billie_morini wrote:While late take offs are fun, they require a developed skill. And, as mentioned, you must commit to doing it.
Faf, you can experiment to determine whether you are really taking off late and improve your timing. When the nose begins to pearl, you'll slide off the back end of the board and the experiment is with the amount that you slide backward. If you only need to slide back a little bit to pull the nose out of the pearl, then you weren't really very late. If you need to slide back a lot to pull the nose out of the pearl, then you were very late. When you have to slide backward very far, you may find that it kills nearly all foward momentum. The wave will usually rush past you when this happens.
My definition of a late take off is when I am flying down with the whitewater, and I can't Imagine anything later than that.