How to ride along the face of big waves!! Help Please!
Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:42 pmI'm wondering how to get the knack of popping up on big waves and riding along the face of them, especially when the wind is on-shore. Please help!!
I started surfing at the end of April and have been out a few times most weeks (would be out lots more if there was more surf!). I have a 7'6 Minimal, am 5ft 7" and weigh 65kg. Three weeks ago something finally clicked and I was no longer riding in to the beach. Yeh!
And for the week that followed I was flying it, riding backhand and forehand on small and medium to biggish waves. The conditions were perfect, clean and glassy with an off-shore wind.
Last week though the wind was on-shore, and the waves were messy and lumpy and really big. I'm really good at catching waves (very athletic, strong swimmer) and so I was catching all these big waves only to fall off time and time again when I tried to pop-up : I think it is probably because they were so steep and I was heading straight down the wave for the flats, and the lip of the wave or something was just throwing me over-the-falls?? Maybe on the smaller days I could get away with this, turning after popping up, but not when the waves are bigger?? I'm guessing here..
Anyway, I would be really grateful for any tips, like how to turn quickly when popping up (I was angling my board for 1 o'clock when catching the waves, but to no avail!) Or just generally, how to avoid the washing machine!!
Cheers
I started surfing at the end of April and have been out a few times most weeks (would be out lots more if there was more surf!). I have a 7'6 Minimal, am 5ft 7" and weigh 65kg. Three weeks ago something finally clicked and I was no longer riding in to the beach. Yeh!
And for the week that followed I was flying it, riding backhand and forehand on small and medium to biggish waves. The conditions were perfect, clean and glassy with an off-shore wind. Last week though the wind was on-shore, and the waves were messy and lumpy and really big. I'm really good at catching waves (very athletic, strong swimmer) and so I was catching all these big waves only to fall off time and time again when I tried to pop-up : I think it is probably because they were so steep and I was heading straight down the wave for the flats, and the lip of the wave or something was just throwing me over-the-falls?? Maybe on the smaller days I could get away with this, turning after popping up, but not when the waves are bigger?? I'm guessing here..
Anyway, I would be really grateful for any tips, like how to turn quickly when popping up (I was angling my board for 1 o'clock when catching the waves, but to no avail!) Or just generally, how to avoid the washing machine!!
Cheers