Surfing Waves

I surf a break where the takeoff is REALLY steep. Average waves are 5-8 ft with 10-16 ft faces. I have a split second to pop up, which leads to myself wiping out and catching less waves than I normally I do at other spots. I've tried taking off at an angle, but the air drop is still there. Anyone have experience with extremely steep breaks?

haha not that steep but what i try to do on my reef break, is paddle less than i normaly do and quickly stand up. as soon as i stand up i lean back on the pad to slow down, doing this i find that if the drop is steeper than i first thought i still get a good landing. i've tried taking off at an angle and i find that its almost wosrt cause you wipe out from the side lol. You could also try taking the shoulder instead of the peak. good luck man! thats crazy xxxxx going down there

A bigger board might help you get into the wave earlier. I found the best way is to surf a smaller wedgy wave those usually provide some good experience with dealing with ultra late takeoffs.

Yeah, either way you are catching the wave too late. The key to barreling hollow waves is to catch them early so you can turn the board and dig the rail, hard to do so when you are droping in vertically.

The really good guys take off under the lip on fast hollow takeoffs. They position themselves further inside, rather than out the back, and don't really even need to paddle that much as gravity does the rest. Impressive to watch....
Like this:

Update: switched to my trusty 6'4 and the drop was much easier. More than usual headchecks helped too.

That guy is crazy Aloha. It looks like hes wiping out and popping up at the same time.

I surf at horseshoe. It breaks in the shape of a bowl. It is in La Jolla California. Breaks in 2 feet of water. I try and get into the wave as soon as posible. Broke a fin and meesed up my back their.