What is the objective when riding a wave?
the objective is to impress your friends by trying to do big turns with hard edged surfboards that throw a lot of spray.
that is the only objective.
if there is no one out there surfing, or no one on the beach then there is no point to surfing at all.
It is all about being seen and then uploading photos of yourself to facebook and outlining how to get to the place you surfed and what tides it works best on.
You raise a good question here Benski, hopefully there will be some interesting (and thoughtful) responses to enlighten us all.
Personally, I think the whole objective of riding a wave is to get STOKED, but that’s just too simple isn’t it….
Don’t know if it all can be summed up by saying the length of the ride is the main point. There are too many variables; I’ll try to roughly explain my theory with 2 examples.
1) Beach breaks: Given the unpredictable nature of most beachies I believe you have to take a totally different approach. For me personally is all about the rush of making the drop, eyeing the lip ahead and setting the right line. To try and get the longest run possible is a bit counter productive on beachies. I don’t think there’s much point in milking a wave for all it’s got only to pull off and find you’re inside the bank, stuck in the gutter and have to paddle your ass off to get out the back again. I’d much rather have heaps of shorter rides, maybe get barrelled, maybe try to pull off a trick or maybe just trim along to try to get that unexplainable feeling of having a real connection between me, my board and the wave.
2) Point breaks / reefs: You know the wave is going to run for a certain length and there will be different sections on the face as the wave breaks. You can think ahead and plan your next move for the upcoming section. Wether you want to rip it to pieces or just trim along and run some nice smooth lines it doesn’t really matter, I think the length of the ride is kind of the point here.
During the last good swells we had at Noosa it was great to score a wave from the Boiling pot right through First point. But to be able to get one of these long rides it meant playing it a bit safe, like doing a smaller more refined cut back to stay in the pocket or trying a floater over the section ahead that might or might not barrel. Probably not the most visually impressive style of surfing, but it’s a guaranteed way get out of the water with jelly legs and a huge grin. :)
It’s just the feeling of being free to do what ever you want to do when riding on the face of a wave that has to be the main point of surfing, surely???
Nat Young goes into a bit of detail of his theory of “fall lines†in his book, although his etiquette in the water leaves a lot to be desired, his theory on this aspect of surfing is pretty well on the money in my mind.
So after a lot of thought and all this rambling on, I still keep coming to the same conclusion;
The objective of surfing is to get stoked…
There are two topics here: One is how we feel while riding a wave the other is what we ae trying to achive physically. The two ae being mixed up here.
For myself physically I aim to catch lots of waves and rode them as far as possible without falling off or losing my board.
As far as feelings go I feel like I'm a predator feeding. It's calm and serious, not adequately explianed by the usual description of surfing being 'fun'.
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I got this out of Step into liquid and it is completely true
"surfing was born out of pure recreation so the point of going surfing is to have fun there are no standards that you must meet, its just a recreation sport, have fun.
and to get pitted
Agreed! Does not matter what you do, show respect and you will be respected. We are all ot there to get stoked.
A good/styling bottom turn does it for me !
Even better when riding my shortboard.
And yes the sunshine coast in winter can do strange things to your way of thinking !
When riding a wave the objective is is to ride with grace, style and creativity IMO.
Each wave is a canvas to paint your own picture. Like an artist the better you become with technique the better the image becomes, though beauty is in the eye of the beer holder (on a headland I hope).
Forgive the purist if they think that a critically placed snap or hack is not astheticley pleasing but the result is usually a surfer nicely placed in the power pocket of the wave...and that my friends is where the pure source of surfing exists.
Watch Parko and that is the objective of riding a wave. Putting the right turn in the right spot on the right wave with the right amount of power.
The objective is to have fun.
How you get the fun out of riding a wave is up to you.
Personally, my favourite thing to do is just race as fast as the wave will let me.
Sick....
Every wave is unique. So the objective, as far as I'm concerned is to put yourself in that part of each wave which gives you most control. To do so you perform certain manouvres, be they trimming, turning (in all its versions), nose riding or geting shacked.
I don't think the length of the wave is important; more it's opportunity to provide you with an enjoyable ride. Sometimes that can be quite short and intense; at other times it can be a long, cruisy wave with a number of interconnecting sections.
Cheers for your input so far people. It's interesting to read other ideas. You know, yesterday morning I surfed right out the front here with my woman. She rides a booger on small clean days and I took out my longboard. We had it to ourselves for a short while and an old dude on a kneeboard joined us and she says a big cheery "hello!" to him. We spent the next hour before the wind came in just sharing waves and laughing out in the water as the crowd grew. Such a good vibe in the water, bird of prey flew overhead with a massive fish in its talons and lots of waves to share. I was stoked.
So I have to agree with a fair of few you, that's the objective isn't it? To do whatever it takes to make you stoked and fuck it, it really doesn't matter what that is.
i think the reason you are asking this benski because you are wondering why you are surfing, we do it to have fun.
Nah I knew why I surfed, well I think it's two things, I know why I surf, it's to have fun as you say. The initial question I asked was to find out what do you try to do on the wave to maximise that fun. I wondered this because I was surprised that roystewart and antifroth got so stuck into each other. I think it really doesn't matter what you do on a wave, it's just interesting to see what other people have as their main goal on each wave. If they have a single goal.
So yeah, after saturday morning's surf it just reinforced to me that it really doesn't matter, like a few folk have said, some days (or waves) it's gonna be cruising down the line while others it's going to be carving turns.
Just musing I suppose, and thanks for everyone for taking the time to muse along the way themselves.
There are many adjectives which can be used to describe the feelings surrounding surfing, and yet the main word we hear is the over used banal and rather undescriptive word 'fun'. The reason for this is that the surf industry has decreed that it's the official reason for surfing. They pick a generic concept which even the stupidest can understand and saturate the market with it. Parrots is all I'm hearing.
Fun is a superficial and sanitised concept, it doesn't even scratch the surface of what's going on.
And like you would know whats going on Roy
That's your big comeback ?
It doesn't even rate as sarcasm, the only thing it has going for it is that it says nothing so people can imagine whatever they like.
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Are you on the acid again Roy? For a bloke who likes to potray an image of being open minded you have those blinkers on pretty tight. Surfing is an individual feeling but you consistently shove your bullshit and so called pure thoughts around.
You can kiss my ass when I am carving and smashing the lip.
Ride straight on your boat you fake shaper!!!!!!!
mtw ftw!
But really, Roy.. What are you talking about? Are you challenging the concept of 'fun'? Surfing is enjoyable, it's challenging, it's so many things. But most of all, it is simply fun. It feels good to ride a wave. Do you smile when you surf? Or are smiles something introduced by the evil surf industry too?
I was surfing today, and I can straight up say I do it because it feels good. It brings you closer to nature, it keeps you reasonably fit and questionably sane, it opens your eyes to lots of things buuuuut none of those things are my objective. My main objective on my local wave is to just ride it for as long as I can with as much style as possible. If I am surfing a shorter wave, it is usually to try and stick some turns, if it is a shallow reefbreak it is generally just to survive without getting cut to pieces. But at the end of it all I am smiling, and that sounds pretty fun to me.
Does anyone know what the hell that hairy thing is in the bottom left hand of frame in the wave of the day shot for Monday is !!- apart from the strange flying thing that should be in the barrell not as far removed from it as it can, I'm a little concerned that there is some creature of the deep hanging out at the island with its fellow freaks.
It's simple Ben their the square pegs that refuse to be hammered into the round holes.
Are you on the acid again Roy? For a bloke who likes to potray an image of being open minded you have those blinkers on pretty tight. Surfing is an individual feeling but you consistently shove your bullshit and so called pure thoughts around.
By: "mtw"
Hey watch your mouth I've never touched the stuff and am a teetotaller !
Of course surfing is an 'individual' feeling, but have you not noticed the contradiction involved when that feeling is described almost unanimously as 'fun' ?
If it's such an individual feeling then why does everyone use the same word to desribe it and why do you get so abusive when someone suggests that there aere other words which can be used ?
Clones like you think that individuality is a style one adopts via magazine advertising, it's laughable.
Read it again Sam . . . .
There are many adjectives which can be used to describe the feelings surrounding surfing, and yet the main word we hear is the over used banal and rather undescriptive word 'fun'. The reason for this is that the surf industry has decreed that it's the official reason for surfing. They pick a generic concept which even the stupidest can understand and saturate the market with it. Parrots is all I'm hearing."
mtw ftw!
But really, Roy.. What are you talking about? Are you challenging the concept of 'fun'? Surfing is enjoyable, it's challenging, it's so many things. But most of all, it is simply fun. It feels good to ride a wave. Do you smile when you surf? Or are smiles something introduced by the evil surf industry too?
By: "dandandan"
How hard is it to understand that the concept of 'fun' is, for some of us, woefully inadequate to describe the feelings evoked by surfing ?
Why do you find it so difficult to accept that not everyone sees 'fun' as the be all and end all of surfing ?
Presumably you realise that lack of complete consensus on this issue does not prevent you from having 'fun' and that therefore it shouldn't bother you ?
e wrote:I was surfing today, and I can straight up say I do it because it feels good. It brings you closer to nature, it keeps you reasonably fit and questionably sane, it opens your eyes to lots of things buuuuut none of those things are my objective. My main objective on my local wave is to just ride it for as long as I can with as much style as possible. If I am surfing a shorter wave, it is usually to try and stick some turns, if it is a shallow reefbreak it is generally just to survive without getting cut to pieces. But at the end of it all I am smiling, and that sounds pretty fun to me.
There are other more descriptive words, and the fact that nearly everyone uses 'fun' is entirely due to the fact that it has been decreed by the surf industry that that's what we are doing when surfing.
It's just another example of 'live like this'
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Dan the short answer is yes I am challenging the concept of 'fun'.
There's no need for you to follow suit.
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Mushie tea by the sounds of it and bad mushies too because you are not having fun yet Roy. Head up in the hills of Byron Bay and go get some good mushies for your tea Roy, you deserve a bit of fun.
To someone like roy surfing isn't fun because of the boards he rides.
Surfing is oe of the funnest things in the world Roy.
sorry .... did i miss something .... the surf industry invented 'FUN'??!?
this was an interesting thread (thanks benski!) but the bar room duke-out has now crashed through the wall to where the civilised people are and it's getting a little 'SAD'.
would you two mind taking it somewhere else.
It's a pretty straightforward point:
Surfing evokes a wider range of feelings than can be described by the word 'fun'.
Of course the surf industry didn't invent the word, however it has decreed via scientific marketing that the majority of surfers see surfing as nothing more or less than 'fun'.
The fact that you people can't see that there is a lot more to it than that, and get outraged when it is suggested that there is, supports what I'm saying. . .. it's like a mental monoculture !
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sorry .... did i miss something .... the surf industry invented 'FUN'??!?
this was an interesting thread (thanks benski!) but the bar room duke-out has now crashed through the wall to where the civilised people are and it's getting a little 'SAD'.
would you two mind taking it somewhere else.
By: "kieru"
If you think that this is a brawl you've led a sheltered life.
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AcidRoy, the word FUN is subjective and in just one word probably best describes what we do and why we do it. Other words being thrown around to describe surfing all come back to one word and that is 'Fun'.
The wonderful thing about life is that we all all different and different things apeal to different people. Your style of surfing does not apeal to me, as a matter of fact I think I would get more stoked playing lawn bowls. What apeals to me, is power surfing, I enjoy doing it on my mal as well as my shortboard. However it seems to me that you think your so called pure way of surfing is the only way. I am not saying that I cannot appreciate any other style but that is what apeals to me.
Call it fun or getting stoked, call it whatever the fuck you want, it is not important it is just a word. People surf to get because only a surfer knows the feeling.
AcidRoy, stop getting caught up with details of a descriptive word and then labelling someone because they use the word 'FUN'. What you as an acid tripper describe as fun, someone else might not or might.
No brawl happening here, we all on here, because we love what we do. If it comes across as a little abvusive, dont take it serious.
Someone make Roy a coffee.
@roystewart
"The fact that you people can't see that there is a lot more to it than that, and get outraged when it is suggested that there is, supports what I'm saying. . .. it's like a mental monoculture !"
Here's the thing roy, it's not what you say it's how you say it and the assumptions you've got of all of us. Telling everyone that they're just a bunch of parrots who don't think outside the square is a very disrespectful thing to do. It presents as though you don't think anyone here has thought outside the box before. Yet it's perfectly possible, and I'm a living example, to think outside the square a whole lot and still embrace the mainstream or even get back into it. You know why? Cos the mainstream can be a lot of fun.
As an analogy, I have a few otherwise right thinking friends who get down to a bit of music by lady gaga, britney spears and so on. They are fully aware that it's completely manufactured music created by the honchos in the music industry to make a dollar and not about "art", yet they get into it because it's fun. A very close friend of mine is a shakespearian actor, he makes his entire living performing and teaching shakespeare with a major theatre company here in oz. He's deliberately avoided chasing cheesy soap opera tv because he doesn't want that for a career. He's not a mainstream "hollywood" type of actor. Yet when britney comes on the radio he'll sing along every word and he unashamadly says words to the effect of "hey it's fun" no matter how much shit I give him. And for the record, he's just got married to his woman so no, he's not gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that ;-)
I spent all weekend in my garage shaping a hollow wooden surfboard. I've just glued the deck together and I'm preparing the rails to glue the deck on. It's been a long 12 months working on this but it's not far away. It's kind of a fun board with mal style 50/50 rails through the middle but more cut in at the tail like a short board. I don't read surf mags except for the surfers journal and I don't own anything made by ripaquickbong except for one wettie (out of 3). But you know what? I love watching the pros free surf because it's aesthetically pleasing. And I love getting out in the water for a surf because whether I'm riding a booger, a shortboard, a longboard or just on my belly, it's a lot of fun. Just because my vocabulary is unfortunately limited that I can't come up with a better word than that doesn't mean I've sucked up some line from an industry I don't even support. It's because it's an incredibly efficient word that describes that feeling you try to convey when someone says, hey how was the surf and you're just bursting with excitement about how fucken awesome it was. It was really really fun!
So to tell people they're a bunch of parrots because you're assuming they're lapping up a perspective you think is imposed on them without giving them credit for thinking for themselves before accepting an idea, or even deriving it themselves, is why people might get a little outraged. Because of course people recognise there's a lot to surfing, it's why we've spent 4 pages talking about what we like to do on a wave and why we get out there.
So get over yourself, you're not the only one in the world who's thought outside the square. Plenty of others have stepped outside the box and some have even decided to step back in, because it's a lot of fun.
Fair Call Benski
Nice crema on that one.
Hey Spongey, how did you go with your coffee machine?
oh dear ...... dear ...... roy. sheltered life here. it seems you've misread my comment.
my point was that i find your argument rather dull and sad.
when you base your argument within a sphere of aggressive self righteousness and use humourless abuse as your defence against every reasoned point of view you then appear quite sheltered if not naive yourself. in fact i'm guessing that the weapon you use to prop up your ego is the general anonymity of your attackees. in other words, it's easy for you to ridicule those you presuppose, without any real facts, are of lesser intellect, experience and wisdom than yourself.
thanks benski for giving yourself a face and thus exposing the fraud.
and before i forget roy .... loved your aging tele tubby on a gondola video .... soooooo FUN!!!
Nah mtw its dead,cranked it up to descale it made a nasty sound then would'nt heat the water,element must corroded in storage.Not to worry though Im after Gaggia expresso machines on ebay,but being a tight wad I wont pay over $150 for the one's I want,so Ive miss a few.Good machines & spare parts avalable for most of them.So still on the instant,but found a place just up the coast that serves top coffee & with a veranda overlooking the beach,caffeine heaven.
Roy, the word FUN is subjective and in just one word probably best describes what we do and why we do it. Other words being thrown around to describe surfing all come back to one word and that is 'Fun'.
By: "mtw"
Why the manic desire to have everyone feeling the same way and all variations in feeling obliterated by a single heavily marketed and rather banal term ?
I could use the same argument about literature by saying all reading is done for 'fun' . . . a statement which would satisfy only the most brain impaired of people. The same applies to surfing.
e wrote:. What you as an acid tripper describe as fun, someone else might not or might.
I already told you I've never touched the stuff in my life.
You bang on about everyone being different but insist that all those differences are actually the same thing i.e. 'fun'. . . a pretty stupid thesis.
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Roy, the word FUN is subjective and in just one word probably best describes what we do and why we do it. Other words being thrown around to describe surfing all come back to one word and that is 'Fun'.
By: "mtw"
Why the manic desire to have everyone feeling the same way and all variations in feeling obliterated by a single heavily marketed and rather banal term ?
I could use the same argument about literature by saying all reading is done for 'fun' . . . a statement which would satisfy only the most brain impaired of people. The same applies to surfing.
It's not true that all adjectives used to describe surfing actually just mean fun. If they did then the other adjectives could be removed from the dictionary, thereby promoting the surfing monoculture.
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e wrote:. What you as an acid tripper describe as fun, someone else might not or might.
I already told you I've never touched the stuff in my life.
You bang on about everyone being different but insist that all those differences are actually the same thing i.e. 'fun'. . . a pretty stupid thesis.
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@roystewart
"The fact that you people can't see that there is a lot more to it than that, and get outraged when it is suggested that there is, supports what I'm saying. . .. it's like a mental monoculture !"
Here's the thing roy, it's not what you say it's how you say it and the assumptions you've got of all of us.
Telling everyone that they're just a bunch of parrots who don't think outside the square is a very disrespectful thing to do. It presents as though you don't think anyone here has thought outside the box before. Yet it's perfectly possible, and I'm a living example, to think outside the square a whole lot and still embrace the mainstream or even get back into it. You know why? Cos the mainstream can be a lot of fun.
As an analogy, I have a few otherwise right thinking friends who get down to a bit of music by lady gaga, britney spears and so on. They are fully aware that it's completely manufactured music created by the honchos in the music industry to make a dollar and not about "art", yet they get into it because it's fun. A very close friend of mine is a shakespearian actor, he makes his entire living performing and teaching shakespeare with a major theatre company here in oz. He's deliberately avoided chasing cheesy soap opera tv because he doesn't want that for a career. He's not a mainstream "hollywood" type of actor. Yet when britney comes on the radio he'll sing along every word and he unashamadly says words to the effect of "hey it's fun" no matter how much shit I give him. And for the record, he's just got married to his woman so no, he's not gay. Not that there's anything wrong with that ;-)
I spent all weekend in my garage shaping a hollow wooden surfboard. I've just glued the deck together and I'm preparing the rails to glue the deck on. It's been a long 12 months working on this but it's not far away. It's kind of a fun board with mal style 50/50 rails through the middle but more cut in at the tail like a short board. I don't read surf mags except for the surfers journal and I don't own anything made by ripaquickbong except for one wettie (out of 3). But you know what? I love watching the pros free surf because it's aesthetically pleasing. And I love getting out in the water for a surf because whether I'm riding a booger, a shortboard, a longboard or just on my belly, it's a lot of fun. Just because my vocabulary is unfortunately limited that I can't come up with a better word than that doesn't mean I've sucked up some line from an industry I don't even support. It's because it's an incredibly efficient word that describes that feeling you try to convey when someone says, hey how was the surf and you're just bursting with excitement about how fucken awesome it was. It was really really fun!
So to tell people they're a bunch of parrots because you're assuming they're lapping up a perspective you think is imposed on them without giving them credit for thinking for themselves before accepting an idea, or even deriving it themselves, is why people might get a little outraged. Because of course people recognise there's a lot to surfing, it's why we've spent 4 pages talking about what we like to do on a wave and why we get out there.
So get over yourself, you're not the only one in the world who's thought outside the square. Plenty of others have stepped outside the box and some have even decided to step back in, because it's a lot of fun.
By: "benski"
The only reason I called you lot parrots is because of the ridculous amount of outrage when I said that the word 'fun' doesn't describe how I feel about surfing.
The fact that you people objected to me not falling in line and using the prescribed industry adjective earned you the parrot label.
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oh dear ...... dear ...... roy. sheltered life here. it seems you've misread my comment.
my point was that i find your argument rather dull and sad.
when you base your argument within a sphere of aggressive self righteousness and use humourless abuse as your defence against every reasoned point of view you then appear quite sheltered if not naive yourself. in fact i'm guessing that the weapon you use to prop up your ego is the general anonymity of your attackees. in other words, it's easy for you to ridicule those you presuppose, without any real facts, are of lesser intellect, experience and wisdom than yourself.
thanks benski for giving yourself a face and thus exposing the fraud.
and before i forget .... loved your aging tele tubby on a gondola video .... soooooo FUN!!!
By: "kieru"
I take people as I find them, if they choose to hide their intelligence by acting like morons on the forum that's how they'll get treated.
It seems fair to me.
The 'reasoned arguments' presented here have been very weak apologetics for an indefensible one word means all policy.
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@roystewart
"The only reason I called you lot parrots is because of the ridculous amount of outrage when I said that the word 'fun' doesn't describe how I feel about surfing."
No roy, go and look over pages one and two; No one responded to you until you came out swinging telling everyone they're parrots. Up until then, no one had responded to you at all.
The whole point of the thread is to find out how it's different for everyone. As I said earlier, it's been great so far reading the differences in everyone's point of view and choices.
e wrote:The 'reasoned arguments' presented here have been very weak apologetics for an indefensible one word (doesn't) mean(s) all policy.
dear .... dear, dear, roy ..... look in the mirror and listen to your own assessments and logic.
i haven't heard one iota of rationale from you yet that could withstand even the weakest of criticism.
substance please!
Spongebob
I chuckled at your coffee refs mate but crikey, get yourself off the instant!
Gee, I'm happy just to be able to stand up! Didn't realise it had to be a "religious" type experience as well. I go to church for that.
e wrote:The 'reasoned arguments' presented here have been very weak apologetics for an indefensible one word (doesn't) mean(s) all policy.
By: "kieru"
dear .... dear, dear, roy ..... look in the mirror and listen to your own assessments and logic.
i haven't heard one iota of rationale from you yet that could withstand even the weakest of criticism.
substance please!
You might try making some logical criticism and see how you get on. . . claiming as you have done is no substitute for reasoned argument.
Bottom line is that one can't reasonably say that all the adjectives used to describe surfing can be substituted for the word 'fun' as has been claimed.
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Yeah Benski I know instant,it's no fun at all.Good on ya Rushy sounds like your surfing comming along well & your having a bit of fun.Im still on my ass more than on my feet but I havent been able to put the time into it that I should be,still it's been fun.
I don't think what people are trying to say is that surfing is only fun, Roy. I know I definately wasn't. And it is a bit hard to twist someones words when all you have to do is scroll up and see that is not what they are saying at all. Suring is more than fun, like I said, it is lots of thing. But if someone was to say to me;
"Hey, why do you like going surfing?"
My response would straight out be.. because it is fun!
If you can't see that Roy, well then you can't see it. Perhaps if you relaxed and didn't try to see the conspiracy in it you might. But just to give some substance to your argument, why don't you tell us all the adjectives that you would use to describe surfing, and we can see how far away from the definition fun they are.
Thats a great idea DanDan, We along with Roy are concentrating on the word 'fun'.
Roy, I will not refer to you as an acid tripper or anything else, but I am interested to how you describe what surfing is to you?
Let's all see if we can find Roy some acid. He has never touched the stuff and therefore is yet to totaly open up his inner sanctum, this may be the thing he needs to have fun.
As for industry hype, I was having fun with surfing long before the 'industry' types started their scientific marketing research and encompassing the word 'fun' in their marketing strategies.
Roy don't you own 2 surf shops? That would make you part of the 'industry'. That makes you a bit of a goose, why would you pay out on something that makes your living for you?
Better to be a parrot than a goose Roy!
OK so the banter between antifroth and roystewart over on the thread about the most expensive boards in the world got me thinking about something I’ve long wondered about.
What is the objective when riding a wave?
Seems a dumb question and the obvious answer might be to get barrelled or do some turns. But they seem to me to be intermediate things to achieve the main objective which is to ride the wave for as long the wave allows. Getting barrelled, doing turns etc are just moves to make sure you don’t end the wave too soon. If it’s going to barrel in front of you you’ve got to pull in so you can keep riding, otherwise it’s over unless you can shuffle your way round the section quick enough. If you get too far out in front of the curl, you’ve got to cut back into the pocket. And so on. But big deal, manoeuvres have a function, they serve a purpose, not exactly big news.
I remember in the 80s watching the world tour as a kid when length of ride was one of the judging criteria, I don’t think it is these days. And lately, watching the odd comp and generally out in the surf, I’ve seen people doing these big snap like cutbacks that create the most massive spray out across the face. Looks impressive, but it often causes the wave to section off too far in front of them and basically end their ride. It seems a stupid thing to do on a wave no matter how cool people think it looks. It makes me think of what the Campbell Brothers talk about with their Bonza tri fin designs, words to the effect of big spray being a waste of energy. That water should be channelling out beneath the tail of the board to increase drive and speed.
So what is the purpose of each wave? Is it to ride it for as long as possible, in which case how you do it doesn’t matter? Or is it something more aesthetic, like doing cool looking turns to impress people (including yourself)?
I’m far from a good surfer, so for me it’s about feeling the rush of the water beneath the board, the lift as you cruise along in as close to pure trim as whatever the board & wave will allow and the swift glide as the bottom drops out and the face steepens and (as I think Bob McTavish described) the opposing forces of gravity and water come into play to send you speeding along. The longer I can ride the wave, the more opportunity for all that to happen. Turns only help to create specific elements of the ride (including the barrel). Consequently, I think my surfing looks pretty ordinary to onlookers (the odd cut back, plenty of trim, top turns at certain times only etc) but I surf the wave to maximise the feelings that I like.
Maybe this is all stating the blinding obvious, I dunno. I think the flat spell here on the sunny coast has given me too much time to think and so maybe no one else cares, but just in case...What is your objective when riding a wave and how does that affect what you do on each one?