How to Go from Beginner to Intermediate Surfer: 2 Key Turning Mistakes to Fix

Ben Considine

Transitioning from a beginner surfer to an intermediate surfer is one of the toughest—and most misunderstood—jumps in surfing progression. You might be catching waves consistently, popping up confidently, and even trimming along the face. But when it comes to turning your board and generating real speed and flow down the line, things can get sticky.

Whether you ride a longboard, mid-length, or shortboard, the transition into proper rail work and turn control requires two key things that most surfers get wrong. In this post, we’ll break down the two biggest turning mistakes beginner surfers make—and how fixing them can unlock smoother, more powerful surfing.

Mistake #1: Pressing the Back Foot Instead of Shifting the Hips

One of the first things beginner surfers are told is that to turn, you need to apply pressure to the tail. While that’s true, how you apply that pressure makes all the difference.

What most beginners do:
They try to push their back foot into the tail of the board to initiate a turn.

Why this doesn't work well:
When you press down on your back foot without shifting your hips back, you lose connection with the front of the board and end up flat-footed, heavy, and off-balance. This often leads to stalling out or performing a turn that lacks flow or drive.

The fix:
Focus on shifting your hips backward, rather than just pushing with your foot. Think of your hips as the steering wheel. By drawing your center of mass over the tail while still staying low, you load the rail and allow your board to turn with more control and power.

✅ Tip: Try practicing this weight shift on land, then bring it into your surfing. Visualize your hips moving backward and slightly down as you approach your bottom turn.

Mistake #2: Not Accelerating Into (and Out of) the Turn

The second major issue beginner surfers face is how they manage speed during a turn. Most beginners slow down before the turn, try to make the turn on a stalled board, and then lose all momentum coming out of it.

Why this is a problem:
When you spend too much time on the tail without generating speed, your board bogs down. You lose glide, flow, and often get caught behind the section.

The fix:
You need to accelerate into the turn and drive out of it. Think of a car turning on a racetrack—it doesn’t hit the brakes during the curve, it carves through it with speed and direction.

✅ Tip: Start thinking about turning as part of your speed generation, not just a maneuver. Look where you want to go, commit to the rail, and feel the board rebound with forward momentum after the turn.

Summary: Two Shifts That Can Change Your Surfing

If you’re serious about progressing from beginner to intermediate surfer, these two mindset and technique shifts are game-changers:

  1. Hips back—not just foot pressure.

  2. Speed through the turn—not slowing down into it.

These might sound simple, but they require practice, awareness, and some feedback. That’s why we created a full YouTube breakdown to help you visualize and understand these movements better.

Back to blog