Stop screwing around! Surf better now!

Want to up your game? Steal from the best in the world…

If you live in Australia, the greatest show on earth is coming to a town near you. I don’t kid! This ain’t tennis or car racing or whatevs. If you live in Margaret River, Newcastle, the Gold Coast or its putrid surrounds you have the best surfers in the world offering you lessons every time you paddle out.

So, observe. No, no, don’t paddle in front of ’em, don’t drop in, surf behind if you’re lucky, and just… watch.

Here’s what you might learn.

1. The secret to the Jordy Smith’s frontside wrap

Dino Andino is a former pro whose magical DNA created the superstar Kolohe Andino. He knows the tour like few others. And he knows how… difficult… it is to nail a perfect frontside wrap, one of those slightly out on the face frontside cutbacks. “To be honest, to do a proper wrap, and not just a snap, there’s only a few who can do it. Guys do the beginning and then flap through the rest,” says Dino. You want the secret? Straighten that front leg, while keeping the back one bent. It’s what makes Fanning and Parko and Jordy the best in the world. Sounds easy? It ain’t. Practise!

2. Twisted shoulders in the air

All of us can do a throwaway air. Such a habitual and frustrating move! So why not start landing a few? Remember two things: it’s a mid-face turn not a bottom turn and if you twist your shoulder when you exit the lip you’ll centre over your board and… land.

3. Everybody needs a hungry heart

Have you seen how focussed a pro surfer, or even an above-average surfer is in the water? He ain’t talking shop, swapping boards, swapping numbers. He’s always laying down and patrolling the lineup, he’s deeper than you, he’s a step ahead and when he paddles for a wave he doesn’t hesitate and he paddles five strokes more than you. Talk to your bro’s on the beach or on the ride home.

4. Faux paddle big waves

The smartest big-wave surfer I know has a habit of paddling into what I think are unmakeable waves… just to look. He looks for ease of entry, he looks to see if, somehow, it might be makable. Sometimes he goes; most of the time he doesn’t. But he has a catalogue of wave shapes in his head, a filing cabinet of scenarios. Every time he paddles he learns. And if you see this surfer paddle into a bomb you might call it reckless abandon. It’s anything but.

5. Grow with a shaper

John John Florence is Pyzel, Kolohe is Biolos, Reynolds is Channel Islands. And they don’t shift. Find a shaper whose curves and outlines just seem to work for you and stay there. You’ll get boards that work, boards that don’t until they… all seem to work.