The Secret to Surfing Bigger Waves

The scariest part of surfing big waves isn’t the wave you catch, but the wave that catches you.

I was in Fiji recently surfing an offshore reef pass with a few friends. The waves were big—I’m talking about serious triple-overhead barreling monsters hollow enough for the male pros to stand up tall with arms out wide or straight overhead and still not touch the lip. The waves jumped up suddenly then stampeded sideways along the shallow, colorfully sharp reef. I’m a professional surfer, but I’ll admit that I was scared.

My friend Maria was out there with me and while the boys hooted and high-fived and air-dropped into some of the scariest waves I’ve ever seen up close, she and I spent our time carefully dodging the sets and searching for “cute ones”. At one point, we found ourselves a bit too far inside with the biggest set of the session bearing down on us. There was no time for panic and we immediately started paddling towards the horizon with everything we had. I was scared but more than a little glad that at least I wasn’t alone. We were both able to push our boards under and duck-dive the first wave of the set, but popping up on the other side I saw that the next wave was bigger, a little further out, and on its way to breaking right in front of me. I yelled to Maria as much as to myself, “bail your board and dive!”

Following my own advice, I pushed my board to the side, took a deep breath, and swam for the bottom just as the wave detonated overhead. I felt a pop as my leash broke from the power of the wave, then swam back to the surface to see another wave coming, but even more worrisome, no sign of Maria. I ended up having to swim under two more enormous waves before the set was over. All alone in what felt like the middle of the Pacific Ocean with some of the biggest waves I’d ever seen crashing down on me, it was a mental struggle not to panic. In between waves I treaded water while trying to keep my breathing calm and level. Just before each wave got to me I took one last breath, swam for the bottom, and tried to relax. I kept my eyes open and watched the churning white turbulence pass over me before making my way back to the surface. None of that was an innate reaction, rather a strategy learned over time through a lot of surfing experiences, but also through yoga.

I didn’t always believe in yoga. I took my first dance lesson as a three year old from my mom the ballet teacher. By the time I was twelve I was committed to seven hours of dance class per week despite my growing identity as a tomboy who would much rather be kicking a ball or climbing a tree. As much as I dreaded the leotard and tights, I did like the acrobatic aspects of dance—the leaps and twirls—but my favorite part of each class was the opening ten minutes of stretching. I always wished that activity would stretch on until the end of class. At fifteen I finally convinced my mom to allow me to quit dancing in favor of more time spent pursuing my new passion of learning to surf. No more pink tutus, but my warm-up and cool-down stretching routines continued.

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When yoga started to become popular I was completely against it. Why would I pay someone to lead me in a stretching routine? I figured it was just a fad that would soon fade away. I didn’t get it. Eventually a friend dragged me to a class and within the first ten minutes I realized I’d been totally wrong.

Plenty has been written about the benefits of yoga to the practice of other sports including surfing. Maintaining one’s balance while perched on a surfboard gliding along a moving wave requires an incredibly high level of the exact type of strength and flexibility developed from a consistent yoga practice. I felt like an idiot for not seeing the connection earlier and quickly embraced yoga trying to make up for lost time. After several months of a commitment to practice at least three times a week, I felt stronger on my surfboard. When reaching the usual end point of my standard soft sand run, I felt like I could keep on running forever.

Strength and confidence were just the beginning. As my practice progressed past the initial phase of trying to figure out the poses and I could start to focus on the breath, a whole new door opened. There I was in warrior two with my thigh burning and shoulders aching and the teacher adjusting my hips slightly, but this time she didn’t have to remind me to breathe. It dawned on me that holding an awkward pose was a lot like surfing in big waves. If I could breathe through pain and difficulty in yoga, I could breathe though difficulty and panic in other situations too. While caught outside amongst enormous waves without my board in Fiji, I finally got a chance to put that philosophy to the test, and while I wish I could say I made it through the experience without a trace of panic, I know that without my practiced calm breathing, the trace of panic I felt would have been a lot worse.

Whether pushing your limits in bigger waves means twelve foot or two foot, no matter what size wave is coming down on you, remember to breathe and you’ll be fine.

HOLLY BECK began traveling the world with her surfboard after graduating from college in 2001. She won an amateur national title, was the Pro Surfing Tour of America Champion, and spent seven years competing on the world tour. In 2008, she hung up her contest jersey to focus on more meaningful travel adventures, venturing off the beaten path to places like the Seychelles, the Andaman Islands, Sao Tome, Gabon, Taiwan, and Haiti. She's also a certified diver who feeds her obsession with sharks by helping researchers tag whale sharks in the Sea of Cortez and communing with Great Whites near Guadalupe Island. Between adventures, Holly spends most of the year in Nicaragua, living a green lifestyle with her pack of dogs in a small house (without electricity) that's walking distance to her favorite surf spot. Still a traveling professional surfer and model (see Holly in the Summer 2010 Athleta catalog), she also runs women’s surf and yoga retreats with a strong humanitarian focus in Nicaragua. For more of Holly's adventures, check out her blog or visit her Facebook page.