Surfing School, Santa Cruz
Wise is the surfer who seeks instruction
While in Santa Cruz my surfing benefited from a group lesson and some private coaching with Richard Schmidt. Richard is a sports instructor of the highest caliber, and an inspiration as an outdoorsman and athlete.
Raised on the big surf of Santa Cruz, Schmidt went on to excel on the North Shore of Hawaii. Later he came home to new challenges at Mavericks, just up the coast. Through it all he has set aside surfing time to instruct thousands of students over the past twenty years.
This girl had brought a five foot shortboard along to learn on. Fortunately he was able to talk her out of using it in favor of the long softboards he uses for instruction. They provide maximum flotation and wave catchability, and paddle like the wind. The girl got up on her own, right in the curl, within a half hour after I saw their first paddle out.
Richard Schmidt demonstrating a longboard turn
I took three lessons with Richard. As Richard starts you into a wave he actually gives your board a push to get you in it. Then he catches up somehow and rides right alongside! This for me was the best part of the lessons. Instead of the voice in my brain that usually gives me bad advice while surfing, Richard was there telling me when to shift my weight back and forward, when to turn, and where.
As we paddled out through the channel, Richard provided instruction on getting out and how to best use objects on shore as reference points to stay in the lineup. He gave me tips on gaining position to catch an advancing wave, as well as how to avoid oncoming surfers.
Read more of Keith Johnson’s stories at Surfacemotion