I'm not a surf coach, not by a long stretch. But experience, observation, and advice from others lead to the belief many surfers don't understand how to duckdive. Without help from other surfers I'd still be thrashing, so here's a graphic explanation. Maybe it will help you.

We've all seen ducks and other aquatic birds execute a duckdive. They kick strongly with their webbed feet, lift out of the water slightly, and quickly duck their head straight down into the water. This leaves their little feathered butt sticking into the air.

This is absolutely the wrong maneuver for a surfer! So the name "duckdive" itself imparts the wrong idea. Since getting under and through a broken wave is such an important part of surfing, it's worth it to spend a bit of time discussing the technique. It's even more important to spend time in the water practicing.

Here's the discussion topics:

Seems obvious, but it's worth stating explicitly: The mission of duckdiving is to get under and through an approaching wall of white turbulent water as cleanly and efficiently as possible, and to emerge out the back of the wave in perfect position to stroke away from the scene.

Given this, you can see how imitating a duck by sticking your head straight down and your butt (or tail of the board) straight up, is NOT going to be the most effective technique. You can see some surfers try it in this fashion, and they don't display any efficiency in achieving the mission. This leads to a better vision of the duckdive.

Remember those old black and white World War II war movies featuring submarines at sea? Remember how the submarines submerge? That's a much better vision for you to pursue than what ducks actually do.

The submarine moves forward at a goodly clip on the surface of the ocean, remaining horzontal in the water, and then descends into the depths while maintaining forward momemtum and horizontal attitude. Use this vision when you duckdive, and you'll start to improve your technique immediately.

So how do you do it? Your strategy is to use the tools at your disposal. Notably this is the relative weights and buoyancies of your board and your body. As you can easily see, your body is much heavier and denser than your board. Your board is lighter and more bouyant than your body. Here's how to use this to your advantage. All the following motions actually happen within a split second of one another in real time. That's another reason so many surfers aren't accomplished duckdivers; it's difficult to break it down into the component movements.

As the wall of white water approaches, stroke straight toward it with vigor; forward momentum is your friend. You want to hit the wave with all the velocity you can muster. BTW, stroke into it straight on, not diagonally and definitely not broadside! But you already knew that.

As impact is near (timing is important), grab the rails of your board, about a foot back from the nose, right hand on right rail, left hand on left rail.

Next do a modified push up on your board, with the toes of one leg on the tail, and the other leg straight but raised diagonaly in the air to work as a rudder. The tripod action of your body will push the board under the surface while it remains relatively horizontal. This is what you want.

As you push off the deck, bring the bulk of the board back in the water underneath you. At this point your hands are almost directly beneath your shoulders. You should look down at the very nose of your stick, so the crown of your head is presented to the oncoming wall of white water. Prepare for collision!

At the critical moment of impact you have a dual purpose. Use your head and the density of your heavy body as a battering ram to hit and punch through the white water with all the momemtum you have. At the same time, slip the submerged board under the white water to hide its bouyancy from the tumbling action of the broken wave.

Now it's time to use the board's buoyancy to your advantage. As the white water fully engulfs your body, jab the board forward and slightly upward by extending both arms fully in front of you. Use a lot of strength in this maneuver, so as to spear the surfboard through the wave. Your back foot will come off the board at this point.

You want to pop the board through the surface behind the wave; it should still remain largely horizontal. Since it's more bouyant than you, it will drag your heavy dense body through the remaining white water. To increase this effect pull the board under your body in preparation for remounting.

Settle your body onto the deck of the board in perfect paddle position. Immediately stroke with power away from the back of the wave and the remnants of the turbulence.

There. That felt good didn't it? Now prepare to do it all over again since the incoming set has six more waves bearing down on you!

As you practice and improve your technique, you'll find you can successfully negotiate increasingly larger waves. There is some upper limit of course, as there will always be waves too big to duckdive. But you can improve by analyzing the steps, concentrating on the choreography, and practicing on modest waves.

It's a fact that smaller boards are easier to duckdive than larger boards. What if you surf a longboard? Worse yet, how about a BZ foamy? In these cases there's still an option. Get a saw from the tool shed (chain saws work best), and give your board a little trim. The exact surgery will depend on your height, weight, surfing skill as well as the board dimensions. As a rule of thumb you should whack at least two feet from a nine-footer, more from a longer board. You'll want to patch the open surfaces with fiberglass when your done cutting the stick to size. Or you could just sell the log at a garage sale and get a real surfboard. ;>}

CU Out There,

DogMan