063: CC#6 - Gee Cormack
Are you stuck at the intermediate level—despite surfing regularly?
In this short coaching episode, Gee Cormack from Chix Surf School explains why many surfers plateau after the beginner stage. From misreading waves to riding the wrong board for the day’s conditions, Gee breaks down what separates true progression from mindless repetition.
Learn why doing the same maneuver on the wrong wave type is sabotaging your sessions
Understand how to make better surf checks and choose the right board for every condition
Discover what it really means to be a good surfer—and how to start training like one
Hit play now and learn the mindset and habits that will finally push your surfing beyond the intermediate plateau.
https://www.instagram.com/chixsurfschool/?hl=en
http://surfmastery.com/podcast/022-gee-cormack
Song Hopefulessness - Courtney Barnett
Key Points
A good surfer is characterized by their ability to adapt to new environments, assess ocean conditions, and use appropriate equipment effectively, as explained by Gee Cormack.
Common mistakes among intermediate surfers include not reading the wave properly and not generating speed in a controlled manner, according to Gee Cormack.
Surfers should refine their skills by understanding how factors like wind, wave conditions, and equipment affect their surfing, rather than relying on basic checks, as advised by Gee Cormack.
Intermediate surfers often make the mistake of focusing too much on a single skill or goal, rather than adapting to the conditions and using the right equipment, as pointed out by Gee Cormack.
Refining skills to achieve minimal movement with maximum energy is crucial for intermediate surfers, rather than overdoing movements with minimal results, according to Gee Cormack.
Outline
Characteristics of a Good Surfer
A good surfer is someone who can go to an area they've never surfed before, do a full ocean assessment, understand what equipment they need, what the water is doing, and ride it properly.
A good surfer has stepped out of their comfort zone and tried the same things in multiple locations with multiple conditions throughout different times of the year.
Common Mistakes of Intermediate Surfers
Intermediate surfers often make the mistake of not reading the wave properly.
They fail to generate speed in a controlled way that allows them to perform the maneuvers they aim to do.
Intermediate surfers tend to go too vertical on waves that aren't suitable for vertical surfing, leading to bogging their rail.
They focus on turning instead of generating speed properly, often turning when they don't have enough speed or attempting vertical turns on waves that don't accommodate them.
Reading the Wave Properly
As surfers progress from beginner to intermediate, they need to refine their skills in reading the wave.
This includes understanding how onshore wind affects surfing, how to angle the board, how hollow the wave is, the timing of the wave, and the strength of the winds.
Surfers should pre-understand the sandbanks, undercurrents, and what's happening in the water, including what happened the previous days and what's happening the next few days.
Matching the equipment, skills, and conditions of the day is crucial for proper wave reading.
Managing Expectations and Refining Skills
Intermediate surfers should manage their expectations and understand that no day is ever the same in surfing.
They should go to the beach and assess what the water is telling them to do, working with the water rather than fighting against it.
Having goals is important, but those goals should be achievable in all conditions and on all equipment, not just in one condition.
Refining skills involves minimal movement with maximum energy, not maximum movement with minimal energy.
Intermediate surfers should focus on refining their skills so that the things they are doing are done properly, even when using different equipment.
Transcription
Gee Cormack
A good surfer is someone that can go to an area that they've never surfed before, do a full ocean assessment, understand what equipment they need, what the water is doing, and go out there and ride it properly. Because they have stepped out of their comfort zone, they have tried the same things in multiple locations with multiple conditions throughout different times of the year. That makes a good surfer.
Michael Frampton
Yes, that was the voice of Gee Cormack from Chicks Surf School. She is the guest in today's short episode, another coaching concept episode. If you want to hear a long form interview with Gee, you can go back to episode number 22 of the show. And if you want to see or find out more about Gee, it's Chicks Surf School.
And we enter the conversation just talking about the common mistakes of surfers. Here is my conversation with Gee. Intermediate. Experienced surfer. What's something, what are you seeing the most common? The second most common.
Gee Cormack
I think key things with an intermediate surfer is not reading the wave properly. That's a really important one. Really not reading the wave properly. And secondly, not generating speed in a controlled way that allows them to do the maneuvers that they're aiming to do.
Michael Frampton
Okay, so what do you mean by not reading the wave properly?
Gee Cormack
So as I said before, a lot of people when they're doing their surf check, do a basic surf check. You know, checking the wave size, checking the winds, checking the tides. That's what we always try and teach for a beginner. But as you become an intermediate surfer to an advanced surfer, you need to refine those skills and understand, okay, if you have onshore wind, how is that going to affect my surfing? How do I need to angle the board that I'm on? How hollow is the wave? The timing of the wave? How strong those winds are?
So really alters the way that you surf a wave. And then depending on what equipment you're on.
You know, you can't just do a basic surf check and then try and figure it out once you're in the water. You've got to really pre-understand the sandbanks that you're on, the undercurrents and what's going on in the water, what happened the previous days, what's happening the next few days, and then matching the equipment that you're on, your skills, with the conditions of the day.
So many intermediate surfers are trying to go way too vertical. On waves that aren't vertical waves. Because they can't ride vertical waves because they either can't pop up fast enough or they're not angling their board to stay ahead of that vertical wave, which is very fast and running sideways very quickly. Don't try and mimic vertical turns on a round wave. You're going to bog your rail. Really common thing with an intermediate is that they bog their rail in their turns. Just overdo it.
Yeah, and they're focusing on turning instead of generating speed properly. So they're turning when they don't have enough speed or they're trying to get too vertical on a turn on a wave that doesn't accommodate for a vertical turn.
So that's where I say mix matching. The conditions of the day with actually their skill set, you've got to make sure that you're reading the wave properly. The wave tells you what you need to do and you need to pull from your library of skills and go, okay, well, this is my library of skills. This is what I can and can't do. This is what the wave is actually telling me to do.
So that's what I need to do on a wave. Not going, all right, today I want to work on reentries.
Yeah, I just want to work on re-entries. Getting down there, you've got a fat, weak, two-foot wave. You're not going to be doing re-entries on a wave like that.
So, okay, maybe work on your roundhouse turns or, you know. Cutbacks or speed generating or whatever it is, you know, work on something different, not just going, this is what I want to work on.
So that's what I'm going to do out in the water. That's the board I brought down because that's my most responsive board. Maybe get on a fatter board, you. Yeah.
Michael Frampton
Know? Yeah.
So managing expectations.
Gee Cormack
Yeah. Really understanding as an intermediate surfer, you have a bigger library of skills and actually drawing on that library of skills and being knowledgeable when you're in the water. If you're not on the board that you're normally on, it doesn't mean that it's not going to benefit your surfing. Every single time you go on the water, if you are on the right equipment, whether I'm a short boarder and most of the time I'm on a long board, you know. But I'm doing things on a longboard that is still productive for my surf fitness, my timing on my waves, my understanding of the equipment that I'm on in the type of wave that I'm on. And... it refines my skills when I'm back on a short board.
You know, so I think that's a big mistake for intermediates is that they're on the wrong equipment for the wrong surf because, you know, they're honing in and trying to focus on one particular thing.
Michael Frampton
And it's usually people overdoing it as well. It's very rarely underdoing it.
Gee Cormack
Yeah, and refining your skill. You know, actually refining the skills so that the things that you are doing are done properly.
So there's a thing I like to say: minimal movement, maximum energy. Not maximum movement with minimal energy. You don't want to be that paddler that paddles for every wave and gets nothing. You want to be the one that goes for two or three, does two or three strokes and gets everything. With less movement, it's refining your skills. You're still paddling. But it's how you do it. And that's where intermediates need to start to do those sorts of things.
I mean, surfing, you have a forever changing environment and, you know, no day is ever the same, so to have an expectation, you know, of a particular thing is, most of the time you're going to get let down. You need to be able to go to the beach and go, okay, well, what is it telling me to do?
So that when you do go out there, you're actually working with the water, you're not fighting against it. And that's not saying don't have goals. People go, so what, I shouldn't have goals? It's like, no, you should definitely have goals, but those goals need to be achieved in all conditions. On all equipment, not just in one condition. It's like people that go, I only surf at this location. That's great. That doesn't make you a good surfer. A good surfer is someone that can go to an area that they've never surfed before, do a full ocean assessment, understand what equipment they need, what the water is doing, and go out there and ride it properly. Because they have stepped out of their comfort zone, they have tried the same things in multiple locations with multiple conditions throughout different times of the year. That makes a good surfer. But a lot of people aren't willing to put their time in because surfing's so bloody hard.
63 CC#6 - Gee Cormack - Surfing Awareness
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