Can we practice rail to rail speed in whitewater?

[waikikikichan]

According to you, rail to rail, like skating, it's impossible. OK. Fine.

My apologies. I guess we should all think that nothing is impossible.

"Don't ever let somebody tell you ...... you can't do something." ( not even me, or anyone else on this forum )
"You got a dream? You gotta protect it."
"People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it."
"You want something? Go get it. PERIOD."

If you want to do rail to rail and generate speed in the whitewater, then go for it. Don't let anyone stop you from attaining your dreams.
You got this.

[oldmansurfer]

If the whitewater is reforming so there is a wall below the whitewater then you can perhaps do lots of things however to be in position to surf reforming breaks may be a challenge. When waves break way outside and the whitewater continues in toward the shore, the wave will often reform into a rideable wave. This depends on the size of the swell and the bottom contour. Were I surf sometimes the reforms are better than the original wave. You need to be able to navigate your board to the right spot to take advantage of that. It's often very difficult to position to take off on a reform without riding the wave to that spot because the reform is inside of the main break and staying there requires being able to deal with multiple whitewater waves on the head while you wait for the right wave. So the usual way is to ride the wave and then ride the whitewater to the spot where it is reforming and continue on the reformed wave. The way to know this is perhaps an option is to spend some time looking at the break before you surf and look for this situation. The try to figure out where you need to takeoff to get to the reform and set yourself a tentative landmark for the takeoff point. If no one else is surfing there it might be because of a reason such as a shallow reef or a strong current or you might just luck out and find the better waves when others are riding slopy junk. Try to look for hazards before trying to surf in places where no other surfers are (or even where other surfers are)

[Geezer]

I went to the beach in the afternoon yesterday. I keep a board in the car and will pop out for a quick surf while running errands if I can squeeze it in. Anyway, where I was had soft, small, crumbly onshire conditions that were closing out quickly. I did some stretches, paddled out back then paddled down the beach about 20 min then back to my starting point, got out, some more stretching then went back to the errands. Got my paddle in for the day, felt physically good, got my time in the water and sun that is a daily re charge, keep things toned up for a day with better waves.

Sometimes its all you can do.

[LillyBee]

Was looking for this clip for another thread. Clear illustration of the futility of side to side wiggles vs correct pumping up & down the wave.


Note the bottom turn, the first pump. Without that he’s jist wiggling. The horizontal speed you can clearly see is just a series of bottom turns linked together; he pushes off the turn then extens to the top of the wave to get a downhill run at the next bottom turn. It won’t work without a waveface you can surf top to bottom….. thats where speed comes from.



https://www.instagram.com/p/CKh69uZnyxl ... VlOGU2MWU=

Thank you. Although off topic, I think no one in their right mind will do that wiggling, let alone in the direction of the beach, to get speed.
I think he's using the wiggling to push himself down on the flat wave, or to stall and keep talking to his friend (?). It's a very short, out of context, filmed behind and too close, video. But he's not trying to get speed and show us that wiggling doesn't do it.

Tic tac works in very small waves. It's not just twisting or carving flat side to side. It's also putting pressure on the inside and outside rails, just very short and quickly, with a very short compression/extension. It works on knee high waves or smaller and it's a micro-short-rough pumping up and down. Of course, if you have a higher wall, you'll need more compression/extension to reach the top and bottom, and tic tac will not work, but for very small waves it works.

Waves that are waist high are the ones that I struggle with. The wave isn't strong enough to push the board and isn't tall enough for a slow up and down. I think my main problem is my front foot (or the stance too narrow) because I notice that sometimes I speed more when I feel my stance wider (I haven't memorize it though) and/or the timing, I think I'm not matching the wave's speed. I'll have to see that. But most of the times, I get stalled after a couple of pumps. Some people told me that maybe I'm outrunning the wave. Maybe.
I should pump pump bottom turn, instead of pump pump pump...puuuummmmpp..puuuuuummmmmmmmppp

That's why I was thinking about practicing the movement in the whitewater (since for a few months it's all there is almost all the time), not to go up and down on a foam, but to feel where the feet should go to move the board. I think I can do that just by surfing the whitewater straight to the beach. It's like when we're exiting and we push close to the nose with our arms in a certain place to speed. I think I need to find that sweet spot with my feet.

[oldmansurfer]

Finding the sweet spot is what I do riding whitewater. Unless there is a reform then I am working to get to the reform. One of the places I surf breaks 500 yards out so coming in is often a long paddle but finding the sweet spot I can sometimes ride the wave after the whitewater has gone and it's once again an unbroken swell Sometimes even take off where it's not breaking and ride the unbroken wave to where it breaks. There are so many skills to learn but you won't replicate speed pumps in whitewater without foam climbs in my opinion. I have seen videos of people flailing their arms and wiggling the board as if they are doing a speed pump. LOL it's hilarious but it's hard for some people to tell what they are doing unless someone videos them doing it.

[Naeco78]

Thought this was kinda interesting.. Professor of Physics take on the Huntington Hop vs Tick Tack
@3:25

[LillyBee]

According to you, rail to rail, like skating, it's impossible. OK. Fine.

My apologies. I guess we should all think that nothing is impossible.

"Don't ever let somebody tell you ...... you can't do something." ( not even me, or anyone else on this forum )
"You got a dream? You gotta protect it."
"People can't do something themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it."
"You want something? Go get it. PERIOD."

If you want to do rail to rail and generate speed in the whitewater, then go for it. Don't let anyone stop you from attaining your dreams.
You got this.

I was being honest. Not stubborn.
That was a straight answer to my question.

[LillyBee]

Thought this was kinda interesting.. Professor of Physics take on the Huntington Hop vs Tick Tack
@3:25

There it is.

Aaaand...they did it on the foamy water too.

So, @waikikikichan...I guess nothing is impossible after all

And I'm an overachiever

[oldmansurfer]

Not exactly a speed turn but it is something you can do or someone can anyway. You have to crouch into the turn and extend out of the turn and if you want to keep doing it you need to get up into the foam and back down or the wave will pass you by