How many times have you asked yourself: what’s my surfing level? It's a very subjective and hard question, but we are here to help! :)
Surf Levels change from person to person, where some people can develop stronger paddling & ocean reading faster and others the technical surfing part. The location and type of break also influence your ability level, especially at earlier levels.
Due to our location (exposed to the north Atlantic swells and winds) surfing around here can be even more challenging. Based on 12 years of experience and many Surf Trips around the globe, we have enough knowledge to define what we consider the 4 main surf levels in Portugal. *Note that you might feel your are in between levels or have achieved characteristics from more than one.
LEVEL 1 - BEGINNER
Probably the easiest one to identify, since its the base level: it comes from no idea about surfing and try it for the first time, until you know the basics. But what are the basics?
Here are the major techniques you should dominate to pass to the next level:
Knowing your surf stance (Goofy vs Regular);
Able to lay down on the surf board properly;
Understanding the safety rules & the base surf etiquette;
Standing up using the 1, 2, 3 technique (no knees or elbows in the process) in a white water or small green wave;
Catching white waters on your own, understand which waves are better to catch;
Correct timing to stand up;
Good balance and coordination to ride the white water / wave until the end;
Starting to turn left & right in the white water.
In this level the students always use a softop surfboard and are quite dependent on the surf instructor help, guidance and supervision.
The goal in this level is to understand the basics about surfing and how to stand up on a surfboard.
LEVEL 2 - INTERMEDIATE
Here we dig a little bit deeper into the surf technique, how the ocean & waves work and how to maximize your wave catching potential. Normally this is the level that people struggle the most to identify with, since you can still be a level 1 + or a level 3 but only in certain conditions. The major differences from this level to the number 1 are: the type of wave (green waves and not white waters), the size of those green waves (slightly bigger) and the reading of those waves (timming, positioning & turning).
Down bellow are the major topics that we consider crucial to be in this level:
Knows the basics and have experience in the level 1;
Improved surfboard control;
Correct stand up and stance (no knees or elbows standing up and good solid / stable stance);
Starting to develop ocean awareness; currents, tides, wind, rips, channels, swell, types of waves & breaks, etc.(all these aspects are very hard to learn & understand, they take time and many hours in the water);
Focus on outside surfing: how to reach the outside (turtleroll or first duckdives), green waves surfing and line up positioning;
Good understanding of the surf etiquette (priorities, dealing with the board & crowd, not being in front of others, etc.);
Wave reading, learning how to turn left & right in small green waves and doing the first little turns (up & down, small cut backs);
First knowledge about the different types of surfboards (shapes, materials, sizes, etc.).
The students can get an introduction to a hardboard surfboard or use smaller softops. The curve of the board will be taken into consideration because you will be riding green waves and not white waters.
LEVEL 3 - INDEPENDENT
Here is when things get a bit more serious! Like the name says, this level is for independent surfers, with less need of an instructor help in the water. After dominating the level 2, we progress to a level where details matter. Knowing how to understand different conditions, a good variety of types of waves and the first proper surf maneuvers are some of the highlights of this level.
If we go into a more detail list, it is important to have a good knowledge of the following topics:
Good surf experience and consistency (its good to remember that surfers who reached this level but stopped for a while, might be a bit rusty and not able to fit in straight away);
Only hardboard surfing, total control and knowledge of the surfboard;
Easily turning left & right, generation speed on the wave, passing sections and doing the basic turns (cut back and top turn);
Improving maneuvers technique & wave reading (where & when we should do each maneuver);
Comfortable ridding green waves up to 1m with different types of wind, tides and breaks;
Proper ocean awareness with experience in different spots;
The only assistance that the coach can be doing in the water is to help positioning in the lineup and deal with the crowds. Most of the coaching is done by filming and analyzing the footage.
LEVEL 4 - ADVANCE
We reached the top of our level categories. Here you master all the previous ones, you know very well what surfing is and how hard was to reach this level 😅 With a few years of experience and many ridden waves, you want to fine tune your maneuvers, your style or simply see yourself surfing! If you tick all the boxes in the list bellow, you are an advance surfer:
Completely independent in the water with solid ocean awareness in all kinds of conditions;
Shortboard ridding and catching hollow waves up to 2m;
Perfecting all kinds of maneuvers and fitting them in the ideal parts of the wave;
Working on linking those maneuvers with good flow;
Trying to explore more critical turns and surfing waves outside the comfort zone.
After all these information, we hope you didn't get even more confused with the surf level you might be at. We always advice for people that don't surf very often to choose a lower level, get back on track and then we do a natural upgrade while you are here :) At the end of the day, we truly want to improve your surfing to the next level, independently of the level stamp we put on!
If you are truly interested in maximizing your surf progression, we have Intermediate & Independent courses available for you :) Please click HERE and check out the next available dates. If you need more information, don't hesitate to read this BLOG POST about it.
Hope to see you soon!
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