Surfing Waves

My duck diving technique is good and my depth is okay.
but when I get out in head high conditions and the wave breaks right on me then I
get really tumbled because I don't duck dive deep enough.
I'm 5'3 120
1. How do I duck dive really deep? whenever I try to duck dive my deepest
I go down deep and then I go backwards and up really slowly and even sometimes I will lose my board.

2. another question, I surf decent frontside but a lot of times when I go backside and I bottom turn for a re-entry
I bury my rail and lose all of my speed or fall.

here's a video of me surfing
https://www.dropbox.com/s/se63g9orkjms2 ... 6.mp4?dl=0

Thanks !

Probably you need to avoid the part of the wave where the lip is coming down since that will be difficult or impossible to duckdive but here is a video of John Florences duck diving training https://surfeuropemag.com/surf-tips/duck-dive-better-john-john-florence.html#7BXbCgCqZYrKdCq1.97

oldmansurfer wrote:Probably you need to avoid the part of the wave where the lip is coming down since that will be difficult or impossible to duckdive but here is a video of John Florences duck diving training https://surfeuropemag.com/surf-tips/duck-dive-better-john-john-florence.html#7BXbCgCqZYrKdCq1.97

Now that is an incredibly good video for learning duck dives. I'm going try those duck dive laps. Shortboard recommended. Best to keep in mind that pool water and saltwater are very different. Thanks for posting the vid.

Vent wrote: in head high conditions and the wave breaks right on me then I get really tumbled

That's not a depth issue, that's a timing issue - just don't be there!

Vent wrote: I surf decent frontside but a lot of times when I go backside and I bottom turn for a re-entry
I bury my rail and lose all of my speed or fall.

You're putting too much effort into swinging yourself around and not enough into getting the board around, so you're off balance and not lined up with the centre of the board. Slow your backside turn down (you can speed it back up again as you improve) and turn off the back foot and not the rails, which I think is what you're doing on your backhand turns.

drowningbitbybit wrote:That's not a depth issue, that's a timing issue - just don't be there!

Listen to Dbbb and to what Turtle says ( but no one listens to Turtle anyways ), "When the wave breaks here, don't be there, or you are going to get drilled".

RinkyDink wrote:Best to keep in mind that pool water and saltwater are very different.

I have been thinking and perhaps it would be good to practice in freshwater since it is less buoyant and therefor easier to learn in.

to all of you guys , when I say break on me I mean one feet away from me and there's this huge
mountain of white water that I need to duck dive and it really gets my confidence down on bigger days.

also, did you watch my video?

Vent wrote:to all of you guys , when I say break on me I mean one feet away from me and there's this huge
mountain of white water that I need to duck dive and it really gets my confidence down on bigger days.

Yes, that's exactly what we're talking about - don't be there.

In that situation, it's barely possible to duckdive. What you should have done is pick a better route out that doesn't go through the impact zone. No decent route out? Okay, so now it's all in the timing - look at what's coming. Don't let it break right in front of you. If you can't get out far enough before it breaks, slow down and let it break 10 ft in front of you, duck that, then paddle like mad to get beyond the zone before the next one hits.

Watch all the videos on how to duckdive, and learn how to go down deep and stay down, but the biggest skill in duckdiving is in not having to do it.

Vent wrote:to all of you guys , when I say break on me I mean one feet away from me and there's this huge
mountain of white water

Another vague surf lingo mis-interpretation/mis-understanding. Maybe you meant to say a close out set broke in front of you and mowed you down.

Vent wrote:whenever I try to duck dive my deepest I go down deep and then I go backwards

I "interpret" that as you are pushing the nose down really deep, to the point your arms are maxed out straight. But have you leveled out the board at the bottom depth ? Are you making the board flat ? Seems the nose is DOWN but the tail is still UP. Stick your hand out the car window. Finger tips level with your wrist. Now angle your fingers down. What happens ? You get pushed back. Now go back to flat and then angle your fingers up. You go up like after you get past the foam cloud under the water.

Vent wrote:also, did you watch my video?

YES.

I "interpret" that as you are pushing the nose down really deep, to the point your arms are maxed out straight. But have you leveled out the board at the bottom depth ? Are you making the board flat ? Seems the nose is DOWN but the tail is still UP.

Yeah, exactly . I don't know whats the problem, when I duck dive less deep I have the perfect scooping motion and the duck dive goes really smooth, but when I try to do it deeper I just lose my board / go backwards because I cant make the board flat with my leg.

drowningbitbybit wrote:If you can't get out far enough before it breaks, slow down and let it break 10 ft in front of you, duck that, then paddle like mad to get beyond the zone before the next one hits.

But offcourse, slowing down, I never thought of that

Yesterday I was caught inside and paddling as fast as I could to get out, but the set was building and I had too eat them all. There was nobody behind me so when the lip landed just in front of me I left the board and dove under it, looking at the turbulence pass by. But my board took the impact so hard it ripped off half my tailpad..