Suggest

Duck dive

Surfing / Popular

Get under breaking waves with board angle, body weight, and recovery timing.

What coaches agree on

  • Push the nose of the board underwater first, arms locked straight, hands gripping the rails up near your chest.
  • A smaller, low-volume board sinks and duck dives far more easily than a bigger, more buoyant one like a longboard or mini-mal, which usually needs a different technique or a turtle roll instead.
Show more
  • Paddle hard to build speed and carry that momentum straight into the duck dive.
  • As the board goes under, bend your arms and pull your body down close to it, staying streamlined and holding the rails until the wave passes.

Common mistakes

  • Starting the duck dive too early or too late, rather than roughly a board's length (about two to three meters) before the wave, either pops you up before the whitewater has passed or leaves you without time to get deep enough.
  • Not driving the tail deep enough, leaving it sticking up out of the water, lets the whitewater catch it and drag the board and you backward.