Surfing Waves

Hi guys,

I have watched some surf videos of myself and noticed something that I noticed on my board as well (btw: I have fish 5'10): I am not good at making speed. For example: when I make a take off in an unbroken wave, I stand up, make the turn, but then the wave starts to break and the white water is just ahead of me, and stays there. I was wondering how I could overtake the white water and surf in the unbroken part of the wave again..?
Another example is when I surf an unbroken wave, I look kinda slow... But it would be great if I could go faster and 'make some distances' on the waves..

A small video to give you a better idea:


Greetings,
Wave4Surf

A board will sink at a certain speed given the surfer's weight - essentially goes from a 'planing' board to a non-planing board. The solutions are either increase speed (eg: through pumping) or get a board with greater volume that doesnt sink at the slower speed but continues on.

This is why longboards, for example, work on small waves. They dont need much speed to support a surfer's weight; whereas a shortboard needs more speed and small waves dont provide sufficient speed to support the weight.

So the issue is the speed at which your board changes from 'planing' to 'non planing' (or 'bogging' in surfer terms). The lower the volume the sooner this will occur (ie you will start bogging at a higher speed than someone on a board with greater volume).

I'm not a shortboarder but if that is you in the video, then perhaps a lot of pumping right from the start is required - build up the speed enough to get you past that white water; or maybe taking a line that builds up speed so you are at the top of the wave just before the white water and build up speed going straight down the wave.

The alternative is a bigger volumed board - look at the 'dumpster' styles or the firewire sweet potato styles. Short and very wide and quite thick. No one expects one board to cover all conditions.

Hey . . . don't despair . . . the bigger the wave face the faster you'll go . . . you can angle take off very well already so just go for a bigger wave keeping the method you have now. You'll do just fine.

From on ASK.com: "Speed is a common name for amphetamine sulphate. Speed is a man-made drug known to be impure as it is mixed with a number of household items including talcum powder, toilet cleaner or any other white powder. It is illegal and has harmful side effects"

All kidding aside, if that is your example of failure then you are just mistaken. You made the drop, you made the turn, then the wave got mushy and closed out and you dumped out. So, you had the most fun for the conditions. If you want better surfing find a better wave. (By the way, since you are keen on improving, try to figure out how to turn back on to your board when you exit the wave instead of letting it go, so if it gets crowded you won't spear someone by flinging your board at him/her).

Or as answered before, get a bigger board, not necessarily longer. Got any buds with a retro fish or a mini simmons you can try? You'd be suprised how much speed you get get from a fat wide board.

Lastly, if you want to try somethig easy to speed up your board that is not hard to do you can a) take out the center fin and ride it as a twin under the conditions on your video, small mushy days. I do that when I show up with the wrong board on a small day. Or b) buy a smaller fin system that has less drag. Whats size fins are you using right now?

I agree with themathsteacher, you couldn't get much more speed out of that wave, perhaps some pumping might have got you a little more oomph to push up and over that section.
I think you probably have increased your skills that given a better wave in size and power you could drive harder.
Your surfing from your previous videos has improved

Wider profile boards can be helpful in mushy conditions twin or quad finning may be the way to go.

Length on a longboard you could maybe push through and under a section like that.

Last agreement statement =try to learn to exit even a mush burger wave without doing a dive of doom, control your pull out, otherwise you are seen as a dangerous kook, I know you're not, others don't

Thanks for the quick reply guys, and yes, that's me in the video.
Then what is the correct way to pump? I've tried it several times, but I didn't go any faster...

A simple way to get a little more speed is to do mini turns while reading the wave face and rocking back and forth between front and back foot swing the board up any little ramps you see on the wave face then swing the board back down on the other side and put an increase of pressure on the front foot to drive the board down the ramp, this can be enhanced by doing a mini turn. Two or three of these can speed up the board quite a bit, it is a bit like tic tacing on a skateboard.

You can also pick up speed by doing what I call a woggle. Take slightly parallel stance a little forward and swing your hips so the board sort of shimmies down the wave face regain normal stance and drive forward.

Simple advice ,every time you can get the board to be moving downwards it's gaining speed.
It's good too that you can be seen being a little forward to gain speed too.

Good waves and you will get it a little more

I'm no expert, I cant generate speed on the backside at all but I found this video helpful: http://www.surfline.com/surflinetv/tric ... peed_14307

Honsestly, you know what you need to do so keep at it.

Pumping? Maybe

Or maybe just keeping a higher line, you did a bottom turn on that wave that would be more ideal to a steep wave, remember it's easier to maintain speed going downhill then accross a hill.

You'll get better, just keep at it. You have a goal, you will reach it

I use my legs for speed pumping . . .



Hey, so I mountaineer!

If I may critique your wave. I would like to note that the wave wasn't used to its full potential. It would help to have taken off a bit deeper to allow room for a couple pumps or a maneuver.

When pumping you want most of your weight on your front foot (careful not to nose dive). And your back foot will be doing most of the work. The motion of the back foot is much like hopping. Crunch low and hop high so much so that your back foot leaves the board for a split second and repeat. Don't get too fixated on pumping. About two pumps max, and do a maneuver. Look for steep sections that will allow you to do this. Throwing your arms forward as you extend will also help with speed.

Also having a good quality board will help a lot with gaining speed.