Surfing Waves

I moved to a short board 8 yrs after starting longboarding.
Im a big guy at 6.3 and 210lbs and ride a 6.3
My popup is fine in one smooth quick motion.
My problem is my back foot lands just in front of the tail pad and hence in front of the two fins.Im natural.

Any ideas how i can get this back foot onto the pad directly on popup.I dont want to adjust when im up.
Also my front foot lands about an inch or two over the halfway point of the board.Maybe this is also too far forward.

Advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Position yourself further back, pop up going back a bit....on a longboard depending on the wave shape and when you get in I’m sure you learned how to pop up forward of normal (jumping forward) or hanging back so that you weight the tail straight off....change boards to accommodate - custom shaper route.....widen your stance. With practice you can control some variance in your landing positions....I’d work on that.

saflyfish wrote:I dont want to adjust when im up.

Depending on the shape of the wave and the dynamics riding it, you should move your feet around to make the most of it.
The principle is the same as riding a longboard, but on a shortboard you only have to shift your weight a little bit to have effect.
Also the shape of the wave at takeoff requires an optimal foot position, more forward to make speed in weak waves more back for steep/strong waves.
Off course you must work on landing your feet in the right place (for the right wave), but after that it's about finding a balanced stance that frees your feet to move around to make optimal use of the waves energy.
I've seen video's of surfers only moving their back foot, there's that great vid of Devon Howard riding a 7'2 egg, I can't find it now.. But I'm sure it's been posted here before.

Tudeo wrote:there's that great vid of Devon Howard riding a 7'2 egg, I can't find it now.. But I'm sure it's been posted here before.

Found it.

Why do you want to land with your foot over the fins?

My advice is to work at getting your hands further back for the popup as close to your waist as you can get them

oldmansurfer wrote:My advice is to work at getting your hands further back for the popup as close to your waist as you can get them

This exactly.
My hand position is now at my chest/nipple region.I can understand the dynamics as you say move hands further towards your waist on popup.
Thanks this should work at getting both my feet an inch or two further back

The old adage goes “ if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it “. You say you have a “problem” that your foot lands at the front of the pad. But are you completing the drop and then move onto a smooth bottom turn ? If so, I don’t see a problem.
By the way, how do you know where you feet are landing ? Do you have any photos or videos that you can post.
Question: are you doing a “chicken wing” pop up ?

waikikikichan wrote:The old adage goes “ if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it “. You say you have a “problem” that your foot lands at the front of the pad. But are you completing the drop and then move onto a smooth bottom turn ? If so, I don’t see a problem.
By the way, how do you know where you feet are landing ? Do you have any photos or videos that you can post.
Question: are you doing a “chicken wing” pop up ?

My popup aint broke and im doing it it one smooth motion.I can feel my back foot is off the pad.
The reason i want to move my back foot behind the front two fins is for manoeverability sake.Its hard to carve and do cutbacks when the back foot is in front of the two fins.
Yes completing the drop and doing a smooth bottom turn.I think you misread my post.My back foot is landing in front of the pad,not on the pad at all.

saflyfish wrote:My popup aint broke and im doing it it one smooth motion.
The reason i want to move my back foot behind the front two fins is for manoeverability sake.Its hard to carve and do cutbacks when the back foot is in front of the two fins.

First off, I am not telling you Not to put your foot further back, I'm encouraging you to do. BUT a rule is "your foot needs to be over the fins when you are TURNING". When you are NOT turning, say Taking Off, Trimming, moving up after a turn, etc. your foot does not need to be that far back. So it's not the HOW but the WHEN and WHERE on the wave you should be back on the kicktail of the pad.
Look at any of the great and smooth surfers Rob Machado and Joel Parkinson, they constantly move their foot from in front of the pad to way back on the kick. You have to approach Surfing as more Kinetic not Static. You can't be "glue foot" stuck on one place. And not even just your back foot, your front foot might need to be more on the inside rail for backside surfing or in front of mid or behind.
Like Bruce Lee said " Be like water, my friend". The more your mind and body flows like water, the better your carves/ cutbacks will be.

waikikikichan wrote:

saflyfish wrote:My popup aint broke and im doing it it one smooth motion.
The reason i want to move my back foot behind the front two fins is for manoeverability sake.Its hard to carve and do cutbacks when the back foot is in front of the two fins.

First off, I am not telling you Not to put your foot further back, I'm encouraging you to do. BUT a rule is "your foot needs to be over the fins when you are TURNING". When you are NOT turning, say Taking Off, Trimming, moving up after a turn, etc. your foot does not need to be that far back. So it's not the HOW but the WHEN and WHERE on the wave you should be back on the kicktail of the pad.
Look at any of the great and smooth surfers Rob Machado and Joel Parkinson, they constantly move their foot from in front of the pad to way back on the kick. You have to approach Surfing as more Kinetic not Static. You can't be "glue foot" stuck on one place. And not even just your back foot, your front foot might need to be more on the inside rail for backside surfing or in front of mid or behind.
Like Bruce Lee said " Be like water, my friend". The more your mind and body flows like water, the better your carves/ cutbacks will be.

Thanks for the advice
So are you saying that its ok to adjust the back and/or front foot once ive popped up?
I thought it was optimal to land the foot placement perfectly on the popup.

Another benefit of learning on a longer board first....you learn about weight shifts and foot movement, though on a more definitive scales.

Here are some samples of what WKK is talking about....pay attention to their feet:

As WKK said, and a number of us tried to lead you to consider, you don’t need your foot over the fins all of the time. Only when you need to ie when turning. If you want speed then you don’t want to be weighting the back of your board.

Thanks all appreciate your advice.
With respect to the front foot placement is it correct to have it an inch or two in front of the middle point of the board and secondly what is the ideal weight distribution say in % between the back and front foot?

saflyfish wrote: what is the ideal weight distribution say in % between the back and front foot?

Depends on what you are doing....general principles - for speed its weight forward (basically you want the board flat in the water), for turning its weight back (nose unweighted so it can swing around, and you are turning off a smaller area of the board). So if you are doing a roundhouse cutback it might be forward (set up speed), back (turn), forward (speed) back (turn) forward (along the line)

As to front foot position, most boards will have a 'sweet spot' but it could be half way or slightly forward (eg if a bigger nose like the hypto krypto) or back (bigger tail). And while your front foot doesnt move as much as back foot when on a short board, it can/may still move.

saflyfish wrote:.......secondly what is the ideal weight distribution say in % between the back and front foot?

This is an awful way to think about surfing......so many riding angles, board lengths and shapes, wave shapes, positions, attitudes, turns, stalls and speeds all combined.....there is no answer, impossible question. Surf more, move around while you do and pay attention to the results.

saflyfish wrote:With respect to the front foot placement is it correct to have it an inch or two in front of the middle point of the board

I like to measure about a 16 inches back from the logo placement.

saflyfish wrote: what is the ideal weight distribution say in % between the back and front foot?

53% back 47% front ( that is when going frontside )

You do realize, i'm not being serious. However being that you are, how about looking at other sports. A motorcycle rider ( street or dirt ) doesn't sit in the exact place all the time. Your grip on a baseball, frisbee, racquet, SUP paddle changes depending on the situation.
So you might point out that Snowboarders are "locked in", well you might have a point there. And also there's click-in pedals for cycling. But those are more so they don't get bucked off or to optimize power transfer.

Even if there was a "ideal weight distribution", how would you find that exact spot ?
1) Look down and skoot your foot over.
2) Bindings or Straps.
3) Bonding for a real "Glue Foot" method.
4) Stud finder type of device that beeps quicker when your foot gets closer then goes steady tone when you in the perfect spot.

Even in cycling with feet bound in you get up on the pedals and shoulders to go over a rough patch, up on pedals and weight back going off a curb....you need to fail some then learn from that and practice a lot.

waikikikichan wrote:

saflyfish wrote:With respect to the front foot placement is it correct to have it an inch or two in front of the middle point of the board

I like to measure about a 16 inches back from the logo placement.

saflyfish wrote: what is the ideal weight distribution say in % between the back and front foot?

53% back 47% front ( that is when going frontside )

You do realize, i'm not being serious. However being that you are, how about looking at other sports. A motorcycle rider ( street or dirt ) doesn't sit in the exact place all the time. Your grip on a baseball, frisbee, racquet, SUP paddle changes depending on the situation.
So you might point out that Snowboarders are "locked in", well you might have a point there. And also there's click-in pedals for cycling. But those are more so they don't get bucked off or to optimize power transfer.

Even if there was a "ideal weight distribution", how would you find that exact spot ?
1) Look down and skoot your foot over.
2) Bindings or Straps.
3) Bonding for a real "Glue Foot" method.
4) Stud finder type of device that beeps quicker when your foot gets closer then goes steady tone when you in the perfect spot.

Yea cant stand wise arses.How about trying to assist instead of a dumbass post like this?

Well you did ask a really silly question for someone who already surfs; you are lucky you didn’t get even more sarcastic responses

Also, did WKK’s response make you think? Make you understand the issue? Sometimes harder lessons are the best lessons