Surfing Waves

Hi guys first time post hope you can help.

Started surfing last year and love it! (girlfriend not so much)

Spent last summer learning developing on an 8'2"epoxy minimal. Fine surfing the whitewater then started surfing small unbroken waves, everything going well. Then a crack in the board got bigger and bigger and even tho fixed a few times board eventually snapped(board was 2nd hand a bit crap), hence needed a new board.

I know as a beginner its best to just get any board as it's going to take abuse and not spend alot of money but a hand shaped minimal was available at a ridiculous price and ended up buying:
fibreglass minimal 7'6" x 21 x 2 5/8 (beautiful board & figured slight drop in length would give room for improvement.)

Now having used it this summer i'm having a problem and can't put my finger on it. Basically when i've popped up i travel about 10 ft and board starts sinking! don't know if;

- too heavy for board, not enough float, i'm 5'10 & 85/90kg? (tho sits ok in water when paddling & sitting on it)
- bad technique? (tho i'm not having prob catching waves, too late popping up maybe?)
- feet position? (not wide enough, some people tell me i want my back foot over fin, some say i want to be centred on a minimal).

Strange thing is i was out the other week sat on the board out at sea chilling out and without noticing the swell really picked up, next thing a large wave approached(large for me anyway 4-5ft), i thought what the hell go for it. I could'nt believe it i nailed it completely, it was prob best wave i've ridden ever it was amazing. Which got me thinking the board only works on bigger waves but is that not going against the idea of minimal ie. able to use when surf is small.

So sorry for waffling on but it's driving me absolutely nuts. Can someone please tell me wtf is going on, you would'nt believe how much i would appreciate it.

Guys your weight ride shorter, narrower and thinner boards all the time, so I'm afraid you can't blame the board!

The key is speed - as you found with the bigger waves. If your speed is high enough, you won't sink. The smaller the wave the harder it is to get speed. The bigger the board the easier it is to maintain speed on smaller waves. A board your size shouldnt have too many problems on smaller waves (although obviously there is a limit - too small and you just will be unable to get enough speed no matter what your skill level. This is why longboards rule on smaller waves and shortboards dont work).

Its a bit hard to speculate as to the cause without seeing you surf, but most likely your weight is too far back and you are bogging the tail of the board, causing you to slow down and then sink. Every board rides a bit differently - some boards require you to perch on the tail, others require weight more forward. As a general concept, putting more weight on your front foot will increase your speed.

Do you notice the board of your nose riding up and the tail sinking just before you fall off? If yes, try putting more weight on your front foot; or possibly even moving up your board during paddling so that when you pop up you are more towards the front of the board.

Another possibility is that you are surfing in the 'slow part' of the wave (the bottom or even in front of the wave) and, again, dont have enough speed. However this is less likely because if you spend your time at the bottom of the wave you are usually hit by the wave as it breaks and pushed over well before you start sinking. But possibly you are popping up too late. Just try moving out further from the beach and catching the wave earlier; if you miss the wave you move in a little bit. Concentrate on being about 1/2 to 2/3 up the wave, gather speed -then do your turns and airs and so forth

DTC - cheers for the advice. I found the same, that the board seems to be sinking towards the end of the wave, but from what you have said, it sounds like I am to far back on the board. I tried to go further up the board, when paddling and catching a wave, but ended up face planting .. ... practice makes perfect in the end though

With out trying to be harsh, I would say technique! Try arching your back so that you can pull the nose out of the water if you are on a steeper wave. ALso by the sounds of things once you have stood up your are then falling back into the wave. The basic solution is to make sure you bend your knees. This will allow you to move your weight around easier (to your front foot) and stop you bogging down by putting the weight through your back leg.

Albie999 wrote:DTC - cheers for the advice. I found the same, that the board seems to be sinking towards the end of the wave, but from what you have said, it sounds like I am to far back on the board. I tried to go further up the board, when paddling and catching a wave, but ended up face planting .. ... practice makes perfect in the end though

Its not necessarily that you are too far back on the board, its more that you have too much weight on the back of the board (ie on your back foot) once you are up. I dont know if you ski, but if you do then you will know how you need to lean 'downhill' to be balanced - not leaning uphill (backwards) which is what you think you need to do. Same with surfing to some extent - a common error is putting weight on your back foot because your brain says you shouldnt be going down hill and need to level out.

If you pop up and lean forward a bit, you may notice your board really skimming along - this is what you want. Once you are actually going along the wave, its pretty hard to bury the nose by putting weight on your front foot (particularly on a long board) so dont be afraid to experiment a bit. If you notice you are slowing down, but there is still strength in the wave - move your weight.

Nick Carroll, who is a surfing writer, has a quote something along the lines of 'surfing is just a matter of weight shifts'. Once you are up, you shift your weight back and forwards as required - and it will be required. On a long board this probably involves moving your feet at times as well. BTW, weight shifts through moving your hips, not your shoulders.

Easier said than done!

Also - some boards are more designed for back foot surfers/require more weight on the back foot (the McCoy Nugget being the classic). The fatter/thicker the tail, the more back foot weight is needed. For the OP, its entirely possible your new board just requires more front foot than your old board and you havn't got used to it as yet.

Just need to nail the pop up now .... easier said than done

Albie999 wrote:easier said than done

I think this is my surfing motto.

With golf you can understand what to do and then do it over and over until you get it right.

With surfing, you can understand what to do, then do something else wrong and never even get to practice the thing you wanted to fix. Or have to wait 2 weeks for waves. Or get to practice for 10 seconds in your 1 hour surf.

But then it all comes together for one wave - and you know why you keep trying.

Aye, totally agree, being able to find the waves, and also not being stuck in work. Have only really been surfing for about 6 weeks now, probably been out about 10-11 times. I can get up on the board (sometimes), but not very elegant

Am back in work now, so it seems it will be weekend only, but the surf been a bit terrible around here the last week .. fingers crossed for this weekend

dtc wrote:

Albie999 wrote:easier said than done

I think this is my surfing motto.

With golf you can understand what to do and then do it over and over until you get it right.

With surfing, you can understand what to do, then do something else wrong and never even get to practice the thing you wanted to fix. Or have to wait 2 weeks for waves. Or get to practice for 10 seconds in your 1 hour surf.

But then it all comes together for one wave - and you know why you keep trying.

It all comes down to wave count. I've been involved in a lot of other activities where one might try to "think through" a problem with technique and then consciously test the theory, with surfing this is harder. It seems there is so much going on simultaneously on a single wave that it's hard to concentrate on a single thing.

But as the wave count goes up, I've found that everything seems to "slow down". Taking off on a wave is not a blinding rush of chaos anymore - it's a familiar feeling and large parts of it happen instinctively, I don't have to devote any brain cycles to those things. That leaves more room to consciously try out new ideas.

RonG .. I totally understand what you mean. When first starting, it was like, how do I paddle to catch the wave, thats seems to have been getting easier. Now it is, how do I pop up on the board, rather than the dodgy method I seem to be using at the moment, which seems to take to long to carry the wave in .... practice and time is all that is needed .. hopefully

Albie you last sentence sums it up entirely

Albie999 wrote:.... practice and time is all that is needed .. hopefully

hi guys thank for quick reply. I'm glad it's looking more towards technique than board, did'nt fancy buying a new board( saying that posted elsewhere someone seamed to think my board was more like a performance board but pretty sure it is a mini mal).

I've experimented with foot placemant forward and back but just seems to be the whole board kinda sinking, i think speed is the problem and maybe popping up too slow/late. Figured you paddle at angle to shore then plane across wave but feeling i might be wrong.Is it better to go at an angle or straight then turn? Annoying thing is once i'm up on the board it's not foreign to me ,snowboarded for 12 years and feels completely comfortable with the balance and feel etc. just not going anywhere fast.

moomountain wrote:Figured you paddle at angle to shore then plane across wave but feeling i might be wrong.Is it better to go at an angle or straight then turn?

Depends on the board and the wave. A longer board on a steeper wave is often better taking off at an angle. Not a huge angle, just pointing the nose a few degrees in the direction you'll want to eventually be going, away from the peak. On a mushy wave you'd be better off just taking off straight, gaining speed on the drop and then heading left or right with your bottom turn. On a wave where you're out on the shoulder you might even angle in towards the peak when you take off, then bottom turn in the direction you'll want to go.