Surfing Waves

This video was shot a few months ago. It was on a sunny small day (1-2 feet) where I paddled around for 2 hours without catching any "real" one. So the time when I paddled for this one I really felt the tail was lifted up and the whole board was pushed forward. I guesses I finally catch one and then I pop up and ready for the ride. Unfortunately when I was up I felt the board was sort of stuck in the middle part of the part and i had this feeling being lifted up in the air. I lost the balance immediately. It is a funny experience when you stand up and you think the wave is really big because what you see is the wave height plus your toe-to-eye height. Anyway I did not really rode much.

So was it a green unbroken wave and did I catch it? What could have been done to have a better ride? I know the wave closed 2 seconds I was up. But surely there is something to improve right? Might I could paddle for to go a bit further of the wave or maybe I should lean to railside to move a bit sideways?

What do you think? Does that look like you were surfing?

That isn't much of a wave....but it is good enough to practice pop ups to turning down the line.

frostless wrote:
So was it a green unbroken wave and did I catch it? What could have been done to have a better ride? I know the wave closed 2 seconds I was up. But surely there is something to improve right? Might I could paddle for to go a bit further of the wave or maybe I should lean to railside to move a bit sideways?

-Yes it was a green wave and you caught it.
-You could have not fallen off
-Yes there is something to improve

To be honest that wave was an instant closeout so there's not much you could do. Maybe catch it earlier, a few pumps down the line and a lip manouever.

So, as a learning exercise, what do you think you did wrong? You got to your feet but then...

You pushing up, wave is swelling up


Arms still slightly bent, the Left starts to break


The whole Left breaks. Now your arms are straight


You push off the deck. Head over feet. Right starts to break.

You're riding the foam ball. You're not riding the wave, you're still on top of it ( like Fred Flintstone surfing ). Wave broke under your board.


Left rail of the board bites, you falling back. Your Front foot comes off the deck.


Your Head gets way past behind your Butt. The Nose off the board pearls.


Now your back foot comes off the board.


Left side fully dumps. Right side still a bit open on the shoulder.


Left fully closed out and beginning to close over to the Right.

"Did I catch this wave ?" - No, because you were on top of the wave. It broke under you.
Your feet "touched" the board, but you never "landed". You basically were falling back right from the start.
"Was it green unbroken wave ? - It dumped in 1 second. It's a beach break dumper. Where's the green open area that last for awhile ?
"Improvement" - Find a "real" wave to learn on. Don't be in a rush to stand up.
"Sunny small 1-2 feet" - That was knee high wave. 1/2 a foot, NOT 1-2 feet.
"Might I could paddle for to go a bit further of the wave" - ???? you mean paddle longer before you popped up ? Doesn't matter since it's a beach break dumper.
"maybe I should lean to railside to move a bit sideways?" - Well, yeah, going to the side that wasn't breaking as fast would be the better choice. But it broke in less than 2 seconds. NO ONE could make that section, not even Kelly on that tiny gutless ripple. Not even a bodyboarder laying down could get a ride. The wave popped up, broke, and ended.

My advice - Don't stand up. Catch the wave and ride it on your belly to get the feel of the wave. If you can't ride the wave for awhile on your belly, than it's not really stand up-able.

Looks like you popped up with your feet too close together. When your feet are 5 inches apart after popping up, you'll go down unless you can adjust quickly. Your body weight needs to be distributed across the board. If it's all centered on one spot it's too unstable. If it's distributed too far apart, you'll be stuck in a poo stance.

waikikikichan wrote:Don't stand up. Catch the wave and ride it on your belly to get the feel of the wave.

This is great advice! Riding whitewater is FUN and will keep you stoked to learn new skills. After you are comfortable riding straight in, practice trimming and carving on your belly.

Riding Whitewater Waves


Trimming and Carving

If you are having fun does it matter? I think you need to work on your stance (along with everything else). You need to develop a stance that is stable which will help to keep you on the board when getting bopped around by whitewater.

BoMan wrote:

waikikikichan wrote:Don't stand up. Catch the wave and ride it on your belly to get the feel of the wave.

This is great advice! Riding whitewater is FUN and will keep you stoked to learn new skills. After you are comfortable riding straight in, practice trimming and carving on your belly.

Riding Whitewater Waves

Trimming and Carving

That's what I did the last time I surfed... carving on my belly on my longboard. That surf simply vid is quite helpful.

Question - Are you sure you're a Goofy footer ?

Big H wrote:What do you think? Does that look like you were surfing?

That isn't much of a wave....but it is good enough to practice pop ups to turning down the line.

HAHA I know. I just saw on youtube some long boarders ripping and the waves were not much bigger that mine. So I thought the wave was not that small.

waikikikichan wrote:Question - Are you sure you're a Goofy footer ?

that's a good question.
when people push me behind I tend to step up my left foot first but I feel comfortable with my goofy stance on surfboard or skateboard (just cruising around no tricks.)

If I tried regular stance would it be difference?

Your narrow stance, the way your brought back your front foot, how your Right arm came up to counter balance ( not your Left arm ) and how you fell seems to indicate you might be a Regular footer ...... or Uncoordinated ( bad ) ...... or ambidextrous footed ( great ! ).

I can switch foot easily when I practice popup on land but on a surfboard or skateboard it's impossible to ride regular as I'm a goofy footer. Some people ride a skateboard one way and a surfboard the other way however. Try and see what works.

I'm quite amazed at all the detailed analysis waikikikichan can provide from a mere 2 second clip

saltydog wrote:I'm quite amazed at all the detailed analysis waikikikichan can provide from a mere 2 second clip

For the sake of time, I cut down the amount of frame grabs. I had twice as much to comment on. There's so much micro movements people don't notice that can affect how you perform. Just like golfer's swing video analysis, it can really help to film your surfing.