Did you know that the beach that you regularly surf significantly contributes to the surfer you become.

If surfers regularly surf small weak waves or fast down-the-line waves, they tend to develop a horizontal performance style characterised by the need to create horizontal speed, perform flatter manoeuvres, and finish with floaters and lipline manoeuvres. Whereas, surfers who surf beaches with pockety waves, tend to learn to perform more top-to-bottom surfing, with stronger bottom turns and more vertical top turns.

As a result of this home beach “conditioning effect”,  surfers become strong in some areas of their performances and not others. This also has implications for a surfer’s manoeuvre choice, with surfers choosing manoeuvres that may or may not “fit” the section being surfed, depending on manoeuvres they have learnt and can perform.

Surfers who can’t perform certain manoeuvres [because of this conditioning effect], need to target them in a proactive manner, or look for local beaches that allow the performance of those manoeuvres.

An alternative strategy could also be to purposely try to surf different beaches outside a surfer’s local region on a regular basis. “Seek and ye shall find” was a catch cry from the 70’s when surf travel really took off, encapsulating the mindset of the travelling surfer. Another one for surfers who want to develop their surfing could be “Seek and you will develop”, as surfing different beaches on a regular basis forces surfers to adapt to the different types of waves faced and the different manoeuvres that need to be performed.