How to Duck Dive | Surfing Tutorial to Pass the Break Efficiently

The duck dive is a technique used by surfers to sink their surfboards underwater so they can dive under the waves with their surfboard. Once you're able to do proper duck dives, you waste less energy passing the break, keeping your paddle power to catch more waves. You can practice the following techniques in a pool, in a lake or in the ocean. Firstly, is your surfboard small enough to properly sink underwater? Surfboards with a lot of volume are very difficult to push underwater, making it sometimes impossible to duck dive. Duck diving is usually done with smaller surfboards. If you're surfing a longboard, you might want to use the turtle roll technique to get past the waves. Depending on the type of wave you duck dive, there's a distinctive energy and different flow of water beneath the wave. Duck diving a wave that is already broken in front of you means you're trying to go under and past the whitewater wave. These waves are sometimes hard to get through because the energy is going forward towards you. Also, the whitewater extends beneath the surface. You want to try and go under all the whitewater but sometimes you must go through the bubbles underwater. Duck diving a wave that hasn't broken yet is easier. The energy of an unbroken wave goes in a circular motion. This vortex helps you get through the wave as you get pulled towards it and push back out of the wave. Here's how to do it step by step. Number one, paddle hard to gain speed. It's impossible to duck dive a powerful whitewater wave without proper speed. You need a forward momentum to be able to go through the wave. Don't hesitate, go straight towards the wave with loads of speed. Number two, start two meters before hitting the wave. Only stop paddling and start to do the duck dive when you're about surfboard's length away from the wave, around about six feet before. The first step to initiate the duck dive is to grab your surfboard's rails beneath your pectorals. Number three, push the front part of the board down and forward. After grabbing the rails, lean your upper body over the front part of the board and use your shoulder strength to dig the nose underwater. Keeping your arms straight will help you get more of the board under the water. You want to bring your board deep and forward using the speed you have gained from paddling intensely prior to the duck dive. Number four, push on the tail with your foot or your knee. The next step is to bring the tail down so that the whole surfboard can be underwater. Once you've brought your nose deep and forward underwater, push the tail of the surfboard down using your foot or your knee on the traction pad. Pushing down on your traction pad will bring your surfboard parallel to the bottom. This is particularly important when the wave passes over you. Lift your other leg up like a scorpion, this helps you put more weight over the tail to sink it. It's important to keep the forward momentum. Pushing the tail down comes quickly after sinking the nose and together they look like one single motion. Do this quickly and keep moving forward underwater. Number five, bring your body to your surfboard. Once your surfboard is deep and parallel to the bottom, bend your arms and bring your body to your surfboard as the wave passes over you. At this point, if your surfboard's nose is still pointing downwards, the board could get pushed out of your hands when it hits the foam. Be sure to bring your body to the surfboard. Don't bring your surfboard to your body. If you pull your surfboard up to your body, you won't be sinking deep enough to go through the powerful waves. Number six, resurface. After the wave has passed over you, you can aim the nose towards the surface. The natural buoyancy of the board will bring you up, even giving you momentum to paddle back. You can frog kick with your legs to come back up quicker if needed. Here are some extra tips. If you start your duck dive too soon, you won't have the speed momentum to go downwards and forwards under the wave. Because of your surfboard's buoyancy, you'll start coming back up too soon and get pulled back by the wave. If you start your duck dive too late, your board won't have time to get parallel to the bottom and the white water will push you backwards. The faster you paddle towards the wave before your duck dive, the easier it will be to sink your board with forward momentum underwater, making it easier to pass through the wave. Remember to start your duck dive when you're a surfboard's distance away from the wave. Take your time to resurface or you'll get pulled back by the white water. Keep your eyes open underwater if you can. This can sometimes help you avoid turbulence as you find the best path through the bubbles. With your eyes open, you can also see the distance from the reef to prevent damaging your board. Kick hard on the traction pad. Think about bringing your board deep and parallel to the bottom whilst moving forward. In a pool, try to keep your balance underwater, sinking your nose with your hands, then sinking your tail with your foot whilst moving forward and downwards underwater. If you enjoyed this video, click on the link in the description below to get access to hours of surfing tutorials. Our online courses will increase your enjoyment in the water and help you surf better, faster.