Surfing Waves

I have a 6'10 hybrid shortboard by 20" and i cant seem to get the thing to dive for me, am i too weak? or is it just too big to duck dive? and if so how else to i get out to the lineup?thnx

What's your height/weight?

Generally it's a matter of technique, timing and training. The bigger the board (in relation to you) the more critical those three Ts will be.

-doug

I've been trying to duck dive my 7'6'' minimal, and it's not that easy....however i've found that twisting the board so that you sink the edge of the board first helps a great deal.

my 5'11 is a breeze to duckdive

anyways if its a shortboard shape it shouldnt be too hard to duckdive. a funboard shape would be more difficult but still possible. just practice man

Practice.

i got a 6-10, plenty thick too, and it duckdives easily, its just a matter of technique

you can probably do it bro, unless ur like 5 foot and 100 pounds or somethin. Just keep practcin and make sure to use your back foot to help push the board under.

Yeah, boards with more volume are critical of technique.

And yes - "slicing" by pushing one rail down first does help. And the closer that rail is to the nose the better. In fact, that's the key to duckdiving my 9'6"

-doug

Thanks guys big help, Oh i weigh 150lb, and im 5'11''
Yeah doug thanks for the tip on slicing, i gotta 8 footer i might try that on, though it is the shape of a long board, would it still work?

It should. My 9'6" mal has a lot more volume and it works on that.

Practice with bigger boards in smaller, clean waves if you can.

-doug

i really dont belive weight plays that much of a role in duckdiving, its technique that does it, if little tiny rippers can duckdive deep enough to get under ridiculously heavy waves, and people can duckdive planks, then it cant be weight that does it. besides, big heavy fat guys would find it harder surely as fat is buoyant?

Well duckdiving is about overcoming buoyancy. The more volume your board has the more buoyant it is. A board that is heavier for it's volume has less buoyancy than a lighter one.

The more weight the surfer has the more easily they can overcome buoyancy. Technique comes into it too. Slicing means you concentrate on sinking a rail, rather than the whole board, so you only need to overcome the buoyancy of a fraction of the board. You then push the rest of the board down and a suction effect pulls the rest of the board under.

So weight does come into play, IMO.

Just my 2c, any other thoughts?

-doug

nope i think im good, actually, now im trying to get up on the darn thing, where should i locate myself on the board when entering the wave.
and where do i grab it on the rails so i can exctually grab the wave,?

just move around till you get and your hands is where you find it the easyest man and when you fill the board move push a little weight forward but not too much or you will nose dive have fun and keep trying and u will get.

this how i leant try try and try agian

mark

thanks alot everyone everyone for the advice

dougirwin13 wrote:Yeah, boards with more volume are critical of technique.

And yes - "slicing" by pushing one rail down first does help. And the closer that rail is to the nose the better. In fact, that's the key to duckdiving my 9'6"

-doug

I still cant get over duckdiving a 9.6