Surfing Waves

its not that i have trouble catching the wave... but when i catch it.. i cant get myself to pop up .. i dont know.. but after i catch it and im speeding down.. i cant pop up.. is this because im poping up too late.. or is it just me not being able to pop up

Sounds like you need to train on the beach a bit. You may be getting up a bit late as well.
Popping up should be a smooth but fairly quick movement.

I think this post should also be in the "surfing lessons for all" section, as well.

All good. Just get some practice mate.

I sometimes have that problem too. sometimes it seems like I didn't position myself properly or didn't paddled fast enough with the same velocity as the wave so I can get into a standing position.

Sounds to me like you're going for it a bit too late, at which point a slight hesitation leads to a good plummet and you fly down the face at breakneck speed, so every instinct says 'hang on!!!!!!' rather than 'stand up!!!!'.

ive done this myself a couple of times in the last few days
(To be fair to myself, I was surfing fairly hefty maroubra, and my instinct was absolutely right. I was never gonna make the drop. Still shoulda tried though...)

So catch the wave a little earlier - and DON'T HESITATE!

what size board do you use and what is your ability level?

From what you have said your board size for your ability level sounds too small.

I agree with ANZAC you need more practice to be more comfortable with pop up, but I don't agree with practice with on the beach, because you don't get the adreline rush, and adreline rush makes people forget things.

The only time I'm unable to pop up when I want to is when my arms are sore, or legs becomes stiffed from the cold...

does your board feel stable enough when you're speeding down?

well, mostly yes.. but thanks to everyone's advice im improving little by little... now my problem isnt the fact that i cant ride it out, its that everything seems to go so fast and i just shoot out to the beach, when i know that i should be going parallel to it

happened to me occassionally aswell. take the drop lying on the board then accelerate beyond my ability to haul myself up. just seemed to be going too fast and the nose slapping off the water. used to get angry cos i always wondered what the ride would have been like if i'd gotten to my feet.
now when i think its going to happen i just try to jump up as quick as possible. sometimes i hit the board and its all good. sometimes i miss completely and it all goes horribly wrong. still you win some you lose some!

hmm you know what? ill try to get in a video by next week so you guys can actually see and maybe give me advice based on it...

u should try paddling a little bit sideways while catching the wave, it will give u more time to get up, and when u do get up u will be riding across the wave instead of to the beach. also get up as soon as u feel the wave carrying you, it takes practise to get the right timing but u will get it

umm.. so i was able to get a video when i took my mom along.. it was a 30 min session because my mom didnt want to be there.. haha.. well i rode one wave.. which isnt on the vid.. which really sucks.. other than your advice.. i just want to know if i have any bad habits that i should get rid of now instead of later.... ill try to get a footage of me standing... next week? im not sure because i have a dentist appointment.. but ill try

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njjZrznJUxg

Tried to watch it and I got this message:
"This is a private video. If you have been sent this video, please make sure you accept the sender's friend request."

oh sorry... i forgot to take that off

ok.. its public now thanks for telling me

Well from what I can tell about that little clip you seem to be having a problem pearling. I noticed that you were either trying to stand up too soon (first wave) or stand up too late (majority of the waves). Also I notced that you didn't seem to be arching your back enough, don't know for sure but you also might be laying a smidge to far back on the board. On waves that small you will also need to paddle at an angle so that as soon as you are standing up you are more or less going the direction you want to go. Since you most likely won't have enough momentum to do a bottom turn. Lastly, You need to work on a couple aspects of your stand up. You need it to be quicker and work on being more stable durring the process. Get as much water time as you can, practive your pop-ups at home to work on your speed and stability. You'll do fine just got to keep at it.

Arch your back when paddling. You seem to be nose diving too much.

those are sum small closeout waves. That coupled with a small board are going to make things a tad trickey. it looks like you need to angle your board more and arch your back more. Im also kinda thinking you need to work on your wave choice a bit more (although if the waves suck theres not much you can do) as every wave you were going for was a stinker + it looked like you were out of position.

Solution = with better wave selection, popping up quiker and angling your board with your back arched you should find much more success.

Note - if you constantly surf waves of that size and shape you should consider a different board. Just a thought

your out of position on almost all of those waves

those waves suck. try bigger less closing out waves.

on your technique: you were pearling a lot. maybe try moving back a little bit. head over the logo is a good place to start. as a general rule when paddling the nose should be a couple of inches above the water. arch your back when taking off on a wave. this lifts the nose out a little to avoid pearling.

your also paddling in too late. im assuming you noticed that nearly every one of those waves broke over your head. thats bad. if that happens on a big day you will get worked.

basically: what everyone else said