Pumping, pumping ,pumping

[Jaygraham]

Hi guys,
Been riding a short board for 4 months now making good bottom turns and trimming but struggling with gaining speed and pumping to make sections and to perform manoeuvres any idea on technique and ways to practice to get the right movement. Any info would help regards
Jay

[Big H]

Read:

viewtopic.php?t=7131

https://surfing-waves.com/surfing-speed.htm

[Big H]

Only other thing I didn't see mentioned in the attachments is the use of a carver or smooth star skateboard....it isn't the same but you can get the feel for and practice some of the movements involved and get the feeling of what it is like to be active on a board, using your hands and body to create energy.

That and hundreds of hours in the water should do ya.

[oldmansurfer]

I used to be really good at generating speed and the very best I could do involved rapid turns all on the same rail while leaning forward so that my center of gravity was falling off the wave until I bring the board under me and then go back up. This involves front foot and back foot pressure not rail to rail turns. I can't see how rail to rail turns would be faster but on the other hand I am no longer such a speed demon. I think getting a good bottom turn where you project up the wave and forward (unweighting) on the wave is an important start , this could be at the bottom of the wave or higher up depending on the shape of the wave. Then you need to keep your center of gravity forward and don't bring your weight up over the top of the wave or it will slow you down. So if you happened to stop on your top turn you would just fall back down the wave because your weight isn't over the top of your board and instead you are falling temporarily but bring the board back to under you and then back up quickly to the falling position again. All of this take a bit of time and practice and my guess is that is what you need. There is no miracle fast way to learn to surf just practice practice practice.

[waikikikichan]

Previous to your 4 month on a shortboard, how was your speed on the boards before ? How did you make sections before ? The same technique should transfer over to the smaller board. Timing and the amount of effort changes, but if you could before, you should be able to do the same now. ( maybe even easier )

[pmcaero]

are there any times when pumping up and down with your foot, versus side to side, is recommended?

I have a carver skateboard where I do the side to side pumping but when surfing by reflex I revert to pumping up and down with my front foot.

Last session this seemed to keep me near the top of the wave but without generating much speed.

[oldmansurfer]

side to side tacking like a skateboard generates minimal speed but up and down gets you flying

[oldmansurfer]

I think practicing on a skateboard for speed turns surfing would be good if you had a long wall that you could climb back and forth up and down. So just going from flat ground up and back down along the wall. I am sure you could generate dangerous speed doing that. However you might get hurt. If you do it surfing and fall, it's just water but on a skateboard wiping out at speed is going to hurt

[Big H]

Try weighting and unweighting when you ride the carver....squat/ get low through turns on one side and extend your legs on turns on the other side as if you were going down a wave....being active like this will wake up your senses and you will figure out through feels the rhythm of the movement and how to adjust it to make it more efficient...this helps me in the water where the feels are different, but that same body to board under the feet awareness is in play and sorting it out becomes easier especially since you are not static on the board but relaxed and loose, ready to respond to the the wave and what you feel.....one other thing, on the carver, try riding with slightly more pressure/weight forward then shift to more pressure/weight back when you are riding and making turns....play around with it again and figure out what is most efficient to carve on land then take that awareness into the water....you will be surprised what you feel when you are more aware and makes correcting easier once you are more aware of what's going on.

In this video, you can see it isn't about going back and forth but all the good riders are bobbing up and down, flexing their knees....find that rhythm...

[Big H]

BTW I will give you all one guess as to who / which member-chan brought this video to this site in the first place....do you think I can read those characters?

[Big H]

I remember that I saw this video somewhere....turns out it was right here in Surfing Waves "How to Pop Up" tutorial in the "Learn to Surf" section. It shows the mini bump pump right after popping up that is what sets it all off...standing up is the first pump then use gravity and keep it going....really clear illustration in this vid.

https://surfing-waves.com/morepopup.htm

[pmcaero]

I think my attempts at pumping so far, even on a wave face, are closer to what you see in this infamous video, where he is riding the

But I feel like this exact motion would not work well on the face.

[oldmansurfer]

I found a youtube showing a long wall for carving speed pumps

[Big H]

With a wall like that the body motions look like surfing.....

....never could understand skateboarding without shoes....

[pmcaero]

heh that would be ideal, unfortunately I haven't spotted anything similar. I use a parking lot with a decline and a bit of a V shape but it's pretty short.

[oldmansurfer]

The wave that I learned to surf on at Kealia beach often had really fast breaking waves so I had lot's of practice creating speed. It's all additive up to the maximum speed your board can attain so the first turn makes you go fast then the next faster and the next faster and the turns get quicker and less time between them as you go faster. Some boards have a slower hull speed and so you can't make them go quite as fast but on the other hand when you want to slow down they make it easier. Anyway the waves were on occasion ideal for learning to speed pump. I would be going so fast that if I wiped out I skipped across the water.