Surfing Waves

ive got a 9 1/2 foot board for 220 dollars, 22 inches wide and 3 inches thick, took it out and had no control over the xxxxx. i caught waves pretty easy but had some trouble with dropping in, all of a sudden im riding like a beginner. i cant turn for xxxxx. am i doomeed? should i sell the board and get something smaller? or will i be able to gain control? (im 6 foot, 160 lbs)

incase you arnt familiar with me, im a regular twice a week shortboarder of 5 years

Practice my man, practice. It aint a shortboard. Actually the board sounds good for you. What kind?

Are you out further to catch a wave than when you shortboarded? Also I don't know about shortboarding but I think the way it is done you feel the lunge of the wave and then you stand. My rule of thumb for where to start paddling with a long board is...............once you find where the wave starts to break is to take another 10 strong paddles past that. Angle the board of course paddle for the wave. In longboarding you want to feel the board gliding along the wave before you stand, so it maybe an extra paddle or two that your not used to doing. As far as turning I am still not real good at it. Just a slight shift of my weight and looking at the spot I want to go to on the wave. I have only advanced so far as to be where I want to be on the wave. In other words "no tricks".

Get out the water!!

Feckin NOOB!

hawaii,
I wonder if you are trying to catch waves that are better for short board. I also wonder if you are trying to ride the longboard like it is a short board. The longboard you described sounds very good. Try it again and forget everything you know about short boarding.

all of a sudden im riding like a beginner. i cant turn for xxxxx

I had the exact same issue with longboarding. I quickly realised a longboard would never ride the way i wanted it to. To compare it to a shortboard is like comparing bannanas to cabbage. I descided it was not for me and sold the thing. Probably a bit of a hasty move id say give it some time and see if it works good for you - if not sell it

Eat lots of burgers, go bald, and you'll be fine.

you guys tricked me! i dont get it. its fun on small waves, but other than that, i dont get it. i might keep it im not sure right now. money is tight but i could use it for those flat spells, theres always 1-2 foot surf here.

Longboarding is very different from shortboarding. I do both, but the longboard is my main style. The shortboard is for the swells that are too stormy or a ft or two overhead (too much to deal with the longboard).

As far as turning goes, you can't turn on a rail like you do with a shortboard. You can't just lean into the wave and get the board shifting with you. If you do that on a longboard then you'll just fall over. The longboard doesn't naturally want to change course, so what you have to do is get most of your weight on the fin. Longboard turning is typically done on or close to the fin, pivotting the board into the turn.

Shortboarding is a lot of "hips" and core movements, but longboarding is very geared towards "feet" and walking to trim the board to turn, stall, speed up, and move to any part of the wave.

Don't fall into the only-longboard-when-there's-no-surf. Some of the best waves I've taken have been with a 10' stick on an overhead wave. But I guess boards and styles is all personal preference.

thats some good advice on how to turn, thanks. i thunk until i get more used to the board ill be sticking with my shortboard to ride bigger waves otherwise ill end up running someone over.

so when youre turning you stand all the way to the back of the board?

Mate longboarding you have to move around on the board.

Back for turning , mid point for cruising etc., Gotta keep moving those feet.

Not necessarily all the way back on the board. You see, depending on the dimensions of the longboard, with thickness, length, and everything else factoring into the radius of the turn that the board can make with a lean on the rail, that's potentially a VERY slow and VERY wide turn. In other words, my 10' Dewey Weber is a "bulky" board. Excessive in all dimensions, making it a real bull, but very fun to walk around on. If I was to take a spilling wave and WITHOUT shifting my weight towards the fin, it would take me a very long time and a very large radius to achieve a 90 degree shift in direction (going perpendicular to shore, to parallel in either direction; the right or left). It's just the hydrodynamics of these types of boards. Now, with my 9'2 Stewart (tri-fin, fast longboard), it wouldn't take quite as large as a radius as the Weber, but it's still significant if you're looking to shoot down the line sooner then later.

So now you can't just lean into the board and have it dig in, catching a rail and shifting direction. What you have to do is move your weight closer to the fin (in the case of my Weber, it's VERY close; not so much with the Stewart). If you can visualize a longboard turning, it doesn't "list" (go up and down, port to starboard, left to right) as much as a shortboard will. The way a turn is achieved is through using the fin as a pivot point on the horizontal plane. It would be ideal for a turn to have 100% of you weight right on (above) the fin, but this is not ideal for speed (would end up stalling WAY too much, depending on the board and conditions). So get as close to that fin as possible without losing stability and speed, and just push out your front foot to the direction you want to go, and use the back foot as the "fin pivot" foot, keeping that plant, and also applying some pressure in the opposite direction.

You'll get the feeling of it, but that's the general approach you should have and the thoughts going through your head. Remember, these boards have very different characteristics; their size and dimensions makes them want to stay in the direction they are already going, making you have to coerce it a little with foot trim and a little pressure.

I didn't explain the above very well, and it turned out to be a novel. Let me know if it isn't clear and I'll try another way at explaining.

Try to surf a long board like a short board and you will loose your rail every time. Turns have to be smooth and arcing.

you could try a book called longboarders start up guide, it has a lot of tips for people moveing from a short board

yup riding a llongboard is different for sure. Like above, move around on the board. The moving around on the board is much more pronounced than on a shortboard, put your foot closer to the rail to increase turning and edging.
move back and forth on the board....but don't stick with it if you don't enjoy it. If you don't like it then leave courts for the rest of us


a

waves have been great lately, well overhead, i have not touched the board in a week.

never even surfed courts, is that next to concessions?

yup for sure. It is one of those waves that just seem to get better the bigger it is. Good channel to get out too...

I've been there at 10ft. and the wave just gets cleaner and cleaner.

Even Big Lefts is good on longboard..next one over before baby Haleiwa..but that wave needs head high just to break tho...

Been going to Kahala side...pretty nice with a kite...

A. (you still think Hawaii sucks?)

Echoing all here.. Riding a longboard like a shorty ain't gonna work. Don't keep your feet planted.. be ready to move your feet and your weight, and think more of flow versus quick snaps.

Leaning slowly in, then hitting it versus just trying to snap a move.

tautologies wrote:yup for sure. It is one of those waves that just seem to get better the bigger it is. Good channel to get out too...

I've been there at 10ft. and the wave just gets cleaner and cleaner.

Even Big Lefts is good on longboard..next one over before baby Haleiwa..but that wave needs head high just to break tho...

Been going to Kahala side...pretty nice with a kite... :-)

A. (you still think Hawaii sucks?)

yeah but i have gotten into hiking a lot more since 2004 so id change it to hawaiisucksexceptsurfmountainsfoodandasiangirls meaning that i still hate the club scene, shitty roads, tourist industry, lack of sidewalks, racism and heat.