One shuffle forward, two wipeouts back—or surf progress hell

It happens. Over and over again.

You just had a session where you felt like you forgot how to surf. Not only did you not progress, you didn’t even plateau—you simply regressed and got stuck. It hurts.

We might call these sessions “one of them days” and accept them as part of the surfing experience. But we really wanted to know why this happens, so maybe there’s a way to fix it?

Laura Day—one of Girls Who Can’t Surf Good and founder of Surf Société—shared something she learned in a workshop with a sports mental coach:

“The brain will temporarily sacrifice skills you already have to focus on learning something new. So when you’re pushing yourself and feel like you’re regressing, it’s all part of the process. You’re not actually regressing—you’re making room to grow.”

There’s an explanation for this
That quote made me think about the power law of practice. Now, bear with me. I promise it’ll be worth it.

The power law says there’s something slowing down the learning process—that learning doesn’t increase at a steady pace. Oh no. Our learning is hindered no matter what we do. And that kind of makes sense, right?

You experience huge gains early on—like when you stood up on a board for the first time.

Then slower gains creep in—say, when you’re practicing your turns. You hit plateaus, where you’re not improving at all. 

And then, the worst of all: occasional regressions, where you suddenly feel like you’ve forgotten how to surf altogether.

Surfing can’t be controlled
Surfing is a complex motor skill, and the power law of practice definitely applies—but with extra twists.

Because you’re not practicing in a controlled environment (and honestly, even wave pools barely count).

Changing conditions add chaos. And chaos makes plateaus and regressions more likely—not because you’ve stopped improving, but because the parameters keep shifting.

So your progress might look more like a jagged learning curve—forward, backward, sideways—but overall trending up.

And another thing
I’ve always wondered if there was something besides conditions that slows down learning in surfing. And I mean all conditions: like waves, board type, whether the sun is shining, or whether you’re hungover.

Based on my experience? I think it’s total cognitive overload.

Once you’ve truly mastered a skill and it becomes automatic—like driving a car—then it’s all a bed of roses.

But if you’re trying to process too many things at once (takeoff angle, pop-up speed, foot placement, and—God forbid—a turn?), your brain can fry its working memory.

It doesn’t know what to prioritize. So it panics, shuts down, and it’s hasta la vista, baby… until the next session.

️ How to stop your brain from frying
The key, I’ve learned, is to make your practice more deliberate and isolate the specific skill you’re trying to acquire.

Break it into smaller chunks: just catch a wave and ride it on your belly, rather than trying to pop up as well.

Then repeat that with focused attention—not just mindless reps. Apparently, that helps commit it to long-term memory, one step closer to becoming automatic.

And if that still doesn’t work? Then it was definitely “one of them, can’t-be-helped” days. Let’s just get some ice cream and sit on the beach instead!