Surfing Waves

hey,

i just moved down from a 9'6" to a much shorter board. i took it out the other day just to get used to the paddling position etc. an unexpected set came through, so i decided to test performance and feel. my positioning on the board was great as the wave approached. right when i was about to pop-up (at the top of the wave), my board took a nose dive. it didn't pearl though. it was more like it just fell off the wave face. this happened maybe 5-6 times in a row. i tried moving back on my board, but then the obvious would happen. tried 2 or 3 different positions, but board still dove.

any advice? thanks a lot

u need too paddle much sooner and push your weight back as soon as u feel you are on the wave.

p.s u do need too move back a bit by the sound of things

^exactly what he said. Your board and you aren't moving as fast as the wave, so your getting swept up the face. You can get seriously hurt if you misjudge the wave like that. Try to paddle faster (harder) and kick your feet if you need too. Press down on the front with your hands and pop-up asap. Back out of it if you think your going to get pitched by the lip.

thanks a lot. so you're saying that because i'm not paddling hard enough i'm traveling to the top of the wave when the peak is starting to curl, thus, it's acting like a whip and sling-shoting me to the trough/bottom part of the wave, nose first. so, i need to paddle harder, and pop-up before i get pushed up to the lip...i think i got it.

^PS. i did get seriously bashed. my board and i got pushed off the top and tumbled to the trough--pretty much in mid-air. my fin cut straight through my wetsuit, and my leg pushed one of my fins all the way through my board.

yup... that is exactly whats happening. It's a real bad feeling when the bottom of the wave drops out and you get hammered.

Don't worry we've all had it happen at least once.

Knowing when to back out is an art in itself my man!!!!
You'll get a feel for when you are too late on a wave and that's when you need to back out.
It sounds like the waves you are on are pretty steep and pitch over. These need a much quicker and earlier pop up than mushier waves, like the others said.
Try taking off on the shoulder (as long as its not crowded) and gradually work your way into a better take off point.

Hey Man,

Maybe take a look at where other surfers on similar boards are actually taking off, how far and hard they are paddling and how fast they are going when they pop up. If you're doing everything the same as them, it may be that your board actually isn't buoyant enough to let you paddle fast enough to catch the wave early.

Especially since you're coming down in board size, you need to paddle a lot harder on the short board to have any hope of successful take offs.

I try to learn by copying those who are better than me.

i surf a 9' board and a 6'6" egg and when i first went from my longboard to my egg, my board always nose dived, i found that if you lay alittle to far forward on the board and then arch you back to even out the weight it realy helps, also you need to be quick onto your feet because your catching the wave alot later

thanks guys. i'm not moving down in board size too much. going from a 9'6" to a 7'6" Merrick M-13 Hybrid. the m-13 is around 21 in. wide, and 2.8 in. thick. although, i realize that any decrease in length is significant.

thanks again