Surfing Waves

Hi there,

I’m finally getting round to asking the questions I had for you all, meant to ask a couple of days ago when I signed up then work and tiredness got in the way (how dare they!).

For anyone that may not have seen my little introduction I’m new to this site, I’ve been surfing a little while but do not live by the sea and don't get to surf all that often. Generally my surfing time is reserved for any weekends I can get away and holidays (Yeh, sorry I’m one of them!).

Because of this progress can be a little slow, though that does not bother me too much as I just enjoy getting out there, any progress is a bonus. As I am sure is the case with most people in my situation my main issues (I think) come down to surfing fitness (I’m a little lazy but my general fitness is not too bad, but when it comes to surfing I know nothing compares or helps quite like getting out there and paddling about).

Anyway, enough of my waffle, I do actually have a question to ask (or more I wanted to get people’s opinions on the situation). I have found that quite often when I pop up I land a bit too far forward on my board which is making that first turn a bit of a challenge and meaning I’m spending too much time shuffling about to get my foot back over the fins.

The board I’m currently riding is 6'6" x 22" x 2 7/8" (it’s a Fourth Chilli Bean) and if it helps I’m 5’6 and weigh about 8St.12lb (about 114lb/52Kg).

In general my pop up feels OK, it’s reasonably quick and I don’t generally have any issues like landing with my feet side by side or having to get to my knee first (occasionally happens but again that is mostly when I get really tired). Possibly I need to widen my stance a bit and bend my knees more but other than that I think it’s OK (I surf alone most the time so I can only really judge my pop up on the end result… if water has not shot up my nose and I’m not rolling about under the wave then I class it as a success!).

It did take me a little time to get used to popping up on a shorter board and having my feet hanging off the back a bit but I don’t really think about that anymore (I started surfing on a 7ft6 minimal, which I do still have, and despite it being a pop out I will keep as it’s great for messing about with on really small days but I don't want to go back to it too often as I feel more confident and like I've progressed more on the Chilli Bean). Not sure if it is worth mentioning that I do suffer with Tendonitis in my right shoulder, but that’s a problem I’ve had for a long time (before I moved to a shorter board) so I have my doubts that this would have any effect on where I end up on the board. I could be wrong though.

I’ve had a search through this site and it looks like this is not an unusual problem so I have found some great tips that I think may help, like making sure my hands are on the board by my ribs (I do try to make sure this is the case but I will make a mental note to really check I’m getting that right). But I was wondering if it would maybe be worth me popping a tail pad on my board to just help me identify if my back foot is in the correct place?

I know this is not what they are intended for and I’m not thinking of doing this for any cosmetic reasons (it would take more than a tail pad on my board to make me look anywhere near cool) which is why I was after some opinions as to whether it is likely to make any difference. I don’t want to waste 20-30 quid on something that is going to have no real benefit (especially when that money could go to some really good use in the pub).

Sorry if I have gone on a bit (I hadn't meant to make this so long!) and hopefully I have put this in the right place, I look forward to your thoughts.

Cheers everyone.

Many people certainly use a traction pad to get proper foot positioning, as well as for the other benefits (eg ability to put more pressure on the tail/fins, duckdiving etc), so I think a pad might be quite useful for you. At worst it means you can pop up and then shove your rear foot to the right spot without even looking. If it doesnt work then you can remove it (tedious but doable).

Of course, this is a work around solution to your issue. I'm not really sure how to pop up further backwards; I know that when I go from my 9ft board to my 'shortboard' (7ft4) in the same session, I do tend to pop up a bit far the first few times, but then it gets sorted. Maybe you have to think about pushing your board slightly forward during the pop up?

Some shortboarder posters I'm sure will come along soon and help out a bit more.

Well the shorter the board is the father back you want to be and the wider your stance so you have the ability to did your weight forward by leaning into it. As far as your hands placement I usually try to take off with my hands at my hips unless it's super late and I have to push the board down the face a little more in order to drop in before it closes out. The shorter the board the father back you want to push off!

dtc wrote: Some shortboarder posters I'm sure will come along soon and help out a bit more.

Ta-da!

I find that my back foot is often a bit further forward than I'd like if I haven't surfed in a while, and I know what I do wrong until I'm back in the rhythm so maybe you have the same problem...

As you catch a wave and pop up, you need to shunt the board forward slightly down the face of the wave - if you're hands are down by your waist and you're catching the wave at the right moment, this happens naturally.
But if you're going for it a bit late with a whitewater push or if you haven't 100% caught the wave, the board won't drop down the face and you'll end up with the board where your hands were (rather than with the board slightly in front of that).

So as well as going for the wave a little earlier, and really committing, practise giving the board a shunt forward just at the moment you pop up. It works so effectively that the first time you try, the chances are you'll miss the back of the board!

Oh, and yes, get a tailpad.

You don't have a stomp pad on your board? That's it! Get a stomp pad, your muscle memory will get used to the tail in no time.

Also, 6'6 is big for your size, so once you get better and buy a smaller one the problem will self correct

Cheers for all the advice guys... now I just need to get to the beach to put this lot into practice, I'd best warn the boss he could be getting some holiday requests through!

DBBB - I think you are pretty much right with everything you've said there, thinking about it I probably do need to get into waves earlier and really commit. And I'll give it a go shunting the board forward too... It'll make a change to fall off the back instead of the front! ha

IB_Surfer - Nope, no tail pad on it yet, didn't really think much about having one until I really started noticing that I was a bit far forward when popping up. Going by what you've all said though it does sound like it would aid me with foot placement. I think I have a way to go yet before I drop down in size, this board does feel big sometimes and getting out back can be a challenge but I do feel like, for the time being at least, it's working for me. It seems so much of surfing is down to muscle memory so it's encouraging to know that this is not too major (or unusual) an issue I'm having.

(Now where's my purse, time to do a bit of shopping!

I have the same problem if I havnt surfed for a while and put it down to both my hands being too far forward and placing them on the rail, old habits die hard. As you have already identified, hands flat on the board down by the rib cage stops you bringing your body weight too far forward and then catching the rail when you first bottom turn. As soon as I make a conscious effort the problem dissapears and doesnt return until my next break from the water

I'd definitely try the tailpad for £30, I wouldnt be without one, plus my boards would be in a mess in no time from duck diving without one.

Thanks for the advice Notty.

I've got the tail pad, popping it on my board this weekend then heading down to Devon later next week to put all this advise into practice... Cannot wait to get in the sea again!

and?

And…. It worked

The lack of surf didn’t make for very good conditions to give it a really good try out and I think it was pure stubbornness on my part that I even took this board out on the couple of occasions I used it, I probably should really have been using my bigger board the whole time but it would have been silly to be by the sea and not be putting everything I’d learnt from here into practice.

Anyway even on tiny, weak and somewhat messy waves I noticed an almost immediate difference from being able to tell when my foot was in the right place, which in turn meant that I was popping straight up into the correct position much more consistently, and on the odd occasion when I was too far forward I was able to correct myself much quicker. This I think was also helped by concentrating more on where I was placing my hands and trying the little shunt trick that DBBB mentioned (and yes I did send the board flying forward and me flying back a few times – which I think was probably quite amusing for anyone around me!).

I was actually surprised by how much difference all these little adjustments made in my being able to turn the board in either direction. Obviously I knew it would make a difference but didn’t realise just how much that difference would be and how much quicker the board would respond when my foot was properly over the fins. Being able to actually manoeuvre the board more made surfing those small mushy waves that bit more fun.

So thanks again everyone for all the advice you’ve given, it was a massive help. Now I can move on and concentrate on improving/correcting the many other areas I’m not quite getting right haha.

Surfing is a step by step evolution in skills! Well done MrsH Doesn't if feel great when a step makes something gel and become part of your skills

It does indeed, works wonders on the confidence too.