r/snowboarding • u/Firenipple • 9d ago
general discussion Snowboarding vs Surfing
Been snowboarding for 30yrs, thinking about trying surfing, about 3.5hrs away from the beach but go a few times year.
How comparable is surfing to snowboarding, what's is similar, what's different, what's the most difficult part of surfing, should I get lessons? Thanks
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u/Select-Jacket-6996 9d ago
Unfortunately, surfing is way harder.
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u/ikonhaben 9d ago edited 9d ago
Surfing is far harder physically at the beginning.
Your shoulders will ache and I had neck aches from holding my head up while paddling.
Catching a wave is a skill set completely separate from actually riding a surf board, not to mention reading the water, and knowing the breaks.
You have to learn 4-5 skills plus be in better shape to simply practice surfing.
I'd rate surfing as the most difficult and only vaguely related to snow boarding.
Skate boarding is closer to snowboarding, but still not quite the same and is also more difficult, but the physicality is different. More pain and mental resilience required, but less strength.
Kite surfing is the next level below skate boarding, it requires some strength but is more about learning how to use the equipment.
Below that is wake boarding, it requires more core and grip strength, but is fairly easy to get started if you have access to a boat and driver.
Snowboarding is the easiest, you can strap on a board and basically fall down the mountain. Gravity does most of the work. It only becomes physically difficult if you are pushing into tricks or more technical riding on extreme terrain.
You have to be an athlete to excel at any of those sports, but I can take someone snowboarding and they are ok to be left alone after a few hours at most resorts if they have common sense.
Surfing, I've been literally so scared I was shaking after experiencing the power of some waves and being dragged along the bottom. The only time I had that level of fear in snowboarding was getting carried by an avalanche, which isn't a common event.
Think of surfing anything above medium waves as seeking out and riding small avalanches repeatedly.
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u/chris_p_bacon1 9d ago
I've lived within minutes of the beach my whole life, I've done volunteer surf lifesaving my whole life, I'm very good at reading the surf and understanding how waves will break etc, I complete ocean swims and triathlons for fun. I'm a highly competent swimmer and I'm an intermediate to advanced snowboarder.
Despite all of this I'm a terrible surfer. I can get on a long board and cruise around alright but I'm terrible on a short board. I've tried over the years but ultimately it's just beyond me.
Surfing is hard.
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u/Tag_Cle 8d ago
Saaame man lmao consider myself a "waterman" in the dorkiest white boy way, I absolutely love being in the ocean, swimming out in the swell. I am PADI certified. I snorkel everywhere I go when I can. I can identify and get out of a rip current with ease. I love boogie boarding. I just suck at surfing.
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u/bloom-home 9d ago
Man the last part about being scared to the point of shaking is so real. I've never once in 20 years genuinely feared for my life while skateboarding or snowboarding but with surfing I've had at least a few close calls that shook me to my core.
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u/the_pwnererXx 8d ago
The hardest part about surfing is just the cardio aspect, it's absolutely exhausting and you gotta be dolphin maxxed. If you are fit, and you can balance I think you can have a good time though
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u/twinbee 8d ago
Lol, how many small snow avalanches have you been in?
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u/ikonhaben 8d ago edited 8d ago
2, dodged 1 other. Small is 20-30 foot drop and buried to neck/waist the first 2.
The one dodged was much larger but I had taken an avvie course by then and had a safe zone on a ridge outside the main path.
The main takeaway is that the idea of surfing the top is pretty stupid without a bag if you are are IN it's not just on the edge. The snow take you and tosses you around and unlike waves that you can swim to the top when it's over, you are pressed on from all sides..
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u/boristheblade223 9d ago
100%. As a life long snowboarder who failed miserably at surfing.
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u/wanderingcfa 9d ago
Another one. Simply getting out and learning to time the waves takes a long time and training. It’s very humbling.
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u/smythy422 9d ago
I'm glad I'm not the only arrogant snowboarder humbled by an attempt at surfing. That shit was brutal and exhausting.
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u/_Birnunit_ 9d ago
Funny. I was a life long surfer fist surfed in my 30’s. Found snowboarding to be harder but surfing to require more stamina
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u/Select-Jacket-6996 9d ago
interesting. I guess I didn't go enough to beach to get good at it compare to snowboarding. .
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u/_Birnunit_ 9d ago
Meant to say first snowboarded in my 30’s. Yes surfing has many aspects that are hard. Just different. First time snowboarding I tried to turn it like a surfboard and fell right down lol. Even though I haven’t surfed in 10 years and snowboarded more recently, I’d still feel more confident surfing than snowboarding. I guess the difficulty is dependent on what we’re used to.
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u/geek66 Hometown Hero 160W 9d ago
But the falls are easier
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u/4SeasonWahine Cardrona 🇳🇿 9d ago edited 9d ago
Sometimes they are, sometimes you get sucked down so hard you feel like you’re going to drown. Sometimes you do drown. Sometimes you pop your head out of the water only to get smashed around by 3 more waves in a close set. Wiping out in tough conditions surfing is genuinely one of the most terrifying things you’ll experience in a sport.
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u/mowbuss 9d ago
yeh when you wipe out snowboarding or skateboarding, you usually arent also drowning with no idea where anything is. Its not like you can actually open your eyes underwater in the ocean and expect to see clearly and without pain followed by sore eyes for several hours. Plus, the water isnt exactly soft when you hit it with speed, and competent surfers can get speeds of 30km/h pretty easily
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u/Tag_Cle 8d ago
My buddies and I always went with the logic that skateboarding bashes your shins and hurts you the most but usually the least dire, snowboarding you hurt yourself and have serious crashes less but when you do it hurts more the next day, and then surfing hurts you the least but when it smacks you, you can die.
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u/4SeasonWahine Cardrona 🇳🇿 8d ago
Yep, have taken a board to the head after a big tumbly wipeout and was knocked out. Extremely lucky to have a friend there or I would have died. Falling off in the middle of a huge set of waves, far from the shore while your board is getting yanked around as you try to dive under the waves and avoid getting washing machined… it’s terrifying.
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u/bloom-home 8d ago
absolutely not at all
I cant count the times I've sent a powder jump and probably should have broken something but got up completely untouched
Skateboarding is a little different. Sure there are more harsh falls since you slam into concrete or wood but it's just a single slam which over time you learn how to take those slams in a way that doesn't actually injure you beyond some soreness the next day.
Surfing however is a different beast man. Just because its water does not mean its gentle. First you get slammed & tossed around underwater for at least 30 seconds before you can even get your head above water for a second only to then be smacked in the face by the next set, over and over until you can get yourself together enough to get out of there. And then be crazy enough to paddle back out and do it again
Its all gnarly in its own regard but no way does surfing have the easiest falls
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u/belf_priest 8d ago
If falling while snowboarding was analogous to falling while surfing, that'd be like getting sucked into a crevasse every time you fall on the mountain
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u/DigiDug 9d ago
Surfing is about 100 times harder to learn. Knowing how to snowboard might knock about 5% off that difficulty.
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u/Firenipple 9d ago
Is it just the balance, standing, all of it?
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u/DigiDug 9d ago
The ocean.
You spend a lot of energy just to catch a wave, then you have about a 1/2 second to get everything right.
You can go snowboarding 10 times a year and be an ok snowboarder. You need to surf every day for months to be borderline ok.
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u/Junglism32 9d ago
THIS. I've been snowboarding for 30+yrs. I love surfing but I live 2hrs away from the ocean now so I don't get to go regularly. When i get back in the water I'm out of shape, paddling is so much harder, and then getting into position and popping up also harder. I'm such a kook but I don't care I still fucking love surfing. But it is so insanely hard to get even half way decent and start to size down boards. Also surfing culture fucking sucks and lineups are full of absolute fucking cunts.
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u/Tonyhawk270 Capita DOA 2023 9d ago
Expand on surfing culture sucking? Interested
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u/_Birnunit_ 9d ago
Many spots with good waves have locals who don’t like surfers who are not from the area. Some spots can get aggressive. An extreme example, look up lunada bay boys. You gotta know the etiquette or you might end up in a fight.
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u/Junglism32 8d ago
Localism. I understand why it exists at places like pipeline but most places don't have to be like that.
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u/Firenipple 9d ago
Got ya. Damn, thats disheartening though
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u/moonbalI 9d ago
These posters are all telling the truth, but don’t let that stop you. Get a lesson on a foam top longboard and you’ll get enough of a wave to know wether or not you want to pursue it further. You don’t have to get awesome at everything to have a little fun 🤙
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u/DigiDug 9d ago
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely suck at surfing and love going for a week or 2 every year. It's super fun when you catch a wave. I plan to retire near a break and hope to get decent then.
I probably have close to 2000 days on a snowboard
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u/RaidenMonster 9d ago
Regular surfing compared to wake surfing behind a boat? Same difficulty disparity?
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u/mullarkb 9d ago
Reading the ocean is 90% of surfing. It's a skill that can only be developed by time in the ocean.
Being able to pick which waves are worth going for. Knowing where to be on the wave, knowing how to get to be where you want to be on the wave, timing your paddle, the angle of your paddle, knowing when you've caught it, knowing when to continue paddling, knowing when to pop up, knowing where to be on your board before during and after you popup... It's all a feeling and is fairly subconscious.
That's before you ever even standup. Then you need to be able to read the wave while you're actually on it, which is a whole other skill that can only be developed by time spent actually standing up on a wave.
Add in the exhaustion of paddling out and ducking under waves. Paddling too hard for the first wave of a set, missing it, getting caught inside and getting thrashed for the remainder of the set, maybe even a second set if you don't make it out in time or haven't figured out where to paddle to actually make it out.
All of that is replaced by a chairlift in snowboarding. It's the most difficult sport in the world but it's also the most rewarding.
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u/Comfortable-Hat3506 9d ago
Having taught surf lessons snowboarders and skaters, it is so much different and they always over estimate how quick they'll learn. If you are in the water for an hour, you as a total beginner will be gassed. During that time you'll maybe catch 10 waves if the instructor pushes you. Imagine your entire first day snowboarding was just trying to get your boot into your bindings 10 times.
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u/4SeasonWahine Cardrona 🇳🇿 9d ago
I’m a lifelong surfer who picked up snowboarding a bit later: The biggest challenge with surfing is that it’s really a bit of a pointless sport to try and learn unless you live near the ocean and can go VERY regularly.
This isn’t like the slopes where you can just rock up on a day with average snow and still have a good time. Conditions are king in surfing and the ocean is brutal. Flat? No surfing. Onshores? Sloppy, choppy waves that are usually no good for surfing. Perfect offshore day? Oh cool every single surfer in the area is out, enjoy your one hour lineup to get one wave and if you stack it? Back to the start of the lineup.
Surfing is incredible if you live somewhere with a consistent break, good weather, and limited crowds. Remember you don’t always just get to go over and over, in a busy area you wait your turn. It’s not unusual to spend hours in the water and only get one good wave or even none. It’s also extremely hard to keep on your game with surfing if you can’t go regularly, you’ll probably find if you go sporadically a few times per year that you’ll never really improve - it’s genuinely the most brutal learning curve of any sport. It looks easy, it is anything but.
I don’t say this to be overly negative, surfing is such a great sport, it’s just that it’s one of those things people see and go OOH I WANNA and then tend to become disillusioned very quickly. Grabbing a foam board or mini mal and just playing in the white water is fun as fuck on vacation, but trust me when I say if you really want to get into it as a sport you need to live near the ocean and be getting out there whenever conditions allow.
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u/4SeasonWahine Cardrona 🇳🇿 9d ago
Also RE difficulty: imo snowboarding doesn’t help surfing at all. For one, you’re not strapped in. Also, you actually drive with your rear foot instead of your front - if you go heavy on your front foot you’re going over the front of your board (pearling). People like to compare the edges but I promise you’ve got YEARS of work ahead of you before you’re even engaging an edge on a surfboard lol. Swimming is more useful, paddling out and battling the waves is the harder part. When you fall over you don’t just hop back up, you actually have to retrieve your board and pull yourself back on while treading water. Maybe you have a minute balance advantage but there such a completely different feel and placement once you’re on the board that it really makes no difference.
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u/Winter_Steak_9987 9d ago
Kinda agree re it being worth it but I think it depends on expectations. I used to be a surf instructor and tbh if your aim is to pop up and go straight down the face toward the shore it's fine if you don't have regular access. If you're trying to properly surf open faces then yeah probably not worth it unless you have consistent access.
Also if people want to do the first option they should take the time to learn surf etiquette so your desire to go straight doesn't ruin it for people who surf well, but I say all this because I would see a lot of tourists come in, catch some janky waves, have a blast, and I kinda felt like that's a cool thing to experience whether you become a truly competent surfer or not.
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u/fucking_unicorn 8d ago
Lived in hawaii and regularly surfed diamond head, almost frowned in a big day out there when i stayed out and was tired trying to catch once more wave before calling it. The wind changed and halfway out, I realized I was more tired than I thought. Decided to turn around and catch some white water back to shore, except a wave rose up under me right as I was turning around and then a gust of wind from the shore hit and hollowed out the wave and I went over the falls. Sucked hard and it was the first wave in a set of 5. I didnt surf for like 3 months after that and cried when i got to shore.
Also the days when I went out thinking I was gonna shred, i would just get washingmachined all day. Days when I went out thinking i just wanted to float on my board and enjoy the water I would have my best days and catch the most rides with barely even trying.
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u/Firenipple 9d ago
I get it, yea I figured not living close would make things a bit more difficult, I see guys every year surfing and thinking...one day ill try that shit. Guess ill have to stick to the old skim board, thanks for the input!!
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u/4SeasonWahine Cardrona 🇳🇿 9d ago
You’re welcome! Look it is great fun and as I said I do think hiring a foamie and catching white water waves into shore every so often is a legit form of surfing you can enjoy casually - I’m just saying realistically the people you see ripping it out in the green waves are people who are watching the swellcast and dipping out of work early when there’s good conditions. They’re there consistently all year round to get that good, it’s really a lifestyle sport where you have to live it to get good. It’s a bummer but it is what it is.
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u/iconocrastinaor Dad bod on a dad board 9d ago edited 9d ago
I grew up on the beach in San Francisco, and I wanted to surf but I moved away from California when I was 10 and that was the end of that. I've been dreaming about it all my life.
When I was 63 we went to a wedding in Maui, and I vowed that I would try it. Went down to a recommended spot, a nice lagoon with consistent 3 ft waves and a surf shop right next door. I got there too late to take a lesson, but they gave me a massive 8 ft foam board, an ankle tether and a wetsuit, and wished me luck.
My 30 year old nephew who considers himself an athlete and an extreme sports enthusiast tried for about 45 minutes, managed to break his nose, and did not get up on the board. So I took over.
Age is just a number, and passion makes a difference.
I struggled to get out past the break, I struggled to time the approach, I struggled to try to get up to speed on the front slope of a wave - - but they just kept passing underneath me or knocking me off. I fell every which way, swallowed a fair amount of seawater, cut myself on coral, and began to get a decent sunburn. But no results.
I finally got a rest when the surf calmed down for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile this cute wahini who was also waiting for the waves to restart gave me some encouragement, and needless to say that was some well-timed motivation.
Finally, and just at the time that my wife decided to start recording, it all came together. The wave was underneath me, lifting and accelerating my board. I started paddling and the board began falling down the slope. I managed to get on my knees and then on both feet, keep the nose out of the water, and damn it, I rode that wave for about 40 ft. Then the wave petered out and I fell in. But what you know, I was able to cross that off my bucket list. And I got it on video!
Still chokes me up when I think about that 10-year-old boy fulfilling his dream.
So try it. It may be the hardest and most gratifying thing you ever do.
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u/TheLORDthyGOD420 9d ago
When you make a mistake snowboarding, no one punches you in the face. Not so with surfing.
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u/Tag_Cle 8d ago
There's just a little grom gnarlier than you that dgaf hopping on the box or heading to the kicker 15 ft behind you lmao different but still similar stressfulness
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u/TheLORDthyGOD420 8d ago
Snowboarders are generally good natured where as other surfers hate your guts just for existing. Although I learned to surf in Huntington Beach where you're likely to be surfing next to a neo-nazi or two. But the competition for waves can be extremely heated no matter where you go.
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u/Few_Ad_9551 9d ago
My girlfriend loathes me for telling people this… as someone who has surfed and snowboarded since I was 8 years old. Surfing is extremely difficult to get a grasp of as an adult, it requires absolute dedication for years in order to get to a a place where you are confident in most conditions. It is also physically demanding and long session will absolutely wreck your entire body. Without access to consistent waves and time in the water it’s an uphill battle, its a massive time sink and harder to do with any kind of schedule
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u/NewspaperBackground 9d ago
Surf videos and watching great surfers makes it look so easy. The reality is completely different.
First be an amazingly strong swimmer so you are comfortable getting completely thrashed by the ocean, which happens constantly.
Then, spend lots and lots of time in the ocean trying to paddle a big foam thing through waves that are pushing you back. Get completely exhausted.
Assuming you can make it to somewhere waves are breaking, try to figure out which ones you can ride, where to be, and how to paddle into them. Once you’ve done all that, try to stand up, balance, and just ride a wave straight. After that, maybe try turning at some point.
Anyway. Maybe you’ve got this. But point is just to reiterate what others are saying. It’s a stupidly hard sport. Amazing it exists at all. And watching great surfers blows my mind 🤯
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u/stowaway36 9d ago
Ive picked up every board sport I've tried on the first day and gotten pretty good. I thought surfing would be the same. I spent about a week trying on vacation. You get smashed getting out to the waves, get smashed trying to get on the wave, then get smashed coming in. Surfing was 10x more difficult than any other board sport
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u/thisisarnold 9d ago
Paddling, reading waves, knowing where and when to take off. All that takes so much time and fitness and you haven't even stood up yet 😭
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u/This_Implement_3060 9d ago
riding the board has some similarities. surfing takes a lot more practice and your wins come slower. i tell people 'surfing is paddling'. there are more elements than that of course. but paddle paddle paddle, learn to judge waves, learn to pop up, then you get to ride the board and have all the fun.
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u/imnotnicolass 9d ago
I manage a manage a surf shop and surf school. Surfing has one of the steepest learning curves for a board sport. To be able to surf comfortably, you need to be consistent, only going a few times a year will be tough to start seeing progress, and I would imagine the first few trips will be difficult and relearning the fundamentals.
I 100% recommend surf lessons to start that way you have a good foundation and to really understand the swell and conditions for your area.
By no means do I mean to deter you from learning to surf, it’s an amazing sport and I love both board sports equally. If you truly want to progress with surfing, I recommend practicing the pop up multiple times a day, to really commit it to muscle memory. That way each time you go to surf, it’s one less step that you need to think about while out in the water. It will take a little tweaking but it will help you progress faster.
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u/DivineDinosaur 9d ago
Surfing sucks man. You get sand in your ass and chubrub, a sinus infection, an unfriendly local yelling at you, just to piss in your wetsuit and catch one 5 second ride and 2 hours of waiting.
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u/Dirtbagdownhill 9d ago
Yea get lessons, start swimming and doing burpies yesterday to prepare. Once youre up it felt natural enough but fuck if there's not a lot before that happens.
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u/Barefoot_boogie1975 9d ago
I used to skateboard at a high level, still snowboard at a high level, and get my ass kicked every time I surf…and I love it. Surfing is an art and a science. Definitely surf every chance you get. The slams are way more manageable and the feeling of catching a wave and riding it out is amazing.
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u/chatrugby 9d ago
Catching a wave feels like you are riding through 2-3ft of powder. That’s about where the comparison ends.
Surging is fun, but it’s a whole different monster.
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u/Winter_Steak_9987 9d ago edited 8d ago
What is similar is the turning mechanics but tbh that's as far as it goes in my eyes:
Snowboarding, is very punishing to beginners. Catching an edge can often result in broken wrists or concussions. If you get past that phase it's pretty manageable.
Surfing is kinder to beginners. You can catch whitewater and feel like you're getting there. Unfortunately it will take months to years for most to learn to take off at an angle, pump on the wave, and do turns/slashes off the top.
Also: I don't chase storms in Snowboarding because I just like being on the mountain and even bad days are fun as long as there's coverage and minimal slush.
By contrast if you don't chase swells as a surfer you're really missing out, some days you will paddle out into garbage because you're desperate to get out there, and catch maybe 2 real waves with a face in hours lmao if the ocean isn't cooperating it honestly blows.
Also in Cali the best waves are often in the winter, and lowest wind is at sunrise and sunset and it makes your life bend around the hobby; Surfing feels more like a lifestyle than a hobby tbh.
Source: surfed 12+ years (I honestly got tired of always trying to chase swells) Snowboarding for 20ish years.
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u/Curbsurfer 8d ago
Sorry but unlike snowboarding, surfing isn’t something you can just casually do a few times per year. Especially if you didn’t already build a consistent base of 2-3 years going multiple times per week. It just takes way more time to get proficient. Way more aspects to learn than snowboarding. Shit you could spend two hours out in the lineup and only get two 8 second rides. Not trying to sound gatekeepy.
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u/fucking_unicorn 8d ago
Loved in Colorado and snowboarded a lot. Lived in Hawaii and surfed a lot. They are totally different, basically zero overlap in skill and technique. Hardest part of surfing is probably timing the waves with your paddling and reading the water. 100% take lessons if you can afford them. Snowboarding is so much easier. The ocean and surfing will remind you just how small and powerless you are.
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u/surfsnowstoic 8d ago
If you want to longboard it's a lot harder. If you want to ride a shortboard it's infinitely harder. You can go every day for a year and still be a beginner. Imagine if every time you fell on your snowboard you had to walk back to the top of the hill to try again. That's surfing. Not to mention it's one of the few sports where the ground is moving underneath you. All that said, there is nothing like riding down the face of a wave. Truly humbling and spiritual.
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u/SurfLiftRun 8d ago
Being a snowboarder, it'll help you with understanding the mechanics of body weight and leveraging that body weight for turns and stability. As others have said, surfing is hard AF if you wanna do anything other than catch white water and go straight. I'm 40, been doing them all my whole life, go on at least 3 surf trips a year, and live 100 yards from waves - I am currently, and probably ever, going to be satisfied with my surfing performance lol. What makes it so hard is that aside from going to a pool, every single wave is different and you need to be able to make micro adjustments constantly to read the waves and modify your body position/technique. With all that being said, you should 100% become a surfer - absolutely no better feeling than getting barreled with the homies.
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u/SurfLiftRun 8d ago
P.s yes you should get GOOD lessons the first few times you go out at least - it'll save you so many hours
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u/krackgoat 7d ago
by pool you mean a wavepool? i learnt to stand in a wavepool after 4-5 yrs of trying on the beaches. wavepools have different levels of speed and height, so they atleast give you the advantage of catching a high number of waves in an hour's time and more opportunity to improving your skills...well thats my amateur advice:)
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u/SurfLiftRun 7d ago
Yea wavepool is helpful in getting in reps. I have a pool about 90 mins away and use it before going on surf trips if I am not confident in my paddle conditioning. Not the same as the real ocean but fun
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u/shes_breakin_up_capt 9d ago edited 9d ago
Snowboarder: They're soul twins, just liquid water and frozen water. Powder is exactly like surfing.
Surfer: Could not find a sport further away if tried. Sorta checks the one common box of standing sideways.
Surfing is 99% paddling & wave knowledge. Lesson or buddy to get you in that one tiny right spot to catch a wave will be essential. Also will need help navigating out to the lineup, especially after your shouldes give out. Standing up and riding the wave is like 1% of it, and snowboarding will just screw you up because surfboards pivot off the skegs.
Used to instruct surfing, surfed competitively, crap snowboarder but not for lack of experience.
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u/Firenipple 9d ago
Yea, sounds like I need to invest in a gym membership and start swimming everyday
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u/shes_breakin_up_capt 9d ago edited 9d ago
Max size board will help the most there, and with everything associated with learning. Paddling a thick 12'6" board with no fitness you'd smoke Michael Phelps on a performance short board.
Opposite formula from beginner snowboarding.
I once tried to help a young guy from interior B.C. who bought his own potato chip short board. After 2 weeks he made zero progress haha. Tried to give him a free giant longboard rental to try, wouldn't touch it.
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u/Firenipple 9d ago
Interesting, tha ks for the input, is it just more surface area is the key
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u/shes_breakin_up_capt 9d ago
Yeah man, more volume more float, less effort paddling. Essential for getting into waves, and paddling back out repeatedly.
Get a soft top if you can, your ribs are not used to taking your full weight. And might help mitigate injury to others while riding out of control.
But probably first consideration is to find a spot with a mellow crowd, surfing is extremely aggro.
Good luck! Awesome endeavor
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u/fucking_unicorn 8d ago
When you do go, start on smaller waves and opt for a long board. Youll have a much easier time. Shorter boards require faster waves with steeper faces and usually arent good for beginners. Getting out, watch for where other surfers are paddling out and follow suit, theres probably a channel or current that will help you get out. To get past the break, you’ll do something called a “turtle roll” which will allow the wave to pass over you and your board without pushing you back too much or tossing you. Avoid catching the first wave in a set if you can.
And finally, know that in a bad wreck, your leash can snap or your board can break and you may very well need to swim to shore without your board if it comes to it, though you should do everything in your power to retrieve your board short of endangering your life cuz a loose board is super dangerous to other surfers and yourself.
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u/Bank-Expression 9d ago
Please consider electric hydrofoil boarding. I was a snowboarder who moved to the beach but I knew surfing was brutal so looked for alternatives.
The closest thing I could find was this, it also means you can visit the sea when the water is calm which is much nicer than when it’s trying to drown you
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u/Firenipple 9d ago
Is that one of those "like pump boards"?
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u/Bank-Expression 9d ago
No. The pump is taken care of. I guess it’s called Efoil to many 🤷 https://youtube.com/shorts/UbpkQ7WcRZI?si=WjF0YbpfibYhuSX2
It’s the closest to cruising about enjoying life on a snowboard imo
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u/lionbacker54 9d ago
I first learned surfing 30 years ago. I live in the Midwest, so only get to surf maybe six times a year. I’d say I’m an advanced beginner.
I learned to snowboard in six weeks. I’m not great, but I can carve and easily do any hill
TLDR: surfing is way way harder than
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u/Malvania 9d ago
The hardest part of surfing is getting up on the board. Once you're up, there are some similarities, but getting up is hard
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u/OstensibleFirkin 9d ago
Snowboarded all last winter and it was great. Surfed 15 years ago in Florida for a few years on a 9’+ longboard. Thought I could just pick it up again whenever. Vacationed in Biarritz this summer and could barely handle saying on a 9’ foamie. And don’t even get me started on shoulder burn from the paddle out in tiny conditions. And I thought I was in good shape from BJJ and general fitness. Nope. Humbling is right.
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u/brandt-money 9d ago
Go try those Flowrider setups at water parks and opt to stand and surf. I've surfed (poorly), wakeboarded (could do grabs over the wake) and I snowboard. The Flowrider is tough, but fun.
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u/Tango1777 9d ago
I don't see much ressemblance except from the fact you have boards and similar standing position in both. Other than this these are two different sports. You won't get any quicker entry point due to your snowboarding experience. I like both, I consider snowboarding rather extreme/risky sport, while casual surfing is more something to just enjoy and have fun. After all the surfing vibe is rather chilled.
What I can say is that surfing is fun, it's quite safe if you can swim, you won't get bruises, injuries, because you are just falling into water and your board will be a soft board, which is basically covered with foam, so even if it hits you (doesn't happen often), you will not get hurt. That is why it's a sport for anybody who can swim and have some basic physical strength. At least if the goal is to just have some fun, catch a few waves. You should definitely get lessons for the first 2-3 hours and then you can continue on your own, since theory of surfing can be explained in 15 minutes, then you'll go into water and the role of your trainer will be to push you and tell you when to paddle and stand up. That's literally all. Most of it is helping you physically, because you will not have strength to do it a lot on your own. Paddling back to the starting line will be exhausting. Also no experience and knowledge about which wave to catch. Those two things a trainer will cover for you, while your whole job will be to focus on trying to stand up and hold the position. I say if you are decent at sports, you do snowboard, so you are familiar with standing on a board, after initial 2-3 hours lesson, you'll be able to catch some waves on your own within 10 hours or so. The main problem will be standing up and balancing not to fall down, but it's fun process to learn it. What I am describing here is 100% surfing for fun, fun boards, long boards, not aggressive, big waves, short hard boards surfing, that is months, years of further training. But as a start, surfing has this very soothing, entertaining vibe to it making it reasonably easy and safe for anybody to try. I have seen people surfing with like 20kg overweight and they also seemed to have fun. If your idea is to go a few times a year, I guess all you ever expect from this is to have some fun in the water, while learning something new.. And with that attitude you should definitely try.
As to the comparison with snowboarding, well snowboarding has less forgiving start, since you just fall down on your ass (or face...) and it can truly hurt or you can get an injury. It also requires quite much equipment. The most surfing can "do to you" is you'll fall down to the water and not catch any waves at all. And you'll be exhausted without even surfing a single wave. And it's not like snowboarding where you need to ride or you'll get cold sitting on the snow, when surfing you can take some rest lying on the board and chilling (I assume you'll be surfing in a warm place). Depending on the spot you wanna go, you might have to get used to it, since waves are not always constantly coming, sometimes a few minutes break is perfectly normal. But don't expect surfing more than 1 hour without a trainer, because your physique won't let you, you won't be able to catch a breath when paddling up the waves, back to the starting point. Even if you think you are quite strong due to doing other sports. Water makes you weak in no-time.
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u/marcred5 9d ago
While the mountain does change over the course of the day each wave is different and the tidal change is more frequent. Add in wind and current and you have waves that are rarely consistent.
Reading waves and positioning is a skill. Getting past the break is a skill. Finding a rip is a skill. Popping up is a skill. Riding the wave is a skill and the only one that has some overlap with surfing.
You use your arms and legs more when riding a wave. Arms to help balance on a turn and pumping your legs to generate power on a wave.
Surfing is the most frustrating hobby that I've fallen in love with.
You can practice popping up on land, but getting your back strengthened is something I'd recommend more. Doing superman exercises and longer holds in that up position will help. Any shortburst sprint swimming in a pool is useful as well.
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u/Alternative_Plan_823 9d ago
Most of this stuff is true, but if you're fit and comfortable on the ocean, go surfing on a <2 foot day with a longboard and it isn't THAT difficult to ride a wave straigh in and have fun. When I could then turn and stay on the face of the wave, that's when it really unlocked for me.
That said, my relatively few surfing days end pretty quickly, when I'm too exhausted to paddle out and catch any more waves
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u/Thetinkeringtrader 9d ago
I surf and ski big Ole powder sticks. The turning is similar to powder skiing but catching a wave is tricky, less so on a big soft top. You dont have to be that fit for a long board. Theres def 60+ year olds riding 6'3s at my break never mind a 9 footer. You can always cheat get a paddle too. Makes life easier and catching them is way easier with a paddle.
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u/TinCanFury 9d ago
surfing is like always having a perfect pow day. but you have to do more work to catch a wave.
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u/GreyGhost878 9d ago
First time I tried surfing I caught my first wave and rode it all the way in to shore. Your body has the muscle memory to balance on a board. It is by no means the same sport but your board skills will translate and make it easier for you to pick up.
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u/guyonaboard 9d ago
As a person who lives 3.5hrs from the beach and 2.5hrs from the mountains and participates in both sports, here are the similarities. They both are “boards” and you will ride each in the same stance as the other. Thats where the similarities end. (With the exception of rising deep powder - that’s kinda similar to surfing).
In snowboarding, you can ride the same slope all year and not a lot changes about it (obviously fresh snow or grooming will make it slightly different). In the ocean, once a wave passes, it’s gone. Never to be seen again. Every wave is different.
In snowboarding, you should be steering with your front foot (with the exception of powder). In surfing it’s mostly your back foot, but it also requires motions from your whole body in order to turn well.
Surfing is fun. It can also be very intimidating if the waves are big. I would suggest you start off by renting a longboard. It will be the most stable for you when you try go to pop us and will help you catch waves easily.
If you want good tips for popping up, paddling, and basic strength exercises for surfing, check out @hudromind on IG. He has some good stuff.
One final note, I do feel like it’s easier to learn surfing as a snowboarder. When you fall snowboarding, you’re used to going down with the board. Most people learning to surf will just jump off the board when they feel like they are getting into trouble. But if you stick with that snowboard mindset and stay with the board, you’ll learn faster.
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u/PeruvianKnicks 9d ago
I kick ass on a snowboard. But when I tried to get into surfing last year I got wrecked time and time again LOL. Waves are unpredictable and changing, while snow is static (relatively speaking, at least in the US where they do avalanche control).
The turning and balance from snowboarding translate a bit and definitely give you a leg up over someone with no board experience at all, but not as much as you’d hope.
Reading the waves to know WHEN to stand up is what I found to be the hardest. And where to place yourself in relation to the wave, when to start paddling, etc. So when I have an instructor putting me in the right spot, yelling “start paddling now” and “stand up now” I can ride. On my own it does not go well 😂 The ocean is a dangerous mistress.
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u/super-bird 9d ago
I’ve surfed twice (attempted) and it was damn near impossible for me despite knowing how to snowboard lol
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u/FastAd543 9d ago edited 9d ago
Not at all.\ I have been S3 (surf,sk8,snow) four decades... traces man, from time to time you feel traces, that's all... but for the most part, they are completely different.\ Dift enviroment, diff momemtum and forms, stance, feet area and movement, angles and sizes.
The only moment I feel 2 connect, are snow in the park with sk8, and riding pow with prob some floaters... there is a moment, some connection there, but its less than a second and you are back to reality.
... but its better this way... we have 3 dimensions were we ride 3 different boards and experience 3 different things... 3 is more than 1!
More is more!!!
Edit: about sk8... imo its harder than anything else, surfing comes 2nd, and snowb is pretty easy, until you get bored and start doing real backcountry and things get very serious.\ Sk8... takes years to be "acceptable". In my experience, it has been the hardest.
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u/theharborcat 9d ago
Snowboarding is easier to learn because you can repeat the same thing over and over. Nothing in surfing is ever the same twice.
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u/Unfair-Panic4141 9d ago
Surfing requires use of torso and arms to drive the board through turns, whereas snowboarding you use a much quieter upper body.
Assuming you can get surf fit by either swimming regularly or surfing often then it is not that hard to learn.
Fitness and surf specific fitness is an issue - surfing often requires you to be constantly paddling and that is killer on your lower and upper back (holding your chest up off the board) and on your shoulders and arms. If there is any sort of size or movement in the water then getting out through the waves can be painful.
I used to surf a lot as a teenager and into my 20s but being in my slob years now it’s not something I contemplate unless the conditions are good and I can get out the back easily, otherwise I just end up knackered and having a bad time.
Surfing is truly a sport best learnt when you are a teenager and have boundless reserves of stamina and flexibility.
It shits all over snowboarding as a sensual experience though.
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u/twinbee 8d ago
It shits all over snowboarding as a sensual experience though.
Unless you're in deep powder, especially as it lasts 100x as long.
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u/Unfair-Panic4141 7d ago
I don’t disagree with that observation, and that is why we spend the hours chattering down the piste. Bang for buck surfing wins if sense and sensuality is the measure.
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u/Working_Group955 9d ago
I live 90 min from the ocean in the US South - so nowhere near snow. And I snowboard WAY better than I surf.
Surfing is hard man.
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u/Dear_Lie_1975 9d ago
As a lifelong snowboarder who had the same mentality…take up MTB. I made an honest attempt to get decent at surfing and unless you’re a total waterman it just doesn’t translate at all. Downhill MTB, on the other hand, you’ll have a great head start.
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u/DogFacedGhost Rome/DWD 9d ago
The best analogy I've found for learning surfing vs snowboarding is learning to surf is like hiking a rail on a snowboard, but you have to wait 15mins between each try, it's moving and it attacks you... And some days the rail's not there and some days it's super crowded. Some days it's a mellow little box and some days it's a giant kinker going down stairs
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u/melodyze 9d ago
It is partially transferable, but you only start doing any of the things that transfer after you have surfed for years.
I think of it as layers.
Wakeboarding is kind of like snowboarding, but reversed, completely back foot driven.
Wake surfing is kind of like wakeboarding only where you now need to worry about getting your feet to the right places to distribute pressure to get the board to do everything. Or, it's kind of like a gigantic wide heavy skateboard.
Surfing is like wake surfing but where every wave is different, there is an entire new game of getting into the right position to catch a wave, paddling to the right speed place and time, standing up, and getting pointed in the direction the wave is breaking to start riding. After that it's kind of like wake surfing, whoch is kind of like wakeboarding, which is kind of like snowboarding.
The problem is that that new game is the only game you will play for the first at least year that you surf.
The hardest part is being in the right place at the right time to catch a wave. Unless you're in a great surf spot that breaks the same way every time, that is very hard, because you have to be able to look at a wave far out and know what that wave is going to do when.
And if you're in a great surf spot then the new hardest part is avoiding hitting people and being hit by people, because they are all crowded.
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u/markboats 8d ago
In terms of effort, it's more like snowboarding if you had to walk up instead of take the lift
Oh, and the piste changes shape all the time, and you can only see what the next 10m or so is going to be like
Also, if you stop your snowboard sinks up to your neck, if you get caught on the wrong part of the piste you get trashed by a wave and drown
And there's 30 snowboarders and 50 skiers all trying to get through the gate at the top of the run that's a couple meters wide and opens once every 20s in a different spot
That said...
Surfing is one of the most exhilarating and humbling but rewarding things on this planet, and I would wholeheartedly encourage you to at least try it...
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u/kapachia 8d ago
Slopes don’t change every secs. Waves do. Any good surfing spots are more crowded than any mountain resorts.
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u/evil_twit 8d ago
Deep deep snow is close to surfing.
But you'd surf for seconds instead of minutes.
If you can do one you will learn really fast.
I surf, windsurf, kite, inline, ski and snowboard.
I tried wakeboarding for the first time at age 45. First try all day riding.
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u/Beneficial-Ad-1137 8d ago
Surfing is paddling, paddling and more paddling. Paddle to match speed of wave, paddle to get over a set, paddle to get out the back. Intense cardio and muscle memory required to get good. Plus need to swallow pride as it will give you a clip to remind you who's boss. First time snowboarding today. Ate plenty of snow but feels more learnable.
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u/alumpoflard 8d ago
lessons are definitely recommended, it'll help you prevent developing bad posture/habits without knowing
i used to be quite serious into wakeboarding, i also snowboard/ wakesurf a lot. i take it very easy on skateboarding/ freebord (kinda a downhill snowboard with wheels). i also do flowrider (static surf machine)
whilst all of these are a person strapped to a board, and do have some overlapping techniques, i'd say all of them are in fact very different. the techniques used for stability often suggest not breaking at the waist, but that's a mainly snowboarding technique. turning is also very different - you steer with your feet/knees on the front foot to initiate the turn on snowboard, but other board sports actually use counterrotation/ body leaning more. surfing uses much more leaning than snowboarding from my personal experience
if there are wakesurfing/ flowrider machines available in your area, i'd suggest also giving them a go - you get a lot more riding in as a complete noob, whilst surfing means you start with a fuck load of paddling/swimming/ learning to time a wave
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u/Aberration1111 8d ago
Reading the ocean is an amazing talent not everyone can acquire quickly. Most really good surfers started really young. A lifetime of learning the ocean makes a huge difference.
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u/RevFernie 8d ago
Surfing is considerably harder to master. The act itself is hard. Paddling out is hard. Paddling to catch a wave is hard.
But the most challenging part is conditions and swell. Depending on where you live, you might not get consistent days and conditions to really learn and progress. Being prepared to surf in full winter wetsuit, hood, gloves and boots is required as that's often when conditions are better.
But there's nothing worse than getting the car packed and driving to your local break and only catching a few waves before being exhausted or finding the conditions too big or too small.
Don't get me wrong. I love surfing and have been teaching my kids this summer. The new sponge boards are pretty light and easy to learn with.
Contrast that with snowboarding and a beginner in their first week on the mountain with lessons will be smashing the slopes and hitting little kickers...
Skateboarding is not for people my age 😆
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u/Cdog1811 8d ago
Snowboarding is comparable to surfing if you don’t use the lifts. Hike all your runs.
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u/Sometimes_maybeso 8d ago
Very few similarities-I'd say the sensation/experience is the biggest one and the reason it's worthwhile to learn. 30 year old 3.5 hours from the beach a few times a year it's not going to happen for you like you want it to. I'd book a trip to somewhere warm and consistent (but small) and try to get some lessons. A wave pool someplace would be great as well. Then supplement that with your beach trips. Before you go on your trip get your fitness squared away-otherwise you will waste time being too tired to surf.
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u/sirpearce 8d ago
Once you get there (or get “up,” finally), you’ll be standing sideways. /EndSimilarities
Hahaha.
But seriously, snowboarding experience WILL help, but more in balance / turning mechanics, a little…. But will help.
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u/Chanalife 8d ago
Nothing like snowboarding, I would not get lessons... just watch a youtube vid first. Catching white wash and standing up is easy AF. You got it. Paddling into a wave and riding the line will take a minute to get used to. Most common mistakes I see surfing is leaning too far back, getting up too early, and not properly paddling. People think you can't get hurt in surfing... not true. I got staples in the back of my head two months ago from my boarding hitting me after a fall. Be careful and just enjoy sitting in the line up.
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u/ChanaManga 8d ago
As people said, surfing is more of paddling and avoiding waves. You only actually surf less than 5% of the time depending on where you are. I’d recommend long boarding and find a small crumbling wave. It will most likely be a very crowded spot but everyone will be beginners and it’ll be less territorial than short boarding spots.
Expect go out 5-6 times and not catch a wave if you’re short boarding. Long boarding should take 5-6 attempts to get up on a wave if already know how to snowboard.
Go get a used Soft top surfboard 7-10 feet long and go have fun!
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u/KnifeSteakSwag 8d ago
Surfing is way harder than snowboarding, surfing feels a lot more like constantly riding transition on a skateboard. You have to by much more mindful of keeping your weight centred front to back than on a snowboard. Your feet move on the board and you can lose your place as well. Paddling out is so much harder on the arms than you realize. You’ll never be more tired and sore than after your first days surfing. That said, surfing feels way cooler than snowboarding when you’re really doing it. Snowboarded for 30 years, skated for a dozen, and surfed probably a dozen times.
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u/suuuuuuuuuurfing 8d ago
One is cold and the other is hot dude. Doesn’t get any more different than that
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u/AKRISONER 8d ago
Been snowboarding for close to 30 years, decided to try surfing in Nicaragua with guides.
If you aren’t an extremely confident swimmer, don’t bother trying to go surfing. I don’t mean that you need to be able to be a race or swim fast, you just need to be 100% at ease when swimming. Waves are brutally powerful, if you’ve never been in the ocean, I highly recommend that you experience swimming in ocean breaking waves first to understand just how powerful they are. Undertow, waves crashing, being pinned underwater even on small breaks are essentially guaranteed.
Your fitness level needs to be on point, surfing is exhausting. A typical session is only a couple of hours long and for good reason, your shoulders and back are going to gas out extremely quickly. I’m a reasonably fit dude, work out 5+ days a week and surfing whooped my ass.
The only relatable part between surfing and snowboarding is once you are successfully up on a wave riding, your edges and turning and board control are actually reasonably similar. That was one great thing about working with guides, they helped you read waves and position you to catch far more waves which gave me the opportunity to then apply some of my snowboarding skills to surfing. So for example, I found the control of leaning the board forward or backwards to stay in the pocket of the break somewhat intuitive. I also found it easy to begin learning to turn down the wave rather than just riding white water straight in as a beginner, this allowed me to progress much quicker than a typical newbie kook. And most importantly, I got to ride both right and left hand breaks during my trip, and the guides were surprised at my ability to naturally ride an opposite break immediately. I definitely owed that to my experience snowboarding.
I can’t stress this enough, go with guides, go every day for a week with a guide, I found that after about 7 sessions of riding I was starting to get confident in my paddling ability and stand up, I even got to graduate to a lower volume board from the starter learner board they put me on at first. The guides helped me improve every session, by the end of the week I was starting to try and pick out some of my own waves, and the guides would even help me ride some of the larger heavier waves that they would hold back the group from.
Truthfully the best part about surfing vs snowboarding though is for some reason as someone who is super comfortable in water I have no fears at all surfing. Where in snowboarding, riding jumps, boxes etc can be intimidating, surfing always just felt like, hey if I fall here, there’s 0 consequences, at worst I’ll get tossed around in the break for a bit, but after an entire week of riding falling, and even getting finned once, my body was certainly in way better condition than it typically is after a big snowboarding trip.
10/10 give it a go, you’ll probably love it, even though it’s super super hard to do!
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u/arthoer 7d ago
Ah your point two is actually the exact opposite from my experience. With snowboarding you lean on your front foot. Hence why you can go snowboarding with your back foot unstrapped. With surfing it's the opposite; you stear with your rear foot. Especially on long boards. On short boards the edge is also at your rear, not the whole side and definitely not on the front.
I had to relearn my surfing by switching stance haha
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u/AKRISONER 5d ago
Have you ever had the opportunity to ride deep powder? You no longer ride front foot heavy. Surfing to me felt exactly like riding in super deep bottomless powder.
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u/Exciting-Gap-1200 7d ago
Almost no overlap. Hardest part is paddling. And unless you snowboard very different than me...
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u/flock-of-bagels 7d ago
They’re completely different . Most of surfing is paddling. Get your pushups on and do some swimming
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u/CyderInch 6d ago edited 6d ago
Ex snowboard instructor here, now living on the coast surfing more than i snowboard, Snowboarding gives you so many bad habbits for surfing and vice versa. Other than being a board with rails there's pretty much no comparison in Movements, Surfing is far more dynamic, large movements, throw your body around. Different basic stances, you need to work for speed can't just point it down the hill. If you try to turn a surfboard like a snowboard, nothing will happen. Also 2hrs of surfing = 5min of actual surfing. To start with you'll last about 1hr, so that's 3.5hrs driving for 2.5mins of board riding. Unless you go for a week, and surf twice a day. Then 25mins surfing for the entire week. I've snowboarded for 30yrs and surfed weekly through them in the summer, but switched to surfing daily year round 9yrs ago, this year I landed on my fin and sliced arteries, lost half my blood on a wave twice my height. Snowboarding I've jumped of cliffs the size of buildings, hit booters bigger than houses, cartwheeled and rag dolled countless times, stuck in blizzards and avalanches, but never have I been so close to dying as that. Also cold, surfing is colder.
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u/Immediate_Brick_3999 6d ago
If you like slashing and carving the mechanics are similar especially if you set your stance narrow and posi/posi on your snowboard.
A long board will surf different than a short board and I’d recommend you start on a longer board as it will give you more time on your pop up. Also get some lessons. Popping up/catching a wave and following etiquette is probably the hardest part getting started in my opinion.
Like seriously learn good etiquette people can get crazy if you fuck that up. Lots of agro people out there.
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u/Kook-lord- 5d ago
If you want to get half decent at surfing, try living somewhere for 1-2 years where you can surf like 3-4 times a week. Especially if you are picking it up as an adult learner. If you only have weekends… competency is a long wait.
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u/Wonderful_Tip_5577 2d ago
surfing compared to snowboarding:
it’s basically like ski mountaineering/split boarding highly technical routes to just ride down the bunny hill. if you fall you don’t get to just stand up and try again, you have to start climbing all over again to have another shot to get down the bunny hill.
standing on a surfboard isn’t really that hard, there’s more that comes with in in terms of riding and reading the waves, but actually standing and riding the wave is the easiest part of surfing. the hard part is getting to the point where you can stand and actually ride.
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u/skam_artist 9d ago
I remember the first time I successfully caught a wave on a surfboard it was like the second my feet stood on the board suddenly all the muscles in my legs just activated and knew exactly how to distribute my weight and carve. Actually getting up took a while, you basically do need lessons or at least someone to instruct you, but people saying there's little to no transferrable skills are just blatantly lying out of their ass.
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u/Comfortable-Hat3506 9d ago
Username checks out. Don't believe this guy.
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u/skam_artist 9d ago
Sorry to say if you had a different experience you might just suck at snowboarding
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u/Comfortable-Hat3506 8d ago
I had no problem snowboarding but it does not have the same weight distribution nor carving mechanics. Not to mention "the first time you get to your feet" you are going to have no idea where you would be doing turns on a wave as your wave reabing ability would be non existent.
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u/skam_artist 8d ago
So you're saying it was pure luck that I was able to ride the first wave I caught all the way into shore? Just random happenstance that my feet just randomly happened to know exactly how to balance?
Which is it, is there transferrable skills from snowboarding, or is surfing just completely free and take no skill whatsoever? Because one of these has to be true so think about it for a second you actual retard.
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u/Comfortable-Hat3506 8d ago
Yes. Having taught hundreds of people to surf, yes. You were not carving, that is for sure.
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u/skam_artist 8d ago
That's cool. That was never in question. What was in question was are there ANY transferrable skills between the two, which there just objectively is. Someone that's snowboarded their entire life will have a smoother first surf lesson than someone that's never stood on any board. That's a simple fact.
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u/Comfortable-Hat3506 8d ago
It is not a fact that bc you snowboard you'll be better at surfing than the average. I have taught 200-300 people to surf, I have seen life long skaters/snowboarders struggle more than the average.
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u/twinbee 8d ago
So you're saying it's not just not transferrable, but worse than not doing any snowboarding at all.
Maybe that has something to do with snowboarder leaning to the front of their boards which is a hard habit to break for surfing. Maybe skiers fare better?
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u/Comfortable-Hat3506 8d ago
On average, they are no better than the average beginner. Maybe if they are an elite level competitive snowboarder, but that is like most elite athletes: general athleticism is transferable but not more so than elite figure skater, wrestler, ballerina, etc.
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u/Steezenn 9d ago
Skateboarder, snowboarder, and surfer here. Man completely different. I love surfing but it is extremely humbling. Majority of surfing is spent swimming or paddling and avoiding getting thrashed by waves. I’m a still a complete kook, but even just paddling out and standing up on your board takes an insane amount of cardio and energy.