Learning to Surf with Surfer Joe (Includes Part 1 & 2)

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Product Reviews

(4 stars) - Solid video for those new to surfing
Watch this video before you take private lessons or buy a board for the first time. If you can stand up and turn, you are way past this video.

+ Great info on how waves form based on weather, tides. Really handy info if you are moved to a location to visit the beach regularly and want to maximize the quality of your visits.

+ Good info on how to be efficient getting out to the waves. I like how they say the sport should be called "paddling" and not surfing. I liked the tips on how to paddle correctly, swim over/thru waves, and how to turn around on the board to catch waves.

+ Good explanation of why you want to start on a longboard and the effects of fins and board shape on the performance of the board.

+ Good info on standing up and what not to do (let one knee on the board)

+ Good info on surf etiquette

- Not much depth in turning, nothing past turning at all.

(2 stars) - average
Creative Sauce "Jimbo"'s review is pretty lame. He objects that everyone is over 40. Not sure what your purpose is for watching this video, Jimbo, but if it's to look at bikini-clad girls, pick up a magazine. This is an instructional video. Besides, if it can teach the oldsters to surf, it will certainly be able to help a cool young hipster like you. But I digress...

I have to give this video a tepid review. It comes in 2 parts. The first part begins with a detailed section on oceanography, which is pretty helpful but may be a bit too technical for some. The DVD moves into the area of fitness, attempting to tell viewers how to get in shape for surfing, yet spends an inordinate amount of time featuring what looks like a very expensive piece of exercise equipment that certainly doesn't come with the video and is not something a beginning surfer is likely to buy. I almost wondered if they were cross-promoting this other product. That whole section was a waste of time, because if you don't have this item, you can't do the exercises. Some basic training that can be done without expensive equipment would have been more helpful.

Even the section on the Indo board was kind of superfluous, as that is also an expensive item to buy if you are not even sure you are going to stick with surfing.

The section on fins was kind of jumbled and disorganized and I wasn't too sure exactly what the guy was recommending.

The surf instruction itself lacked a couple points, such as telling people when to take off on the wave. It seemed to skip over things that may be second nature to an experienced surfer but important to a beginner.

My main complaint about this video is a piece of dangerous information that is given in Part 2. The video tells you that if you fall off the board, you should "dive deep." This is absolutely the worst piece of advice I would ever give anyone about surfing. Dive deep and you may very well break your neck. It is a cardinal rule of surfing that if you fall off, you want to fall as flat as possible as the water may be very shallow.

Once I heard this, the whole video became tainted for me. I can't really recommend it.

(3 stars) - Unfortunately you're better off watching real surfers at the beach
It's ok but you learn just as much by going to the beach and observing surfers out there. The main part that I learned was how to sit on your board and how to turn quickly to catch a wave. That part is hard to see from the beach. However, the "pop up" is easier to watch actually surfers do it.

(3 stars) - not enough
good video but not long enough or complete no views of the jump up or turning

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