Surfing Waves

Lately I’ve been repeating this pattern. I catch a wave on an angled takeoff where I ride along the top half of the wave and look down the line. I see the wave start to section in front of me. I try to react to the breaking section by trimming (this is my mistake) away from the wave face and, hopefully, around the breaking section. So I trim turn my board away from the wave face and into the direction of . . . then my board flips over, gets sucked up into the wave and spit over my head like a flying 9’6” guillotine. THE END. I keep trying to trim my longboard and my longboard keeps trying to decapitate me. Something has to change. I think one of the problems is that I’m on rail and I don’t realize it so when I trim the board away from the wave it just flips over. Another problem is that I’m usually pretty far up on my board (milking it for speed) so moving back to the tail is tricky. My solution: I need to quicken my reflexes so that when I see an obstacle I immediately move back on the board into a carving turn. Anybody else have some insights?

Is your board just tilting over and you are falling off (and then the board gets caught up) or is the lip catching the board and flipping it?

Try doing the opposite....pumping a couple times mid face then turning hard so that you turn sharply to the crest then top turning hard down to the bottom of the wave so that you can bottom turn around the section.

dtc wrote:Is your board just tilting over and you are falling off (and then the board gets caught up) or is the lip catching the board and flipping it?

Yep, the board is tilting over. I think this is what is going on. I catch the wave and my inside rail is firmly planted into the wave face. My outside rail is hovering over the trough of the wave so that one half of my board is connected to the wave (inside rail) and the other half of the board is hovering over empty space. As soon as I lean the board to turn away from the wave, my outside rail drops down into the trough of the wave while my inside rail gets sucked up into the wave. Board flips over and I fall in front of it as it gets sucked up into the wave. I think the problem is that I'm used to being able to trim my way out of problems on my shorter boards. I need to adjust my surfing to stop trying to make quick turns while standing in the middle of a longboard . . . derp. I think I have to get used to jumping back on the board more quickly.

Big H wrote:Try doing the opposite....pumping a couple times mid face then turning hard so that you turn sharply to the crest then top turning hard down to the bottom of the wave so that you can bottom turn around the section.

I'll try that. My longboard turning skills are pretty bad. I'm used to turning a shorter board.

RinkyDink wrote: I see the wave start to section in front of me. I try to react to the breaking section by trimming (this is my mistake) away from the wave face and, hopefully, around the breaking section.

As long as you're going to work on riding more from the back, consider doing a floater to get around the section...it's really FUN!

What you might be able to do depends on the size of the waves

BoMan wrote:

RinkyDink wrote: I see the wave start to section in front of me. I try to react to the breaking section by trimming (this is my mistake) away from the wave face and, hopefully, around the breaking section.

As long as you're going to work on riding more from the back, consider doing a floater to get around the section...it's really FUN!

That's excellent advice. I've been wanting to pull off a good floater since I started surfing again. The trouble is that when I'm on a wave I tend to completely draw a blank when it comes to reacting/solving problems with a maneuver. I'm still at the stage where I'm happy to be in front of the pocket and keeping my board moving fast enough to outpace it, that is, when things are going according to plan . These days I usually move back on the board when I start getting into the flats because I've rode too far in front of the pocket.

There was a similar question here

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35838&p=220941#p220941

I think you have the reason - you are trying to trim a turn and engage a rail that is actually sitting in the air. If you did it harder and faster it might work, but carving the turn is better (there is a surf Simply video on carve vs trim turns).

Just need to move that back foot back!

dtc wrote:There was a similar question here

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35838&p=220941#p220941

I think you have the reason - you are trying to trim a turn and engage a rail that is actually sitting in the air. If you did it harder and faster it might work, but carving the turn is better (there is a surf Simply video on carve vs trim turns).

Just need to move that back foot back!

Somehow I missed that thread. Thanks for the link. I know the solution to the problem so now it's just a matter of execution.

RinkyDink wrote:I've been wanting to pull off a good floater since I started surfing again. The trouble is that when I'm on a wave I tend to completely draw a blank when it comes to reacting/solving problems with a maneuver.

Ha ha ha, I've been missing floater opportunities for the last 2-3 years. Everytime thinking, after I turned down to go around the section, 'hey, that was a perfect floater opportunity'.. It's just hard to teach an old dog new tricks, I guess.

RinkyDink wrote:My longboard turning skills are pretty bad. I'm used to turning a shorter board.

Last session I was back on my 8'2 after surfing 9'2 and 9'4 longboards for some months. I was surprised how much easier that board turns, I had so much fun throwing it around. What a difference a foot in length makes And much easier catching waves if you time them a bit later, no pearling on the Submoon

It's just the paddling

Tudeo wrote:

RinkyDink wrote:I've been wanting to pull off a good floater since I started surfing again. The trouble is that when I'm on a wave I tend to completely draw a blank when it comes to reacting/solving problems with a maneuver.

Ha ha ha, I've been missing floater opportunities for the last 2-3 years. Everytime thinking, after I turned down to go around the section, 'hey, that was a perfect floater opportunity'.. It's just hard to teach an old dog new tricks, I guess.

RinkyDink wrote:My longboard turning skills are pretty bad. I'm used to turning a shorter board.

Last session I was back on my 8'2 after surfing 9'2 and 9'4 longboards for some months. I was surprised how much easier that board turns, I had so much fun throwing it around. What a difference a foot in length makes And much easier catching waves if you time them a bit later, no pearling on the Submoon

It's just the paddling

I had the opposite experience. Three sessions in a row on my "magic" 7'10" board where I just kept pearling my takeoffs over and over and over (kept popping up too far forward for some reason). My head definitely was somewhere else during those sessions. So, I finally decided it was time to get back on the longboard. When I get in a rut, it's back-to-basics longboard time. I'm actually having more fun surfing my longboard than I ever have. I paddle around the lineup with ease , chase down waves I would have ignored in the past, and just feel like I have things wired (truly enjoying the paddle speed of my longboard). I don't move backwards on the board very well, but I'm working on moving up and down the board more effectively. It's nice to get back to improving my surfing again.

Tudeo wrote:Ha ha ha, I've been missing floater opportunities for the last 2-3 years. Everytime thinking, after I turned down to go around the section, 'hey, that was a perfect floater opportunity'.

When the 2 Mile surf report says BO is "calm and serene with a handful of liquorice jelly beans thrown on top," I go to Dillon Beach. The waves peel for a few blissful seconds then close out creating great conditions to practice floaters. I have just enough time to get to my feet, carve over the lip and slide down the foam for a fast ride straight into shore.

It took more than a few poundings for me to learn to make the foam drop by crouching over the fins with my hands outside the rails. Dillon usually closes out all day so I get as many "rinse and repeats" as I want.

RinkyDink wrote: My longboard turning skills are pretty bad. I'm used to turning a shorter board.

You need to utilize the benefit of a longboard over a shortboard. The length and the big fat nose. Use the length of the board and pop it half way over the curl. Then let the energy of the wave HELP YOU to turn it back down. I know it seems counter intuitive but wait and turn later. Most people ( including my wife ) turn too early. If you turn right in front of the curl, the wave could be too steep and fast. Roll up onto the lip and let the soft foamy goodness run down with you on it. Work WITH the wave, not against it.

Something WKK said once that stuck with me.....I'll paraphrase.....when you stand on the tail of a longboard with your foot over the fins it turns a 9' board into a 6' board since half the board is out of the water or something like that. I put a tail pad on the second longboard I had to help me learn to step back to turn. I would step back until I felt that pad under my foot and then magic could happen.

dtc wrote:Just need to move that back foot back!

From the most recent post on WKKKChan's site...



http://alohaki.jugem.jp/

waikikikichan wrote: You need to utilize the benefit of a longboard over a shortboard. The length and the big fat nose. Use the length of the board and pop it half way over the curl. Then let the energy of the wave HELP YOU to turn it back down. I know it seems counter intuitive but wait and turn later. Most people ( including my wife ) turn too early. If you turn right in front of the curl, the wave could be too steep and fast. Roll up onto the lip and let the soft foamy goodness run down with you on it. Work WITH the wave, not against it.

That's great advice. I've done that move before, but somehow I got it into my head that my only way to get around the section is to drop down in front of it and then to go around it (which works for me about 15% of the time I try it). I need to expand my toolbox and start trying to go over problems (floater) of through them (going up into the foam ball and back down onto the clean face again).

Big H wrote:Something WKK said once that stuck with me.....I'll paraphrase.....when you stand on the tail of a longboard with your foot over the fins it turns a 9' board into a 6' board since half the board is out of the water or something like that. I put a tail pad on the second longboard I had to help me learn to step back to turn. I would step back until I felt that pad under my foot and then magic could happen.

Yeah, I think I need to put a tailpad on all my boards. I actually need them because looking down to see where I am on the board tends to end up with me falling off. I've just been too cheap to pick one up and I sort of like the look of my longboard without one. Nevertheless, for me they actually have a lot of utility.

BoMan wrote:

dtc wrote:Just need to move that back foot back!

I used to have the problem of too much back foot on the board after my takeoff. I'd end up stalling and the pocket of the wave would run off without me. I solved that problem by kind of running forward on the board on my takeoffs. Unfortunately, I shuffle forward and then sort of camp out there. I need to get myself flowing in both directions. I'll check WKK's site for some more tips. I'm grabbing some tips from Phil Edwards as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8-W1fVojIE

I like in that phil edwards video @ 5:37 where he steamrolls the drop in without even breaking stride....goes right through the nose of his board......looks like Phil doesn't play!