explain the drill so that you can visualize how to catch waves without paddling, and then I'll explain a bit more as to why we do this drill.
So the no paddling method. All you need to do is walk out into waist-deep water, you turn yourself and your surfboard around so that you're facing the beach. And the next whitewater wave that comes towards you that you want to catch, wait, wait until the last second, and just before the whitewater hits the tail of your board, you jump forward and onto your board.
That's it. You've caught the wave. That's the simplest and easiest way to catch a wave as a beginner. Now, the biggest mistake that people make on this drill is not having the board at 90 degrees to the wave. If you have your board slightly angled wrong to the wave, then you're gonna dig rail, and you're not gonna catch the wave.
So make sure it's at 90 degrees to the approaching wave. Now, the no paddle method is gonna save you a lot of energy. It's efficient, and it's teaching you the most important thing in surfing, which is timing, especially when it comes to catching waves. That well-timed little burst of momentum and intention is all that you need to catch the wave at any level actually.
You don't need to waste energy paddling
This drill will also help you to realize that catching waves is a lot easier than you think, and it's got very little to do with paddling power. It's got everything to do with timing and of course wave selection, which segues into tip number two.
Tip number two is catch the best whitewater waves. So now as beginners, we often think that whitewater is just whitewater. We paddle out and catch whatever comes towards us.
But not all whitewater waves are equal. Some white water waves are more powerful than others, even though they might be the same size. Some run smoothly all the way to the beach, and some are interrupted by cross waves and backwash or turbulence or water coming back out. There are lots of wave refractions and water movements that happen in that space between the white water wave and the beach
So your job as a beginner isn't simply to catch the whitewater, it's to catch the best whitewater waves. Now, that means learning to read the waves and more importantly, learning to read the movement of water in front of the wave. If you've done some surfing already, you've probably noticed that some whitewater waves are incredibly easy to catch and they push you effortlessly all the way to the beach.
Other ones just seem to have no power at all, or some are messy, unpredictable, and even chaotic. And it all seems random as to which is which. But that's just because you haven't seen the finer details yet. There are reasons that these waves behave differently, radically differently often, even though at first glance they look very similar.
And your job is now to start observing those reasons Generally, you're looking for the stronger whitewater waves that have smooth, uninterrupted water in front of them. So between you and the beach, you want nice smooth water, free of any other waves or any other radical water movements. Then that whitewater wave that's coming towards you has nice water to push you over and through.
The best surfers read the ocean the best. Now, that is true for every level of surfer, and that's what you're building right from the beginning. So both of these tips are very considerate of a concept called performance strands.
A performance strand is something that's existed in coaching of a lot of other developed sports like tennis, for example. It's basically saying that whatever habit you build in the beginning should stay with you through your entire journey through that sport.
For example, in tennis, it would be the way that you hold the racket. If you spend time making sure that you hold the racket correctly in the beginning, then that is a habit that you'll take with you, , through your entire tennis journey
And that would be considered a performance strand. So when you're learning how to surf, it's important that you consider this concept so that everything that you learn in the beginning will hold you steadfast through your entire surfing journey. And developing the perspective that waves are easy to catch if you get the timing and wave selection right is an important performance strand
The opposite of that might be what you would pick up, at a large surf school that's giving a tourist-based experience, whereas you just go out there and you paddle hard for anything that's coming in
So to summarize these two tips, we could say that your objective as a beginner surfer is to catch the best whitewater waves in the simplest, most efficient way possible
These will be the waves that are the easiest to stand up on and that will give you the longest ride. So you'll actually learn faster because you'll be standing on your surfboard more, and you're learning the timing of catching waves, and you're learning how to read waves and the way water moves,
Which are the two most important skills that any surfer at any level can develop
Now we've got more details on those tips, plus a lot more tips for the beginner surfer, including where to surf, equipment, surfing philosophy, lots, lots more, and it's all inside the free PDF called The Intelligent Beginner's Guide to Surfing, which is now available at surfmastery.com. You will see it there on the homepage.
All you need to do is enter your email address, and you will be sent this PDF directly to your email.
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend, and if you're new to the podcast, the podcast has a 10-year back catalog of timeless episodes full of surfing advice. So I urge you to go all the way back to episode number one
And I hope surfing stays with you. Until next time, keep surfing
The Surf Mastery Podcast:
For the passionate surfer - whether you're a weekend warrior, a surf dad, or an older surfer - this podcast is all about better surfing and deeper stoke. With expert surf coaching, surf training, and surfing tips, we’ll help you catch more waves, refine your paddling technique, and perfect your pop up on a surfboard. From surf workouts to handling wipeouts, chasing bigger waves, and mastering surf technique, we’re here to make sure you not only improve but truly enjoy surfing more - so you can get more out of every session and become a wiser surfer. Go from Beginner or intermediate Surfer to advanced