Knowing how to duck dive your board is one of the most progressive skills you can learn as a surfer. It will get you out back quicker and retain your energy so you can catch more waves instead of wasting it on the paddle out.
One of the most significant advantages of duck diving is that it allows you to paddle out during bigger swells to experience larger waves and progress even more.
What better time to start learning than this year? It's time to grab your women’s or men’s winter wetsuit and start your journey into duck diving.
WHAT IS DUCK DIVING?
Pushing through white water is an essential skill in surfing, especially if you’re surfing a beach break where you can’t paddle around the breaking waves, unlike a point break. If you’ve been riding a mid-length surfboard or a longboard for a while now, you’re probably familiar with the ‘turtle rolling’ technique. Although this is an effective way to get through white water on a bigger board, duck diving is a much more effective way of getting past the break when riding a shortboard.
When we talk about the duck diving technique, we’re pretty much talking about pushing your board under the oncoming wave and following through with your body, so the wave washes over you and you ‘pop out’ the back - without being pushed or pulled back.
Or, let’s simplify the action even more: it’s sinking your surfboard under the water to miss turbulence as the wave passes over you while still moving forward.
Inspired by (you guessed it) ducks, it should be a quick and smooth action, after perfecting the skill! Ready to take on the challenge? Our guide breaks down how to duck dive through 10 tips to help you become a pro at duck diving.
TIP 1: PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Firstly, learning to duck dive will take time and lots of practice. It may be a few sessions before you really feel like you have the hang of it, but one day, it will just click. And what a great day it will be when it does! But for now, it’s important to remember this first tip and don’t pressure yourself to perfect this technique immediately. Good things take time.
YOU CAN PRACTICE IN FLAT WATER TOO
The promising thing is that you don’t have to only practice in the surf. An advantage of practising with waves is to perfect timing and speed. However, if there’s a flat spell on the horizon, you can still practise your duck dives! It will familiarise you with the movement and strength needed to sink your board sufficiently.
Any body of water will be perfect, whether a lake or a pool; anywhere you can experiment in the water with your board is ideal.
TIP 2: YOUR BOARD NEEDS TO BE SMALL
A board that is too big can be impossible to sink under the water. If you do have a longboard, turtle rolling is a more suitable paddle-out technique, as we discussed earlier. It’s important to remember longboards and shortboards come with their own benefits. Paddling longer boards gives you more paddle power, whereas a shortboard will feel slower to paddle but will allow you to duck dive waves. If you are considering a smaller board but are unsure if you’re at that stage yet, then our previous blog can help: How Do You Know If You’re Ready For A Different Board?
Shortboards, or high-performance surfboards, generally have less volume than larger boards, resulting in less buoyancy - making them easier to push down under the water, unlike bigger boards. So make sure you’re learning on a small enough board.
Check out our surfboard volume chart below to find the right volume board for you.
TIP 3: KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BROKEN AND UNBROKEN WAVES
As you learn to duck dive, you will become more familiar with the two different wave experiences: broken white water waves and unbroken waves.
BROKEN WHITE WATER WAVES
Duck diving under these waves is slightly harder as you must dive deeper to surpass the turbulent white water extending below the water's surface.
UNBROKEN WAVES
On the other hand, unbroken waves are much easier to duck dive as you are naturally pulled and pushed out of the wave.
Knowing the difference between the two allows you to prepare how deep you need to duck dive, whether you use your knee or foot to push your board under, allowing for a better-planned duck dive.
TIP 4: PADDLE WITH POWER AND SPEED
Paddling fast and powerfully is necessary when duck diving white water waves; without speed, you will unlikely make it smoothly under the wave. Momentum is crucial so you can push through heavy waves.
There is no time for pausing when you go to duck dive; paddle straight ahead with power, confidence, and, most of all, commitment!
TIP 5: TIMING IS KEY
Time the start of your duck dive about a ‘surfboard distance’, roughly two metres away. If the duck dive is instigated too soon, you will not have accumulated enough speed to direct you through the wave.
One which begins too slow will ultimately end with you getting sucked into the power of the oncoming wave, so it is essential to get the board parallel under the water before the wave hits you.
TIP 6: PUSH THE BOARD DOWN WITH YOUR HANDS AND CHEST
Start by grabbing the front of the rails just under your chest. Next, push down from your chest and extend your arms to sink the board under the water. Keep your arms straight to help keep the board down and deep. The aim is to dig the nose of the board under the water as far as possible.
If you struggle with sinking your board because of its size or weight in comparison to you, tilting it at an angle may help. Instead of submerging it straight under, try pushing the left or right side in first, followed by the opposite side after.
TIP 7: SINK THE TAIL WITH YOUR FOOT
Use your foot or knee, depending on how deep you need to go, to push the surfboard's tail - submerge the board as deep as possible. Place one foot/knee on the tail pad and then push down hard to bring the surfboard's tail level with the board's nose under the water.
LIFT YOUR BACK LEG
To help force the board below the wave, lift your other leg behind and up to help weigh the board down.
MAKE SURE THE TAIL IS PARALLEL WITH THE NOSE
It is essential to get the board level because if the nose is down but the tail isn’t, it is easy to get caught up in the turbulence of the wave.
With more practice, this should be a quick, fluid and forward movement. But this won’t happen overnight, so make sure you’re patient with yourself!
TIP 8: GET CLOSE TO BOARD
Next, you need to move closer to the board underwater. By this, we mean you need to follow the surfboard and bring your body closer to it; don’t move the board closer to you! This is to ensure you are fully sinking the board and you.
TIP 9: KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN
By opening your eyes, you can spot heavy and aggressive areas of the wave as you pass through the water, with the more turbulent areas looking whiter. You’ll also be able to spot air pockets of air in the white water so that you can aim yourself towards those instead when resurfacing.
If surfing a reef break, you can avoid any unnecessary damage by noticing protruding parts of the reef and rocks as you dive.
TIP 10: RESURFACE SLOWLY
Once the wave has passed, you can begin to surface by pointing the nose of the board up. This final step is relatively easy because the board's buoyancy will naturally lift you as you re-direct your board up.
If you’re at the beginning of your shortboarding journey, check out our previous guide below to help you easily transition from a longer board to a smaller one.
