Surfers utilize the duck dive technique to bury their surfboards underwater so they can dive under waves with their surfboards. But it’s no walk in the park; developing a strong duck dive technique takes years of practice.
The good news is that you can practice these techniques in a variety of settings, including a pool, a lake, or the ocean. When you can make proper duck dives, you spend less energy passing the break, allowing you to use your paddle force to catch more waves.
So, before attempting a duck dive for yourself, there are a few key factors to consider first:
Board Size
First and foremost, you’ll have to ask yourself; do I have a surfboard that can be fully sunk underwater? Surfboards with a lot of volumes are difficult to push underwater, and they are sometimes impossible to duck dive with because they float too much.
The duck dive is typically performed on shortboards, hybrid boards, or small “fish” surfboards. When trying to pass the break on a larger surfboard, it is usually better to turtle roll.
Technique
How to perform a duck dive (the right way):
- Push down with both hands on the rails in front of you, sinking the nose of your board under the water.
- To effectively get more of the board underwater, keep your arms straight and lean forward.
- Take a deep breath just before the wave crashes over you, drowning the majority of your board
- As the wave comes over you, lay flat on your board and create as little resistance as possible. Your knee or rear foot (for exceptionally deep dives) should be placing pressure on the back of the surfboard, smoothing it down under the water. (An underwater view is shown in the photo below).
- As the wave passes over, angle your board back up to the surface. If you’ve duck-dived correctly, you should be able to instantly resume paddling. The sooner you can continue paddling out, the sooner you’ll be back in the lineup and the less energy you’ll burn.
How to duck dive big waves
If you’re an experienced surfer and you want to try your hand at larger waves, you’ve come to the right place. While waves that are 10 feet or higher are much harder to navigate, especially when trying to perform a duck dive, it’s still possible. Try using this technique:
- First and foremost, make sure you’re paddling in the direction of the approaching wave. You should increase your speed and not wait for it to come to you. Push down on the rails with both hands, sinking the nose of your surfboard as far as possible.
- Submerge yourself after taking a long, quiet breath. As soon as you get into the water, press your board with your knee or foot to make it slide under the rolling wave. Simultaneously, try to direct the nose of your surfboard to the surface, where you believe it is safe to emerge.
- Begin paddling out as soon as possible to avoid being “sucked” by the opposing force carried by the wave.
Can you duck dive a foam board?
Duck diving with foam boards is challenging because they are particularly buoyant makes it harder to sink the board. Soft top surfboards such as Wavestorms, Catch Surf and Softech which we feature on this website, vary in their design which impacts how easily they can be duck dived, however generally a foam surfboard will be more difficult to duck dive than a traditional fibreglass surfboard of the same size. What you can do is try to sink the nose of your softboard as the wave rolls towards you in order to reduce the amount of distance you are driven back.
While pushing the wide nose down (it won’t sink very far), keep the remainder of the board as flat as possible to provide as little resistance to the wave as it rolls over you.
Read later – Gerry Lopez Soft Top vs Wavestorm
How to duck dive on a longboard
To duck dive on a longboard, the best technique for learners is generally the turtle roll technique (check out our post on how to turtle roll on a surfboard).
An alternative and more difficult technique to actually duck dive a longboard is to paddle on a 45-degree angle to the wave, push one rail down as the wave’s approaching, knife the board under the water towards the wave and press into your board with your knees then pull with your arms. This manoeuvre is difficult and requires strength and expertise.
The process of ducking diving a longboard can be divided into different stages. The starting point is to paddle towards the wave at a 45-degree angle. The second stage is to lower the rail closest to the wave as it approaches about 10 feet distant.
Then, cut the board beneath the water towards the wave so that you are at 90 degrees with the wave as it passes over. Finally, when you feel the wave approaching, squeeze your knees into your board and pull with your arms, and you should arrive at the surface nose-first.
However, the basic guideline is that you should aim to paddle around waves because duck diving heavier longboards would quickly wear you out. When trying this technique for the first time, experts strongly advise you to start with little waves and work your way up to larger ones.
Is longboard duck diving safe?
Yes- well, it can be. So long as you take the necessary precautions and are a confident swimmer. Professionals have been known to duck dive boards up to 9 feet in length all the time, believe it or not. When done correctly, duck diving a longboard is a more effective approach to get over the break without having to turn the board over or turtle roll several times.
However, you must be in excellent cardio form and have a sufficient amount of strength to duck dive a heavy longboard all day. Before relying only on the duck dive to get past the break on a longboard, you must practice coordination and build up the necessary strength, just like you would while diving or swimming in water.
Can you duck dive a 7” board?
Duck diving a board between 7 feet and 7 feet 6 inches is achievable, but it will require strength and skill.
Pushing down sideways on the board’s rails with your hands and upper body weight is one way to perform a duck dive on a board this size. The more buoyant your board, the more sideways you must push it into the water.
Once you’ve sunk the front of the board as far as you can, use your feet and lower torso to drive the back of the board down.
What’s the best way to duck dive?
We would recommend swimming in the ocean to better understand a duck dive. Without a board or anything, simply swim out to a broken wave and dive under it. Think about what you’re doing while you’re doing it. You go down first, right? As the foam passes overhead, you’ll be practically parallel to the surface.
After the foam has passed, you tilt up and return to the surface. It’s a pretty natural action, guided from the front by your arms, head, and shoulders.
At its essence, a duck dive is nothing more than a dive under a wave-like any other, but you’re bringing your board with you. A good duck dive, like a swimmer’s dive, is led from the front and is all about timing. A duck dive should be completed swiftly since duck diving requires forward momentum, which requires paddling till the very last instant.
Allow yourself just enough time before the wave to push the entire board underwater, nose down, and driving ahead. Use both hands on the rail approximately two feet behind the nose and one knee from your dominant leg braced on the deck, wherever it naturally falls.
The knee allows you to use some of your body weight to get the tail under. You shouldn’t just push the nose down because if the tail is sticking up above the surface, it will absorb the heat from the foam and drag you backward.