Grabbing Rails on pop up

[dan@progressworld]

I would say that grabbing rails is a good thing, as long as your fingers don't wrap all the way around the rails.
If they do then this can slow you down and might leave you hung up in the lip! The problem is especially noticable when you wear gloves.
My advise is to place the palmes of you hands on the deck and hold onto the rails with the tips of your fingers.
This will reduce the drag whilst still allowing you to have full control. Dan

[avillax]

Hi buys, I grab the rails and after 5 years of surfing I hit my board with the knee 50% of the time and my take off is quite uneffective, check my video:
minute 2:10

After researching that today I think this is the culprit and I will be practicing to stop grabbing the rails from now on.

[steveylang]

It seems a personal thing, but it was a bad practice for me because I would notice a hitch in my pop up, where I would have to “re-balance” in order to let go of the rail and then pop up. I think I developed the habit as a crutch to feel more stable during the pop up. I didn’t even notice until I saw myself on the Surfline cam rewind, and saw the hitch.

So basically I tried to consciously remember not to do this for a few sessions, and now I just push down on the board with hands flat on the deck, it’s just as easy and gets me up quicker.

[eaNYC]

The potential problem with grabbing the rails is that its harder to get your legs up properly underneath you. When you plant your hands instead of grabbing, they can more naturally come off the board allowing you more space to get your feet in proper position. The tradeoff is you might have less control of the board during your popup. I sometimes pop up both ways but find that my pop-up is smoother when I don't grab. Whatever works for you though, if you're flexible enough either way works.

[avillax]

Hi guys, just wanted to let you know that after years of surfing making craters on my surfboards due to hitting them with my knee, I discovered the problem was that I was grabbing the rails. Once I realized this I started putting my hands flat on the board on the takeoff and problem solved plus much better take off, balance, speed. etc.

Don't grab the rails!