WHITEWATER SELECTION

Selecting the right waves to catch will increase your success rate, and help you improve faster.

The more waves you catch, the more reference experiences you'll have, speeding up the progression cycle.

WHAT TYPE OF WAVES TO LOOK FOR?

These are the type of whitewater waves you should be looking for:

UNIFORMITY

You want to find waves that are uniform in size and power. These types of waves make things easier to predict, without any nasty surprises.

PERPENDICULAR TO BEACH

Look for the waves that are moving towards the shore, perpendicular to the beach. These types of waves are easier to read, and easier to position for too.

WHITEWATER WAVES TO AVOID

DOUBLE UPS

A double up is when one wave catches up to another, creating what's known as a double up that has much more power and ferocity than normal.

To the expert eye they're easy to spot, however for those with less experience it can be a little more difficult.

CROSS WAVES

Cross waves don't break perpendicular to the beach, instead they'll move towards the beach at different angles.

These waves make it challenging to read as a beginner and should be avoided if possible.

REFORMS

Reforms are similar in some ways to a double up, however with reforms they go from whitewater waves, reform in to unbroken waves, then break again.

These types of waves can be really fun, however in the early stages when you're just starting out they can be much harder to ride so try and avoid them if you can.

Spotting reforms for the novice can be a challenge, but over time you'll learn to recognise them, it'll just take a little practice that's all.

WRAPPING IT UP

Ideally you want to be on a uniform whitewater wave that's breaking perpendicular to the beach.

Easy to spot, easy to catch, and easy to ride.

These are the ones you really want to begin with.

However, every wave you catch is a learning opportunity regardless, and exposing yourself to different types of waves will help you to develop a broader skillset over the long rung, so don't stress too much if you're on the wrong type of wavs at this point.

WHITEWATER WAVE SELECTION

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BEGINNER

THE START OF SOMETHING NEW...

GOTTA HAVE POP!

SPEED

TURNING

THE SUBTLE ART OF NEGOTIATING WAVES

PADDLING

BOARD DISMOUNT

BOARD MANAGEMENT

CATCHING WHITEWATER WAVES

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