Surfing Waves

The spot that I surf at is predominantly longboard until it is overhead and there is no sign of any longboard. I was the only one in a longboard and just felt out of place. All I see was shortboards and funboards. Or boards with very pointy nose, guess they are called guns?

I was still catching waves but I probably only managed to complete riding 1 wave out of 10. All the other ones I wasn't able to make it out of the faster sections and can't seem to keep my board in the pocket.

But is there a particular reason that all the other surfers switch to a small board on bigger days? Is it due to steepness or is it just easier than a longboard when it gets over a certain size?

Here's the spot and I went out with my longboard.

Are you sure it's the same people that had longboards before on the shortboards? Maybe the longboarders are just going to a different spot that works when it gets bigger.

If the wave is steep enough, a shortboard might have a bit more agility to pump through fast sections, then you'd usually try to take advantage of an earlier take off to go through those.

Are the shortboarders passing the closing sections on most waves? Could be the spot just tends to closeout more when it gets bigger.

It looks like longboard heaven to me, except for the crowd. Get into the wave super early and build some speed down the line.

People ride big Pipeline and Teahopou on longboards, they have both the skills and cahones to ride I have ridden 9‘3“ boards in over double overhead no problem , my time riding pipeline when there was only longboards with little rocker at 20 I thought I had the cahones, very basic rides but i did. it!
Not these. days!

IanCaio wrote:Are you sure it's the same people that had longboards before on the shortboards? Maybe the longboarders are just going to a different spot that works when it gets bigger.

If the wave is steep enough, a shortboard might have a bit more agility to pump through fast sections, then you'd usually try to take advantage of an earlier take off to go through those.

Are the shortboarders passing the closing sections on most waves? Could be the spot just tends to closeout more when it gets bigger.

I think the shortboards are struggling to catch the waves and hogging the take off spot.

Maybe I got the answer, today I asked some other guy looking from the parking lot that why doesn't he go down and surf. He said he is too old for this and just wants something easier. 3-4 feet is perfect. I guess we have consistent swell all year round so they don't feel the need to push themselves.

BaNZ wrote:I think the shortboards are struggling to catch the waves and hogging the take off spot.

Maybe I got the answer, today I asked some other guy looking from the parking lot that why doesn't he go down and surf. He said he is too old for this and just wants something easier. 3-4 feet is perfect. I guess we have consistent swell all year round so they don't feel the need to push themselves.

There you go, mystery solved!

It's still curious that there are no longboarders at all, I'd think at least a few would still go out as overhead conditions are still somewhat manageable for the average surfer that goes out often, but if it's closing out frequently it's possible they are going to an alternative break.

We had that recently with Hurricane Henri on the east coast. The lineup was mostly 20 year olds during the 6-8' days and a couple guys that typically longboard but had their step ups instead (really a step down from a longboard). For that I think its a combination of things.. short boards are generally easier to make it out the back (especially at a beach break) and most people like the idea of having a big wave board for their quiver.. but then they also need to be able to say they've used it

I've also seen lots or broken longboards on heavy days in the past.. thats a lot of foam to get tossed around in powerful surf. It's different if someone's sponsored and can swap them out, without thinking about $$$

They are not on shortboards, they are on step-up's. When it gets big I go from a 6'1 shortboard to a 6'5 stepup up to 8ft faces, and have a 6'9 step up and a 7'0 for bigger than that. After, I go with an 8ft rhino-chaser if it's really big, I think the biggest I have done (been a while) is about 22 to 24 feet.

If longboarders are breakiing out shorter boards it's to slot in better in large waves and to help with duckdiving, but many just do the turtle roll.

BaNZ wrote:The spot that I surf at is predominantly longboard until it is overhead and there is no sign of any longboard.
But is there a particular reason that all the other surfers switch to a small board on bigger days? Is it due to steepness or is it just easier than a longboard when it gets over a certain size?[/attachment]

It's because most of the longboarders at your break don't know how to "Surf" bigger waves.


Photo from Pacific Longboarder magazine.

Yesterday was another day where I was the few that's on a bigger board.

Even when I catch the wave, I don't know how to stay in the pocket. I always outrun the wave as I'm thinking I need to go faster so I can make it out the next section.

Honestly, I felt like I had the best surf session in the past 7 years. I was super stoke after the session. Other surfers was congratulating me for catching so many waves but when I looked at the video and photos. It is so demoralizing because in my mind, I thought my posture is much better than this.

BaNZ wrote:Yesterday was another day where I was the few that's on a bigger board.

That's weird, because those look like great conditions for a longboard. It's not big, the wave is mushy, I'd just forget about thinking why the other longboarders are not going and keep doing your thing

BaNZ wrote:Even when I catch the wave, I don't know how to stay in the pocket. I always outrun the wave as I'm thinking I need to go faster so I can make it out the next section.

You waited a bit too long to start the cutback and I think you should have walked to the tail to pull a sharper one. Try to get used to starting the cutback a little earlier than you think you should. I used to do that before: waiting more than I should for a cutback and ending up doing it too far in the flats. And that's how I tried to fix it, by forcing myself to start it earlier than I would until I could find the right spot.

BaNZ wrote:Honestly, I felt like I had the best surf session in the past 7 years. I was super stoke after the session. Other surfers was congratulating me for catching so many waves but when I looked at the video and photos. It is so demoralizing because in my mind, I thought my posture is much better than this.

Stop doing it, we always think we look different than we do when we surf. Use the footage to find out points to improve, not to besmirch yourself. If people were congratulating you it means they saw you improve, be glad about that improvement!

It is a shock when someone shows you the first clear video of your surfing a bit like when you first hear a recording of your voice! Eek.
Surfing you remember your wave it looked faster steeper, you were more in tune with what is happening the moment, all the emotion sensations and environments!
The video is devoid of all these and you view it with dispassionate eyes, unfortunately we see videos of highly skilled surfers at other times and downgrade our experience and skills
As Ian Ciao said videos are the perfect tool to relate your surfing to the wave and see what would enhance what you are already doing!

Much of what Ian says covers some of what you do , I’ll go watch again and come back!

Ok I went and looked, i suggest you look to gain more mobility on the board, you pop up straight into a reasonable stance and then you have no movement forward or back on the board, your middle positioning gives you only one speed, try to,take a step forward coming out of the bottom turn , step back and cut back in close to the curl , that’s where the pocket, position your board up and down nearer the curl,
A really good skill to learn is the longboard stall brake then accelerate step back maintaining your line toward the should, push down with your back foot raising the nose ( this part can become more extreme as you become skilled at it) when the board slows take step or two forward the board will,accelerate, sometimes enough to kook you off the back, but it is a skill to learn. The extra drive can punch you past sections.

Your surfing shows that you may be anxious about trying new positions and actions, pay the wipeouts, don’t worry about looking foolish experiment your way to new capabilities!

Thanks for the really good advices. I will push to surf better in the next few months. Crowd level seems to have lowered and that is a good thing. For the past year or so, I'm very worried about doing something that offset my balance and wiping out + injuring another fellow surfer. I also find that because I'm not in the right section and always further down the flat section. This is actually causing problems to surfer paddling out because they get in my way thinking that I'm going to cutback into the more powerful section of the wave.

I'll definitely try working on doing the steps and using the whole board. For now my feet is just glued to the board and I know I need to move them.

I like your bottom turns! The first one looks plenty of drive and spring!

ConcreteVitamin wrote:I like your bottom turns! The first one looks plenty of drive and spring!

Agreed, his two bottom turns really squirted him out onto the shoulder/face of the wave.

BaNZ, I was holding back on commenting after I saw your video, because as they say " If you don't got anything good to say, don't say it ". But there is a good thing you did, your Bottom Turn as ConcreteVitamin pointed out. .......... BUT there's a lot of bad. If you want me to say/comment, I will need your permission first, so I don't sound like a troll to new comers to this forum.

I definitely welcome any advices. But let me see if I can guess what could be improved.

1. I know you've mentioned it before, I'm not using the correct arm to lead. The front arm should be the one leading me into the waves. I'm guessing I'm using it to balance because I'm putting all the weight into the rear foot to slow down the board. This just comes naturally, I don't put any thought into it. It just feels using the rear arm is correct.
2. Legs should be together and not split when paddling.
3. Once I did the bottom turn, I should go up even higher on the face of the wave.
4. At around 6-7 seconds. I did a very tiny slide to shift myself forward on the board. I probably did that because I know I'm coming into a slow section. I do that a lot and I know I should be moving up and down the board with cross steps and not sliding.
5. I should've turn around and go into the powerful section of the wave rather than keep going the same direction.

There are more photos of that day for anyone that's interested in helping me improve. The photos should be in sequence and I think I did a little better in some of the waves.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/53f3DVch3evUzgz46

1. I know you've mentioned it before, I'm not using the correct arm to lead. The front arm should be the one leading me into the waves. I'm guessing I'm using it to balance because I'm putting all the weight into the rear foot to slow down the board. This just comes naturally, I don't put any thought into it. It just feels using the rear arm is correct.
You are bracing with your back arm trying to lean onto a invisible railing. Your front arm is not leading the turn. The body language I see is , " Ohhhhh, ahhhh, Wo, yaaaaaa, okay okay ". Your apprehensive and scared. **

2. Legs should be together and not split when paddling. And are they are spread for stability or fear ?

3. Once I did the bottom turn, I should go up even higher on the face of the wave.
Then what ? If you go up higher, then what will you need to do ? Taking the high line ( and staying there ) might send you off the wave. You said you feel you are always out of the pocket. So you think you should go higher ?

4. At around 6-7 seconds. I did a very tiny slide to shift myself forward on the board. I probably did that because I know I'm coming into a slow section. I do that a lot and I know I should be moving up and down the board with cross steps and not sliding.
Fine to move around, but you did it so FLAT. You need to displace water from side to side to create a trough to fall into. By riding flat, you just pivot in place. Look at the photo gallery you posted. Look how FLAT the board is to the wave. You really never get on rail, other than that really two nice bottom turns in the video. Your surfing is like a riding tri-cycle or a bike with training wheels. **

5. I should've turn around and go into the powerful section of the wave rather than keep going the same direction.[/quote]
Yeah, but you never LOOK. Where you look is where you go. Yes, you have a arm/hand problem, but if you don't look first, the arms won't direct. ( and you'll have a hard time go backside since your stance is so strong. Your front foot is too closed, you need to open it more to allow the knee, waist, torso and shoulders to open up back to the curl.

BaNZ wrote:I will push to surf better in the next few months.
For the past year or so, I'm very worried about doing something that offset my balance and wiping out + injuring another fellow surfer.
For now my feet is just glued to the board and I know I need to move them.

**
Don't push, Learn the basics first. Then you can build on that. Right now, you don't have the basics if you are Glue Footed and can't move around the board.

BECAUSE you try to not offset your balance, that is the reason WHY your are imbalanced. You are in nature, it is every changing. You need to stop being so rigid. You are scared stiff and only reactive, you need to be loose and pro-active. A tree that doesn't bend in the wind ...... breaks. My advice is to surf like a happy drunk. ( like the drunken Kung Fu master )

You don't want to hurt anyone ? Of course, no one does. But I've been sent to the hospital surfing, and I sent others to the hospital surfing. That's paying your dues. Imagine a apprehensive driver versus a skilled driver. Who is more bound to cause an accident at an intersection ?
Learn how to control your board, learn how to hold onto your board, learn how to see situations before they happen, so you can take action earlier rather than later.

waikikikichan wrote:2. Legs should be together and not split when paddling. And are they are spread for stability or fear ? I would say I do this out of habit. In the beginning, I did it for stability but I don't seem to have that problem with my paddling.

3. Once I did the bottom turn, I should go up even higher on the face of the wave.
Then what ? If you go up higher, then what will you need to do ? Taking the high line ( and staying there ) might send you off the wave. You said you feel you are always out of the pocket. So you think you should go higher ? I know if I go up higher then I'll be able to gain more speed when I come down? I don't know the reason but I just know the other surfers do it so I must copy them to learn.

4. At around 6-7 seconds. I did a very tiny slide to shift myself forward on the board. I probably did that because I know I'm coming into a slow section. I do that a lot and I know I should be moving up and down the board with cross steps and not sliding.
Fine to move around, but you did it so FLAT. You need to displace water from side to side to create a trough to fall into. By riding flat, you just pivot in place. Look at the photo gallery you posted. Look how FLAT the board is to the wave. You really never get on rail, other than that really two nice bottom turns in the video. Your surfing is like a riding tri-cycle or a bike with training wheels. ** Let me put some thought into this. I don't quite understand the displacement of water side to side to create trough. I do however know that my pivoting sometimes work and most of the time it doesn't. I know that when I shift myself forward on the board, I can sometimes catch the wave again but then next thing I know is that my nose is heading directly towards the bottom. So I quickly shift towards the rear and this brings the nose out.


5. I should've turn around and go into the powerful section of the wave rather than keep going the same direction.

Yeah, but you never LOOK. Where you look is where you go. Yes, you have a arm/hand problem, but if you don't look first, the arms won't direct. ( and you'll have a hard time go backside since your stance is so strong. Your front foot is too closed, you need to open it more to allow the knee, waist, torso and shoulders to open up back to the curl.
The front foot needs to be more of 1pm? I went back to check the video, my feet is stuck at 3pm. I did not know that, I thought it was at 1.

BaNZ wrote:I will push to surf better in the next few months.
For the past year or so, I'm very worried about doing something that offset my balance and wiping out + injuring another fellow surfer.
For now my feet is just glued to the board and I know I need to move them.

**
Don't push, Learn the basics first. Then you can build on that. Right now, you don't have the basics if you are Glue Footed and can't move around the board.

[/quote]

There are so much to improve and I can only focus on 1 or 2 things at a time. I think I'll have to take one small step at a time. Would you say the first few steps would be to get my front feet at 1pm? Loosen up my body, look where I want to go. Keep legs closed when paddling.

This morning I was very focus to surf better than I did yesterday. I took the risks of putting more effort in and pushing myself harder.

I only saw your comments after my surf session. I caught 13 waves in 1 hour and 10 minutes. The few misses I have was because I thought the wave is going to either break on top of me or that it looks like it will close out down the line. However from what I can see on the video, they were perfectly good waves to catch and I should've gone for them.

Unfortunately I don't have anyone to film me surfing so all I can get is very poor quality from the surf cameras.



From the video I can conclude that I'm bad at reading the wave. Possibly I'm in the wrong takeoff spot or I just need to surf better. I know all the surfers are towards the right of the video where there is a reef point break. I don't go there simply because it's crowded, I don't want to run people over and I want to catch as many wave as possible.

I'm regular foot so I always try and pick the waves that break right. On wave 5,6,7 and 8. I seem to surf a little better or faster when I go left? This break usually works better when you go right, the swell direction is making left better today.

On wave 9, I tried to turn back into the more powerful section of the wave but then I didn't get anywhere.


This is my favorite surfer in Taiwan. I'm hoping that one day I'll be able to surf as well as him. Sometimes he release coaching videos and I try to learn from them.