so yea, after a whole bunch of turtle rolls and paddling, l manage to get out to the line up. my question is when should l start paddling? sometimes l see waves already curling and try to start paddleing, but it ends up crushing me. other times l try to paddle into waves that are just forming, but it leaves me behind.
another thing, is it right for me to feel like im gettting sucked out into the ocean when im out in the line up?

To catch a wave, u want to be far enough out that u wont be copping the breaking waves on the head, but not too far out that u cant paddle onto the wave u want. You have to be sitting out past where its breaking, a good 3 to 5 meters, so that when u spot ur wave u will have to paddle about 5 to 6 times before u catch the wave. Make sure that when u start paddling for ur wave u keep watching it over ur shoulder so u can judge what stage of breaking its in. You dont want to see it breaking behind you, if it is then give this one a miss!
Begin by practising catching the wave & lying down until it has broken & u r travelling along nicely on it. Then practise standing by getting to ur knees first then ur feet.
If u find yourself nosediving on the drop (when it breaks) even when lying down, slide right to the back of ur board until its broken & ur in the whitewash, then slide forward & try to stand up.
Good luck!

you need to get in a wave that is forming, but the only way is to be going at the same speed as the wave. you just need to paddle harder. its hard to help people when you can not see them in really life. good luck