Surfing Waves

Hi,
First of all, I am surfing a 6´0 shortboard.But every time i pop up i am too far forward, so my back foot is just in front of the traction pad. Because of that I can not really get more critical. The thing is, if i take my fins out and practice on land, I do a perfect pop up with the perfect feet positioning. But as soon as i get in the water the problem is there again.
Hope for your advice!

What exactly do you mean by "I can not really get more critical"?

oldmansurfer wrote:What exactly do you mean by "I can not really get more critical"?

I mean that I can not get vertical, only kind of carving turns.

There are others who perhaps can answer this better but here is my answer. Foot on the traction pad isn't necessary to make sharp turns depending on the board. However it may help you to turn to get your foot further back so 2 ways to do that. One is to step back after you popup and the other is to learn to popup further back. So in my experience when you can popup on land fine but in the water you end up more forward is because of your positioning on the board. Maybe when you paddle you are placing your hands more forward on the board to popup? What I used to do to learn a new popup position is to make a cardboard cutout of my board and practice on that so I don't damage my board practicing. Then just keep at it till it becomes automatic. Maybe just working at getting your hands further back will help?

oldmansurfer wrote:There are others who perhaps can answer this better but here is my answer. Foot on the traction pad isn't necessary to make sharp turns depending on the board. However it may help you to turn to get your foot further back so 2 ways to do that. One is to step back after you popup and the other is to learn to popup further back. So in my experience when you can popup on land fine but in the water you end up more forward is because of your positioning on the board. Maybe when you paddle you are placing your hands more forward on the board to popup? What I used to do to learn a new popup position is to make a cardboard cutout of my board and practice on that so I don't damage my board practicing. Then just keep at it till it becomes automatic. Maybe just working at getting your hands further back will help?

Thank you for your advice. I will look upon my hand positioning during take-off in my next session.

Are you taking off on a clean section or on the shoulder of the white water? If the tail is caught in the white water, the board will slow down as you pop up and not accelerate forward like on a clean face and so your foot ends up too far forward. So try to get in earlier as it tends to correct the problem.

If, however, you're popping onto a clean face on a steep drop and your foot is still missing the tail pad, then the chances are you're popping forwards rather than up.

Quick solution...
Try the chicken wing pop-up technique (google it). Kink your back leg and put your foot on the tailpad first as you pop up. Not the most elegant solution, but it does get your foot onto the tailpad straight away.

Long-term solution...
Arms further back, below your rib cage, and as you pop up, you should be shunting your board forward down the face. Stay low - don't stand up straight. Have your weight on your front foot (which takes some commitment on a real wave!), which gives you a little room for manoeuvre with your back foot.
Also, if you can go along the face (rather than down and bottom turn), you can get away with your foot being in front of the fins for the first section of the ride and then correct.

Cheating solution...
Get a shorter board!
This works. I really struggle with my back foot being far too forward on anything over about 6'4, but on a 5'10 it's no drama at all

Tudeo posted a link to this for something else, but check out her pop up - its what DBB is talking about

https://www.instagram.com/p/BDadnLHn8TL/

You can move your feet after standing up you know.....open up you legs wider when popping up or drop your back foot after standing....move your hands lower down your ribcage when getting up and you will stay further back is another thing to try........Wchan told someone not too long ago not to be a glue foot......learn to make adjustments.