Surfing Waves

Ok so this seems to come up as advice often "Don't look down or you will go down. " or "Don't look at the nose of the board or you will fall." or something like that. On most waves I look at the nose of the board and on the really steep one I focus on it intensely and don't fall down. I think on steep waves you have to look at the nose. It is where you want to go , you want to go down the wave and once you land on the bottom then you look down the wave where you want to go after you make the drop. Or is it just me? I don't have a problem falling on takeoff and in fact make some incredibly steep almost airdrop takeoffs with a high success rate and I look at the nose. Not a problem for me is it for anyone else?

Wkk just did a blog post on this http://alohaki.jugem.jp/

It really a weighting thing - if your weight is balance but your eyes are tilted down looking at the nose - no problem. But if your head is tilted then your body weight changes and you actually make things worse (cause the very problem you are trying to avoid)

You may either just be looking with your eyes not your head; or your body has adjusted so that you can tilt your head but you have made other adjustments

so the question is does looking at the nose of your board make you fall? It clearly doesn't make me fall or pearl. In addition I am pretty sure looking helps to keep me from pearling in really steep radical drops so I can stomp the tail to bring the nose up. I will also look down at my board in the middle of a turn just to see what it's doing. It doesn't alter my balance significantly.

I know I am not like everyone else when it comes to surfing. I learned on a shortboard. It wasn't too difficult. I surf on a schedule not related to the waves. I learned and then unlearned and am now relearning how to surf. So it may be that it is just me that is ok with looking at the board or the nose while surfing. I wanted to hear if any of you had problems with it or if you never tried it.

For me, if I look at my nose bad things happen - pretty much exactly like the blog reads....underway if I look down it's like throwing out an anchor as I bleed speed immediately and usually catch the nose or forward rail....looking up gets me going again but I've usually lost the wave at that point unless its a big fatty.......I read some advice from a surf pro on another page where they recommended looking down the wave about 3m not just for keeping proper form but so you could see what's coming at you....it's been in my head the last month or so since I read it and I'm convinced that having a relatively firm 3m forward focus rather than "keep your head up" or "look down the wave (how far?)" has helped with my recent jump in improvement.

This is what I have in my mind; I'm a visual learner and this video has helped me more than anything else as far as having a target to aspire to:

Well so it may help you to look at videos or to hold your head in a particular position but what I notice is that his head doesn't move as much as the rest of his body. This is something that is more noticeable on smaller waves. The legs and board move around much more than the head. This is because he is conserving energy by keeping his center of gravity below the top of the wave and in front of the wave. Let me ask you this if you skateboard and look down do you fall down then? I used to look at my skateboard and had no problems with that too. Balance is balance and you can balance in a lot of different positions. Head position is only part of the story.

Maybe it's because I have a "big ole fat head" but I notice that looking down the line affects where my feet land on the board after a popup. When I look right my goofy right foot lands under my right shoulder and helps with the turn. When I look left the same foot lands under my chest with the same benefit. Next sesh, I'll try Big H's 3 meter idea.

I do an exercise twice a week where I stand up straight then raise one leg straight out in front of me till it is parallel to the floor then I bring it back down and try to not touch the floor, then I raise it out sideways and bring it back down then I bring my knee up to my chest then bring it back down and then I bring my leg backwards and bring it back down. While I usually fail to keep my leg from touching the floor sometime during this exercise that I repeat 10 times, every once in a while I do the 10 times with out touching the floor. My leg weighs more than my head and yet I manage to balance while moving it around.......amazing??? not really you can move your head too and remain balanced.

oldmansurfer wrote: On most waves I look at the nose of the board and on the really steep one I focus on it intensely and don't fall down. I think on steep waves you have to look at the nose. It is where you want to go , you want to go down the wave and once you land on the bottom then you look down the wave where you want to go after you make the drop.

"Where you look is where you go" can be used as a Positive and a Negative. You just proved that point in a good way. In your situation, being an advanced surfer on a larger wave, you WANT the nose to go down. But for most of the pearling beginners, they DON'T WANT the nose to go down. You are willing the nose/board, " Go down go down ! C'mon make it over the ledge !" They are more hoping that the nose stays up, "oh no, please don't go down, please stay up, OMG c'mon please !"
Riding a motorcycle, you learn about "Target Fixation". Look at the pole, run into the pole. Look thru the curve to the exit to hold a good smooth line. When going thru a pack of kooks, I look to the open spot between two of them, all I need is 22 inches to clear them, and it draws me there. But you can also use the technique of "Freeze'um and Leave'um. As you're coming at 1 guy, stare right at him. It'll draw you in close, he will realize his got no where to go and Freeze. At that signal/motion you look away to the clear path and leave them in your spray. ( doesn't work on Newbies because they always panic and throw their boards in your direction )

Look at the video closely and think about what you do.....he's looking down the line while paddling, then when he is about to catch he looks at the nose, does a double handed push for the last bit to get over the ledge and in, flattening out a touch in the process to get into the wave (I term it to myself "diving in") then eyes back down the line as soon as he's put his hands on the board to get up.

Bizarre sensation on a motorcycle.....when going through a corner, you brake going in then smoothly accelerate out....look over your shoulder as you come out of the turn and it's about as disconcerting as being weightless.......

I watched a guy today on a foamie from the inside....he paddled hard for the wave, caught, got his hands in place, and as he went to stand up it was like someone was holding his head down....anyway the end result is that he did a forward roll down the foamie as he pearled....never saw his face from the time he went to place his hands.

Keep in mind that while there is a 'technically perfect' way of doing something, that does not mean doing it differently can't be just as effective. Look at all the 'terrible' golf swings on the pro circuit

dtc wrote:Keep in mind that while there is a 'technically perfect' way of doing something, that does not mean doing it differently can't be just as effective. Look at all the 'terrible' golf swings on the pro circuit

For every Jim Furyk or Bubba Watson there are dozens of Henrik Stenson, Adam Scotts, Ernie Els and Luke Donalds. Point you're making is that different is not always wrong and I wholeheartedly agree with that............However, the counterpoint is that good results follow good technique more often than not.

I have been thinking about this for a while, and today tried to focus more down the line rather than looking down the nose . I think it helps with setting up for a ride down the line during pop-up ,minimizing the need for a bottom turn, which might be advantageous in some cases.

dtc wrote:Keep in mind that while there is a 'technically perfect' way of doing something, that does not mean doing it differently can't be just as effective. Look at all the 'terrible' golf swings on the pro circuit

This is true and why I wanted to figure out if any of you have tried looking at your the nose of your board and if it affects your performance. However also possible is it's just another superstition of surfing since surfing lacks science or testable knowledge about such things. Maybe for people who are learning to surf it is more likely going to cause problems? Maybe for some people it will always cause problems and for others not.

What I generally do is look down the line both directions before I popup and I make a guess of what the wave is going to do from there. Once I am up I negotiate the drop so if it is steep this involves watching the nose of the board and the water in front of the nose of the board till I make the drop then Immediately I focus on the rest of the wave. I already know approximately what it is going to do in the immediate area because I looked at the wave before I popped up. If it isn't steep then I am looking down the line immediately and looking at what the wave is doing and figuring what I will do. My eyes still go from right in front of the nose to down the line so i see the whole wave and not just 3 meters in front of me.

Big H wrote:

dtc wrote:Keep in mind that while there is a 'technically perfect' way of doing something, that does not mean doing it differently can't be just as effective. Look at all the 'terrible' golf swings on the pro circuit

For every Jim Furyk or Bubba Watson there are dozens of Henrik Stenson, Adam Scotts, Ernie Els and Luke Donalds. Point you're making is that different is not always wrong and I wholeheartedly agree with that............However, the counterpoint is that good results follow good technique more often than not.

For sure - the vast majority of people should try to do things the 'technically perfect' way; but some people have work arounds, different bodies, different ways of learning etc and are just as effective. But as a beginner, going back to the nose looking thing - dont look at the nose. If you are more advanced and look at the nose, well you are more advanced so for whatever reason its worked for you. If you are more advanced and dont look at the nose, then dont start looking at the nose.

In golf there is scoring and rules for those who wish it. In surfing there it's up to the individual what they wish to do and what board they ride and what wave they catch and no scoring and other than the rules of the lineup no rules. So if you are having trouble doing what you want to do then you need to change how you are doing it otherwise there is no reason to change. What exactly is surfing? I was listening to a guy who talked to the old Hawaiians about the subject. He said one old Hawaiian told him surfing is to accompany the wave. Simply that to accompany the wave. I like that but for me I think it is more like a dance with the wave. Unless you are in a contest the form is up to you and the wave since it doesn't matter to anyone else or rather it shouldn't matter to them. So for a beginner, most have a lot they want to learn to do so they need to change what they are doing often to get better but if you are happy cruising along the whitewater flapping your arms like a bird while you stand on one leg, I would say that is fine but if you aren't happy then you need to change. Technically perfect surfing? Hmmm who gets to decide what that is?

oldmansurfer wrote:I am pretty sure looking helps to keep me from pearling in really steep radical drops so I can stomp the tail to bring the nose up.

Yesterday I had exactly this experience. I was with my 8'2" funboard in a steep east coast wave. When paddling into the wave and the wave lifting me from behind I saw the nose go under. I responded with 2 more extra strong paddle strokes and putting more weight on the tail in the popup and setting the rail for an immediate turn up the face.

It worked like a charm, the nose lifted up and was completely out of danger of pearling. It was a great feeling and a nice long ride after that.

I have that happen too but what I was talking about is a full vertical drop where the wave face is fully perpendicular to the bottom and as you drop down to where the wave transitions from vertical face to flat bottom the nose goes under then if I quickly put pressure on my back foot the nose pops back up. I originally learned to do this on my 9'6" longboard. That paddling nose dive that you describe happens to me regularly and most often I pop the nose back up before I popup. If I keep driving the nose comes out of the face of the wave and then it is a normal popup. although once in a while the board just drives deeper into the wave. I think the nose dive on takeoff happens to me because of chop on the wave since I surf most often is far less than perfect conditions. Last weekend I paddled sideways along the beach and noticed the nose of my board was under water half the time. This was because the small ripples that didn't break would cause the nose to go under then between the ripples the nose came out of the wave. It didn't seem to slow me down at all. In fact I could easily outpace my wife on her boogie board who for a while tried to keep up with me. This was my barely rockered 7"6" board.