- 11 beginner mistakes for you to avoid
when you're out bodyboarding.
I'm Chris, this is Yellow Productions.
I have been bodyboarding
since I've been about five years old,
growing up in the coast here in California.
It is one of my favorite things to do
when I go to the beach.
But this summer I've seen so many people doing it wrong
that I wanna share all the mistakes that I've seen
so that you don't do them
so that you can have a super great time
when you're out on your bodyboard.
Maybe you even call it a boogie board.
The first beginner mistake that beginners often make
is they get the wrong size board.
They get a board like this.
A board that they rode, maybe not this small,
but you've seen these boards at Target, Walmart.
They're these little cheap foam things.
They come in a little bigger sizes,
but if this is something you rode
when you were 10 years old,
by the time you're a big adult,
you actually need a bit bigger of a board.
So make sure you get something big that floats
that doesn't fall down like that does.
The boogie boards you basically don't wanna buy
are these kind of super cheap things
that have like a fabric on the outside,
super thin foam on the inside.
This one is actually designed for like a kickboard
or a paddle board in a swimming pool.
These things aren't really good for bodyboarding.
You will want a board more like this big board.
This one's 44 inches across for me,
someone who's a six-foot-tall guy.
The best ones have a foam top and then a plastic bottom
to help give you more glide over the water surface.
The second mistake you should avoid
as a beginning bodyboarder is going to the wrong beach.
Beaches that have rocky bottoms or coral bottoms,
not good for bodyboarding.
You'll definitely want to avoid beaches
that are known for having a strong shore break.
Those are gonna be beaches
that are good for professional bodyboarders
'cause the waves break in close to shore.
They're nice and hollow.
You don't want that if it's your first time
or your first few times.
You want waves that are nice and calm
that roll gently into the sand.
Oh, one pro tip.
If you don't know if a beach is good for bodyboarding,
just ask the lifeguards.
And when you ask them, say, "Hey, I'm looking to bodyboard.
Where's a good place around here to do that?"
They'll either tell you not this beach
or they'll tell you: "Hey, on this beach,
go check out that area right there
'cause that has the best sandy bottom.
Stay away from the rocks and the currents
that are over there.
The third common mistake
that beginning bodyboarders often make
is they go to the beach at the wrong time.
They hear in the news that the surf is good.
That's usually bad if it's your first time bodyboarding,
because the surf is good means surfers like big waves.
Actually, I just met some fellow explorers from Brazil,
and they said these waves are too small.
They're going to a beach that has some bigger waves
'cause they're really good surfers.
If you are just on your first time on your foam board,
you want them to be small.
Like one to three feet is pretty good for your first time.
Also, try to come when it's not too windy.
If it's really windy, then the waves are gonna be blown out.
It's gonna be messy.
There's gonna be a lot of rip current.
So find the day with smallish waves and not too windy.
The fourth mistake that beginning bodyboarders make
is they go in too deep into the water.
Ideally you wanna go in right about waste deep
where the water's up to right about here.
If you're too far up,
then you don't have enough thrust
to be able to jump out of the water and onto the wave.
And if you're like so far out
that you can't stand on your feet anymore,
well, then you've gotta paddle.
And if you don't have fins,
you're just not gonna get up enough speed
to actually catch the waves.
So go in just about waist deep.
I zoomed out the camera
so you can see a little bit better.
When you're in the water about waist deep.
You'll wanna hold your board right about here,
right about on the surface of the water.
And just as the waves kind of come
right up on the back of your board
is when you want to jump up on your board
up onto the water.
It's actually a little bit more on the side,
and you kind of pull yourself up on it.
What I see a lot of people do that's a mistake,
they kind of like jump too high and jump with the board.
You want the board to be on the surface,
and then you just come right up on it
and then go with the wave.
The fifth common bodyboarding mistake
is jumping on the board too early.
People get afraid of the waves
'cause they've been hit by them.
They get tired.
And so they jump on the board
and then stall out and lose all their speed.
And then the wave comes by and just pushes over them.
You want to jump right as the wave is behind you,
into the bottom of it so you get the most power.
The next mistake is people jumping on the board too late.
They think that the time to get on the board
is once they're in the wave,
and then they're trying to ride the top of the wave.
In this case, the wave
is just kind of gonna take you up on the top of it
and pass you right by.
And you really as you're riding
need to ride the bottom of the white part of the wave.
That's known as the the wave after it has broken is white,
and the bottom of it is where the most power is
to push you along to the beach.
Mistake number seven is lying too far back
or too far forward on the board.
If you jump on it and you're back here,
what's gonna happen is you're not balanced enough;
the wave's just gonna pass you over.
If you're way up front, you're like too far forward up here,
then what's gonna happen
is the front of your board's gonna go in.
You're gonna go over the board
'cause your front's gonna catch in the water,
and that's not good either.
Where you want to be is you wanna be with your weight
kind of on the front third of the board,
which then leads us to the next mistake.
Sometimes people put both hands up at the front
or both hands to the side.
Where you want to be
is you wanna have one hand up here on the nose
and then one hand up here on the side.
This will give you the most control
to then be able to move around on the waves.
And the purpose of this one hand
that you have up here on the front
is to like gently lift up on the board.
They're made of foam so they'll flex a little bit.
So when you get on the wave, helping to pull up on the front
will help you not dive into the bottom.
Mistake number nine is lying down on the board.
You might think it's a board
and you're supposed to lie down on it,
but if you're completely lying down on it,
you have absolutely no control.
So when you get up on the board,
having one hand at the nose,
having one hand on the side,
you wanna have your back arched like this,
your knees together, your ankles together,
your head up like this looking in the direction
that you want to go.
Don't put your head down like this
'cause that's gonna get you right down into the water.
Head up.
Mistake number 10 is not wearing a leash.
Seriously, get a leash.
Many bodyboards come with one.
If they don't, you've gotta puncture a hole
and put the leash in yourself.
But wear it so that your board
doesn't turn into a projectile.
There are two types of leashes: there's straight ones
And then there's coiled ones like this.
When I wear the leash, I like to wear it
so that the part that goes from my arm into the board
is on the inside of my bicep.
Or if it's on your wrist, put it on the inside of your wrist
so that you're not coiling over your arm.
It lets you move around a lot more.
And the 11th and final mistake
that I see beginning bodyboarders make
is I see them as they're walking out into the ocean
holding their board this way,
using their board like a shield against the waves.
This is gonna take so much energy.
What you wanna do is you wanna hold your board to the side
and gently put it over the waves.
And then for your body as you're going out,
if it's like this, you have a lot surface area
for the waves to hit you.
You kind of wanna go sideways
to let the waves hit you like this
so that there's less area.
It'll be less energy for you to get through the surf
to where you wanna stand waist deep.
Again, board to your side and right like this.
Wait, wait, wait. One more tip.
Don't go anywhere. Don't go anywhere.
I thought about this as I was shooting my water scenes,
and that is as you ride your board into the sand,
don't put your knees down too early.
Wait until you're board
gets all the way on the sand and stop,
and then put your knees down to get up.
If you put your knees down too early,
you'll end up with some scraped knees on the sand.
It can be pretty sharp when you're going pretty fast.
So remember, get all the way to the sand, stop,
then put your knees down to get up.
Well, hey, if you enjoyed this video
and you wanna see more of my beach videos,
particularly in Southern California
you might enjoy this video right here all about Crystal Cove
which is this beach that I'm at right now;
one of my favorite beaches
for bodyboarding in Southern California.
Well, fellow explorers, as usual,
I won't say goodbye 'cause I'm gonna see you right here.