Surfing Waves

Hey all,

I surf regular, snowboard regular, but skate goofy. I am also probably good at snowboarding, and half-decent at surfing and skating.

I recently got a carver board for the sole purpose of improving my surf, but that is not going to trickle down since I have different stances for both. I am really comfortable skating goofy, and have a lot of fun on the carver, pumping and all. I am also naturally regular at surfing, it is the natural way for me to pop.

Having said that, I cannot for the life of me surf goofy (I have never popped goofy, maybe I am decent if I am able to make the pop), I also cannot skate regular.

Since I am skating for the sake of improving my surf, should I change my stance? If so, which stance should I change, surf or skate? If not, why not?

I am sure you have had to respond to many inquiries about this before, but I am really bothered by this and none of the other threads really solved my dilemma !

I am probably a minority here but I think the main way skateboarding helps with surfing is just with balance so it doesn't matter what stance you use. In my experience turning skateboarding while similar is not like surfing. Surfing is very different. I know there are skateboarders who like to pretend like they are surfing but that is all in their mind although perhaps that does help with surfing in a mental imaging way ....turning a skateboard is not the same as turning a surfboard except you can imagine it is. So if you want to learn to do something surfing and you are imagining you are doing it skateboarding that might help in which case you might want to change your skateboard stance because that is easier and surfing is what you want to do. You aren't surfing to improve your skateboarding. When I was younger I found it relatively easy to change stance skateboarding and more challenging to change stance surfing. If you want to learn to change stance surfing do it on every wave before you cut out if you have the time. Eventually you will feel better about it and then try taking off switch stance or do it elsewhere on the wave. I used to surf completely switched stance on small days to challenge myself but learning to skateboard switched was easier.

oldmansurfer wrote: I used to surf completely switched stance on small days to challenge myself.

This could be an opportunity for the OP. Learning to surf regular and goofy would allow him to go frontside all the time!

Question: Do you push "Mongo" on your skateboard ? That may have something to do with your pop up. On your surfboard, do you plant your back foot or front foot first ?

BoMan wrote:

oldmansurfer wrote: I used to surf completely switched stance on small days to challenge myself.

This could be an opportunity for the OP. Learning to surf regular and goofy would allow him to go frontside all the time!

I accidentally got tubed backside switch stance before I ever got a decent backside regular stance tube. I was so thrilled I looked around to see if anyone else saw it but I was all alone on the entire beach. I came to liking backside waves once I got good at it and gave up practicing switch stance.

waikikikichan wrote:Question: Do you push "Mongo" on your skateboard ? That may have something to do with your pop up. On your surfboard, do you plant your back foot or front foot first ?

No I just push regular... Not sure which foot I plant first to be honest! I think back?

oldmansurfer wrote:I accidentally got tubed backside switch stance before I ever got a decent backside regular stance tube. I was so thrilled I looked around to see if anyone else saw it but I was all alone on the entire beach

That's awesome! I also rode frontside on a backside wave when I screwed up a cross step. I just went with where the weight needed to be. Bottom turns were actually easier because my dominant foot drove the fins deeper. Who knew it would be so fun? Next sesh I'll have to do it on purpose.

Love me some JOB....

Big H wrote:Love me some JOB....

Too bad he didn't make the switch stance tube ride. Some guys are seamless in switching stance. They do it so gracefully you have to pay attention to catch it. Long ago some guys riding big waves would switch stance so they could face the wave. Most guys are far better on their backside normal stance then they are switched frontside.

And this....

https://www.facebook.com/balisurfhead/v ... 915323144/

This guy seems to have it wired better than most

This guy is one of the guys I grew up with and he does and awesome switch stance routine (he also wrote and played and sang the music in the background)