Surfing Waves

Hey guys,

I recently transition from a 9'6 longboard to a 7'6 x 21 x 2 3/8 funboard. I'm having a blast so far, I can catch waves and ride them well enough but I wanted to get some advice on how to keep my momentum going especially on medium to small waves. Any advice is welcomed, just trying to get ready for the summer swells. Thanks!

If you could explain exactly what you mean by keeping your momentum going that might help but I will take a stab at a couple things. One is if your problem is the planing speed of the board so the wave sort of passes you by kind of thing then each board has a sweet spot that generally corresponds to the flattest area in the middle of the board which gives you the best glide or momentum along a wave. On a really short board you may just need to lean forward a little and on a big board you may need to go several feet ahead of where you turn the board but for most it is somewhere between those two. It's something you can feel with time. I step forward on my fungun to try to give the wave a chance to wall up and maybe break again on the inside. Initially I step forward a little and see what that does then step forward again to see what that does and maybe step back to keep from pearling but sometimes there is no way to stay on a wave. If the wave is breaking ahead of you and you are left on whitewater then what you need to do is stay busy try to do speed turns up and back down the wave quickly to generate sideways speed or try to step forward again to increase your glide speed and stay ahead of the breaking portion of the wave. Speed turns you use your rear foot to turn up then switch immediately to your front foot to push the board back down the wave. Also you don't want to get too far in front of where the wave is breaking or you will lose power.

Lots of different elements at play here. Things that help keep up momentum (in order of skill level required)....

Stand further forward. Particularly your front foot.

Weight your front foot more - drive forward with your head and shoulders. Get your leading hand right out in front of you.

Ride high on the wave - surf at the point where the wave is tipping you down/forward (but don't go down - just forward).

Stay in the pocket - don't outrun the wave, either along the face or onto the flats.

Work the wave - use the force of the wave to drive the board by going up the face, then driving down the face, bottom turn, repeat.

It's the last two that you're aiming at - to work your board with the wave to gain maximum power and momentum. You can't just let the board do the work anymore

*thinks about it for a bit*

...but remember that the drive comes from the fin/tail of your board. Don't stand in the centre of the board like you might on a longboard. Even though you'll need to weight the front of the board, you still need to have weight over the fins

Keep in mind that a longboard 'glide' is not just some pretentious word used by surfers, they really do just glide along if you want them to. Anything shorter, even 7'6 and it will feel different and will require a bit of work. No glide!

I have a 7'4 and it's actually a bit of a pain in small waves because it doesn't have the LB glide but doesn't have the easy manoeuverability of a shorter board letting you keep up speed in the manner DBB describes. Above waist high and I much prefer it over my LB but below that not so much.

I am going to disagree, all boards have glide.... shortboarders often don't know how to get that out of a shortboard but shortboards have a glide too....just not as good as a longboard.

Thanks for the great responses guys, I've been implementing yalls advice this past week(it's been super small but rideable) and I've noticed a difference already. I think I was having issues getting out in front of the wave and then coming to a standstill a bit but I'm noticing if I can get going up and down the wave I can keep momentum and stay on the face longer, still a work I progress tho:) I will try to post a video here soon so feel free to critique. Thanks again!