Why does it matter which foot is forward in your surf stance? Many surf breaks have waves that break in a predictable pattern. Waves at breakpoints, for example, will constantly break in the same direction, wave after wave. Your surfing stance will make you surf facing or facing those waves, depending on your surfing stance.

Your surf stance is crucial to maintaining your balance on your surfboard. Getting to your feet quickly in the way that feels most natural to you will prepare you for the rest of your trip and you can catch more waves.

The term goofy foot refers to a surfer who surfs with the right foot forward on the surfboard. A regular or natural stance on the surfboard is a surfer putting their left foot forward on the surfboard. Some people who are learning to surf wonder if the term goofy foot is derogatory. It’s not, it’s simply a surf term that identifies which foot a surfer has forward on the surfboard.

At a break point where the waves break to the left of the surfer, we refer to this as “left”. From the perspective of people watching from the shore, this is somewhat confusing because from the shore, the wave breaks to the right. However, the term evolved from water, and in lineup, the wave breaks to your left as you paddle out to catch it.

If you can imagine yourself in a regular stance, left foot forward on the surfboard, catching a wave that breaks to your left, you’ll notice that your back is to the wave. This is what is known as backside surfing. So if you are clumsy footed and surf a left point break, you will be riding waves head on. Surfing a wave head-on is surfing with the front of your body facing the wave. It is easier to ride a wave head-on and therefore a sloppy-footed surfer will prefer lefts and a surfer with a normal position will prefer to ride rights.