Surfing Waves

Hey guys

I am an intermediate surfer self taught usually surfing waist high to overhead waves. I ride an aloha magic mushroom 6'0 as a thruster. The main breaks around where I live a right handed (my natural side) but recently have found a good lefty at my doorstep.

Anyway my question is...are there any tips you could give to me to help master my bottom turn on my back hand, I can't seem to get any power on it and loose a lot of speed for my next manoeuvre.

Get low, grab rail as you're coming off the peak for stability.

When you get halfway down the face squat down and get ready to boost off your back foot, projecting yourself towards the wall.

Backhand I always take an all or nothing attitude. Either I am going to jam the turn and hit the lip or get in the tube or I will fail. No hesitation, put it all on the line, completely jam the turn regardless. This is probably why I seem to get my backhand bottom turns down before my forehand turns. On small waves the risk is minimal so you have nothing to lose. On bigger waves you need to get going to stay safe. Concentration and focus are important. Compounding uncertain skills you may hedge on picking where to take off and this will make it more difficult to get going. You need to find the sweet spot that lets you onto the waves with enough speed from the drop to make it. Bigger waves help as do steeper sections. It's all a learning process. Just keep at it and don't get discouraged but try to take off deeper and turn from the top.

I find that for backhand I have two problems:

1. leaning on the rails too hard - I think because you are naturally leaning into the wave anyway but you can't see it as well, so you lean a bit more to turn and its harder to gauge how much pressure you are putting on your heels, whereas you have more control with your toes.

2. sometimes too much weight on the back foot. For some reason it can be harder to 'power down' the face of the wave when backhand, you do the thing of leaning backwards to keep your balance (fighting the wave) and bogging the tail.

If you can, try and change your back foot position so its pointing more towards the nose of the board rather than across the board. This opens up your whole body and you can see the wave better plus (for me anyway) it means I go back to weighting the tail properly.

For me, it's all in the shoulders. The backhand bottom turn is all about a big twist of the shoulders, putting weight on the back foot, but driving forward with your leading arm.

Awesome thanks for the info team

I can't find the source, but I read a tip somewhere about trying to sit back in a chair with your bum. This really helped me shift my weight correctly. And of course, don't forget to lead with your leading shoulder and to get really low. Cheers!

SurferSam wrote:Awesome thanks for the info team

ha, you had about 10 different suggestions based on our personal quirks and faults...that said, i have read several coaching books/articles and they all say open up your stance by shifting the rear foot, so that should be one to try. Otherwise take your pick!