Surfing Waves

I feel the main reason I'm not improving is because my bottom turn is crap. I don't feel the power and speed coming out of it like the pros do, and I was wondering on how to improve at this maneuver which sets up for any trick. I just drop it, lean all my weight on my inside rail and carry that force to the lip? I'm imagining it in my head atm, so hopefully at my next session, I'll improve.

I might have the same problem, something strange for me.. my backside bottom turns are insanely better (which isnt saying much) compared to my frontside. i guess when i can see the face of the wave then i dont lean as much. Also, im not srue whats wrong with me or you, but it just might be the waves, on bigger waves my board in general seem much more responsive.
here is my backside.. on windblown messy stuff... not hte best ive done. but the only picture i have

perhpas i can still push more into my bottom turns too. haha im looking for some clarification as well.

Equipment maybe? Try smaller fins or a different template, what kind of fins do you have right now and on what size board?

I run proteks i think the average size 4.75 . cant exactly remember the height. My board is a very old Ian Wright Spyder... 5'11'' in the low 18' for width.. which has a huge soft spot on top.. haha thas why oldgrom made me a board.
Sorry beachbum.. didnt mean to hijack your thread but perhaps we can both get some advice

You have to change your bottom turn to suit the wave each time. You have to figue out after seeing the wave, what you want your bottom turn to achieve.
I mean if its big and there is a big section of whitewater ahead then it obvious you need a big drawn out arc bottom turn.
If the wave is peeling off ahead fast and its walling up but you're in danger of not making it to the shoulder then you don't need to bottom turn hardly at all, you need to angle the take off then just aim for the shoulder pumping to gain as much speed as possible.
But if its small and you want to hit the lip quite close to your take off point, then you need to do a sharp arc bottom turn which takes you out into the flats far enough to alow you to hit the lip more square on to be able to really lean into it to throw some spray. You just have to make sure the speed is still there when you hit the lip by not going too far out into the flats.
You can't do a great bottom turn on a crappy little wave however good you are though. It has to suit the conditions.

Great Advice^^

There is a lot of finesse to surfing, every go out is a learning experience.

As to fins: honestly it's not the cure all for all your needs, but I went through a buying phase where I bought and sold almost every FCS template, though they have come out with new ones I want to try.

As to your pro-tecks, let me explain the glassflex a little then get back to them. Glass flex is the most popular matterial for two reasons: 1) it's their cheapest matterial and 2) it flexes, the tips actually bend slightly, which makes for more forgiving on turns, not as sharp, the board less squirley for begginers and feels smoother on turns. The protecks you have at 4.75" are big, the M5 medium template is about 4.5", that with the even more flimsy fin surface you WILL loose turning speed. Borrow a friend's fins on your board to try it, you might be suprised.

Lastly, my original post about the fins is this: many are still surfing the old G5 templates, the original FCS fins. The matterial is denser and heavier, the fin is thicker and less foiled, so it really slows the board down, you'd be suprised what a new set of fins will do for your surfing.

Ive found a pretty helpful article over at transworld surf talking about bottom turns,

http://surf.transworld.net/2005/4/27/ho ... gudauskas/

anotehr good little vidoe on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfxVAZGq ... PL&index=6

My bottom turns suffered as a result of poor weight distribution, I would always put too much on the tail and kill any speed I had. In fact I would stand too upright as soon as I started to drop, which meant I was in a terrible body position to turn.

Keep low, and use your shoulders to point into your turn. This is why the backside bottom turn is 'easier', you have to turn your body more to see the lip which puts the weight through your feet in the right place. Front side, try and turn your shoulders to point to where you dropped in rather than at the shoulder.

Keep some weight forwards and drive off the rounder part of the rail. If you give it too much tail, you'll stall and lose momentum.