Surfing Waves

Hey, i would love, when i become a better surfer, to be able to surf like the guys in this video. Long open turns, flowing through the wave, everything seems like one continuous flow and i love it. Where i surf there are many great and i mean great surfers but they all are very technical, so you see cutbacks, aerials and things i dont even know how to call but you dont see good surfers with this style. Im not saying this is not technical just that it isnt the focus to show technique like in a competition.

So i just wanted to know if someone has some other good videos like the one below to watch and learn from. Im trying to search for the surfers that are named there but didnt have much luck finding videos that show so much surfing time in this style.



Thanks.

Maybe this one? I would call this style soul surfing but these days if you do a search all you would get is the Bethany Hamilton film. This is Rob Machado a stylish surfer that I would call a soul surfer.

The guys in the video are Joel Tudor, Rob Machado, and Dave Rastovich. Joel Tudor, in particular, is very prolific on youtube, there must be other videos of him that suit.

Another guy to look for is Alex Knost. He is more of a longboarder but sometimes goes shorter. Same style.

This is old style (or 'classic') surfing, so if you look up some older videos you can see it as well. Nat Young, Bob McTavish, those guys from the 60s and 70s.

Gerry Lopez is another guy to look for. The first surfer is named Dan Malloy, I am not familiar with him but like his style.

Without a doubt this is my favourite video.
I love this guys smooth flow, mixed with the odd touch of flair every once in a while.

You can always head back to "Morning of the Earth for that shift in the beginnings of long to short where surfers still considered "STYLE" to be an important element of how you rode the wave.
Smooth flow from manoeuvre to manoeuvre was was required as a mark of a good surfer.
A good guy to watch in old movies is Miki Dora ( Da Cat) and Phil Edwards.
Later surfers Gerry Lopez. The guys you are citing in the videos are at the top of their game and have been on or near the top pro circuit.
TIP: work to get all your basic turns/cutbacks and takeoffs smooth and then begin to connect them.
BTW the better the wave and surface conditions on the wave ( it doesn't have to be big) the eaier to connect everything you do.
Crowded and choppy and less than good surf is still an improvement zone sharpening, reflexes and wave reading skills ( also a great part of easy flow).
Then one special day all the practice will gel and you'll have a wave to remember

Here is Gerry Lopez master tube rider not riding tubes stylishly http://youtu.be/LNpncQwX7g8

That video ends with a bodysurfing segment, a necessary skill for surfers back in the days of no leashes.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, tips and videos! how much i want to surf like that! I know it looks a lot simpler than it is. Will take my time to keep learning and practice everything slowly and as smooth as possible and see if some day, no matter when, magic happens.

Those guys on the first vids sure can longboard.

Will keep investigating the names and videos as im finding a lot, specially vintage ones which i wasnt able to find much before. Hope to find more vintage fish videos havent seen many of those, seems true that the fish was an underground cult the first years.


About the bodysurfing, after a while without surfing i always try to catch the first waves and remain laying on the board to test my stability and position on the surfboard and only moving to the pop up when i have those things worked out again. Many times i find that its lots of fun to do it, specially to keep enjoying the waves when you are tired and you cant pop up anymore.

I had a fish shaped board long ago. The fish coming out were multiple fins but the Kauai shapers and glassers hadn't learned how to do multiple fins so mine was single fin and really difficult to turn . I think Mark Richards or someone like that surfed a twin fin fish which made the design popular. I took my fish board to the shaper who shaped all the rest of my boards back then and told him I liked the lines but it didn't work for me and asked him to shape me something like that only a board that worked. He made me a singlefin swallow tail since he still didn't have the theory for multiple fins down at that point. That became my tube riding board. When I re-started surfing a neighbor let me use his fish with a thruster set up and I loved that board except it wasn't very stable in whitewater maneuvers so I talked to the shaper who made that board and he made me my fun gun which is so stable in white water and I have come to love so much.

Check out this guys bodysurfing. I have done this before and actually surfed the wave instead of a closeout like this guy.

Thats really something, i managed to surf on the board and pop up then down again on the board and that was with the board going perfectly straight in white water. Thats something else entirely i wouldnt even know how to get back on the board like that.

By the way thats some really nice surfing on the video.

Here is another guy who had style Larry Bertlemann the rubberman. He was good back when I was learning