Surfing Waves

hi i have been surfing a while now im do some gentle turns and got to the nose (bit of a fluke when i do) a few times however when i pop up and want to ride down the face and do a bottom turn i find that im in the middle of the board almost and its very hard to turn, is this as i have jumped to far forward on my popup my front foot comes right up the my hands. Really would like to start nailing my bottom turn to gain some speed for the rest of the wave would really appreciate some help

thanks very much

newportlongboard wrote:hi i have been surfing a while now im do some gentle turns and got to the nose (bit of a fluke when i do) a few times however when i pop up and want to ride down the face and do a bottom turn i find that im in the middle of the board almost and its very hard to turn, is this as i have jumped to far forward on my popup my front foot comes right up the my hands. Really would like to start nailing my bottom turn to gain some speed for the rest of the wave would really appreciate some help

thanks very much

The easiest way (although it does require a bit more arm strength) is to move your hands back as you push up.

I don't pop-up normally, but as I occasionally ride shorter boards where my feet are over the end when I pop up I bring my right leg forwards as if I am crawling across the ground. I then use it to push up off the traction pad, while bringing my left leg forwards. What I find it does is put pressure on the right side of the board (good if the wave is a righthander) and puts my back foot a bit further back. This might not work for you, and the gain will probably be marginal but it might be something to consider.

You could also try lying further back on the board for a quick fix.

you may be past all this, but fwiw a few things came to my mind:

- have you tried cross-stepping back to the tail? i find that's the best way to loosen up my board. I have a pin tail that requires me to do this with most drop-ins.

- you could also line up further back on the board, this will naturally put you further back as you stand. you'll be limited though based on how your board planes during paddle and what kind of wave your chasing; on round waves you likely still have to walk a bit because you need to position forward just to get in.

- it's possible to throw your board forward as you pop, it helps to grab the rails lower than usual, sort of around your belly button. you can continue the motion by guiding it forward with the outside of your front foot as you stand. this is more useful on steep faces cause you get slightly longer air time as you drop in.

rather than paddle for the wave heading straight towards the beach, paddle a little more in the direction the wave is going to peel so you don't have to do such a big bottom turn.