Boogie boarding, or body boarding, is a really fun way to ride some waves. If you’re eager to learn how to surf and you’re not even from a coastal area, boogie boarding is the perfect way to begin to understand how waves work and how to catch them. If you like to surf and the waves are sloppy knee high, boogie boarding is the next best thing to be doing at the beach. You get wet and you have fun on waves; there isn’t much else to ask for at the beach.
Speed When Catching Waves
You can’t just plop down on a wave and expect to be taken for a ride. A certain amount of gracefulness is required. Remember this while you’re in the water trying to catch waves on your boogie board: to ride a wave, you have to be going at least as fast as the wave. And when you’re boogie boarding, you have a big advantage over surfing because you’re standing on the floor of the ocean and you can push off with your feet. You don’t have to rely on paddling to pick up your speed.
How Waves Form and Break
If you stand back and watch waves roll in, you’ll find that they all form a certain way:
The water begins flat and then rolls up into a lump, which begins to grow larger. At the wave’s highest point (it’s peak), it begins to break and turn into white water. This white water rolls toward the beach and peters out. Eventually the wave is completely gone, absorbed into the ocean.
The wave’s highest point is called its peak. Makes sense, doesn’t it? A mountain’s highest point is its peak. Once the wave hits its peak, it begins to break. This also makes sense because once it “breaks,” (think of breaking a toy or something, as in it won’t work anymore) it turns into white water and peters out.
Where to Enter the Wave
When the wave is at its peak, this is where you want to enter the wave. You want to be standing on the side of the wave closest to the beach, and have your body facing the beach, so that the wave is right behind you.
How to Enter
Just as the wave is about to peak, you’ll feel the water rising against your legs. This when you want to push off with your feet as hard as you can, thrusting yourself onto your board and toward the beach. Since you’re taking off on the wave as it’s at its peak, your boogie board will go down a bit, picking up more momentum, and then the wave’s white water will shove your boogie board along the water. You’ll eventually sink down a bit into the water and come to a stop.
Shoving Off
When you shove off, don’t shove off into the air and smack down on the water. You need to gracefully shove yourself toward the beach at the height of the water. Don’t be concerned about whether the wave is going to pick you up more or drop you down some, just be level with the water and shove yourself very hard so you get plenty of speed.
Stick With It!
If you’ve never boogie boarded before, it’s probably going to take you about 20 waves to feel like you know what you’re doing, and it’s worth it. For one, being wet in the water is fun no matter what you’re doing, so enjoy the experience. Once you get the hang of boogie boarding, you’ll always know how to do it. I’ve taken off on waves on a boogie board that gave me such a long ride, I would look around at everyone, and at the beach, cruising along, and think, “Wow, am I really still riding this one wave?” As you improve, people will be watching you and you’ll feel like you have your own little show and you’ll enjoy it even more.
