Firstly to need to read our gear guide – click here.

Make sure that you can swim at least 50m, you need to be a adequate swimmer incase you lose your board or your leash snaps and you have to get to shore.

We really recommend that you get some surfing lessons from an approved surf school because they will point you in all the right directions and probably save you a lot of time and frustration.

If you haven’t got a board then you can hire one from most good surf beaches.

Once you are on the beach near the water make sure that you are ready and your wetsuit is all zipped up (cos it will be damn chilly if not).

You need to attach you leash to your foot, if you are unsure of which foot this is going to be try either or both of the following techniques:

1) Lie on the floor and pretend that you are on a surfboard, and then place your hands besides your chest and push your body up and then try to jump to your feet into a general surfing stance. The foot at the back is the one you want your leash attached to.

2) Pretend that you are holding a rugby ball out in front of you, and that you are going to kick it through some goal posts, go through the motions of kicking the pretend ball - now which foot did you kick with? Whichever foot it was, this is your back foot and the one that the leash is attached to.

You will need to attach the big velcro end of your leash to the ankle of the leg that will be at the back of the board when you stand up.

Now that you are securely fastened to your board you can start walking into the surf, hold the majority of the leash out of the way of your feet to avoid the embarrassing "trip over your leash" scenario. Always keep your board to the side of you when walking out into the water and while you’re in the water – NEVER in front of you, because if a wave comes and pushes your board towards you, you could end up with a broken nose.

You don’t need to go out into the unbroken waves you just need to head to about waist or a bit deeper so that there are some good sections of white water. You need to start on the white water because it is easier to get the feeling of the board and you will get more waves and can easily learn to get to your feet quicker.

A few metres before the whitewater comes, face your board towards the beach jump on your board. The nose of your board should be about 2-3 inches from the water, you may need to practise getting the right lying position on your board. Too far forward and you could nose dive and too far back and the drag won’t enable you to catch any waves. If you have the big funboards try this: slide onto your board so that your toes are at the end then go forward roughly another half a foot, check the distance between the nose of the board and the water.

Now while you are on your board make sure that you look over your shoulder so that you always know what is coming behind you. When the white water is coming start paddling, still try and look behind you a few times while its coming towards you, when it’s about 2 metres away paddle faster. The wave will then hit you, paddle a good couple more strokes then you should feel it pick you up and push you a bit. Keep you head up and arch your back a bit as this is another cause of nosediving. For the first few times just ride the surfboard in towards the shore to get the general feel of it, even try some turns, you can do this by lifting yourself up from the board with your hands and then lean using mainly your hips either right or left this should turn you. Be careful of others in the water.

When you have done this you are now ready to try to stand up. Go back out the same position where the white water is. Do the same paddling and looking as before, but this time when you feel the wave has got you grab the sides of the board at about chest area and push up hard with your arms, now is the more difficult bit, while pushing up you need to swing your legs up onto the board. Try your very best not to go onto your knees and then up onto your feet as this is counterproductive. This action should be fast and all in one movement. You need to be aiming for your feet to be just over shoulder distance apart, you back foot should be near the tail of the board at a 90 degree angle and your front foot should be facing about 2 o’clock. Also make sure that your heels are on the board, no tiptoes please. This will take practise and plenty of it. Once you are up make sure you bend your knees this will make it easier to balance. Now you've started to Surf!!!