Duck Diving Technique on a Wide and Thick Fish Surfboard

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Duck Diving Technique on a Wide and Thick Fish Surfboard

Postby Mclaw3 » Fri Aug 05, 2022 10:35 pm

Hello Surfers of the Internet,

I find duck diving my fish a problem. The dimension of the fish is 5'10" x 21 1/8 x 2 9/16. Yes, it's wide and thick. I'm 5'10" and 144lb. I ride all types of boards which is probably why I haven't practiced my duck diving enough (I turtle-roll on bigger boards). I do okay if the wave hasn't broken or is just about to break. However, when it has broken, the white water gets me most of the time. I do okay with surfing overall but am self-conscious when I mess up my duck dive while other surfers scoop right under the wave. I also don't want t turtle -roll the fish, but I do sometimes because I'm pretty good at that. I suspect my problem is the wide tail of the fish which I can't sink fast enough. I have also attached the photo of the fish herein for reference. Please provide some pointers.

Thanks!
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BBB5BC2E-EF7F-4AF7-918B-9D63131BA049 2.JPG
Bruce Jones 5'10" x 21 1/8 x 2 9/16 Retro Fish
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Re: Duck Diving Technique on a Wide and Thick Fish Surfboard

Postby oldmansurfer » Fri Aug 05, 2022 10:59 pm

Not answering your question exactly but all of the boards I ride have too much volume to duckdive. I do a maneuver that I have heard is called a half duck dive but on this forum it has been called a duck dip. What I do is to shive the nose straight down far enough to clear the force of the wave then I dive down with the board as the wave hits. The wave hits my rear end and the back end of the board and pushes it down and I pull up on the nose and at that point I am under the force of the wave and come up just like someone doing a duck dive except for some reason I sit back up on the board and come out sitting on the board. I didn't always do this and used to come up just like a duck dive but I am pretty deep and I guess I want to see what the next wave is doing so I am already up and able to look out over the waves as soon as the water runs off my eyes. It may be that you should be able to duckdive a board like that but I am not familiar with it enough to say. But if you can't learn then there is always this other similar technique.
So what is worse.... dying or regretting it for the rest of my life? Obviously I chose not regretting it.
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Re: Duck Diving Technique on a Wide and Thick Fish Surfboard

Postby Mclaw3 » Fri Aug 05, 2022 11:15 pm

Thanks, Oldman! I will try the duck dip tomorrow. Good thing my home break is a point break.
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Re: Duck Diving Technique on a Wide and Thick Fish Surfboard

Postby waikikikichan » Sat Aug 06, 2022 11:45 am

1) Are you using your Knee or your Foot to push the tail down ?

2) Is it only the Fish that you have a problem with ?

3) What is wrong with Turtle-rolling the fish ?
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