Board pivot point when turning

[pmcaero]

....and don't forget - look to where you want to go.....look at the eyes of all the surfers below.....they are all focused on where they are headed.....

another bad habit, many times I look down to make sure my feet are positioned OK.

I'm going to basically have to "reset" my surfing.

[Big H]

Wchan has said it before...you go where you look........so if you look down...........splash or bog.

[jaffa1949]

Just a note , fins do resist turning if you are forward on the board and then they and the rail resist turn particularly by leaners, however if you're over then and you exert Blackfoot pressure and angular pressure with same foot you power a turn.

If fins resisted turning we would have other sorts of set ups, multi fin systems , the angle of turns can be increased radically due to differences in the effects of each fin in the turn.
Historically single , twin, thruster, four and fives are are variants of twin and thruster. On longer boards 2+1 set ups.
Bonzers are 3 or 5 five fins with different cants to thrusters and supporting Bottom conclaves.

Wrong positioning of fins will resist turns commonly known as tracking.

[oldmansurfer]

Wchan has said it before...you go where you look........so if you look down...........splash or bog.

I always see pro surfers who are looking down the line on steep waves where they haven't finished negotiating the drop and they hit a chop and catch an edge or pearl and fall down. They fall because they are not looking where they are going and looking too far ahead so it goes both ways.

[pmcaero]

Wrong positioning of fins will resist turns commonly known as tracking.

I hope to be able to catch some longer rides on the old learner board and be able to experiment more. This past month we've had pretty messy or small or out of my league conditions, so I haven't caught any long rides with the shortboard. But I do hope to get back on the shortboard a few times before it gets really small during summer.

[drowningbitbybit]

...and remember the throwaway turn at the end of the ride (whatever board you're on).

Coming towards the end of your ride? Well, jam your foot on the tailpad, put all your weight on your toes, really spin it around and try and make a 360 (or whatever variation takes your fancy) ... you won't make it but you'll have learnt a lot about how you and your board interact to turn.

Even better is to try when you're not at the end of the ride and you've still got some speed and somewhere to go after you turn (but hell, if you've spent the last hour trying to catch this one wave, don't waste it...)
You might even make it

[RinkyDink]

Coming towards the end of your ride? Well, jam your foot on the tailpad, put all your weight on your toes, really spin it around and try and make a 360 (or whatever variation takes your fancy) ... you won't make it but you'll have learnt a lot about how you and your board interact to turn.

That is one of the best pieces of noob advice I've gotten. I'm going to start doing that. When I work in the white water I practice my turns when I I get pushed by enough white water to allow me to make a turn. I usually ride until my fins get caught in the sand. I'm going the 360 route now. The chicks will dig it!!!

[jaffa1949]

PM your bad habits are being entrenched by changing boards, so you have keep referring to your feet and other stuff and not just flow,
IMHO stick to the longer board straighten out your poor habits, enhance your skills and then go shorter.

Ride one board learn the nuances and behaviours, stop stuffing around in your head listen to the advice being offered and let it sink in.
You are prolonging your agony at not surfing well, pick better days if you can try the end of wave turn , ride the bigger board so you have more time on the wave!
End of sermon!

[pmcaero]

When you want to turn, do you apply pressure on you back foot with the heel for backside and toes for frontside turn, such that part of your foot leaves the board?

[oldmansurfer]

When I turn I try to keep my whole foot on the board. Less foot contact means less traction means more likely to slip and in addition a smaller contact point will make it much more likely to pressure ding your board. I do ankle flexibility and strengthening exercises not that my ankles really need them but they are the only part of my body that has stayed strong and healthy all this time and I want to keep them that way

[pmcaero]

makes sense. I saw a video where the instructor was really pushing with his toes. I just tried on my balance board and I can push my foot up with the toes but definitely not with the heel. So I'll just use the ankle for simplicity sake.

[RinkyDink]

Coming towards the end of your ride? Well, jam your foot on the tailpad, put all your weight on your toes, really spin it around and try and make a 360 (or whatever variation takes your fancy) ... you won't make it but you'll have learnt a lot about how you and your board interact to turn.

I tried the 360 trick a bunch of times this morning during a white water session. I learned a lot from it. I actually almost got a little off the top action going. The white water I was surfing formed up into a little green wave section and I jammed my back foot on the tail pad, swung my front foot into the wave face bringing the front of the board with it, and what do you know . . . I was suddenly going up the face of the wave for a brief moment. After the wave went past me, I turned around and looked at the beach. Kelly Slater was there smiling at me with his thumb up.

[pmcaero]

I have to try it next time Rides today were too short to think of anything but jumping off the board before it ran aground.

[RinkyDink]

I have to try it next time Rides today were too short to think of anything but jumping off the board before it ran aground.

Try it. I think a light bulb will turn on for you.

[pmcaero]

Try it. I think a light bulb will turn on for you.

Been waiting for this light bulb to go off for almost 4 years now....

[oldmansurfer]

makes sense. I saw a video where the instructor was really pushing with his toes. I just tried on my balance board and I can push my foot up with the toes but definitely not with the heel. So I'll just use the ankle for simplicity sake.

Also pretty much when I turn hard there is no way I can support my weight without using my whole foot. In my old age and overweightedness I have trouble just doing a bunch of squats (which I do to get into better shape). If I were standing on my toes they would go right into the foam due to my weight and gravity and centrifugal force. I already have made pressure dings the shape of my feet. I think maybe if you are doing trim turns then you use your toes or heels but there is no need to come up off the rest of the foot , you use gravity and your weight pressing into the board to turn it. So you push the board at an angle down but your feet maintain contact with it instead of standing on your toes or heels (and then you lean that way)

[Big H]

I was out today....good sized waves, 6-8 ft faces....taking the drop was like an elevator drop...legs straighten a bit and I weight back to keep control....then hit the bottom of the wave and g forces start to take hold...so you allow them to, look down the wave at the top where you are going to go next and allow gravity to pull you down into a deep solid bottom turn.....beautiful.

Weighting in my feet? They were there I guess but really don't know or care. Feels built from time in the wave, look where you want to go, flow with the wave.....don't overthink it....surf more, get better waves, ride with speed and turns will flow out of you.

[pmcaero]

yes speed generation is important but I need to start slow in small waves to eliminate the leaning tendency which would cause me to stall even in medium waves. Like, I know what I have to do, I have done it before and got nice rides, but it's not a reflex. Bigger waves , with the adrenaline component, I think would hurt my retraining.

[jaffa1949]

Just another thought boards are more stable at speed, call to mind competing in a slow bicycle race and trying to go round a bend. choose some time in better surfs when they occur, sloppy surf is really a hinderance!

[pmcaero]

Bigger and clean, a lot of times is a pick one around here. Or , the offshores are so strong I can't catch anything.
End of week is looking interesting, a 3-4ft day with light offshore wind would give me the Best BIC Bang on the Buck
But 1-2 ft clean and peeling is good also, less crowds and shorter paddle so I can get more waves in and work on bottom turns and setting the rail for longer rides.