Three-time international surfing champ Corky Carroll answers your questions each week on the Beach Blog.  To hit him up, e-mail him at corkysurf@aol.com 

Q.  How old were you when you started surfing, and what age do you think kids should start?

A.  I was about 4 or 5 when I started playing in the surf, and rode a surfboard for the first time when I was 7.   I think the right time to start a kid is when he is begging for it.  Don’t start him or her because YOU want them to surf.  Let them want it.  That is the right time - and has more to do with attitude than age.

 Q.  I have been attempting to learn how to ride the nose on my longboard for about a year and I can’t figure it out.  What is the secret to doing that?

A.  The secret is to put all your weight on your front foot and not the back one like your brain is telling you.  The modern longboards are designed to nose ride.  You have to do it with confidence.  If you try to sheepishly sneak up there the nose will go under every time.   

Q.  There is a rumor that you are writing a novel that has something to do with surfing.  Is this true?  When will it be out?

A.  Yep it’s all true.  But I have been working on this project for about three or four years now and it is coming very slowly, as I am very lazy and only write when the words refuse to stay in my head any longer.  It’s more about diamond smuggling than surfing, but it takes place within a surf world setting.  I have no idea when it will be finished and as of this moment I don’t have a publisher either.

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