Surfing Waves

We all have those little things that help us out with our surfing, I'll tell you mine but I'd like some people to tell me theirs.
When I wipeout, I put my upper lip on my nostrils so even if I'm being ragdolled in the washing machine, no water gets in.
What tricks do you guys have up your sleeves that no one knows about?

I let the water go up my nose when I wipeout because it cleans out my sinuses Most likely there are lots of little tricks I do but they are probably mostly instinctive. I'll see if I can think of one. It might be difficult to know if it's a trick or something all surfers do because I only know what I know. I didn't learn too much from others I just surfed.

I do a sweet hands free nose blow......another one is I can pull up the back of my boardies when I'm sitting on my board just as I pass the crest of a passing wave and I'm unweighted just for a second.....

Don't know if this is really much of a sneaky trick, but it works for me. My car door key that I take surfing with me gets stuck in my door all the time. It was a real pain in the neck for a while until I came across this stuff.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/46511099?wml ... 3=&veh=sem

If you get a tube of dry graphite lube that won't fit into the lock hole, then bend a paper clip and use that to push open the little gate that closes up the door lock.

I put wax on the nose of the board and rails and underneath, and the same at around 1ft from the nose, to keep grip when I'm ducking under waves (the nose is where I grip it when walking, the 1ft from the nose when turtling)

I sand the bottom of my board with 600 grade wet sandpaper to make it faster

I tuck my leash up underneath me if i'm going over a reef so I won't snag. Do this when paddling in garbage too (this is literal unfortunately ).....otherwise plastic bags and whatnot will hang up on the leash and make it feel like you're dragging an anchor. Periodically sit up and clear the fins with a hand sweep too.

When there's beginners out at a crowded break, I look for what leg their leash is on. So say if leash is on their left leg and I'm at a right break, I'll line up over him and to the right even if I'm not at the priority peak. Usually they take off and veer left ( to their front side ) and take out the rider who was at the peak. Smooth sailing for me after.

waikikikichan wrote:When there's beginners out at a crowded break, I look for what leg their leash is on. So say if leash is on their left leg and I'm at a right break, I'll line up over him and to the right even if I'm not at the priority peak. Usually they take off and veer left ( to their front side ) and take out the rider who was at the peak. Smooth sailing for me after.

Thats interesting - I remember when I was learning that I could only turn to my right when sitting (ie sitting facing out to sea, to turn to start paddling I could only turn to my right). Which is my front foot. I've broken the habit but I could never figure out why I was doing it/why it was such a problem to swing left.

Another little trick is if you are sitting somewhere with a bit of a current and your leggie keeps getting wrapped around your fins, do as Big H says and grab the leggie and either just hold it in your hands or sit on it. Or am I the only one who has popped up and discovered the leggie was around the fins and didnt quite have enough length to let my feet go to where they needed to be?

oh, another tip talking of leggies - try to get in the habit of wrapping it around your ankle the same way (ie so to take it off you always have to towards your other leg or away from your body. Doesnt really matter which one (although I think pulling towards your other leg has a slight advantage) - in any case, if you get stuck on a rock or reef and have to bail the leggie, you know which way to pull

dtc wrote:I remember when I was learning that I could only turn to my right when sitting (ie sitting facing out to sea, to turn to start paddling I could only turn to my right). Which is my front foot. I've broken the habit but I could never figure out why I was doing it/why it was such a problem to swing left.

It probably because you can "egg beater" with your feet clockwise instead of counter-clockwise ( anti-clockwise for my queen's English brethren ).

Adding onto the leggie tips walking to and from the beach I put it over my shoulder and then when Im getting drag down the beach I hold my board in my left arm and grab and hold my leash up and run back to my entry point.

waikikikichan wrote:When there's beginners out at a crowded break, I look for what leg their leash is on. So say if leash is on their left leg and I'm at a right break, I'll line up over him and to the right even if I'm not at the priority peak. Usually they take off and veer left ( to their front side ) and take out the rider who was at the peak. Smooth sailing for me after.

That IS sneaky!

YungGrom wrote:Adding onto the leggie tips walking to and from the beach I put it over my shoulder and then when Im getting drag down the beach I hold my board in my left arm and grab and hold my leash up and run back to my entry point.

When going back to the car I wrap my leash around itself so it's like a loop then put it around my head and below armpit, keeps it above the ground and clean.

I fill my wetsuit with bloody fish carcasses. Being followed by large predators gives me the paddling power needed to get into the fatter waves.