How to Body Surf (With or Without a Body Surfing Handboard and Swim Fins)

The art of body surfing is not just a physical activity, it's a joyful communion with the ocean waves. It's an exhilarating experience that can bring immense pleasure during your beach visit.

When you body surf, you are hydroplaning or skimming across the face of a wave using your body. In more advanced wave conditions, swim fins, and bodysurfing handboards are eventual.

The experienced body surfer positions their body like they are performing a one-handed push-up, and the handboard ( also known as a handplane) and swim fins are the only elements gliding across the wave. The handboard can be used to speed up or slow down, get tubbed (when riding the inside or hollow part of the barrelling wave) or even cut into the wave's wall to exit or pierce upwards through the wave to the surface.

Step 1 - Preparing to Body Surf

Before you begin, it is good to prepare with warm-up stretches, as you would for bodyboarding or surfing. While warming up, watch the surf conditions to find the best sandbank or break and be aware of rips (more information below).

The only equipment you need for freestyle body surfing is swim fins. If you want more lift, speed, and control, you can also use handboards.

Step 2 - Picking the Right Wave to Body Surf

The first step in mastering body surfing is learning to spot the perfect beach or reef break. With this knowledge, you can confidently freestyle body surf almost any wave worldwide, especially those with slower, breaking waves.

For faster waves, it is best to bodysurf with swim fins or flippers and a handboard. These tools provide more lift, speed, and control, allowing you to navigate the waves more effectively. Look for gentle sloping sandbanks that would enable you to swim out to the breaking waves. You will want to body surf in waves, pitching and breaking left and right instead of closing out simultaneously.

Beginners should stick to smaller waves in the 1—to 3-foot range and avoid waves that crash too close to shore or on shallow sandbanks.
The best place to be is between the flags, as long as you are not using a handboard, for the respect and safety of others swimming between the flags.

Most local council beach safety policies don't allow hard material/s boards between the flags to prevent injury.

More experienced body surfers can ride in much bigger wave conditions, whether it's a beach break or reef break.

Once you have achieved these better bodysurfing techniques, your next goal is to ride the wall of the wave as long as possible and, with even more skill experience, ride the wave right through a tube and make it to the other side.

Step 3 - Body Surfing Techniques

In chest-deep water, you can push off the ocean floor. Once you feel the force of the wave starting to carry you, place your hand/s in front of the wave and skim across it, either on your chest or side of your body.

Once you've achieved the basic bodysurfing technique, you can progress to mastering bigger waves and naturally performing new bodysurfing manoeuvrers on the wave.

Experienced body surfers can position their handboard and body to aquaplane across the wave, gliding diagonally left or right across the face of a wave as it barrels over the body surfer.

In deeper ocean conditions, where the waves are breaking further out, and you are not a strong swimmer, you will need swim fins to gain more speed and catch the waves. In this case, a handboard can also assist in a more vigorous swimming stroke and help you to return through the wave zone faster and more efficiently.

One great technique is the dolphin style, whereby the wave has just gone over, and you push off the ocean sandbank body surfing under the wave, thrust together with both swim fins to pierce through the wave wall, and then ride the wave left or right.

The POD Team's Final Words

Another favourite technique, in addition to using your hand or a handboard, is to cut into the wall of the wave to exit into deeper water.

At the end of the wave, use your speed to lift your body up and over the lip of the wave to exit.

Experienced bodysurfers can even bend both legs up behind their back and finish the wave with a pleasant 360-degree spin on their stomach, similar to a bodyboarder doing the same on their bodyboard.

Suggested Reading: Bodysurfing With A POD Handboard