How to Generate Speed While Surfing: Tips to Surf Faster

You know the feeling. You're up and riding. The wave's peeling ahead of you. But instead of ripping or gliding down the line, you get caught behind.

The section rifles off down the line, your board loses speed and boom... ride over.

Here's what almost every improving surfer eventually realises: once you're on the wave, speed doesn't come from paddling. It comes from what you do with your body and your board.

Here's how to generate speed surfing and enjoy more acceleration, more control and ultimately have more fun.

What actually makes a surfboard go fast?

Two things: the wave's momentum and the board's design.

Momentum is the freebie. When your board drops down a steep part of the wave, you accelerate. Kinda like rolling down a hill on a bike. The steeper the drop or open face of the wave, the more momentum and speed you get.

Your board's design is the other engine. We've done a great breakdown on the basics of board design, but essentially a surfboard perfectly suited to your size and ability will facilitate speed generation, not bog you down.

Technique tips for getting more speed when surfing

Start in the right spot: positioning at takeoff

• Speed creation starts before you're even on your feet
• The fastest place to take off is the peak, the steepest and highest point of the wave
• Drop in there and gravity immediately hands you speed to carry down the line
• Take off on the soft shoulder and you start with nothing in the tank
• Our advice? Back yourself and sit a touch deeper

Once you're up, aim down the line, not straight at the beach. Riding straight to shore is the number one reason beginner surfers lose speed. Of course, this'll inevitably happen when you're starting out. But as you progress, you can angle your takeoff, perform a bottom turn and use the whole face of the wave.

Stay near the pocket (the power source)

• Burn this one into your brain, peeps!
• The power in a wave lives in the pocket, the steep part near the breaking lip, in the top third of the wave face
• Ever notice how more experienced surfers are never outrunning the wave and cutting back towards the breaking part? That's because they're trying to stay near the pocket
• That's where power and drive are strongest
• Drift onto the flat shoulder and there's no push left, so you slow and sink, sit too low near the whitewater and it's just as dead

Pumping... a sneaky way to generate speed

Watch good surfing and you'll notice that the board is rarely static.

• Skilled surfers ride up toward the lip and back down the face, staying in the top two-thirds and out of the dead flats
• That up-and-down movement, done in one smooth flowing motion, is pumping... the bread and butter of surfing speed generation
• Heavy going down, light coming up

The secret sauce is timing your weight. Two moves, repeated:

• Compress on the way down: As the board drops down the face, get heavy. Bend your knees and press your chest toward your front knee so gravity loads up. This is where you gain speed
• Decompress on the way up: As you climb back up the face, get light. Extend your legs, stand tall and use your arms and eyes to direct where you want to go

Bouncing = speed for small and mushy waves

Sometimes the wave goes fat and flat or there's no real steepness to pump. Bouncing gets you across those weak sections at the risk of looking a little erratic:

• It's a bit like the tic-tac on a skateboard: up-and-down mixed with side-to-side
• Weight the back foot to lift the nose, then push the front foot down to skip the board into the next section without going from toe rail to heel rail
• It's scrappy, but it keeps you moving
• Weak Bali seasons and small waves are perfect for practising

The most common ways surfers lose speed

If you keep running out of gas, you're probably doing one of these:

• Riding straight to the beach instead of angling down the line
• Outrunning the wave onto the flat, powerless shoulder
• Sitting too low near the whitewater
• Stalling with too much pressure on the tail
• Digging a rail and catching an edge
• Flailing and wiggling instead of moving smoothly

Does your equipment matter?

Yep.

Bigger, more buoyant boards like longboards have more rail in the water, so they gain and hold speed easily, often just by trimming across the face. That's why they're friendlier for beginners.

Shortboards have less rail and surface area, so trimming alone won't keep up with a fast wave, which is why pumping can be helpful. If speed feels hard right now, it might partly be the equipment, not just you.

FAQs

Q. How do surfers go fast without paddling?

Once you're on a wave, speed comes from gravity and rail engagement, not paddling. You drop down the steepest section of the wave to accelerate, then use your rails and a pumping motion up and down the wave face to keep that momentum going.

Q. What is pumping in surfing?

Pumping is riding up and down the face of the wave in a smooth, flowing motion to build speed. You compress (get heavy, bend your knees) on the way down to load up gravity and decompress (extend, stand tall, throw your arms) on the way up. It's the main way surfers generate speed on smaller boards and waves.

Q. Why do I keep losing speed on a wave?

Usually because you've drifted away from the pocket, the most powerful part of the wave. Riding onto the flat shoulder, sitting too low near the whitewater, going straight to the beach or stalling with too much tail pressure all bleed speed. Stay high, near the steep breaking part of the wave.

Q. How do I generate speed on small or weak waves?

Take off deep at the peak, stay close to the pocket and use bouncing (a skateboard-style tic-tac) to skip across flat sections. A bigger, floatier board also helps massively on mushy waves.

Q. Is speed generation hard to learn?

The concept is simple: use the wave's energy source and momentum and the right board. A few focused sessions with a coach watching your timing beats months of guessing.

Ready to actually feel this on a wave?

Reading about pumping only gets you so far. Nothing beats a coach in the water calling out your timing on a real wave. Which is exactly what we do. Want to dial this in for real? 

Come surf with us in Uluwatu, where the Bukit has everything from mellow waves to build your pumping skills to long spicy walls to open it up.