Surfing Waves

Hi, I'm a girl (so not super strong in the upper body as yet) and I've been surfing for a couple of months. Stepping up works very well for me and I make it to my feet 90% of the time quite confidently. I'm trying to move towards popping up now.

I'm practising pop-ups in the comfort and privacy of my living room to spare my blushes doing it publicly on the beach. I can jump up and land my front foot firmly and squarely between my hands; easy. Problem is, I seem to be pushing off the floor with my toes and yet when I'm on my board (8ft) my feet dangle off the back so I won't be able to use my toes when I'm in the water. So what am I supposed to do with my feet? Should I be popping up without using my feet? I'm pretty sure I'll be flopping around on the floor like a fish out of water, but it seems like the only option? I'm going down to a 7'4" soon so my feet are only going to get further off the back of my board!

All advice gratefully accepted! Btw, I love this website. Thank you so much; reading about rips and break zones on here actually saved me from a very unpleasant fate a few weeks ago!!

First off how tall are you?? unless your 8ft is a narrow gun or you are 6'5 or taller you are too far back on your board. As for the popping up on a shorter board whilst most people say shortboard pop-ups should be arms only in reality that is impossible ( try and do a press up with no point of your body other than your hands touching the ground.)and if you watch videos of people doing it you'll understand it better. While they don't use their feet and the thrust is provided by the arms, they actually spring off their knees. You don't use your knees to push but they provide the essential resistance.

Check out the ollypop videos on youtube

Thanks for the info. I'm 5'7" and I don't feel like I'm too far back (not on a gun; just a foamy, but moving to a 7'4" fibo in a few weeks) - the nose isn't sticking out of the water (unless I'm paddling when I move a bit further back to lift the nose a little). Only my ankles are off the end, but just far enough that I can't use my toes to push-up. I figured it's going to get even more pronounced on a 7'4". I've watched quite a few videos, but in my experience they're often demonstrating on a longboard where their feet are actually on the board, or of course they're on dry land where their toes are in contact with the floor!

I will try to use my knees to to 'pivot' and see how I go

Thanks again x

This one is the best on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibI53NjCyBo

Thank surfnoob - that is exactly what I needed to see. I think I'll definitely be practicing it in the living room for a while though!

surfnoob wrote:This one is the best on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibI53NjCyBo

Man, i'v having the exact same problem as the OP, every time i try this my feet just end up where my knees were. I'm a six foot 105kg guy so while i'm heavy my upper body strength is pretty good. None of these vids make sense to me. This is what the OP meant by using your feet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwLfd_fwGfY&NR=1&feature=fvwp

I'm kind of going to one knee at the moment just for a split second (sometimes it feels like my knee doesnt even touch the board), so should i try to evolve this into a pop up or really try to nail something new?

Hey Blizzard - I didn't think I'd manage it in a million years after I watched that clip surfnoob posted, but I tried it last night and although the first couple of attempts were disasterous (both feet landing where my back foot should be) I did manage it a couple of times eventually. I found that keeping my head up and looking forwards (rather than looking down to check where my feet were landing) helped me to swing my front foot further forwards into the right position. I have yet to try it in the water but I'm hopeful it'll work!

When i started i found the pop up much harder on land. In reailty, when popping up the board is pointing down the wave so gravity is a little on your side. If you can kind of get there on land it will be a breeze out back.

do try to practise it on land though because on a bigger board you can get away with standing up anyway really but a shorter board you must try to plant your feet at relatively the same time or even front foot first because otherwise you will stall the board out of waves. I find this the most difficult thing to sort out when transfering from my 8'6 to my 7'2

Try to start doing pressups when you can, same muscles.

To pop-up you need to spring off your knees. I used to use my feet and had a horrible time switching to using my knees, but now that I do it is easier, so much that I have more trouble popping off my feet.

You say you step-up? Do you mean where you bring your back foot forward first to push off? That is what I currently use, and if you are careful not to lean back as you push up then you shouldn't have a problem with stalling.

I have never heard it said, and have never seen it in any how-to internet videos, but watching surf videos I have noticed pros going popping-up with the hand that corresponds to their back foot (right hand for regular foot, left for goofy) sightly farther back on the board than the other hand. It helps me get my front foot further forward, which I have a problem with doing when learning to not use my feet. I would like to get better and I appreciate the tips here.