Need help with popup and stance (video included)

[BaNZ]

I've been wanting to try some other breaks in Yilan like Daxi and Waiao. Which ones have you surfed before and how were they?

I've surfed all of them. Just go to Wushi/Waiao as they have lifeguards and they have better breaks than fulong during the summer season. Wushi is the busiest but also the most accessible and popular one. You can experience some of the surf culture over there. There are a lot of surf shops and surfers.

If you go to Wushi, you can go to surf nation and say hi to the owner. Tell him Luis from UK recommended you. Also don't bother taking any lessons from any of the surf shops there. The instructors there are college students who can barely surf. If you want a qualified instructor, go to George at Waiao.

As you said, Fulong is generally flat all summer unless there's typhoon. Don't go to Daxi as the locals aren't that welcoming. But if you do make an attempt to be nice, they are surprising down to earth people. It's just that they have been surfing that spot for 20-30 years and they see lots of kooks littering the area and have no respect for the locals. Plus Daxi rip is deadly and there are big rocks on the point break. I don't want you to go there mainly because it is my spot. I don't want it to become a clownfest like all the other surf breaks in Yilan.

[FulongSurfer]

I've surfed all of them. Just go to Wushi/Waiao as they have lifeguards and they have better breaks than fulong during the summer season. Wushi is the busiest but also the most accessible and popular one. You can experience some of the surf culture over there. There are a lot of surf shops and surfers.

Thanks BaNZ. I'll check out Wushi & Waiao. For some reason, I can't find Waiao in Magicseaweed. I might be getting the spelling wrong. Also, one of the instructors in Fulong told me windguru is more accurate than MSW at least for Fulong. Has that been your experience?

How are Baishawan and Jinshan?

[BaNZ]

Baishawan needs a good typhoon swell.

Jinshan is one of my favorite in the north east. It produce a good long right but you also need the right swell.

https://swelleye.com/en/ is the website you need for breaks in Taiwan. There's also webcams. MSW is very inaccurate for nearly all the breaks in Taiwan. Windguru is good.

Yilan is good overall because it faces the Pacific ocean and it has breaks for all kind of wind / swell direction. It is rarely flat over there. The surf spot in waiao is called double lion. Waiao does have a good break but you need to be good because there's some rocks. It's also the name of the train station.

[FulongSurfer]

Baishawan needs a good typhoon swell.
https://swelleye.com/en/ is the website you need for breaks in Taiwan. There's also webcams. MSW is very inaccurate for nearly all the breaks in Taiwan. Windguru is good.

Thanks for the tip. Swelleye's live surf camera is great, though they only have it for 4 spots. Wushi is totally nuts with 150+ surfers during the weekend. Even on Fri & Mon morning, there were easily 40-50 people. I wonder if it's the students on summer vacation.

If you're still living in Taiwan, there is supposed to be a typhoon swell on the east coast from this Tuesday.

[FulongSurfer]

Last week I was finally able to ride the wave left and right instead of going straight towards the beach. Damn excited about this

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rpnod0wensyde ... p.mp4?dl=0
I would love to get your feedback on this latest video.

While my previous nose dive problem isn't completely eliminated, percentage-wise it went down. I now have an idea why it was/is happening. I used to start paddling very early and lose position with the wave and before even I popup, the wave would break and lift up the tail.

[steveylang]

Congrats! A couple of quick things come to mind-

Judging your timing and position when paddling into a wave will improve with simply more experience. It looks like you are looking back as you start paddling to keep an eye on the wave, that's very good. But in the last couple of paddles you start to look forward, which means losing sight of the wave at the most important moment. Instead you should look down the line in the direction that you're actually going to surf, which will help you not only with timing but setting a good line across the wave face. As you do that you will be able to get longer/better/faster rides before the wave closes out on you.

The other thing I would try to do is bend your knees more, that helps with stability and turning. You're doing fine now, but I think this is a good habit to start as you gradually advance your surfing:
https://boostyoursurf.com/blog/2017/05/ ... n-surfing/