Surfing Waves

Hello again.

I've been out over the past couple of months still working on my turning.

When the waves are not too big but fairly friendly I struggle to turn and maintain forward momentum.

What I find is I am either far enough forward that I can get speed to go down the line but I struggle to get any turn tighter than a slight turn, or I get a little bit further back and I can turn very sharply but I lose all forward momentum so and up falling off the back of the wave. When it's bigger I can stay closer to the back and still have enough forward momentum to keep going.

I started watching some good long boarders when I was out and watching them nose riding and walking back and forth. Whereas I pop up and stay where I am but no matter where I try I cannot find a happy medium where I cab get good forward momentum but far enough back to turn a bit quicker.

Now I know I am not going to be nose riding or even walking around like them but is this what I should be moving towards on those smaller days to keep my momentum up but then still being able to turn quite sharply.

If so any tips or do I just keep trying to find that spot where I can do both from.

Well, you have identified the answer. Surfing is all about weight shifts. On short boards that might mean leaning and moving your back foot an inch or two. On long boards you have an extra 3ft to play with, so moving your foot an inch or two isnt going to cut it. You do have to move your foot a foot, or two or three. And that might involve walking

At the very least, practice by moving one foot about a 1 - 1.5ft forward or back, and keeping the other foot in the one place. Yes your stance will be very wide and a bit awkward, but it will give you a feel of the weight shifts required.

Longboards are meant to walk on. Learn to do it. Basically the more forward you are the less you will be able to turn the board. So if you are on the tail this maximises your ability to turn when you go forward it lowers your ability to turn. If you are forward enough all that can probably be done is what I call ankle turns push your toes down to go toward your front and pull your toes up to go to your backside. However if you want to turn sharply you need to get back on the tail then run back forward after.

Watch this several times.

Millsy82 wrote:I started watching some good long boarders when I was out and watching them nose riding and walking back and forth. Whereas I pop up and stay where I am but no matter where I try I cannot find a happy medium where I cab get good forward momentum but far enough back to turn a bit quicker.

Hmmmm..... So the "Good" longboarders walk / move back and forth and the "not as good" longboarders are "glue foots". So you answered your own question. When you turn any surfboard, say 5'3" or even a 12'6", you turn/pivot with your weight concentrated over the back fin(s). That again is when you are TURNING. When you are not turning, you need to let the board plane and trim over the water by moving up. That's just the way it is.
( by the way, stop staring at your feet, look where you want to go, not down at the deck )

There is no happy medium, there is an unhappy mediocre. learn to walk learn to dance.
Don't learn to shuffle, don't worry about the nose don't look at your feet, let the wave provide the music and dance. Have fun doing it.
Those good longboard surfers, be like them, move.

In small surf on a longboard you can't stay planted in the same spot on the board and expect to be able maintain trim speed and make sharp turns. If it feels like you are going to stall or lose the wave you need to step forward to pickup speed. If you want to be able to carve a sharp turn you need to step back over the fins to lift the nose out of the water. To transition between the front and rear of the board you need to be able to walk forwards and backwards, or rather pushing or pulling the board forwards and backward with your feet.

Imagine that you catch a weak wave, you paddle and pop up, you do a front side bottom turn projecting up the face of the wave by pressing hard down on the board with your toes, crouching, rotating and leaning your upper body in the direction of the turn, and then do a top turn back down the face of the wave by standing up briefly, then crouch down again, pressing hard down on your heels, rotating and leaning your torso in the new direction. At the top of the wave as you come out of your top turn you will lose speed and it might feel like you will stall off the back of wave, take a few quick steps forward to the front of the board and crouch down to get the nose of the board headed back down the face of the wave, if the section in front of you starts to get steeper and faster you can take a few steps to the back of the board with rear foot over the fins (you can do this now since the wave is faster and steeper you wont stall) the nose of your board will lift out of the water making it easier to rotate your board for your next turn.

Sometimes the waves are so weak you can only trim down the line, unless you can generate your own speed by pumping the board up and down the wave face from standing in the center of the board, once you've built up some speed you can take a few quick steps back over the fins, lifting the nose out of the water and do a carving turn.

Here is a great video: