Surfing Waves

Hey just got back from a surf an the waves were pretty small. I realized I could only get about one SLOW turn in and had no speed what so ever. Here is a link to show about how big the waves were http://stabmag.com/how-to-surf-small-wa ... he-andino/ and how i want to surf them. How does kolohe have so much power in such small waves?

surf904 wrote:How does kolohe have so much power in such small waves?

By being very very skilful. Weighing about as much a piece of toast will help too, but most just being very skilful.
He's constantly right in the pocket, sucking every bit of power out the wave. And the board is always light on the water... he never digs a rail in deep or lets the tail sink.

Stay in the pocket. Pump for speed from the top of the wave. Generate as much speed as you can before turning. Don't dig in.

...all very easy in theory, but takes a lot of skill in practise.

He uses his weight by dropping down into the bottom turns once he gets moving it is transferring that momentum by changing directions carving turns and unweighting and weighting. You never know but some small waves have some power and are easier to ride. Some of those look like they might. There was some QS pro contest a while back I think the Balito pro where that's how big the waves were and they were all shredding them.

What you don't want to hear - It's because Kolohe is a Pro. So is Tiger, so MJ. They make it look easy. They put in their time. They understand not only the How ( pumping and displacement ) but the When ( too resist and when to relax ) and the Where ( being in the pocket, in the most powerful part of the wave ). As you spend more time surfing, you will get better at understanding the wave. That's where true speed comes from.

I'm assuming your in Jax with the 904 in your name. Pretty weak little bump we had. It also never had the form or shape of those waves. Regardless, like everyone else said, he's a pro. Something to be said about riding a more high performance thruster style of board in mediocre waves is that it doesn't outrun the power source and is easy to keep in the pocket while flatter more fish like boards aren't the easiest to keep in the pocket since they constantly accelerate away.

Where do you surf usually? Not all sand bars are created equal. Some spots are grovable on shin to knee while others you might be lucky to catch the wave at that size.

Yep mostly surfing jax beach. Granted im not a pro and the waves might suck i still want to be a standout in are waves. Thanks for the replys

Realistically if you want to stand out , you need to be outstanding ( like duh) .
You are only a couple of years into your surfing ,so beginner still, like I said in the other post .
Surf surf and surf, sadly your video is no longer available ( you might want to repost it)
so no critique can be done.
First step however is to really get your basic surfing working well, pushing each element in ever increasing power and strength, learn where the power is in the wave, learn how to make it into speed and how your positioning on your board effects that.
for a short board learn front and back foot weighting and unweighting to gain drive, (front foot) or power up a turn (Back foot).
Learn how to use torque from your body to wind up a turn and then eyeballing where you are going to go as you come out of that turn
Spend a good bit of time watching how the good guys work to small waves, try to do the same as the ones who are most successful.

Remember too that by and large most of us will only reach the upper end of a good average.
Outstanding athletes are that way because they built their skills on their innate ability ,drive and competitiveness.
If that is you, then surf surf and surf will make you outstanding.
In one of your post you said you were having a blast, and that is really the only way to go

Dude, just go get yourself either a thicker or longer board. I have 8 boards, 2 for small waves, one is a longboard, the other a minimall, one for small mush the other for small closeouts. And I have a retro fish for small waves too, when I want to still try to do cutbacks in 2ft surf.

As you can see, he is lightweight (73kg) and very skillful. He changes directions all the time always avoiding sinking any part of the board so that he loses momentun. This is very hard to master. He uses much of his waist movement ( i don't know how to express this in english) to generate speed. This is something for those above average can do.