Surfing Waves

Hi Surfer dudes and dudettes,

Pop up question, hope you can help.

I've been a committed land popper upper and feel its helped massively. Sometimes I work on arching my back, sometimes it's keeping my hands on or very low to the ground for balance. Been doing probably 10-15 a day now for a while.

The question I have is which foot should land first, I think it should be back foot? I have tried to search but there isn't a definitive front/back first rule that I've seen. Secondly I'd like to add that when popping up my back foot is never immediately flat. It's always poised for movement/balance. Is that how it should be?

Cheers.

Dan.

Your feet should be landing almost simultaneously. I know that I used to land with my back foot first and kind of pivot around it (without putting any weight on it), but these days, my feet hit the board together although the back foot is possibly a split second before the front foot. Having your back foot on the board will stall it if there's any weight on it, so no weight goes through your feet until both feet are in position.

Once popping up is a completely natural thing, I don't think it's an issue. You do want to have your weight on your front foot driving the board down the face though, so whichever foot lands first, your weight should be on the front foot first.

Cool. I think it may just seem like my front foot is landing first as I instantly put my weight onto it.

What are your thoughts on the non flat back foot? Seconds after "landing" I seem to weight my front foot and securely plant my rear foot.

This all sound ok.

I just went out for a surf thinking about which foot hit the board first... and kept fluffing the take-off
Moral of that story - don't think too hard about it

How your back foot lands (or at least how it ends up almost immediately after) depends on the wave - if you're falling down a steep face, it'll probably be flat; if you're going backhand it will be on one side; if you're going forehand, it'll be more on the ball of the foot.

At least that's what I think is going on - I refuse to think about it too hard otherwise it'll stop happening!

Great feedback. Just want to be sure before I get into training what could of been a bad habit.

Case closed. Thanks dude.

Danny '85,
I'll share a funny thing about myself. When surf is small and weak, I automatically pop up as a goofey foot. When the surf is medium or bigger, I automatically pop up as a regularly footed surfer.
bill

That is weird...