Learning to surf is like learning to ski - Thu, March 5

I have come up with another story idea for CSIA Ontario’s Ski Talk magazine – “How learning to surf made me a better ski instructor”. Dave’s method has made all the difference in my surfing. Four years ago when I was in Australia I was able to catch, stand up, and ride in one wave out of 20 I tried. That one ride was so worth it that I kept at the sport. Today I was catching and riding in every second wave. Quite the progress! Why the difference? The first surf school I went to believed only in the true method of surfing – the jump up. The analogy I would use for ski instructors is that this would be equivalent to expecting all of our students to instantly be able to ski parallel. While some may be fast-tracked, for most this is not a reasonable expectation. Dave’s method where you get to bring one foot up, then get up, gets people up and surfing and enjoying it right from the get go, kind of the equivalent of teaching wedge turns to get to the end goal. Which would you prefer?