How to Surf in a Contest Heat

Learning how to surf well is the first big goal, but the next level might just lead you to contest surfing. Even if you are not competing for an SUV or a world championship, surfing in a contest heat can be stressful. But just like most difficult activities in life, a little planning and practice can drastically improve your contest enjoyment and performance. Here are some basic contest strategies to help you surf better ina contest heat:

Stay Strong and Flexible

One way to boost your confidence in competition (and in life) is to be strong and flexible. A daily routine consisting of high repetitions of low/medium weight training and comprehensive stretching with a focus on the legs and back is essential. This will empower you with more duration for the long, sometimes frantic paddles out to the lineup and the flexibility to tweak out moves and generate points even in tight close-out situations and small waves and to recover from ill-fated maneuvers and awkward landings.

20-30 minutes is not much time to get four good waves when you factor in the paddling and waiting in the lineup. Therefore, a competitor must be physically fit and able to move quikly and confidently under pressure.

Arrive Early

If you have ever watched a professional contest, you have seen that competitors seem to hang around all day when they aren't required to. They aren't simply wasting time. Instead, they are observing conditions, sizing up the competition, and becoming familiar with the contest venue. This is another good contest stategy. It's a good time to stretch, check your heat time, and most importantly see what others are doing to win.

You may notice that the best waves are being caught closer to the beach, or the lefts may be breaking with more power than the rights, thus providing more scoring potential. You may notice that certain maneuvers are getting higher scores. There is a lot to be learned from watching other heats, especially how the tide or wind may be affecting winning strategies. What worked in the morning, may not work in the afternoon.

Know What the Judges are looking for

There is no way to pass a test if you don't know what will be on it. Likewise, you can't do well in a heat if you don't know what the judges are looking for. Here's the deal: the highest scores are given to the surfers who use the wave's potential. Therefore, you don't automatically get a better score for catching the biggest wave. A bigger, better wave only provides the surfer the potential for a higher score. Judges generally score according to the most controled maneuvers completed with speed in the most critical part of the wave. Notice there is no mention of style. Style is too subjective, so surfers should concentrate on completing the most maneuvers in the most powerful section (closest to the whitewater/tube). So this surf contest strategy (although much easier said than done) is to use the most powerful part of the wave and don't hold back.