Surfing Waves

I can ride down the line on a longboard. But shortboards I just go straight down the face of the wave and either wipeout or lose all speed on whitewater. Its like I dont have time to turn and when I do i am just exiting the wave losing speed. Am I too big for my board its a dumpster diver 6'0 and im 5'11 170 lbs.

Im out there everyday with no progress on this, so I resort to posting this

Btw im from jersey. 1-5 ft waves

Help please

Be a bit more aggressive with your turning, you have to trust that the board will follow.

Pop-up into a turn, you wont be able to catch up sections so easily on a shortboard.

But isnt popping up on an angle part of the take off? I want to be able to turn after catching the wave straight. Any advice on going about doing that? Putting pressure on my back foot just causes me to lose the wave completely.

asw222 wrote:But isnt popping up on an angle part of the take off? I want to be able to turn after catching the wave straight. Any advice on going about doing that? Putting pressure on my back foot just causes me to lose the wave completely.

Well I am still getting the bottom turn down. You can take-off at an angle but I tend to give it about 10-20 degrees on my shorter boards, not much.

I drive it forwards with my knees bent for half a sec, then just lean and push with my back foot (pushing off the fins) to drive into a turn. I am working on it- when it works it is brilliant, but most of the time I either miss the section and surf forwards like a kook, or have a spectacular wipe-out. I guess it is just a learning process.

You are probably turning too late. You might be overtaking the wave, losing momentum and then turning on flat water, and then being overtaken by the wave after that (happened to me lots of times).

Just as the other posts state, you are starting your turn too late. Start going down the line of the wave as you paddle. If you start going down the line this early, it will just carry momentum when you pop yourself up. One you have the line of the wave, start whacking those turns. This was a big hurdle for me, but once you learn this, it will become habit.

Thanks alot for the tips. I went out today for a few hours and finally hit a bottom turn, best feeling haha. thanks guys

Stoked!

asw222 wrote:Thanks alot for the tips. I went out today for a few hours and finally hit a bottom turn, best feeling haha. thanks guys

Awesome!

Good one!

A good bottom turn is one of the best surfing feelings around, keep up the good work

jaffa1949 wrote:A good bottom turn is one of the best surfing feelings around

and then you find yourself suddently shooting up the wave face, tear the board around for a top turn, are too late, hate yourself, realizing you are still moving, looking down seeing the lip below you, realizing you are just doing a floater, growing by 10cm, yelling inside, thinking how cool you are, figuring you might should do something, hearing the shouts of your surf buddy, looking down again wanting to turn the board back into the wave and back down the front, getting you are too late, again, watching the wave roll away below you, feeling like a kook...

travelzomg wrote:

jaffa1949 wrote:A good bottom turn is one of the best surfing feelings around

and then you find yourself suddently shooting up the wave face, tear the board around for a top turn, are too late, hate yourself, realizing you are still moving, looking down seeing the lip below you, realizing you are just doing a floater, growing by 10cm, yelling inside, thinking how cool you are, figuring you might should do something, hearing the shouts of your surf buddy, looking down again wanting to turn the board back into the wave and back down the front, getting you are too late, again, watching the wave roll away below you, feeling like a kook...

Bottom turns are addictive but you have to master the top turns too so you can get down the wave and do two bottom turns in a row.
signed older adrenaline junkie

jaffa1949 wrote:Bottom turns are addictive but you have to master the top turns too so you can get down the wave and do two bottom turns in a row.

got the bottom turns down quite good..
i tend to drop into a wave quite straight, shoot down the face and then, mainly with weight shifting, carve a wide arcing turn to get in front of the white water again.. this works pretty aight by now..

am still strugling with the top turns tho... just the combination, between having my weight wanting to fall backwarts down the wave again to tear me off the board and ripping the board around to bring it with one fluent movement back under my center of gravity still eludes me, as soon as the wave gets propperly steep...

Just a tip I read on bottom turns and take offs that helped me a lot is to stay crouched low after pop up, then only stand fully during the turn. This releases all the energy you scored into the direction you want to go. I.e. along the face or down the line.

asw222 wrote: its a dumpster diver 6'0 and im 5'11 170 lbs.

That's the problem, if you are really good to advanced then a 6'0 board is perfect for your height and weight, but if you have been surfing less than 5 years you jumped too far down from the longboard.

What you need is a transition board to get you used to the paddle and feel of a smaller board. Find another dumpster diver around 6'6 x at least 2 1/2 inches thick, then once you master that one go back down to the 6'0 and you should have an easier time.