Boarding school

For the average landlubber, it’s hard not to gawk at a surfer on a wave and think, “This is the summer I will finally learn how to surf.”

There’s the power art of riding a wave, perfectly executing cutbacks, floaters and other tricks. There’s the grace of posing like a statue with toes dangling -- hanging 10 -- over the nose of the surfboard. And if you’re the daredevil type, there’s the adrenaline rush of a wipeout.

Indeed, in catching a single wave, the surfer has already accomplished what the therapist and trainer can only advertise. Simply bobbing in the waves is tonic for the soul. One wave caught may negate weeks of frustration, and the sight of dolphins playing can quixotically restore faith in man. Even in poor conditions a surfer can unimpeachably say, “It was good just to be out there.”

Yet although the surfer’s chief complaint is crowding by other surfers, the beaches are full of those who say they want to try but never get around to it. Or those who have tried it a few times and quit.

That’s because the back story to nirvana can be a bruiser. Learning how to surf is like learning how to walk -- over and over again.

“I was finally ready to try it, so I got on the Internet,” said Gene Young, 39, who was pulling on a wetsuit before his first surfing lesson recently on Santa Monica Beach.

Chris Truong of Venice-based Learn to Surf L.A. was teaching him in the time-honored mainland fashion: With the board safely on the sand, she showed him how to lie flat, mimic paddling and then pop up to a standing position.

“That is the way to go,” fellow instructor Kelly Casey said. “In Hawaii they just bring you into the ocean and say, ‘Now, surf!’ ”

Southern California is home to at least 10 surfing schools, with many more private instructors and, of course, countless buddies who surf. No matter the source of instruction, though, maiden voyages tend to be similar: Riding a breaking wave is out of the question.

Most do like Young, who was lying flat on his stomach on a foam surfboard as Truong waited for a broken wave. She then pulled Young in the same direction as the wave’s wall of whitewater. What little momentum Young gained was spoiled when he tried to stand up, and at first he toppled over again and again.

“Poor guy,” Casey said, watching from shore. “He probably thinks he’s doing something wrong. But that wave just died on him.”

A basketball player and practitioner of yoga, Young is an experienced athlete. But he emerged from the water an hour later tired and citing a need to get more balance.

“I just got thrashed out there,” he said with a grin, promising to return for more lessons.

Having caught their first waves, rookie riders soon discover you just don’t progress rung by rung up the ladder of surfing. With no one to push, you need to become a strong paddler to catch waves. To become a strong paddler, no gym routine will help: You must go surfing. That means borrowing or buying gear and waiting for cooperative weather and tides.

To lessen the bonk-on-the-head factor during the initial learning process, rookies often use softer foam-top surfboards. Yes, the fiberglass models outperform the foam ones, but they can do more damage if you or others around you fall. An errant surfboard can turn into a missile. Stories abound of first-timers losing an ear to a surfboard fin or injuring someone else through sloppy board handling.

Finding the right beach helps clear the path to success. It may be tempting to paddle out where the experts go, but beginners will have more fun at spots known for tamer surfing conditions. They include the beach at the terminus of Sunset Boulevard at Pacific Coast Highway, along Ocean Park Beach in Santa Monica or at the Venice Beach breakwater. San Onofre State Beach in Orange County is also known as a gentle spot, but keep an eye peeled for mako sharks.

After the prep work, it’s time to learn the actual skills to ride waves, maintain safety in difficult conditions or navigate a crowd of surfers.

Catching a wave requires a quick realization that what’s coming is big enough to propel you but not so big as to bury you.

Lying balanced and paddling toward shore, when the right wave arrives, the board begins to move like a sled pushed over a hill. In this critical juncture you can crash and burn immediately, leap to your feet and then crash, or ideally, leap to your feet and twist to begin the all-important “bottom turn” that sends rider and board ahead of the breaking wave.

The first time that happens -- riding the “open face” of the wave -- surfing’s true joy reveals itself as a mixture of control and submission.

All the other times, you fall and tumble in the surf, thrashing around and holding your breath, hoping to climb on the board just in time to paddle away from more breaking waves.

It might take years to make a bottom turn and surf for real. In fact, the most maddening element of surfing is its propensity to take away what it gives. But the vagaries of learning how to surf will make you appreciate the waves you do catch. And surfing is gleeful, in part, because there’s always plenty of reason to stay dry.

Take the media warnings of shark attacks, seemingly always on the rise. Friends and acquaintances buy into the mania, asking with concerned faces, “Aren’t you afraid of sharks?” Just tell them something along the lines of “Don’t let the terrorists win.”

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Get your feet wet

How to start: Renting wetsuits and a surfboard will cost at least $30 for half a day. Surf shops usually have a roster of instructors for those who want to learn one on one, while the schools listed in the sampling below offer weekend camps blending group lessons and private instruction. A half-day private lesson can cost $500, while $40 is typical for a one-hour group lesson.

* SurfAcademy.com, Manhattan Beach, (310) 372-2790

* LearntosurfLA.com, Venice, (310) 663-2479

* SurfingLA.com, Malibu, (310) 457-5539

* California Junior Lifeguard/Super Surf Camps,

Dana Point, (714) 901-9030

* Corky Carroll’s Surf School,

Huntington Beach, (714) 969-3959

* Dangerwoman.com, Huntington Beach, (714) 898-2088