Questions from someone who has never surfed

How do I take off a wetsuit?

‘Peel it like a banana,’ says Corey Senese, owner of Coreyswave Surf Lessons in Montauk, New York. ‘Right-side out is not gonna work.’ If you have trouble getting started, have a buddy pull the neck hole down over both of your shoulders. You should be able to get it from there.

Do I have to get up really early? It seems like surfers get up really early.

Maybe. Many surf spots have glassy waves first thing in the morning that get choppy and unsurfable once the wind picks up. Mornings are more likely to be glassy in many places, but there’s loads of variability. In some places, the waves are great all day or clean up in the early evening. Surfers call the latter dusk patrol.

Is skateboarding a good way to practise?

‘Skateboarding won’t help with your pop-up, but it helps with the stance and turning – the toe-edge, heel-edge feeling of turning your board,’ says Senese.

Are there rules about which beach I can and can’t surf on?

Yes, but generally only in the summer, when non-surfers want to enjoy the water as well. Ask a lifeguard or a surf school, read signs, and look for yellow flags with a black ball in the middle. That means surfboards are not allowed.

What about sharks?

There were only 88 unprovoked shark attacks worldwide in 2017, with five fatalities (two in SA). The same year, around 300 people here in SA were killed by lightning. Still freaked out? Try the Sharkbanz Modom shark leash ( R2 000). It uses magnets to irritate sharks’ electroreceptors to chase them away.