Surfing Waves

Im riding a custom twin fish 6"2 x 21 1/2 x 2 7/8 (40L). Need constructive advice. Im a beginner. Im 5"7 and weigh 62kg. 30 yo male.

Cheers u all so kind.

Drone shot of another wave. with aerial shot of our point break.

I'm probably not the best to give advice, but I'll try:

The first video is a bit far, but your knees seems to be pointing inwards at the beginning, not sure if because of your foot positioning. That probably didn't help with your balance, your arm movement and that involuntary bottom turn that almost threw you off show that you were struggling to keep control.

On the second video, at the first bottom turn, you do it with your legs too straight, your front arm is still pointing forward (not towards the face of the wave) and you just kind of lean your body back. You should lead the turn, but there you sort of throw yourself back and let the board "fix" it by picking you up again. You do the same on the second bottom turn.

I'm not sure you have experience with other board sports, but you could do some balance training in land (either skateboarding or using a balance board). Also trying to work on your surf stance at land could help, I think right now you're either too straight or too bent during the ride. Try to work on a stance where your knees are bent enough that you can keep good balance, but not too bent that you lose movement:



Neither this:


Nor that:


But something between:


Another thing I noticed on the drone images is that your back feet is a bit ahead from the tail. The turns will be less sharp that way because you'll be mostly using the rail, but that's fine for now since you're just trying to ride the line of the wave. But when you need to do a sharper turn (maybe later when trying some carving, or if you go too ahead on the shoulder and need to cutback) you'll need to move your feet back a little to make use of the fins.

Well, that's what I have, Waikikikichan is the man when it comes to surfing advice so later he or others might give you some better feedback and maybe correct me if I said some non-sense

Is there something more you want to do? Looks like you are doing okay. My advice to everyone is to work on your bottom turn. That first turn sets up all the rest if you want to do more. So maybe just try to go to the bottom of the wave then back to the top and then to the bottom instead of staying midface.

thanks a lot lanCiao for the very detailed review. Sorry for the 1st video, these 2 are the only videos of me that i have till now.

i do some skateboard but only after i started learning surfing a few years back. i had a carver once, learned to ride and pump bowls on that but now just focus on learning miniramps. still kook too lol. too old for street. but when i try to pump on a wave, the feeling was little diff from carverboard. im afraid if i really really use my body and arms to turn, that i will fall off or go too high on the face. cos then i need to do like a snap? to get back down or ill lose the wave. i cant turn that sharp haha.

I agree i was struggling in the 1st wave. It was too fast for me to handle. Im only in control during the last part where i go up and then turn into shore at the closed section. haha. Thanks for your input, ill work into that..

2nd wave. i think thats why i feel the board kinda hard to turn fast. My feet are too forward!! Should back feet be right at the base of fin? or slightly forward of finbox? should it stay there from take off till end or should it move around, since this is a bigger fish board (longer)?

OMS, thank you for your time.

Yea i do want to learn a proper bottom turn. I tend to try to take off and pick a line, surfing down the line, as in bigger surf, this is whats been working for me so far.

Should i take off in a low body position, and hold it low until the bottom of wave? or take off low and quickly stand straight at the bottom?

should i go down the face, stay down and wait for the correct moment to go back up of face? or should i focus on immediately go back up the wave face after the initial drop?

im talking in bigger wave, where theres a little drop in during take off, like maybe chest to head high where i can feel the difference.

anyways, thank you very much for input.

by the way did u see on the drone, i was trying to catch up with the closing out section, then a logger dropped in and hanged 10 in front of me, closing the door, and then pulling out. u can see his board, but not the rider as he was hanging. lol. a bit bummed, loved to try to catch the closing out section, wave was still long.

;p

slightlynotstoopid wrote:OMS, thank you for your time.

Yea i do want to learn a proper bottom turn. I tend to try to take off and pick a line, surfing down the line, as in bigger surf, this is whats been working for me so far.

Should i take off in a low body position, and hold it low until the bottom of wave? or take off low and quickly stand straight at the bottom?

should i go down the face, stay down and wait for the correct moment to go back up of face? or should i focus on immediately go back up the wave face after the initial drop?

im talking in bigger wave, where theres a little drop in during take off, like maybe chest to head high where i can feel the difference.

anyways, thank you very much for input.

What I generally do is pop up low but extend my legas as I drop to the bottom then crouch again at the bottom. In doing so it increases the force into the board on the bottom turn however in your case perhaps that is too much to do so just work at going to the bottom of the wave and turning back to the top. You can only do stuff in the right place so figuring out where that is for you at your skill level and board is what you need to do. Learning a variety of bottom turns will help you there. I see pro surfers kind of do small pumps while waiting for the wave to do what it's going to do. I don't see the utility in that most of the time however I am not a pro So my advice is just to learn what you can do and try to expand on that. It's a long process and you can try to pick it all apart and say do this or that but in reality it's the end result that matters so focus on making progress one little step at a time. It doesn't really matter what other surfers think of your surfing, what matters is what you think of your surfing

When the back hand goes up, it means there's a problem with your foot placement and/or front arm is closed when it should be open ( and leading the actions.





Because there is no twist of the waist and the front shoulder is closed ( notice how your front fingers are curved back and across the chest ), the body can't turn, so unconsciously the back arm goes up and back to help lean.

As IanCaio has said, you are too far forward to turn. But for what you are doing, just speeding down the line, I don't see anything wrong with your positioning. As OMS alluded to, if you're happy and having fun with that, then it's fine. But if there's " more you want to do ", then there's a lot to work on.

BUT........................

slightlynotstoopid wrote: im afraid if i really really use my body and arms to turn, that i will fall off or go too high on the face. cos then i need to do like a snap? to get back down or ill lose the wave. i cant turn that sharp haha.

So why then are you riding a TWIN FIN FISH ? A board design that is made to be loose and likes to be on rail all the time.

If you are too scared to move your body around, then you should be on a single fin mid-length fun board and have a more quiet upper body style.

thanks all for the input.

definitely will work into getting lower and open up shoulder, lead with arm and look, before turning. need to popup a bit further back also.

waikikichan, this board is my "upgrade" board. i learnt on a funboard, 7"2 single fin. after 3 seasons i feel like wanna try learning something that can turn looser, take off steeper, and short enough one that i can learn duck dive with, hence take out in bigger conditions.

but youre right, thats why i got the board. hahhaaha.

OMS, when u say my hands are closed, i realized that i was turning by heel/toe, similar to normal skateboarding. but it the water, its me leaning backwards, using the rails to turn.

combine that with my too forward feet placing, no wonder it feels wierd when i turn.

thank u!

slightlynotstoopid wrote: this board is my "upgrade" board. i learnt on a funboard, 7"2 single fin. after 3 seasons i feel like wanna try learning something that can turn looser, take off steeper, and short enough one that i can learn duck dive with, hence take out in bigger conditions.

So now that you got that custom 6'2" fish ......
1) are you turning better ( and looser ) ? I would say no, since your foot is no where near the fins and you are too afraid TO go high up the face.
2) are you taking off on steeper drops ? You look to be getting on fine and your paddle power is good.
3) are you duck diving ? I can't tell but how are other surfers with long(er) boards making it out to the line up without duckdiving ?
4) are you taking it out in bigger conditions ? Yes, in your first video we can see that. But you admitted you were not in control. So you're hanging on and riding NOT surfing.

My advice to you is to go back to a bigger board until you learn how to place your feet on the board and how moving around on the board effects how the board reacts. What good is getting a 1000cc sports bike if you can only twist a 1/4 throttle out of fear. Better to get a smaller easier motorcycle and learn to maximize it's capabilities BEFORE "upgrading".

You went down in size too early before you created a solid foundation.

A bit of very useful advice (probably from here..?) I got about backside surfing: open up your body so that your view and angle simulate your frontside surfing.

thanks..

waikikichan, this is the 1st season im using the 6"2. my 7"2 funboard was all beat up last year and i had to sell it. i have to force myself a bit but i feel like im making progress here and there and i like it.

1. yes i agree i cant turn that well, this is the area im focusing on right now.
2. yes i can take steeper drops, up till around head high, but not any bit bigger. i learnt how to take off at an angle on about head high waves.
3. longer boards actually helps to paddle out better here as currents are stronger as waves get bigger. but the take off spot is quite small (if want good waves), so we need to hang around the take off spot a bit. and sometime, bigger sets will break outside and most will get caught inside. in my experience, on a longer board, this would be a prob for me. knowing that i can duckdive this 6"2 if a cleanup set is coming while waiting at the point is a reassuring thing, gives more convidence to go out on bigger days. (bigger for me is up to head high, where waves a better and longer ride, offering more time to learn)
4. i do take it out in bigger surf but my comfort zone is up till head high only, bigger will be scary for me. bigger than head high i will sit it out. lol

i loved my 7"2 but its hard to handle if theres few head high white walls coming around.

my logic was to use the funboard in all other conditions but take out the 6"2 if its chest to head high. but now i only has the 6"2.

thanks again for your time everyone.
really appreciate it.
cheers

mounted board goPro... that could be a good addon..