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129 Lineup Strategy, Surfing Technique and Reading the Ocean with Surf Coach Matt Scorringe Surf Mastery Podcast Download What if the key to unlocking your best surfing isn’t how you ride a wave - but how you read the ocean before you even paddle for it?Whether you're a seasoned surfer or just stepping up to steeper waves, too many of us overlook the 99% of surfing that happens off the board. In this eye-opening episode, elite surf coach Matt Scorringe shares why ocean knowledge - not tricks or turns - is the hidden edge that separates good surfers from great ones. If you’ve ever felt lost in the lineup, struggled with wave selection, or wondered how top surfers always seem to be in the right spot, this conversation is for you.Discover the missing piece in most surf coaching: how reading the ocean gives you faster decision-making, greater confidence, and better waves.Learn how to turn crowded lineups into a game of strategy, not frustration, using Matt’s unique “first line of defense” approach.Explore how treating the ocean like a playground—not a proving ground - can unlock more joy, progression, and long-term success in your surfing journey.Hit play now to learn how rethinking your approach to wave reading and lineup dynamics can instantly elevate your surfing experience.https://www.theartofsurfing.comUse Discount Code: "surfmastery25" for 25% discount on Matts Academy and Remote coaching program.Matts Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/mattyscorringe/?hl=enTranscript: Michael Frampton: yeah, it is. I actually think that most surf courses miss the mark anyway because 99% of your time when you are surfing is not surfing. You are, you're literally paddling around or sitting there reading the ocean, trying to stay focused on the horizon, trying to decipher you look at this little sliver of ocean.Are you gonna paddle over there to get the wave off the crowd or are you gonna paddle over there? Do you want that wave? What's the wind doing? How many swells are in the water? Like all that stuff that makes you a great surfer. People, people don't focus on it. So I actually, I actually released a course that's all about how to read waves.There's nothing Yeah. To do with basically what happens between when the surfboard is under your arm and under your feet. Yeah. Because once you're on to your feet, that's been done to death. And yeah. I wanna segue that into what, in terms of like reading the ocean and reading water, , do you coach people on some of your elites on that sort of stuff?Do you spend much time on it? What are your thoughts? Matt Scorringe : Yeah, absolutely. I mean, with regards to like more high performance athletes that I train, you know, there's a clear, difference between those that have, that really do and those that don't. So again, once on feet, both equally fantastic surfers, but one just has a higher level of ocean knowledge and understanding and, and able to read and, you know, you run.Drill after drill on scenario after scenario and pressure situation after pressure situation and all of that ocean knowledge just, um, you know, means obviously they're gonna read the ocean better, but their confidence is higher and their decision making processes are faster because of the nuances that they're picking up and processing and, and making decisions on to get those waves that go underneath for that wave that didn't look like maybe an opportunity to the other surfer.Uh, and then if you drop it down to like more of my everyday clientele, uh, and a lot of my online clientele with, you know, the, the academy membership or my remote coaching, um, a massive part of what I try and get them to do is actually film more of them. With, uh, a camera that's like not on wave, just them roaming the ocean and, and looking to catch waves.So, you know, zoom it out, push record and let it sit there and have your GPS tracker. And it's amazing what learnings come from that, that you can just pick up, um, that you wouldn't otherwise. And yeah, it's a huge, huge pillar that is really overlooked in most coaching scenarios. Uh, and if you've got someone on a one on one lesson for an hour and a half, like there's only so much you can do in that time, right?Like, hey, this is the day's conditions, this is where the rip is, this is the kind of, you know, the period. And, um, this is kind of where the bank is. , And you can assess what you, you might want to in that moment, but really you're getting such a small snapshot of the, their, their decision making and their, their ocean knowledge., So I, I really enjoy having more of a longer. Time with my remote coaching clientele to actually assess that, give them, you know, training drills and strategies and games. I, I call them games to play, and then they can go out and start to do their own assessments of those outcomes. And that's really my ultimate goal is to teach self-assessment., And to play with different, different, uh, strategies in the ocean to, to learn, you know, I mean, when we're kids, we learn about the ocean through play. Like we're jumping in the shore break, we're swimming in the rip, we're, you know, boogie boarding along closeouts with the boys and you know, that's where you understand all of those, those things that the ocean, uh, teach you.Michael Frampton: , Yeah. Most great surfers had that childhood early on where they, yeah, there was no pressure to even stand up on a surfboard. It's just, just messing around in the ocean. Yeah, makes me think of Wingnut. I interviewed Wingnut a few years ago and he didn't start surfing till he was 17, and I thought that that's such a unique case.Someone's starting surfing so late and becoming so good at it. That didn't make sense to me. I almost didn't believe him. But then he told me he had been body surfing since he was five, and I was like, ah, of course. Yeah, you've got already got the wave, the wave knowledge, the, the way you read water is already there.That's, that's your fundamental school. You're comfortable in the ocean. 'cause surfing, when you think about it, one, once you're on your feet, it's not actually that hard. I mean, look at, look at someone like OIE who barely even, and John, John too. They barely move their bodies at all, right? Yeah, yeah. Kelly's unique.He moves his body all over the place. But someone like AKI is just that, that those subtle movements of changes of balance and direction and it's amazing how you technically, you could be really stiff and inflexible. And not move that much and still be a great surfer, but only if you can stand, get to your feet in the right part of the wave on a good wave with, and then have good timing.And it all essentially comes from reading, reading the ocean and being comfortable in the ocean. Matt Scorringe : Yeah, no, I, I, I agree. I mean, really when you distill, uh, technical surfing on a wave, and sometimes, you know, I, with the, the profession I'm in and other coaches you are sort of, do people not see how simple this technical piece is that they're missing?Right. And obviously we have trained eyes, so, , I say that respectfully or lightly, that you're like, it's amazing. People still will look at their own footage and not identify, Hey, your back arm is, you know, really low when you swing through your twist. So if we can get that higher, it's gonna open up your chest rotation.So there's those things technically. , But they're so much more easier and obvious to really see for anyone. And once you teach them that they can see it themselves and they see it in other surfers., But the ocean is, it's, you know, easy to say to an adult or a late starting client, you need to have had all this experience as a kid, right?And you haven't, so it's gonna be hard. And, and that's, that's really demotivating for them. So, you know, I try to change it around to, uh, you have to pretend you're a kid again. You have to treat the ocean like a playground, and you need to be, you know, very wasteful and okay with falling and failure in the process of learning how the ocean moves, uh, obviously within a realm of safety and don't sort of paddle out to, um, you know, a, a big reef break and sort of just muck around if it's, it's beyond your sort of capabilities, but at your local, at, at your, your local beach break or just learning an environment., It's all about, yeah, in my opinion, having. Like, I've got these strategies I use to teach them how to, you know, understand crowd movement too, and manage, , you know, a, a way to kind of work around that and option A, B, C, D, but also just treat it like a game. So if option a's not working, learn from it, move to B and so on, and be wasteful of that session when it's crowded.Like, okay, it's crowded anyway, so if I get a couple, that's gonna be a great day. So I might as well have a little trial and error of this strategy. Uh, let's see if this works. I mean, I do it myself all the time, like when I travel and I, I surf as a point a lot or padang when I'm in Bali. , You know, I'm literally going through my strategies and trying, and some days strategy A will just work straight away and I'm, I'm on and I think, oh, how good's this?Like, you know, I found a little little gap in the, in the, the chaos out here. And then other days, you know, I get to strategy C or D before I'm like, wow, that's. That those other ones really aren't working today. Like there's five or 6, 7, 8, 10, 15 other people playing the same game as me right now. I need, I need to, I need to shift, you know, and I need to try something different.And sometimes none of them work too, but you know, you, you gotta almost smile and have fun with it in those moments. Michael Frampton: Yeah, that's, I mean, that's great advice for anyone starting surfing is just play. Just don't put pressure on yourself to perform at all. It's really important. But you also mentioned crowd stuff, which segues into something else I wanted to discuss, which is etiquette.Any of those strategies you mentioned,, consider etiquette. What are your thoughts on etiquette? , Have you seen any of the recent, um, social media stuff? I mean, get stabbed at an article recently about kooks and Barley and Surfline did a little thing about being closest to the peak and there's been a, a few Instagram, , influences, you know, chatting about it.And I interviewed Holly Beck about it, , a couple of weeks ago as well. So what are your thoughts on et. Matt Scorringe : Well, I mean, at the core of etiquette, that comes down to, , surfing with respect for others. Right? And, and so my thoughts on etiquette is it needs, there needs to be etiquette. , What are the rules?And, and, and, you know, what, what dictates the right way to do it. , I know it's gonna start with an answer that sounds like top level, , but it is so dependent on situation, , the wave type, the level of the surface. So a lot of the strategies I teach clients, , start with clearly assessment, you know, tools to assess what a pack is doing., One of the, one of the more effective ones is I what I call identifying the first line of defense. So I kind of have these sort of analogies that tie into war because when you go out there sometimes it's like you're going into a fight or into war. , And so who are those sort of soldiers, that first line of defense that they're trying to lock down?The, the peak or the, you know, the, the, the main takeoff spot and how many of them are there, are they working in synergy, you know, like a local spot where they're like clearly clustering together to, to kind of, , surround that, that, that best spot? Or is it a spot like, , you know, being in, or again, maybe deserts where, you know, there's just a lot of people trying their own individual plan in that moment.And so, you know, allowing these first line of defense people to have that kind of, authority that they want to have out there. , But playing underneath them and, and almost using that against them, , is something that, you know, you can do. And I know it's kind of hard to articulate just over a conversation, but when you have modules and you're sort of showing examples, , I know myself, I use.At Padang a lot just sitting, you know, slightly under all those sort of main, main key guys. Now clearly if there's another 30 guys, like maybe with the same idea, then that secondary peak gets, gets packed. But, , there's these ways in which you can, you can again try option A, option B, um, but often, you know, just being underneath and, and allowing those other surfers to have that, that, , pecking order that they're trying to, they're trying to have, , you can, you can slot in underneath and, and still get great double ups or, you know, get one that's missed.Or identifying that this guy's a local, that's an older guy that gets a lot of respect and lots of people are gonna pull back, but he's not got a good paddle. I've had so many waves just. Double checking those guys. And you know, they just don't quite get it when like, sometimes it does, it's like 30 guys have pulled back 'cause they're like, oh, it's, it's such and such, you know, we don't wanna push his section down, but you are just over enough that you are not gonna do that.And you might be able to squeak in when 30 guys pull back and he just takes off too late or doesn't quite make the drop., So yeah, identifying those, those little gaps is key. , Back to etiquette though, with that personally, , I'm non-confrontational in my approach to surfing. Like, I've never enjoyed an argument.I've never enjoyed trying to, , paddle up to someone and educate them on the environment unless they're being dangerous. , The worst environments I've found myself in my life have been of recent w with my own sons teaching them to surf. Uh, so being out in lineups like. Ulus when it's only two to three foot high tide and you just have all these uneducated surfers.Uh, and I don't wanna put a label on level, I'm just uneducated on, on movement and just priority and, you know, just fairness, like, and safety, just, uh, you know, and so you're, you're literally out there with your son. And I've been in the most confrontational arguments of recent, purely when I feel obligated to try and tune someone about how dangerous they're being when not just my kids, but other kids are out in the lineup and, you know, they don't have the, the physical capability or skillset., Or knowledge yet to make the right decision. , They're learning, they're trying to get out the way, but maybe they're just not gonna be able to. And yeah, just seeing so much, um, carnage, clearly, uh, it's been really a, a, a challenging journey at times because, you know, you don't see all of that kind of stuff when you surf better breaks with higher level surfers., It, it's really gone to the dogs and I, you know, I grew up in that environment once upon a time, but it's so much worse now than it was in were kids. I feel for any learner, adult, you know, female long boarder trying to get amongst that and, and cash their wave, you know, it's just, uh, it's, it's a really toxic environment now.Those sorts of mainstream breaks,, you know, you can go through a list of Malibu and snappers and, you know, all around the world, right? It's, it's just so many surfers now. So, , yeah. It's, it's, it…
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