Advice for a Great Lakes SUPer/aspiring surfer

[waikikikichan]

Gt the pop-up down pad and was even able to pump a tad.

Forget ( for now ) about the "Pump", learn to ride the wave. Be where the wave gives you the most push.
Forget ( for now ) about "Duck Diving", learn to use more Brain than Brawn to get out easier.
You are just soo Amped. Relax and ride the wave. In the photo, the problem is you are "Trying too Hard". you're trying to put a square peg in a round hole. You are forcing the move. You need to work with the wave. Plus you're trying to turn the whole board. Say your board is 8 feet, 7 feet is buried in the wave, only a foot of the nose is out. Why do you think you lose balance ? Because the rail digs/drops and the board goes on a rail straight and you spin off to the side. You need to turn from the tail and have 3 feet of board in the water and 5 feet sticking out.

and also making sure that my foot placement is good.

And how will you know what is a "good" foot placement and what is a "not-good" foot placement ?

[SUPerMorg]

benjl, haha yeah my SUP is super fast and fun but I like the challenge of the BIC

[SUPerMorg]

waikikikichan, gotcha. Haha yeah i tend to get amped which makes me try too hard like you're saying.
True, but I also think that the profile pic is funny to look at but also not how I normally look when I've caught the wave (hopefully ) As far as foot placement goes, it's hard for me to explain since my surf vocab is so limited but I think I can "feel" at least decent foot placement (when I can balance easily on the board, legs aren't shaky, can manage a gradual turn or two, can look at the horizon instead of the board, etc). Does this sound accurate?

[henery26]

Hello,

My 6,6, 39l super fish 2 board is a great board. I enjoy riding it. However, I find it very buoyant when trying to duck dive waves. Anything much over the solid 3ft range and I have issues getting out as I simply can't get the board deep enough.
Thanks...

[pmcaero]

Hello,

My 6,6, 39l super fish 2 board is a great board. I enjoy riding it. However, I find it very buoyant when trying to duck dive waves. Anything much over the solid 3ft range and I have issues getting out as I simply can't get the board deep enough.
Thanks...

have you tried turtle-rolling it? I have a high volume shortboard and I don't see any other way to get through bigger surf other than ditching and swimming under which is frowned up when there are other surfers nearby.

[jaffa1949]

Turtle rolling is the best way, get skilled, works well even on Malibu and logs!

[oldmansurfer]

All my boards are too floaty to duck dive so I do a half duck dive. It is similar to duck diving but it relies on the wave doing part of it. I shove the nose of the board down maybe to the point of handstanding but leave my legs and the back half of the board out of the water. The wave hits my back half and pushes the back side down then I bring the nose up. It's taken me a while to get good at it but it works pretty good for me. I still turtle roll on occasion but most of the time I do the half duck dive called a duck dip here.

[pmcaero]

All my boards are too floaty to duck dive so I do a half duck dive. It is similar to duck diving but it relies on the wave doing part of it. I shove the nose of the board down maybe to the point of handstanding but leave my legs and the back half of the board out of the water. The wave hits my back half and pushes the back side down then I bring the nose up. It's taken me a while to get good at it but it works pretty good for me. I still turtle roll on occasion but most of the time I do the half duck dive called a duck dip here.

do you keep your upper body above the water during the so called duck dip?

[pmcaero]

Turtle rolling is the best way, get skilled, works well even on Malibu and logs!

I think it works best on heavier boards, because you push your body underwater to go under the wave, using your legs, so a heavier board gives you more leverage - correct?

[oldmansurfer]

All my boards are too floaty to duck dive so I do a half duck dive. It is similar to duck diving but it relies on the wave doing part of it. I shove the nose of the board down maybe to the point of handstanding but leave my legs and the back half of the board out of the water. The wave hits my back half and pushes the back side down then I bring the nose up. It's taken me a while to get good at it but it works pretty good for me. I still turtle roll on occasion but most of the time I do the half duck dive called a duck dip here.

do you keep your upper body above the water during the so called duck dip?

No. Top half of body is below water. I shove the nose down and before the wave hits I pull my upper body a little more down then the wave hits butt and legs and back half of the board pushing it down when as much as I try I can get it to go underwater together with the front half but the wave does that then as it passes over I push the nose forward and up. Sometimes I come up sitting on the board LOL don't know why I do that I just do. But in that position I can look quickly to see what the outside waves are doing and quickly lay down and paddle to get the heck out of there. I am not trying to get the whole board under water it won't go very far like that but I can get my head and the front part of the board below the impact of the wave then the wave shoves the other parts down.