Surfing Waves

i can sort of pop up, get to my feet quite quickly, when i catch a wave i seem to start going down the face then pop up mid faced then i nearly always bail, then i get fustrated. when i watch other surfers they seem to plain at the top of the wave pop up then drop down, has anyone got any tips on how to do this? any help would be greatful. cheers

What I learned that when you do pop up and successfully get on your feet, you need to transfer your weight foward because you are going down the face of the wave. Practice your pop up in ground, seems to help me a lot.

i agree with pkbum, defo keep your wait on your front foot when your up

gives you more stability and speed

i sorta having the same problem as well, i can tackle a 2-3 feet wave when it's about to break from about the middle, whenever i try to do from the top i either loss the speed or nose dive. I can't even tackle a 3-4 feet yet :S

paddle harder and pop up sooner. on green waves you need to pop up the second you know youve caught the wave and it has to be quick.

it might be worth finding a mellower wave from what youve said as everything has to get sooner and quicker in a steeper wave.

during takeoffs (and when surfing) you need to make constant small weight adjustments. if it feels like you're losing the wave you need to put more weight on your front foot or move more forward on your board. if you feel like you're about to pearl/nose dive you need to transfer your weight to your rear foot. lowering your center of gravity or crouching down might help with balance so you don't fall off the side of your board.

what is the best and most effective way of popping up quickly? i know of diffrent techniques but dont know how to do them. cheers

vandangos wrote:what is the best and most effective way of popping up quickly? i know of diffrent techniques but dont know how to do them. cheers

Just do a press up and then spring straight to your feet. Deffo do not go to knees first.
It does take time so keep trying, maybe ask someone to watch to see if you have the right board - is it long/big enough?

iv got a 7"2 and can pop up fine and go down the line easily and do some turns, i brought a billabong 6"4 about a month ago, about half the time i can get up well and go along well but the other half of the time i just bail wen i popup. like really inconsistant, i was just wondering if ther was ways that are easier, at the moment i just do a push up and just fling my legs underneath me sometimes it works nd other times it doesnt. but on my mal i can do it everytime.

Broosta wrote:Just do a press up and then spring straight to your feet. Deffo do not go to knees first.

It's all about which popup method you feel comfortable with

practise thats the key and the only way to get it right.

crepuscular wrote:

Broosta wrote:Just do a press up and then spring straight to your feet. Deffo do not go to knees first.

It's all about which popup method you feel comfortable with

I'd actually have to disagree with you here I'm afraid. I'd say its never good to go to your knees even if you do feel comfortable with it, especially on a short board. Kneeling on a 6'4"... !

Yah no knees very bad practise and a real hinderance to your progress at a later stage.

Also on larger days it helps to be paddle at an angle in the direction you want to end up going on the wave instead of paddling straight toward shore. This way when you stand up and lean forward for the drop in you are already going across the face. Especially helpful when the waves are really fast.

CH

CHarvey wrote:Also on larger days it helps to be paddle at an angle in the direction you want to end up going on the wave instead of paddling straight toward shore. This way when you stand up and lean forward for the drop in you are already going across the face. Especially helpful when the waves are really fast.

CH

hmmm... think that could be the problem why i get nasty nose dives, because i always have my board face the beach... had a very nasty one 3 days ago that pull my hamstring and still hurts right now

I know a lot of groms in my area do a sort of cross over step with their back foot. They slide their back foot up first before planting their front foot. I could never understand that, but what do you guys think?

best bet is to keep going, just more weight on front foot, let go of the rails asap and stand up, with bent knees, more weight on front foot depending on steepness of wave, go for it! also just look where you want to go, no good lookig dwn atr board ecause its easyer to lookse balance that if you're looking down the line

IDynamite wrote:I know a lot of groms in my area do a sort of cross over step with their back foot. They slide their back foot up first before planting their front foot. I could never understand that, but what do you guys think?

I think this is a bad habit if you want to be good. This will end up in wipe out in every late take off.

It's all down to practice and experience. There are two ways you can pop up. You can paddle so hard that you are already heading down the wave and you pop up whilst descending or you paddle just enough to be moving with the wave but you are still up on the crest of the wave. You then push your weight on your front foot and drop down the face.

The latter is the one you are trying to do. The first one I described only really works well if you are very fast at your pop ups. You would be doing this if you are taking off under the lip or surfing sucky or steep waves where every millisecond counts, so not really in a beginner environment.

I'm afraid the second one is all about practice and balance. You need to learn how much speed you have to paddle for until you are moving with the wave but not enough to actually go down the face. So just paddle fast enough until you feel that the wave is pulling you along, maybe give it one more push to make sure you have enough speed left over to give you time to get up. Now stand up and push your weight onto your front foot to get you down the face.

You'll find yourself standing on the back of the wave and missing it completely a lot until you learn to get your speed just right.

I've never really thought about it much but I think there is also some subconscious balancing going on in this. Whilst paddling you lean forward on your chest to gain speed and lean back a bit to slow down. You regulate your speed through balance during the whole procedure even whilst popping up.

I remember when I was a beginner wondering how to do the very same thing and I honestly can't remember what cured it, it's just good wave sense and practice really, and building up paddling strength.

I think the main trick with catching waves is lean forward into the nose area of your board with your chest and paddle like hell.

Just don't lean forward so much you pearl. How much rocker you have on your board combined with how close you lay to the nose of your board will dictate how much you can lean forward. The more you can arch your back the closer you can lay to the nose of your board, within reason anyway.