Surfing Waves

Hi Everyone!

I've been surfing now for 6 years, started when i was 24. Pretty happy with the level i'm at but always trying to get better!
Looking for some advice and tips from more advanced guys on how to improve.
Just made a video:


Thanks

Apart from freezing your bits off , you are making a reasonable go of it.
Some review of your rail pressures, when you come off the top, you are weighting the outside rail and wiping out.
You need to come off that rail and set the board for coming over the bottom again.
See too whether a little more back foot pressure a little further back for the turns allows you to make them more acutely and have more power in them. But look like there is quite a bit to be happy about and build on!

When I look at those waves you are riding it seems like for the most of it you are doing fine but when there is a nice long wall you seem to be going for the tube ride. If I were surfing those waves I would be wanting to hit the lip making top and bottom turns then when I get to the flatter portion of the wave do a cutback while I still have some speed from the steep section. But I can understand wanting to get tubed so then what you need to do is learn to slow down a bit and let the wave cover you. There are many methods of doing this the simplest is to hold your bottom turn to take the speed out of it or make a small jumping turn that goes sideways without generating speed and puts you under the lip. Then there is a tail stall where you push down on the tail bringing the front half of the board out of the water something like a kick out but not turning. Then you can drag an arm or two in the water. I find this difficult to do effectively for very long. I hear the pros do a two arm drag, haven't tried that myself. Or as Jaffa says you could turn more acutely putting more pressure and leaning more as you turn. If you are trying any of this and it isn't working then some footage of those problems would be instructive to us.

What are the dimensions of the board you are riding? What kind of board is it?

One of the things I do to learn something new surfing is to watch someone else do it and then try to visualize myself doing that same maneuver. To make a better turn off the top you need to keep your center of gravity below the top of the wave so you want to crouch into the turn and stay crouched till you get moving back down the wave. There are so many youtube videos out there I am sure you can find one of someone turning the way you want to be on similar waves. Or if one of the locals is doing it then spend time watching them. Look at when and were they turn, are they standing? crouched? where on the wave are they doing these maneuvers? Then try to imagine yourself doing these while on dry land moving your body crouching and extending as the better surfer is doing. It just takes time in the ocean to learn stuff but having in mind already what you want to be doing helps.

Great surfing. Nice positioning on the wave and board. I like your speed control in the pocket. Kinda got that Rob Machado front hand vibe.
1) Notice you're not making some front side re-entries. I think your eyes are focused Too Much down the line ( which is rare ). You need to look back thru the turn sometimes.
2) Dead Hand front hand on your backside. Notice your front hand and elbow hardly every come up past your shoulder ? To get the nose going up, you body need to "show" up. Try get in your backside stance and twist your torso counter-clockwise to open your chest to the face , but with your hand down like normal. Reset and Now do the same thing but time point with left finger up to the roof/sky. Feel your left ribs stretch ? That's going to pull the board up.
At 3:51 you could have done a big(ger) climb but your arm stayed down
At 4:57 and 5:15 is the only time your hand came up to shoulder level. It needs to get even higher.

I would also suggest you learn foam climbs and floaters because it looks like you have skills and they are fun and might help to make some sections. You can practice these at the end of the rides as a last gasp maneuver

Nice surfing. You should fire your music producer though. I feel like I'm watching a video of bagsnotdoingit's final waves before the tsunami arrived.

RinkyDink wrote:Nice surfing. You should fire your music producer though. I feel like I'm watching a video of bagsnotdoingit's final waves before the tsunami arrived.

I know! I'm using free software and tried to pick the least offensive piece of music!!

oldmansurfer wrote:When I look at those waves you are riding it seems like for the most of it you are doing fine but when there is a nice long wall you seem to be going for the tube ride. If I were surfing those waves I would be wanting to hit the lip making top and bottom turns then when I get to the flatter portion of the wave do a cutback while I still have some speed from the steep section. But I can understand wanting to get tubed so then what you need to do is learn to slow down a bit and let the wave cover you. There are many methods of doing this the simplest is to hold your bottom turn to take the speed out of it or make a small jumping turn that goes sideways without generating speed and puts you under the lip. Then there is a tail stall where you push down on the tail bringing the front half of the board out of the water something like a kick out but not turning. Then you can drag an arm or two in the water. I find this difficult to do effectively for very long. I hear the pros do a two arm drag, haven't tried that myself. Or as Jaffa says you could turn more acutely putting more pressure and leaning more as you turn. If you are trying any of this and it isn't working then some footage of those problems would be instructive to us.

What are the dimensions of the board you are riding? What kind of board is it?

Thanks for the advice! One of the biggest problems I have is misreading a wave when looking for the barrel. I then lose momemtum for the next turn as you can see from the video!
First is a 6.2 x 20 ¼ x 2 7/16 Burton Silver Bullet, second is a D'arcy 6.2 x 20 ¼ x 2 1/2 fish shaped board with a nice bit of volume. The second is a wave catching machine but a but stiff to turn.

waikikikichan wrote:Great surfing. Nice positioning on the wave and board. I like your speed control in the pocket. Kinda got that Rob Machado front hand vibe.
1) Notice you're not making some front side re-entries. I think your eyes are focused Too Much down the line ( which is rare ). You need to look back thru the turn sometimes.
2) Dead Hand front hand on your backside. Notice your front hand and elbow hardly every come up past your shoulder ? To get the nose going up, you body need to "show" up. Try get in your backside stance and twist your torso counter-clockwise to open your chest to the face , but with your hand down like normal. Reset and Now do the same thing but time point with left finger up to the roof/sky. Feel your left ribs stretch ? That's going to pull the board up.
At 3:51 you could have done a big(ger) climb but your arm stayed down
At 4:57 and 5:15 is the only time your hand came up to shoulder level. It needs to get even higher.

Thanks alot... they are great tips! Will try put that into practice next time!
Trying to remember to look back into the turn is hard cause I feel like the wave will run off when im not looking!