Surfing Waves

I have a need...a need for SPEED!

The small, fast waves at my favorite spot sometimes race ahead and leave me grumbling in the white water. I feel like Wiley Coyote watching the Roadrunner get away....Beep, Beep! So onto the work of surfing faster.

I think my problems are-
*Misreading the waves. As the tide comes in, the waves are slow and crumbly but as the tide recedes they become hollow and fast.
*Not taking off on the peak. The forgiving nature of the longboard allows me to catch waves early and I get out of position for generating speed.
*Starting the bottom turn too early and executing it too slowly. I love smooth turns but they are holding me back.
*Not pumping correctly. I don't trim high enough or low enough on the wave face to build momentum. What works on my skateboard isn't transferring to the water.

Please help this old coyote get a meal.

BoMan wrote:The small, fast waves at my favorite spot sometimes race ahead and leave me grumbling in the white water.

Maybe try a more angled takeoff into a high turn, don't do a bottom turn, to get in a higher line on the face. The high line gives u the potential for speed, if the wave is willing

What type of longboard are you riding ? 50/50 rail single fin log or Progressive 2+1 setup ? Rounded pin or Squash ? Doesn't matter either or, but approach will be different.

waikikikichan wrote:What type of longboard are you riding ?

I'm riding a Greco foamie until September when I'll treat myself to a nose rider as a retirement gift.

9'2"′ x 24" x 3.8" / Approximately 92.4 liters of volume
4" flexible fins in thruster setup
Soft rails, Square tail, Nose rocker

Tudeo wrote:Maybe try a more angled takeoff into a high turn, don't do a bottom turn, to get in a higher line on the face.

Interesting point! Do you mean only pumping in the top third of the wave face? To do this I will have to do a better job knowing my true location. I always think I'm higher up than I really am!

BoMan wrote:

Tudeo wrote:Maybe try a more angled takeoff into a high turn, don't do a bottom turn, to get in a higher line on the face.

Interesting point! Do you mean only pumping in the top third of the wave face? To do this I will have to do a better job knowing my true location. I always think I'm higher up than I really am!

Just try to go as high as possible without losing the wave by going over, you will lose the wave a couple time trying this but soon it will be second nature. Then by dropping the nose a bit gravity will kick in and give u a speed boost which u can use to steer a bit up again. I guess u can call that pumping but it is quite effortless and feels more like flying.

BoMan wrote:

waikikikichan wrote:What type of longboard are you riding ?

I'm riding a Greco foamie until September when I'll treat myself to a nose rider as a retirement gift.

9'2"′ x 24" x 3.8" / Approximately 92.4 liters of volume
4" flexible fins in thruster setup
Soft rails, Square tail, Nose rocker

Unless you are a really good rider there are a couple of features on the Greco that I would consider capable of costing you speed.

4" flexible soft board fins would lose turn thrust if you tried to push a turn, soft rails do not give a good bite onto the wave face for a high run on the face.

A bottom turn for example should occur on the bottom of the face not on the flat water below the face, a full driving turn from the flats requires the speed from a full blooded drop, super flexible small fins would lose the energy right there. A lesser sped turn up on the lower face would still give you speed and mor fin bite for the turn up to the higher face.

Fat rails do not penetrate the face for grip,at higher level on the face, sharp rails do but lose out in other aspects.
Suggestion at home JOB ride pipeline on a Costco softie = angle take off bottom turn near bottom of face still with a line to follow and angle the board down the face. Plenty of speed.
Next is that huge amount of volume try pushing balloons of varied inflation under water ( similar to pushing a percentage of your board into the water on a turn) notice the more flotation volume the harder it is to push under water. Next consider the forces on the board are less because you are less in the water skip and slide effects occur.
Good riders compensate with body skills for all of these factors instinctively. At that level an entire surf lifetime behind them.

I am going to discourage from considering a specific nose rider longboard as your next step but rather a good all round longboard 2+1 set up to give you a wider range of situations you can ride. You can still pick your nose riding situations but you don't hinder other good things in surfing a longboard .

The top third of the wave is the most powerful part (for a surfer).

I agree with Jaffa, your board is - for once - part of the issue. Foamies tend to snow plough rather than parallel ski, if that analogy makes sense. Which is fine when you are learning and going a bit slower is a good thing; but it has its limitations and why not many people surf them when they get a bit more skilled. As Jaffa says, you need to know how to surf real boards to surf a foamie well

dtc wrote:I agree with Jaffa, your board is - for once - part of the issue.

I just listened the last Surfsimply podcast from 3 may (surfsimply.com/podcast) there's an interesting bit at 45:20 min where they speak about how they can bring their surfing students in the course of a week to the point "where the board is whats holding them back", and what they did to adress that..

Ok, I will tell what they did

They bought a load of Firewire Addvance's to offer people a bit more performance oriented board "less swing weight in the nose" without putting too much pressure on their students paddle fitness, because off the Addvance's relatively big volume.

Firewire addvance , think good rail shapes, thinkproper fins think still high enough volume to paddle well. enough rocker on the bottom shape to not cut paddling speed, swish enough to make the newbies look cool ( does play a factor) a good choice for the next stage after soft.
Other boards of similar ilk do the job too but a good bulk buy of the addvance to suit a school. somebody out there is thinking.

I'll have a listen (I'm a few weeks behind but they are on my iPod). I know they used to use the pumpkin seed, which I've never seen in the flesh but looks pretty interesting. I have been tempted by the addvance a few times

jaffa1949 wrote: The more flotation volume the harder it is to push under water... Consider the forces on the board are less because you are less in the water skip and slide effects occur. Good riders compensate with body skills for all of these factors instinctively.

That is exactly what's happening to me! When "riders compensate with body skills" do they just lean more into the wave or is there more? As you can tell, I surf too much with my head and not enough with my instincts.

jaffa1949 wrote:I am going to discourage from considering a specific nose rider longboard as your next step but rather a good all round longboard 2+1 set up to give you a wider range of situations you can ride.

Excellent point. This summer I'll rent a few 2+1 boards and look for one that works for nose riding and a little more speed. That said, the most important thing will be improving my skills - angled take offs, holding good lines and turning higher on the wave face.

BoMan wrote:

jaffa1949 wrote: That is exactly what's happening to me! When "riders compensate with body skills" do they just lean more into the wave or is there more? As you can tell, I surf too much with my head and not enough with my instincts.

Fortunately waikikichan just did a blog post that may help you http://alohaki.jugem.jp/?eid=570

dtc wrote:I know they used to use the pumpkin seed, which I've never seen in the flesh but looks pretty interesting. I have been tempted by the addvance a few times

Wow I just compared the specs of the 6'6" Pumpkin Seed and the Addvance: 33.6 liters vs 48 liters (!) The PS is much less width and thin, also it has a pintail vs the swallow/fish-tail of the ADD.

I think the PS looks a lot like a Hypto Crypto. Interesting board, but I can see why Surfsimply went for some more volume for their students coming down from mal-shapes!

http://www.nhsfunfactory.com/item/44941 ... mpkin-seed
http://shop.firewiresurfboards.com/coll ... r-addvance

Bigger waves help too.....