Wanting more excitement and to get into a fantastic new sport? Come and Learn to Surf
Surfing is a fantastic sport for health, for exercise and for great fun in a natural environment. It provides you with thrills and excitement and an adrenalin rush giving you a pure natural high and have you wanting to get more and more waves!
When you are learning to surf, as with anything you learn, it is important you learn with professionals. You want to be taught by those that are properly trained and qualified plus have the knowledge and experience to teach you correctly from the beginning. Learning the correct techniques in the very beginning and then being able to practice the correct techniques is vital for a fast and efficient effective development and improvement in the sport. If you are not given the correct movements and are not practicing the correct techniques, you will be getting bad habits which can be extremely difficult to change.
In your first lesson you should expect to learn basic techniques which should include
– Holding and handling the board
– Getting on the board
– Being in the right position on the board (this is called having correct TRIM)
– Paddling
– Doing a push up
– Doing the Jump Up technique to go from lying down to standing up
The lesson and your introduction and initial practice generally should start on the sand. This will enable you to learn the movements and get confident with them on the land where it is easier and more stable for you to practice. Once your instructor is happy that you are doing the right movements you should move into the water. Just prior to entering the water, the instructor should give you some safety information and tips like falling safely and how to walk out through the water with your board.
When you enter the water, your instructor should be with you and walk out to where the waves are best for you in your early lessons. These will be small waves that generally have broken already (are white and foamy) or if they are small gentle waves, you might be catching small unbroken green waves. You should always be able to stand here so if you fall off and are not confident in the ocean, you will always be able to put your feet on the ground and stand up.
The instructor will push you onto your waves so that it is easier for you to begin standing up on the waves. As you begin to stand up consistently on the waves, your instructor will probably have you also start paddling for the waves while still giving you some assistance with a little push on to the wave. As you progress, your instructor will push less and less, having you do more of the paddling to catch your own waves with your instructor giving you tips on which waves are suitable for you to catch.
Surfing is a sport that is great fun and can easily become an addictive passion. It is extremely healthy past time mixing exercise with fun. It can also be a very good mental break from other every day issues where you forget about your worries and focus solely on being in the ocean to paddle, catch, stand up and ride waves all the way through.
If you would like to learn and want to get into this new exciting sport starting to grow in India, head to Panambur Beach in Mangalore where you will find Walkin’ On Water Mangalore (www.walkinonwatermangalore.com). All the instructors are fully qualified by the International Surfing Association – surfing’s international governing body of the sport – and they also all hold life guard, first aid and emergency care qualifications to ensure you are taught correctly and in the safest possible way. They are passionate about sharing their love of this fantastic sport with you and seeing it flourish in India. You can book in by calling or messaging 99721 13538 or 99434 40134, emailing surf@walkinonwatermangalore.com or simply by seeing them at Panambur Beach.
by Jamo Borthwik
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