Surfing Waves

I've been surfing a year (only on weekends) and still have literally never made a wave bigger than waist high on my 9'6. It finally annoyed me so much that a few months ago I got a shortboard and now thats pretty much all i ride (that and my fish on smaller days). Recently I brought out the longboard in some chest high surf and just pearled every wave and finally got fed up not being able to get it out because im so used to duckdiving. I saw a lot of guys on logs out that day so my question to you die hard longboarders out there is how do you right jacking steep surf and not pearl?

Obviously it's all about keeping the nose out of the water. Try moving a bit further back, closer to the tail. On steep take offs, the forward momentum generally wants the nose to go under, by moving the weight to the back of the board, the odds are greatly increased that the nose will pull out from under the water. It takes some getting used to, but it's a great way to improve your walking skills. By being so far back on the board, the chances are if you don't move forward quickly, the wave will pass under you, or break around you. One of my fav manuevers is to drop in on a steep wave, taking off far on the back of the board, then stepping forward, almost to the nose, to drop in and gain speed. I always try to tuck in and go for a tube ride in those circumstances as well. Usually a steep wave will be more open and tube rideable. Keep practicing, it can take some time to master this skill, and believe me, even after you've "mastered" the skill, you won't make the drop every time.

Typical shortboard to longboard problem. Your weight is too far forward.

The steeper the wave the further back you'll need to stand.

I was riding some nice knee-to-waist high waves the other day... Glassy but a bit small. Take off, pop-up with weight on the back foot (heel right on the back edge of the tail), pivot the whole board right of the top (very tight top turn), scream down the line while cross-stepping.

Sweet.

The shortboarders weren't impressed... Jealosy factor I guess

-doug

The answer is simple. You take off at a slight angle. Another little trick is to make your bottom turn in the face of the wave. You have to be quick to do that and have good board control. Keep practicing and you'll get it.

Oh yeah, I don't think the waves you are referring to are actually shore break. A shore break is a wave that breaks right on the beach, has no room to ride. We've also called them pounders, as they seem to pound the sand on the beach, rather than away from the beach, where the good surfing waves usually break. Hope I made myself understandable...

thats what they call the "inside" round my neck of the woods. wave crumbles on the outside, reforms and jacks into shore break. could be a misnomer i guess but thats not really the point

Sounds about right. Just be careful when you're riding those though, my buddy broke his ankle last December when the wave just kinda fell out.

PS: Do we get to see pictures of the vintage fender?

mmm i tend to stay clear of shorebreak unless i have no choice. The idea of landing on sand after taking a drop doesnt sit well

To me inside is when the wave reforms after having broken on the outside, can still be very rideable. A shorebreak is when the wave goes all the way to the beach, and breaks on the shore, with no rideable area. I guess it's just semantics for the area you live in.

Are you pearling whilst still paddling for the wave or after you've popped?

I still can't get the hang of standing further back on the board and I keep falling off. Who knew that switching from short to long board would be this tricky.

I recently transitioned from a light 9'2 to a nice heavy 9'8 and pearled a good few at first. Any and all of the following have helped me adjust:

-Set up further aft on the board - you may want to be further back to bottom turn once you are stood up anyway
-Catch the wave earlier, be already stood up and trimming down the line when it jacks . . . this is a huge advantage of the longboard, poaching the long ride from outside and zipping under that breaking lip is a trip
-make sure you are up to speed as the wave catches you and maybe angled in your intended direction, start that barge moving with a few slow pulls but then get her going good, make sure you are easy for the wave to push