How to Surf Better, Sooner: Beyond Just Time in the Water
If we surfed a typical three-hour session once per week, it would take 64 years to reach 10,000 accumulated hours. So how do people become experts in subjects and sports in a lot less time than that?
In this article, we’re going to explore four additional criteria identified by research that can help you surf better, sooner.
Rather than just an accumulation of hours, research shows that there are four additional criteria that must be met for practice to actually make you better at the thing you’re practicing. Those criteria are:
- Repeated attempts with feedback
- A valid environment
- Timely feedback
- Not getting too comfortable
We’ll contextualize each of these within surf training, offering actionable strategies to help accelerate skill development and progress more efficiently toward expertise.
Repeated Attempts with Feedback
Golf professional Bryson DeChambeau reportedly hit 874 driving range balls during the week of the 2025 Masters Tournament.
Repeated attempts with feedback means practicing a skill many times while receiving information about performance, like hitting a golf ball and watching where it lands. This action and result helps learners understand what works, adjust their approach, and gradually improve through continual refinement.
Surfing, however, doesn’t always allow high repetition rates, with a limited number of waves available during each session. Compare that to tennis or basketball, where we can stand in front of a net and fire off 100 shots.
So we have to be creative.
First, set clear goals and define what you want to achieve, whether that’s improving a specific technique, maneuver, paddle speed, or location accuracy. This identifies what needs repeating, and then you can work out where the highest repetition rate might occur.
That might be out the back, but it could also be in the whitewater or even on dry land, used as practice “gyms.” These environments reduce variables and allow for higher reps.
When defining goals, it’s important to be realistic about what’s achievable in the session. A busy lineup can quickly reduce wave count, so ask yourself, Where is my time best spent?
You can practice pop-ups, stance adjustments, weight shifts, trimming, and linked turns in the whitewater, and rack up dozens of reps in the time it takes to paddle out for just a few unbroken waves.
Fundamentally, the mechanics of carving in whitewater are similar to those on a green wave. Instead of waiting for the perfect wave to do a full cutback, deconstruct the skill. Use two short turns in the whitewater to simulate it.
How long would it take to accumulate 100 cutbacks out the back, compared to 100 left to right linked turns in the whitewater?
This deconstruction approach can also be applied to bottom turns, takeoffs, and even cross-stepping in nose riding. If paddle fitness is the goal, you can paddle beyond the waves and repeat sprint cycles, or paddle for miles on flat days to improve endurance and technique.
More experienced surfers can also create reps out the back, using closeouts to try new maneuvers or making the most of subpar days. Riding a big board on a small wave can still transfer to performance on a small board in bigger surf.
You can even deliberately throw away good waves to experiment.
All of this should be combined with feedback, from video, friends, or self-assessment. Without feedback, practice can reinforce bad habits instead of improving performance.
A Valid Environment
To truly benefit from repetition, we need to consider the environment those repetitions take place in.
A valid environment is one where patterns are consistent enough to allow learners to connect cause and effect. Think of a game of darts, the rules don’t change, and the target stays still. Improvement becomes predictable.
Dry land offers an excellent environment for skill development. It removes external variables and allows high repetition and easy correction of form. It’s especially effective for isolating movements like pop-ups, stance adjustments, or balance drills.
However, it doesn’t replicate the full dynamics of surfing. There’s no fluid resistance, shifting balance points, or wave-driven momentum. So while useful, it must be reinforced in the water.
The surf zone, on the other hand, is one of the most complex learning environments. Waves vary in timing, speed, and shape, making repetition difficult. This doesn’t make it invalid, it just means we need strategies to reduce variability and improve feedback quality.
The more predictable the wave conditions, the more valid the learning environment.
The Role of Whitewater
Whitewater is often misunderstood as a space just for beginners, but it can be a highly effective training environment.
Used properly, it becomes a kind of “gym” for surfing.
Like going to the gym, once seen as uncool but now associated with discipline, using whitewater intentionally reflects a mindset focused on long-term growth.
Whitewater is relatively predictable, offering similar wave size, speed, and frequency. This allows for high repetition with real-time feedback in a controlled setting.
When combined with dry land training, it creates a progressive pathway, build movement patterns in a controlled environment, then reinforce them in a dynamic one.
Valid vs Invalid Waves
Out-the-back waves can also be highly valid, if they are consistent.
The ideal wave for learning is one that is:
- Consistently shaped
- Gently peeling
- Predictable in pace and shoulder
These conditions allow you to anticipate sections, time maneuvers, and clearly evaluate performance.
In contrast, unpredictable waves, fast closeouts, rapidly changing sections, or choppy conditions, introduce random variables. Mistakes might not reflect technique, but rather instability in the wave itself.
These conditions can still build adaptability, but they are less suited for focused technical improvement.
So assess the surf and ask, Which parts of this environment offer consistent, reliable feedback?
Timely Feedback
Timely feedback means receiving information as soon as possible after an attempt.
The longer the delay, the harder it is for the brain to connect action and outcome.
Start by staying specific and goal-oriented. A single drill in a predictable environment makes it easier to isolate success or failure.
You can watch and feel your performance, comparing it to ideal technique or previous attempts. But as humans, we tend to remember our best waves and forget the average ones, so keeping a surf diary can help provide a more accurate picture.
Working with an in-water coach is one of the most effective ways to receive immediate feedback. Combined with video review afterward, this creates a powerful feedback loop.
For example, if you’re working on front foot placement:
- Best feedback, within 0 to 5 seconds (look down briefly)
- Good feedback, 5 to 30 seconds (coach input)
- Less effective, minutes later (video without context)
The closer the feedback is to the action, the stronger the learning.
Don’t Get Too Comfortable
Learning a new skill is initially challenging. Over time, it becomes automatic, and comfortable.
But once we reach that stage, repeating the same thing no longer leads to improvement.
To keep progressing, we have to step beyond that comfort.
Skill development typically follows four stages:
Not knowing what you don’t know
Becoming aware of your lack of skill
Improving with effort and focus
Reaching automatic execution
The danger is staying in stage four, where it feels easy.
To continue progressing, we need to deliberately challenge ourselves:
- Identify what feels easy
- Attempt things you’re not good at
- Embrace discomfort and frustration
This is where real growth happens.
As Olympian Alexi Pappas puts it:
“When you’re chasing a dream or doing anything hard, you’re meant to feel good a third of the time, okay a third of the time, and crappy a third of the time.”
Bringing It All Together
Skill development, whether in surfing or any discipline, is not passive. It’s an active pursuit, driven by intention, feedback, and a willingness to push beyond comfort.
So paddle out.
Repeat with purpose.
Measure with honesty.
And stretch beyond what’s easy.
This is where transformation lives.
Watch full video below.
