How does a surfer ride a wave

If you can get yourself just ahead of a crest, you are both high up above the average height of the water and also facing downhill!

Gravity pulls you down. You fall. How do you get a long ride? If you can let the crest pass under you enough so that you are, once again, at the top of it, you can once again fall along the downward slope of the front of the crest. Moving up and down along the face of a wave is the key to surfing.

And as the tops of the waves fall forward, the water in each crest begins to follow a circular path, a rolling motion. What else makes waves so massive, say, at Mavericks near Half Moon Bay? Waves get bigger—much bigger—when they get funneled into a narrower region as they approach the shore; when the depth of the water goes from deep to shallow at just the right rate; and when there is a longer stretch of water over which the wind can blow to make the waves pick up energy.

All of these factors come together in an optimal way to produce big waves in places like Mavericks, or, say, the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu.

How do the size and weight of the surfboard factor in? An enormous amount of physics goes into surfboard design! Much of it is subtle, but there are a few generalities. First, longer boards tend to paddle faster and be more stable, while shorter boards tend to be more maneuverable.

This being said, here are the most important basics to help you get started on your next surf session. When you see a lump on the horizon, you know that the lump will eventually transform into a wave as it gets closer to the shore.

This wave may break into different shapes, but most waves can be categorized either as a right, a left, an a-frame or a closeout. If you are looking from the beach, facing the ocean, the wave will break towards the right from your perspective. A wave that breaks to the right from the vantage of the surfer riding the wave. For people looking from the beach, the wave will be breaking to the left from their position. These waves are great since it doubles the number of rides: 2 surfers can catch the same wave, going in opposite directions one going right, the other going left.

One of the most important aspects of wave reading is being able to identify and properly name the different parts of a wave. Also, if you are taking surf lessons, this is essential in order to communicate with your surf coach. This is where most of the high-performance manoeuvres happen.

Impact Zone: The spot where the lip crashes down on the flat water. You want to avoid getting caught in this zone when sitting or paddling our to the surf, as this is where the wave has most of its power. Eric is doing this in the above photo. As Eric and other surfers know, riding the waves lets you play with energy. By dropping down the face of the wave pulled by gravity , you gain kinetic energy, the energy of motion. At the same time, you lose gravitational potential energy, the energy of being high.

Then, by turning up the face of the wave, you can trade back the energy of motion for potential energy as you rise to the crest of the wave. Turning up and down the face of a wave is the soul of surfing. When you push on the water, the water exerts an equal and opposite force on you, accelerating you to a speed necessary to catch a wave. As the surfer catches the wave, the water pushes the surfboard forward. The net force accelerates the surfer to the speed of the wave and beyond.

Notice how Lori reaches from a deep crouch to touch the moving water of the wave. Two things determine the strength of a swell. First, swells are influenced by the strength of the winds that form them. Swells can help predict how strong a storm is as it approaches land. Most storm systems that form far out to sea never reach land with much strength. Sometimes, however, they do. These storms arrive as hurricane s or typhoon s.

Hours before a hurricane approaches shore, large and frequent swells signal its arrival. Surfers have been known to ignore hurricane warnings and stay out on stormy beaches because the swells are so frequent and strong. Fetch is a geographic term that describes the amount of open water over which a wind has blown.

The length of fetch is why ocean swells are usually much stronger than lake swells. In the open ocean, a wave's fetch can be thousands of kilometers. Surfers consult these surf zone forecast s and can chase swells all over the world. Not all waves are swells, however. Most are smaller, more unpredictable waves, called wind wave s. Swells are a type of wind wave they are caused by wind , but the term usually refers to waves caused by wind with a shorter fetch.

Wind waves have more chop than swells. Chop is the amount of short, irregular shifts in wave formation. Choppy water can be dangerous for surfers because the direction and strength of waves change from minute to minute. Breaking Waves Both wind waves and swells must break crash for them to be of use to surfers. A calm day with no wind may be perfect for beachgoers, but makes for lousy surfing weather.

Surfers need a reliable set of breaking waves, which requires moderate offshore wind. The most significant factor in how a wave develops is the underwater topography. Topography is the surface features of an area. Waves can be weakened or strengthened by topographical features of the seabed. Surf break s are permanent features that cause waves to break in a predictable way.

Reef s, sandbar s, and large underwater boulder s are examples of common surf breaks. Ocean trench es and submarine canyon s can also determine how a wave breaks.

Surfers must account for the presence of sea life, such as a kelp forest , a dense cluster of large seaweed. Seaweed can slow a breaking wave. A wave breaks when its base the water beneath the surface can no longer sustain its height.

Near shore, waves break because water gets shallower as it nears a beach. The shallower a wave base, the more likely the wave is to break. The region of water where waves begin to break is called the surf line. Waves crash forward, their tips turning frothy and white. Sometimes, a breaking wave crashes into another wave. Other waves curl in on themselves, forming a tube near the crest, or top.

Many surfers consider these tubular wave breaks the most desirable to surf. There are four major types of waves. Experienced surfers can ride all four types, although each has its own difficulties. Rolling wave s 1 are the most familiar waves, and the type most surfers prefer.

These waves break in a stable pattern. Rolling waves are usually a feature of a flat, sandy shoreline. The rolling waves at Hossegor, France, on the Bay of Biscay, can reach more than 6 meters 20 feet. Dumping wave s 2 are more unpredictable. These waves are the result of an abrupt change in seabed topography. A steep underwater cliff or mountain can create dumping waves. These waves are usually limited to experienced surfers, as they are dangerous.

Dumping waves can be the result of point breaks. Point break s occur when a wave hits a point of rocky shore jutting into the ocean. Agadir, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, boasts several strong point breaks.

Dumping waves can also result from reef breaks. Reef break s occur as waves pass over a coral or rocky reef. Reef breaks can be quite dangerous if the wave dumps the surfer on the reef. However, reef breaks provide some of the most rewarding waves.

In Fiji, a reef break called Cloudbreak draws many experienced surfers. Surging wave s 3 are the most dangerous. They are most often present on steep or rocky shores. Unlike rolling or dumping waves, surging waves do not break as they near the shore. They break only at the shore itself. Surging waves are dramatic as they crash against rocky cliffs, for instance. They have the ability to throw surfers against the rock or reef, as well as drag them back to the ocean.