Surf Better: 20 Essential Questions About Technique, Equipment and Waves

Every surfer — at every level — has questions they have never quite found a complete answer to. How far forward should you lie? Does it actually matter how you hold your hand when you paddle? What is a cutback and when exactly should you use one? These 20 questions cover the fundamentals of surfing technique and equipment with the depth they deserve. Whether you are preparing for your first lesson in Bali or trying to understand why your surfing has stopped improving, these are the answers that will make a real difference in the water.

Paddling and Catching Waves

1. Should you cup your hand or keep it flat when paddling?

Keep your hand flat and relaxed — do not cup it. Cupping feels intuitive, as if you are scooping more water, but it actually reduces the effective surface area of your pull and weakens the stroke. The right position is simply a natural, relaxed flat hand — exactly the position your hand falls into when you stop thinking about it.

This is backed by the same research that guides elite competitive swimmers. Studies from universities in Portugal, France and Australia found that a relaxed flat hand produces 5–10% more forward force than one where the fingers are squeezed together or cupped. The tiny natural spaces between relaxed fingers form small pressure pockets that actually increase the effective size of your paddle — functioning like a natural fin. Olympic swimmers keep their hands flat and relaxed throughout the stroke, entering the water fingertips first with the elbow leading — the same technique that applies directly to surfboard paddling. A relaxed hand is a faster hand. In our video coaching sessions, paddle technique is one of the most revealing things to film — most surfers are surprised at what they see and make immediate improvements.

2. How far forward should you lie on the surfboard to catch waves?

When you lie on the board and stop paddling — completely stationary — the nose should go just under the water. That is the correct position.

3. What board should a beginner use, and why?

A foam soft-top or longboard between 8 and 10 feet with high volume — typically 60–100 litres. More foam means more float, more stability, easier paddling, and more waves caught. A beginner needs to build confidence and catch lots of waves, not fight their equipment.

The guide is simple: aim for a board with approximately 100% of your body weight in litres of volume — an 80kg person on an 80L board. All of our beginner lessons use foam soft-tops and Malibus specifically because their width and volume mean students stand up on their first day. High-volume boards glide into waves earlier, giving beginners more time to execute the pop-up. The most common and costly mistake is starting on a shortboard: it paddles slowly, catches waves late, and makes your surfing look far worse than it actually is. Our guide to Bali’s beginner surf spots covers the best places to start — two of the easiest are Baby Padang’s gentle beginner waves and Jimbaran Bay’s forgiving beach breaks, both gentle and consistent enough for a forgiving learning environment.

4. What board suits an intermediate surfer looking to progress?

A mid-length or fish board between 6’6″ and 7’6″ with moderate volume. These boards paddle well enough to catch waves consistently while being responsive enough to practise turns and generate speed through flat sections.

5. What board suits an advanced surfer, and what is the key difference from an intermediate board?

A performance shortboard between 5’8″ and 6’4″ with low volume — roughly 35–50% of your body weight in litres. These boards sacrifice paddling ease and stability for maximum responsiveness in critical, powerful parts of the wave. The surfer’s skill compensates for the reduced margin for error.

At advanced level, the best competitive surfers ride boards at around 34–36% of body weight in volume — a 75kg surfer on approximately a 26-litre board. The reduced volume sinks the rail easily for sharp turns, responds instantly to subtle weight changes, and allows the aggressive top-to-bottom surfing that is impossible on higher-volume equipment. Performance shortboards feature a narrow outline, thin profile, increased nose-to-tail curve (rocker) to handle steep drops, and typically a three-fin setup for maximum drive and pivot. The challenge at this level is no longer catching waves or staying upright — it is generating speed through flat sections, executing critical turns in the pocket, and making late drops on hollow waves at the reef at Uluwatu, the reef at Keramas and beyond. Our advanced surf guiding pairs surfers with the right boards for the right spots on any given day.

Equipment: Volume, Fins and Board Choice

6. What is surfboard volume and why is it the most important number when choosing a board?

Volume is the total space the board occupies, measured in litres. It determines buoyancy — how high the board floats you out of the water. The higher you float, the less drag your body creates when paddling, the faster you move, and the more waves you catch. Everything else in board selection follows from getting the volume right.

A typical shortboard is 25–35L; a 7′ funboard 40–50L; a 9′ longboard 70–90+L. As a guide: beginners around 100% of body weight in litres, intermediates 70–80%, advanced 40–50%, professionals 34–36%. Volume is now printed on most production boards and is the most useful single number for comparing shapes, since a shaper can distribute the same volume in many different ways. Length also matters alongside volume — a longer board has a greater waterline length, which makes it more streamlined when paddling and allows it to begin planing sooner when you paddle into a wave, making the take-off less steep and easier to complete. This is why a beginner on a 9ft longboard catches far more waves than a beginner on a 6ft board of identical volume. In our private lessons, board selection is the first conversation of every session.

7. What is the difference between a thruster, quad, twin fin and single fin — and which should you use?

A thruster (three fins) is the most popular setup — two side fins provide drive and the central fin adds control and pivot. A quad (four fins, no centre) generates more speed and suits hollow, fast waves. A twin fin (two fins, no centre) is faster than a thruster but less controlled. A single fin suits longboards — smooth flow and stability with minimal pivot.

The thruster, introduced by Simon Anderson in 1981, became dominant because it provides the best combination of drive, control and the ability to pivot sharply off the tail. A quad puts two fins on each side with no centre fin — generating more drive but less hold at the pivot point, best in fast, hollow waves. The twin fin is faster than a thruster because removing the centre fin eliminates its drag, producing a loose, flowing ride — but this comes at the cost of control. Twin fins can slide out on powerful bottom turns and are not suited to larger surf. Mark Richards won four consecutive world championships on a twin fin, but the thruster eventually replaced it as the dominant setup precisely because it added the control the twin fin lacked in critical conditions. Twin fins work best in smaller, cleaner waves where their extra speed and loose feel is a real advantage. The single fin gives smooth, drawn-out turns ideal for longboarding and classic style. Practical rule: thruster for most surfing in Bali’s varied conditions; quad or twin when waves are smaller and faster and maximum speed is the priority.

Water Skills: Paddling Out, Etiquette and Safety

8. How does duck diving work — technique and physics?

A duck dive submerges your board beneath an oncoming broken or breaking wave, allowing you to pass through it rather than being pushed back to shore. You push the nose under with body weight, use your foot to push the tail down, and the board’s buoyancy carries you through and up out the back of the wave. Timing to reach maximum depth as the wave’s peak force passes overhead is everything.

The sequence: paddle toward the wave; place hands on the rails slightly forward of where you would normally pop up; use body weight with locked arms to push the nose down; as the board nears maximum depth, lean forward; then place your back foot firmly on the tail pad to push the tail down — your foot gives far better leverage and control than using the knee, which is a common beginner mistake. The scooping motion this creates angles you through and upward. Avoid diving under the breaking lip itself — the force can push you into your board. High-volume beginner boards cannot be duck dived effectively — the buoyancy exceeds the surfer’s ability to submerge it. For those boards, the turtle roll is the alternative. Mastering the duck dive is a milestone that dramatically reduces the effort needed to reach the lineup at Uluwatu or any of Bali’s reef breaks. Our intermediate programme covers duck diving technique with video analysis.

9. What is a turtle roll, and when do you use it instead of duck diving?

A turtle roll is used when your board is too buoyant to duck dive — typically foam soft-tops and longboards above about 45–50 litres. Flip the board upside down, hold the rails, sink beneath the surface, and let the wave pass over the hull before rolling back upright.

The turtle roll works because flipping the board reduces its surface area exposed to the wave and presents the curved hull upward, so the passing white water exerts less forward force. The steps: paddle perpendicular to the wave; a board’s length away, grab the rails and flip underwater; keep slight distance between your body and the board so the nose is submerged; use a frog kick to maintain position; roll back upright once the wave passes. The turtle roll is less efficient than a duck dive in large surf — a heavy white water hit will still push you back — but it is the correct technique for beginners on foam boards. Moving to boards that can be duck dived is a significant step forward, reducing the energy cost of every paddle-out at the reef breaks around the Uluwatu area considerably.

10. What is the priority rule in the surf lineup, and what does ‘dropping in’ mean?

The surfer closest to the peak — the highest, steepest breaking point of the wave — has right of way. Dropping in means taking off on a wave when another surfer already has priority, blocking their ride. It is universally considered the most serious breach of surf etiquette and can cause real injury at shallow reef breaks.

Dropping in at shallow reef breaks like the shallow reef at Bingin can cause serious board-to-body collisions. If you accidentally drop in, kick out over the shoulder immediately and apologise. On waves that break both left and right (A-frames), call “left” or “right” as you take off to avoid confusion. At reef breaks like Uluwatu, waves peak in a fixed location making the hierarchy clear. The most respected surfers in any lineup — regardless of ability — are those who wait their turn and never drop in. Our surf programmes cover lineup etiquette as a core part of the curriculum.

11. What is ‘snaking’ and why is it considered worse than dropping in?

Snaking is paddling around another surfer to position yourself closer to the peak just as they begin paddling for a wave — stealing their priority. It makes the victim appear to be dropping in when the reverse is true. Because it is almost always deliberate, it draws more contempt than an accidental drop-in.

It works like this: Surfer A has waited their turn and starts paddling for a wave. Surfer B waits until A is focused on the wave, then paddles inside to claim priority. The victim is left in an impossible position — if they take off they appear to drop in; if they do not, they lose the wave entirely. It is intentional, visible to everyone in the lineup, and signals both selfishness and dishonesty. At crowded world-class breaks like Uluwatu and Keramas, where local hierarchy is well established, snaking visiting surfers is noticed and remembered. Patience, communication and respect in the lineup contribute more to a positive session than any other factor.

Wave Types and Manoeuvres

12. What is a point break and why does it produce such long rides?

A point break forms where swell wraps around a headland or rocky point. The wave peels progressively along the coastline as it bends around the point, producing rides of hundreds of metres — far longer than most reef or beach breaks. You take off near the land, close to the point, and ride the wave as it peels away from you along the coast, moving away from the land with every metre you ride.

The mechanism is wave refraction: as swell approaches the headland, the portion hitting the point first slows in the shallows while the open-water section keeps moving and bends around the corner. The wave then breaks sequentially, with the surfer staying just ahead of the breaking section as it peels. Famous examples include Jeffrey’s Bay in South Africa (rides of 800m+), Malibu in California, and Medewi on Bali’s west coast — the longest, mellowest left-hand point break on the island. Point breaks range from mellow (excellent for longboarding and learning turns) to powerful and hollow (expert-level). Their predictability is what makes them special: waves always peak in the same spot, and the long ride gives far more time to set up and execute manoeuvres than a 10-second beach break ride ever could.

13. What is a river mouth break and how does it differ from other types of break?

A river mouth break forms where a river meets the ocean. River flow carves a deep-water channel and deposits a sandbar or cobble ridge at the mouth. Ocean swell is funnelled through the deep channel and focused by the ridge into peeling waves. The bottom can be sand, cobblestones or rock depending on what the river has carried down from inland.

The river mouth break at Balian on Bali’s west coast is the clearest example: the Balian River, fed by Mount Batukuru, has carved a deep-water channel over centuries that funnels and amplifies even tiny swells — making Balian one of the most consistent breaks on the island and almost never flat. The bottom is cobblestone at the peak with sand inside. River mouth breaks share one characteristic: sensitivity to rainfall. Heavy rain reshapes the underwater bar overnight, completely changing wave quality from one day to the next. All river mouth breaks in Bali — Balian, Canggu Rivermouth and others — benefit from the same deep-water channel mechanism but produce very different waves depending on their specific geology and river size.

14. What is the correct pop-up technique, and what is the most common beginner mistake?

The pop-up is one explosive movement: hands flat on the deck near the chest, one push-up action, both feet land simultaneously in the correct stance — no kneeling, no two-stage rise. The most common mistake is using the knees as a midway step, which is slower, produces an unstable stance, and simply cannot be done quickly enough on steeper waves.

Hands placed close to the chest (not at the hips) give proper leverage. The knee step slows the take-off by 0.5–1 second — enough to miss the wave on steeper reef breaks where the take-off window is short. The pop-up should be practised on land until entirely automatic — 100 repetitions per day is a standard camp recommendation — so that all conscious attention in the water goes toward reading the wave and committing at the right moment. Our land-based coaching and video analysis sessions identify exactly where each surfer’s pop-up is breaking down and produce rapid improvements.

15. Where should your feet be on the board when riding — what is the correct stance?

Feet slightly more than shoulder-width apart, knees bent, arms slightly raised for balance. Front foot roughly at 45° across the centreline of the board; back foot more sideways over the fins. Weight centred. Never stand fully upright — a low centre of gravity is essential for balance, turning and absorbing what the wave does beneath you.

Both feet control speed and direction together — it is about weight distribution between front and back foot, and between heels and toes. More pressure on the front foot drives the board down the line and generates speed. More pressure on the back foot engages the fins and initiates turns. To turn toward the wave face, press your toes into the rail; to turn away from it, press your heels. The sharper the turn you want, the more committed the lean needs to be. The most common intermediate mistake is standing too far back — it generates drag and kills speed, making even good waves feel slow. Our coaches consistently recommend yoga for building the flexibility and core strength needed to maintain the correct low, dynamic stance throughout a full session — yoga is available daily alongside the surf schedule, with one class included free each week.

16. What is a bottom turn and why is it the most important manoeuvre in surfing?

The bottom turn is the arc you draw at the base of the wave after the drop, redirecting downward speed back up the face toward the lip. It is the foundation of every other manoeuvre — without a powerful, well-timed bottom turn, top turns, cutbacks and barrel entries are all compromised regardless of how much ability the surfer has in other areas.

A weak bottom turn sends the surfer too flat or too early up the face with insufficient speed for anything useful. A powerful bottom turn drives the board deep into the wave, compresses into a tight arc, and slings the surfer back up the face with maximum speed. The technique: drop the inside rail, bend the knees deeply, angle the front shoulder toward where you want to go, look up the face. We place the bottom turn as the first intermediate skill to develop after basic wave riding — all more advanced surfing at Uluwatu, Keramas and beyond is built directly on top of it.

17. What does ‘reading a wave’ mean, and how do experienced surfers know where to sit in the lineup?

Reading a wave means watching the ocean to predict where and how a wave will break — identifying the peak, anticipating the direction it will peel, and positioning to take off at the right moment. Good wave reading separates intermediate from advanced surfers more than any single physical skill.

Key signals: watch where experienced local surfers position themselves — they know the break. Identify where most waves are peaking consistently. Use fixed landmarks on the shore to align with the breaking zone. Reef breaks peak in a fixed location, making positioning learnable and repeatable — one of the great advantages of Bali’s reef-dominated surf over shifting beach breaks. Wave reading also involves anticipating peel direction from the horizon: a wave feathering and beginning to break from one side signals a peeling, rideable face; a wave breaking all at once across a wide section signals a closeout — save your energy. Our surf guiding works specifically on lineup positioning and wave selection at Bali’s world-class breaks.

18. What is a rip current and how do experienced surfers use it?

A rip current is a channel of water flowing seaward through the surf zone, returning water pushed toward shore by breaking waves. Experienced surfers actively seek out rips as a free paddle-out — letting the current carry them outside rather than fighting through breaking waves. Beginners often fear rips; experienced surfers treat them as an express lane.

Rips form at gaps in sandbars or between reef and beach, where the seaward flow meets least resistance. They appear as darker (deeper), less broken water with foam or debris moving away from shore. At fixed reef breaks like Uluwatu and Balian, the rip channel is permanent and well-defined — learning it once gives you a reliable paddle-out route for every subsequent visit. If caught in an unintended rip: paddle parallel to shore until clear of the current, then angle back toward the beach — never paddle directly against it. At Canggu’s ever-shifting beach breaks, rips shift with the sandbars and must be re-identified each session. Tony Butt notes in Surf Science that rips can be “deceptive” — the apparently calm patch of water is often the rip, and is actually the safest place to paddle out, not the danger zone that uninformed swimmers fear.

19. What is a cutback and when do you use it?

A cutback is a change of direction using the board’s rails to return to the breaking part of the wave — the power source. When you have ridden ahead to the slower, unbroken shoulder, there is no energy left in the wave face to drive you forward. The cutback redirects you back toward the breaking section where the power is. A good cutback does not lose speed — as we put it in our own cutback guide, the goal is turning towards the breaking wave without sacrificing speed.

The cutback uses your momentum and the board’s rails — not just the tail — to carve a smooth arc back toward the curl. OMBE’s coaching material makes a similar point: once you are at full speed you risk drifting away from the wave’s power source into the flat, energy-less part of the shoulder — the cutback is what brings you back to the curl, where the power actually is. There are three types: the carve cutback (smooth arc back to the breaking section), the snap (sharper and more vertical), and the roundhouse (a full 180° direction change finishing with a rebound off the white water). The long open walls at Impossibles and Keramas are ideal for learning cutbacks — the wave stays open long enough to set up the turn properly and ride back to where the power is.

20. What is an A-frame wave and why do surfers love them?

An A-frame wave breaks both left and right from the same peak, forming a visual ‘A’ shape as the lip pitches in both directions simultaneously. Two surfers can ride the same wave at the same time without conflict — one going left, one going right. However, the two directions do not always offer equal quality — A-frames often favour one side depending on the shape of the reef or sandbar beneath them.

Dreamland on the Bukit Peninsula is a good illustration of how differently each side of an A-frame can break. The right-hander is short: it breaks into a deep water channel and always fades to nothing, never closing out, ending the ride gently in the channel where the rip carries you back to the lineup. The left, by contrast, breaks soft and slow on smaller swells and can produce a long ride with reform sections, but on bigger swells becomes a fast, barrelling wave. Other Bali A-frames include Balian’s river mouth peak, which offers a reliable left and right from the same peak year-round, and the Canggu Rivermouth. At any A-frame the priority rule is straightforward: the surfer on the left side of the peak goes left; the surfer on the right goes right — done correctly, two surfers share one wave simultaneously with no conflict at all.

Great technique comes from great coaching in great waves, and Bali is the best place in the world to do both. Padang Padang Surf Camp offers beginner lessons, intermediate coaching, advanced guiding and private lessons — all with video analysis, expert coaching, and access to the world’s most consistent waves.