what do I do with my arms when I'm surfing?

[polyphonic]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anybody had any tips on this matter. Should I point my leading arm forward (my left arm, I'm regular)? And what about my right arm?

Thanks.

[drowningbitbybit]

Yes, your arms have got an awful lot to do with your surfing.

Two basic things (the details will come later) -
You want your arms spread for balance.

You need to point your leading arm towards wherever you want to go. So you not only point in the direction you're going to gain speed, but you also lead with your arms (and head and shoulders) when you want to turn your board.


The easiest way to practise is to actually point at where you want to go, with your trailing arm balancing that pointing arm.

[dtc]

Nick Carroll, who has written a surf coaching book, says that on pop up your arms should be:
- Forward arm held open and lowered, elbow slightly higher than the hip, forearm parallel to the board
- Rear arm held up at shoulder height and flexed with the elbow pointing back and hand forward


As DBB said, you then use your front arm to aim where you want to go and your body then 'uncoils' to direct the board, with the rear arm balancing it all.

Check out this shot of Alanna Blanchard doing a top turn - see how her arms are pointing to where she wants to go, 'well before' the board is turning. And she is looking where she is going, not where she is. Of course, this is a pretty advanced skill level, but just turning toward the beach or a bottom turn to go along the wave requires exactly the same technique - point to where you want to go and the rest of your body will adjust the weighting etc to send you there.

[Guac805]

This video helped me a lot (even though I am very much a beginner) in terms of how to position my leading arm:

The guy has a series of pod casts for beginner surfers that I have found pretty helpful. Just thought I'd pass that along.

[jwoz]

Yeah those videos are a great resource.

[peazz]

I picked up a carver skateboard, it was the best investment i ever made, It taught me about throwing my weight into your turns and using your arms to balance and guide you through tight turns.

Basically, Look and point in the direction you want to go and your body with follow