Surf Coaching, WipeoutsSpeeding Up The Learning Curve 

After the solid waves we had over New Years, Playa Guiones settled down to a more sensible size. Smaller waves means you can catch a lot more of them but more importantly, the temptation to ‘play it safe’ is not as strong. As soon as you stop being precious with your waves, then the learning curve speeds up quick. When you start prioritizing that one big maneuver (whether it’s a take off, a turn or a tube) over length of ride, you’ll find yourself improving a lot faster and having more fun as a result.

The good kind of wipeout is when you fall off because you are trying to doing something which you haven’t yet mastered. (Above: Ru takes off impossibly late in Nicaragua) The bad kind of falling off is when you don’t do anything incase it causes you to fall off (this can be dangerous as you may drown in your own irony). So the surfers improving the fastest will usually be the surfers falling off the most. Remember that next time you feel envious of someone who seems to ride every wave for miles.

We had great waves and an unusually fit groups of guests this week so everyone improved in leaps and bounds. Check out all the photos here. My favorite bit of this week’s movie though is the wipe montage which Laura cut together at the end.