WHAT IS A “DUCK DIVE”?

The duck or also called duck dive, is a surfing technique by which the surfer can cross the waves by diving into the water in order to cross them without the waves break on it, this maneuver will be repeated throughout the surf session, so we must have it well polished to improve in surfing and not lose all our strength and energy to pass the waves. Besides not knowing how to do this maneuver well will create frustration and despair, so read this article carefully and put into practice these tips if you want to improve your surfing.

Can you make a “duckdive” with any surfboard? how to learn to make a duck dive?

You will need to know, first of all, although if you are here because you have basic notions about surfing, that not all surfboards are the same, so we must know what kind of board we handle and if we can do the duck with it or we will have to learn other techniques to pass the waves.

The boards with more volume as the boards we use to learn the first days, or the long boards, are boards with a lot of volume and this will not allow us to sink the board so we must do another technique to pass the waves, but if our board has enough volume so that we can sink it, we can do the technique of “duckdive” or “duckling”.

Why do I need to learn this “duck dive” technique?how to learn to make a duck dive

You can see the perfect illustration of how to learn to duck dive. At this point if you are looking for how to make a good duck, you will have experienced in your baths a frustration that every surfer has experienced, to see how others pass the waves as if it walks and we roll us with great ease, well here you will find the guide to make a good duck and this will not happen again, obviously you will need to practice, but I assure you, that following this guide, you can get it in a very short time.

Duck dive technique explained in 5 simple steps: 

1. Approach to the wave (foam): The first very important step and that will mark if we have done well the duckling or not is the approach to the wave or the foam, we must approach with speed because without this we can not dive and the wave will drag us easily, we have to create some resistance to face the wave, so we can use that speed so that, helping the inertia of the wave, we get out on the other side with momentum.
2. Technique: Once we are a few meters from the wave or the foam, we must have the arms placed under the chest, grabbing the edges strong to not lose the board in the attempt, arms well stretched to sink the nose (front of the board) and get to lean forward, while we sink the back of the board with a kick or with the knees.
3. Control: We must hold the momentum generated, with a straight position and without moving, as we can lose momentum and crash into the wave, and this will make us lose control, we can lift the opposite leg to have more strength to sink the back of the board.
4. Supporting the chest: Once we have the board parallel to the bottom, and we have passed the first breaker we will need to lie down on the board to pass the entire wave and thus be able to catch the inertia of the wave that will not push out on the opposite side to which we entered, thus getting to have passed the wave correctly.
5. Exit: You will be able to bend your arms and you will be able to tilt the board towards the surface, thus being able to exit with impulse towards it.

I know this can be quite complicated at first, but with practice you will see that you do not need to think about all these steps but it will come out by itself, it’s like driving, at first everything is difficult and you have to be thinking about every move, but once your brain assimilates these movements and understands them, you drive naturally, mechanically, without realizing you have reached from one point to another without stopping to think about the movements made to get from point A to B, as in surfing is the same, with the technique of duck dive, is the same.

Here is an explanatory video that will be easier to watch and assimilate than reading all this text.