Surfing Waves

I can shuffle my feet to around ~1 feet off the nose of the board. I'm struggling due to the amount of people in the water and wiping out. Or I get back to the middle of the board too late and the tail end up going up the air.

Overall, I think I'm making progress. I rented a NSP 8'0 and the board was a little too narrow and unstable for nose riding. I've never fallen off that many times while riding a wave.

It doesn't matter, just have fun.

BaNZ wrote:I can shuffle my feet to around ....

Right there is your problem. "WALK NEVER SHUFFLE." And technically not walk, but Cross Step.

BaNZ wrote:I rented a NSP 8'0 and the board was a little too narrow and unstable for nose riding.

You CAN noseride that 8'0". It is stable enough ( it's the rider being wobbly ).

This is my 6'4" NSP fish. Only a step and half to the nose, but you can get up there.

BaNZ wrote: I've never fallen off that many times while riding a wave.

Because you're TRYING to noseride, instead of just surf. Sometimes it's possible to move up, sometimes it's not. You need to listen to the beat of the wave. If you force the issue, the wave is going to work against you. Like board repair and painting, it's the set up work that makes things easier later on.

waikikikichan wrote:

BaNZ wrote: Sometimes it's possible to move up, sometimes it's not. You need to listen to the beat of the wave. If you force the issue, the wave is going to work against you. Like board repair and painting, it's the set up work that makes things easier later on.

I have a bad habit in that I look at the wave once while it is far out and I start paddling for it. I notice most surfers would constantly turn their head to check their position. So it is as you said, I don't listen to the beat of the wave nor go with the flow. Reason why I don't constantly check where I'm at before I popup is that when I first started learning. I would lose my balance if I keep turning my head. I would however always check my sides to see if there is someone on the wave or down the line.

I think checking back only once is a good thing. It shows you understand the speed of the wave and familiar where the wave will break. Constantly checking multiple times takes your eyes off the prize, which is down the line.
But the point I was making about dancing to the beat of the music of the wave, is when you are up and riding, not taking off. There's a time to take a step and a time to get back.

by the way, how do you know there's still a foot more till the nose ?

waikikikichan wrote:
by the way, how do you know there's still a foot more till the nose ?

I think this is what I do after popup.
1. Check left + right to make sure no one has dropped in.
2. I look down the shoulder of the wave to see where I'm going.
3. Time to shuffle my feet to get to the nose so I actually look down to see if I'm getting close to the nose. This is when I know I still got a foot more till the nose.

What I also sometimes do is that say if I can't catch the wave with my paddle and it is mellow and not breaking. I would try to force the board to catch the wave by popping up and put all my weight to the front so it will actually go down the wave. Then shuffle back to the middle of the board once I'm riding it.

I also put my front feet on the nose while putting my whole weight on the back foot. I know that is not how you nose ride since I'm not in the right section.

I'm thinking, I should go for a lesson sometime and get an instructor to correct all my bad habits! hah.

Here's a photo of a recent rockaway surf in the last month. That was on a foamie which has way too much volume and not enough rocker. It was a good day.

BaNZ wrote:.
3. Time to shuffle my feet to get to the nose so I actually look down to see if I'm getting close to the nose. This is when I know I still got a foot more till the nose.

1) If you don't learn how to Cross-Step ( and keep trying to shuffle ) you will never be able to noseride. The shuffling makes the board teeter-totter upsetting the smooth glide that it needs.
2) Looking down, means you go down. Looking down also makes your head go in front of the feet, when it should be over your butt. Do you walk on the sidewalk looking at your feet ? ( well, unless you lost your job or broke up with your girlfriend ). So how do you know if your close to the nose or not ? Easy, walk off the front board. (which is about 3 steps on a 8 foot board ). Then you can throttle it back again to take two cross-steps and you should be right about there ( on a 8 footer ). The other way is to remove the wax off the front 2 feet off your board. If your front foot slips, then time to wax 2 more inches up, then again and again.

Question: When you first think " oh, now's a good time to head to the nose ", which way should your initial body movement go ?

I actually don't recall what my body do when I start the movement. I think I rotate my upper body so I'm facing the nose of the board.I know I fell down a few times due to stepping close to the rails. But I thought it was due to surfing a NSP because Torq is more forgiving. I'm looking at cross-step videos and will try to mimic them over the weekend.

Question, I'm regular feet. So when I make my first cross step, do I cross my right leg over my left? Or is it behind?

BaNZ wrote: But I thought it was due to surfing a NSP because Torq is more forgiving.

How did you come to the conclusion that “Torq is more forgiving “ ? So if you were on a Torq you wouldn’t have fell off as much ? You mean Torq flex more ?

BaNZ wrote: I'm looking at cross-step videos and will try to mimic them over the weekend.

It’s good to start practicing the steps to cross. I recommend you stand with you feet making an “L”. Then pick up the back foot and place it in front to make “ T “. Keep it tight. Touch touch touch. L T L T. Then go back T L T L.

But all the cross stepping technique in the world won’t matter until you figure out the “ initial movement “ question I posed earlier.

waikikikichan wrote:But all the cross stepping technique in the world won’t matter until you figure out the “ initial movement “ question I posed earlier.

I haven't figured out when is a good time to head to the nose, as long as I'm still in the pocket of the wave then I will try to noseride. I think my initial movement involves flailing my arms as I try to balance myself. I also bend my knees more.

BaNZ wrote:I haven't figured out when is a good time to head to the nose, as long as I'm still in the pocket of the wave then I will try to noseride.

Okay, so you feel yourself in the pocket of the wave, you mind says it’s a good time to noseride, what then should your initial movement of your body be ? It’s not bend your knees or flailing of the arms.
( Hint: surfing has a lot of opposites. To go higher up the lip, your first go lower down the wave. To travel further right, some times you need to fade more left. To go forward to the nose, you first need to go ............. )

One of my longboards is called the Ultimate Noserider.....it's painted with the target area yellow. I count it as nose riding if I can make it up to the yellow then back off of it and end the ride under control.

Wkk, does it start with ‘st’ and end with ‘all’?

Big H wrote:....it's painted with the target area yellow. I count it as nose riding if I can make it up to the yellow ....

At the Hawaiian Noseriding Classic, they used this old contest rules of 24 inches from the nose ( that your back foot must be inside of ).
Donald Takayama created the In-The-Pink model with a pink area blocked off in the front to show you were up there. So yours is the In-The-Yellow model ?

dtc wrote:Wkk, does it start with ‘st’ and end with ‘all’?

No, it’s not Stickball ! But yes, Stalling is one result of the initial movement. So is Locking down of the tail, creating the “pillow” under the board to lay it down on, etc. Those happen after the movement ( and before you take a step ).

waikikikichan wrote:

Big H wrote:....it's painted with the target area yellow. I count it as nose riding if I can make it up to the yellow ....

So yours is the In-The-Yellow model ?

I've seen the In the Pink....same idea I guess. Issue is if I look down to see if I'm in the yellow I screw up almost instantly so maybe if's more for judges?

waikikikichan wrote:

dtc wrote:Wkk, does it start with ‘st’ and end with ‘all’?

No, it’s not Stickball ! But yes, Stalling is one result of the initial movement. So is Locking down of the tail, creating the “pillow” under the board to lay it down on, etc. Those happen after the movement ( and before you take a step ).

And how do you feel that your tail is locked?

KitesurferAU wrote:And how do you feel that your tail is locked?

I am not being an Arse or Passive Agressive or talking down to others, but the honest truth is “ you’ll know when it happens when it happens “. And that knowledge only comes through experience ( and a lot of failure ).
But I can tell you, when the “Lock” happens, it feels like you could put a elephant up front and the nose would stay up.