Rail Grabs

[BoMan]

WKKKChan has an interesting lesson on his site about grabbing the rail. He writes….

To help you Turn, Hold a line, Lift the outside rail, or just make the board more stable, a surfer can GRAB RAIL.
If the wave is too fast, too step, if you are too light or too much in the center of your board, grabbing rail can help you turn.

How important is this in your surfing bag of tricks? As a small guy on a long board I’m thinking about doing more of this because there are times when I lean for a trim or step back for a carve and nothing happens!

http://alohaki.jugem.jp/

[oldmansurfer]

I have done maybe a couple of them a year (52 hours surfing). Lately not too much because the situations where I do them are if I am going to be hit by the wave and I don't want to abandon ship. Most often when I am surfing backside and go from a bottom turn to right under the lip in the pocket because I may get hit by the wave. I haven't had good enough waves to do that much in the past year

[waikikikichan]

Try see if grabbing rail works for certain turns or helping you stay on trim. But be careful not to turn into Stink Bug or a Squat Turn.
With Pipemasters coming up, you’ll see a lot of the regular footers grabbing rail. It’s when they Don’t Grab, that the announcers ( and judges ) will say something about it.

[oldmansurfer]

The Vans World Cup at Sunset beach is running and many of the surfers are doing rail grabs on hard turns most likely because the waves are bumpy and the turns powerful and the rail grab helps to hold the turn and keep from losing an edge

[Tudeo]

How important is this in your surfing bag of tricks? As a small guy on a long board I’m thinking about doing more of this because there are times when I lean for a trim or step back for a carve and nothing happens!

I sometimes do it when taking of backside and angled on a critical (late) wave using a longboard. It's the moment in which you intuitively realize you need some help to set the rail so you can hold the high line, it works great. Front side I don't need it cos it's so much easier to set a rail with the front of the feet.
I never used it for turning.

[dtc]

I never do it because that would involve bending my knees and I’m way too old for that kind of funky stuff

[oldmansurfer]

I used to feel that way but now I am a little more flexible

[BoMan]

But be careful not to turn into Stink Bug or a Squat Turn.

Not the style I'm looking for!

[BoMan]

WKKKChan update... http://alohaki.jugem.jp/

Especially when riding Backside in a pitching barreling wave, grabbing rail helps to set your inside rail into the wave.
1) back foot is way back on the pad to keep the fins engaged.
2) front foot is forward by the nose to keep the speed/angle going forward. It is also on the right side of the stringer.
Just like in Motorcycle racing, you don't need to get leaned over if you're going SLOW and STRAIGHT. It's when things get critical and fast that you need to grab rail.

This is the stance I take on a longboard. Should I try to get more forward?

[oldmansurfer]

In that top photo you can see the surfer has his front foot to the inside of the stringer to further help set the rail. I find this is usually enough unless the wave is going to hit me but if I were in the same situation I would probably also grab the rail

[waikikikichan]

This is the stance I take on a longboard. Should I try to get more forward?

If this was you at the exact same place / moment in time, if you moved forward, you might have caught a rail/edge if the nose went under. In the photo, that's already a lot of rail line in the wave, almost up to the nose. Also if you moved up, your back foot wouldn't be OVER the fin(s). Sure you could stretch out your front foot, but then you'll loose the twist mobility.
To me, that turn is very stylish, I like it. Notice the front hand is down in neutral position, but will rise UP and point up ( palm up to the sky ) to the lip as you come out of the bottom turn.
But again, every wave is different, so every turn, approach, angle, grab-no grab, is too.

[steveylang]

How important is this in your surfing bag of tricks? As a small guy on a long board I’m thinking about doing more of this because there are times when I lean for a trim or step back for a carve and nothing happens!

I sometimes do it when taking of backside and angled on a critical (late) wave using a longboard. It's the moment in which you intuitively realize you need some help to set the rail so you can hold the high line, it works great. Front side I don't need it cos it's so much easier to set a rail with the front of the feet.
I never used it for turning.

This is the exact same situation I do it with my longboard, I tend to pop up too far up on the board. If I know I have to set a line quick to make a section, I'll grab the rail to help set that higher line. It's sort of a cheat in that with better technique I generally wouldn't have to do it, but it's a nice trick to have in case the situation demands it.

[Ronnbh]

Rail grabs are awesome. I started on a giant 10'6" 14.5kg epoxy Bic SUP. This thing was impossible to turn and I quickly realized the rail grab is an easy (perhaps only) way to enter a backside and then switch direction for a topside when surfing a floating tank.

Your rail basically becomes a fin slicing thru the water, and your center of gravity is low, so you get a massive speed boost, especially if you turn hard.

If nothing else, its a life saver on 6 foot beach breaks if you need to speed ahead in front of whitewater.

Happy surfing