Now that I've caught the wave, what do I do?

[kooky kookelson]

After 1500 wipeouts, I've gotten to the point where I can catch (small) waves, but I don't know how to keep my position on the wave so I can ride it longer. Generally, I'll go almost straight and then make a bottom turn, but don't know what to do next so that I can keep riding. I seem to just kind of stall out and end up watching the wave pass me by...

What should I be thinking about as I start on the wave? Thanks for your time.

Gordon

[TokyotheKid]

Well what kind of board are you riding?? a shortboard or a longboard,


with a shortboard you gotta keep moving or else ull just sink cause there isn't enough buoyancy in the board........... well thats what i think,

cause when you watch the pros they keep moving so they dont sink in.

with a longboard u cant sink

[sinistapenguin]

Hi Kooky

I would say that your next step is to catch slightly bigger waves!

Seriously though, the 'stalling' problem is a difficult one (which I can relate to).

Think of it this way. Your front foot is the accelerator, more weight on the 'planing' part of the board will make you go faster. You've probably seen the pros bouncing the board, they are basically increasing pressure on the front of the board to get it to go faster.

The back foot is the brake. And this is the key to the bottom turn. If you can bear to wipe out once more, try this: Catch a wave, get up, then put all your weight on the back foot (whilst keeping your balance and not falling off) you will notice that the wave overtakes you. If you feel the 'tail' of a board, you will feel that the edges tend to be quite sharp/ hard. As you move down the rails towards the nose, the edges become more rounded.

The key to the bottom turn is to get the balance between tail and nose right. You will notice that the opening bottom turn of most pros tends to be a sweeping arc rather than a quick turn.

As soon as you get up, start thinking about the bottom turn, start leaning into it with your weight still over the front foot, as the board starts to turn, put a bit more weight on the back foot and lean in more. The board will start to turn more quickly. Once you are parallel to the shoreline, you can start to lean back out of the turn, it sounds wierd, but the board will keep turning towards the wave, as you rise up the face, it's time to slam on the brakes, put all your weight behind the back foot and swing the board round to head diagonally back down the wave. At this point, gravity will pull you back onto the wave and keep you moving.

If you put too much weight on the tail in the bottom turn, you are basically driving the hard edge of the rails into the water and slowing the board right down, by the time the wave reaches you, you have no forward momentum and the wave will overtake you.

Sorry about the long-winded technical bit, but I think it helps to understand how the board does what it does!!

Hope this helps

Cheers

Sinista

[kooky kookelson]

Thanks penguin--your answer was just the information I've been looking for. Yeah, I'd like to have bigger waves too. We've been having a flat spell for the last couple of weeks (Los Angeles). Well, sooner or later it's gotta get better...