please critique my performance (video)

[pmcaero]

I mounted a camera on the nose of my Bic three times this summer, but every time it ended up in short rides. This is from today, maybe you can give me pointers based on this very short ride.
Thanks!

[waikikikichan]

1) you're looking behind you waaaaay too long and waaaay too much. Just glance back once. Especially if you don't have paddlers on each side of you.

2) Stop doing that 2 arm paddle. Go for a bilateral paddle. You think you got more torque with two "paddles" in the water, but it upsets the flow. Imagine putting the cranks on your bicycle facing the same way. Lot of torque on the down stroke, but too long of a recovery to the down stroke again.

3) You may be holding your breath, or the air is just held in your mouth. Breathe. Don't grind your teeth.

4) You get to your feet ....... And that's that. Not much movement from the body. Your back hard moves ever so slightly back.

[RinkyDink]

You look like you have the basics covered, but need to work on refining your skills. I'd only recommend that you start thinking about where your comfort level is in terms of wave size. If you start to see some bigger swells come through your surf spots, where are you going to surf? How should you challenge yourself and improve? Are the currents going to change? Is there a spot you can surf if the swells get too big? There's a break I've been surfing lately that runs along a cliff and I can see that if it gets big it's going to be a challenge to exit out the stairs. What should I do if my exit gets treacherous? Should I surf somewhere else? Probably. Where should I go? If I do go out at my new surf spot, should I paddle around the cliff to the beach on the other side if it gets too crazy? Will that be possible? I'm trying to get answers to these kinds of questions so I don't end up trying to figure them out in a sketchy situation in the water.

[pmcaero]

You look like you have the basics covered, but need to work on refining your skills. I'd only recommend that you start thinking about where your comfort level is in terms of wave size..

It's gonna be bigger now, winter is coming I'm pretty sure I know my comfort level, but I want to push it further, especially since I plan to use the shortboard exclusively for the next few months of better swells. Today I took the shortboard in pretty crappy waves just to get back into the saddle. My goal is to be able to maneuver on the face on the shortboard , and do cutbacks over this winter. Last winter and spring I was able to greatly improve my bottom turn and riding down the line, now I wanna put on the moves

[jaffa1949]

About the boards , forget one or the other for the time being! Why just you can get your act together without the added difficulty of adjust to a different board. Strip yourself of silly habits like two arm paddles, Learn to read the surf, your pop up works now get your feet moving and use your body to adjust what the boards does for your ride. Be prepared to change your stance vertically compress and uncompressed your through your height. Walk the torque through your body. You ride without movement being the steering of the board.

Harsh criticism I'm sorry , get someone to video you from the beach not the surf cam , nor the GoPro , the first videos shock greatly but expose us to the truth of our riding. I know mine did, the perspective of what is happening does not have the emotional content on the camera's side.

Talk about a myth buster

[waikikikichan]

My goal is to be able to maneuver on the face on the shortboard , and do cutbacks over this winter.

If you change the name CUTBACK to COMEBACK, you'll realize the problem you'll be facing. The reason you cutback/Turn is to go back to the curl/power zone of the wave. You get out to the shoulder/open face and come back. You still are NOT getting out onto the clear open face, so how are you going to cutback ? Getting on a smaller board will make it even harder. "But smaller boards are easier to maneuver" you might say, but that's IF you can create the speed and put the board in the power zone of the wave.

Work on the paddle first, then work on the bottom turn, then trimming and setting your rail. Once you find your self out on the open face consistently on your larger board, then start working your way down.

[pmcaero]

Work on the paddle first, then work on the bottom turn, then trimming and setting your rail. Once you find your self out on the open face consistently on your larger board, then start working your way down.

I wish I had video of some better rides. Summer's been pretty crappy. Also, at this point I think I should blame the board a little. I don't think it can catch waves and glide as well as a longboard, and probably still is harder to turn than a 9' log. At this point, I do truly believe it is holding me back. I messed up my funboard falling on the rocks last week, and I live in an apartment with little room to put a log, so shortboard it must be.

[jaffa1949]

I wish I had video of some better rides. Summer's been pretty crappy. Also, at this point I think I should blame the board a little. I don't think it can catch waves and glide as well as a longboard, and probably still is harder to turn than a 9' log. At this point, I do truly believe it is holding me back. I messed up my funboard falling on the rocks last week, and I live in an apartment with little room to put a log, so shortboard it must be.

The apartment excuse doesn't cut too much, fix your fun board and seriously ask yourself WHY you are trying to ride a board that doesn't aid you in any way, poor catching poor turning, no need for a log just don't ride the dog! The short rhyme is to suggest don't be perverse in try to ride something which at this stage is only hampering your progress.
You have been struggling admirably for too longer, you risk entrenching the stance and surf habits of an RC toy surfer as your muscle memory response

[dtc]

You should always buy a new surfboard if you want it; you will never know the problem is you until that new board is under your feet.

[pmcaero]

The apartment excuse doesn't cut too much, fix your fun board and seriously ask yourself WHY you are trying to ride a board that doesn't aid you in any way, poor catching poor turning, no need for a log just don't ride the dog!

The funboard is a bit too far gone for serious riding, it's an old junker, the last ding was just one of many. The shortboard though,it's not that hard to catch waves with. At 6'8" it could barely be called a shortboard, though it's fairly narrow and thin, not a groveler.
. It just feels like a natural progression at this point especially for my height and weight. Also.....I'm not getting any younger and also...who knows when in the future I will again have the option of going out whenever there are good waves? As suggested by this forum, last year I stayed with the Bic and I think I improved a lot, but my goal has always been to do more radical maneuvers on a shortboard.

[pmcaero]

You should always buy a new surfboard if you want it; you will never know the problem is you until that new board is under your feet.

heh yeah, when I bought my first shortboard, I realized it was too small. Then I bought a second shortboard and it seemed more manageable, but I was still not good enough for it. But now I think I can actually use it. Winter will tell.

[Big H]

Get out back in the bigger waves to let that 6'8" run....

[barber87]

First lets make the point that all we know of your surfing ability od this one short ride which im sure isnt your best ride.

Secondly I would highlight the double arm paddle like others have. If you have to do it make it just one or two but preferably none. I find it bounces the board up and down and loses your planing speed.

The rest is my personal opinion so take it for what it is worth. At your stage of surfing i feel that having three boards is a little unusual if not excessive. I think learning to carve on just one board is the way to go. Then you can adapt your skills to other boards when you are more skilled.

I have a gopro and appreciate that this wave was probably alot bigger than it looked. I shot ftom the nose last week in clean 3-4 foot and on the video it looks 1-2 feet! My pain piece of advice based on what helped me is this: your angled take off does put you down the line nively sometimes, however on this particular wave you needed speed to reach the open face and you should have come down to the flats a little more, compress the body and push up, round and past the white water. (Not all waves are rideable, some close out, its hard to tell from this footage how rideable it was, we would need a wider angle). I say, straighten the pop up, focus on smooth speed, dtop down the wave, THEN dig your rail in and look towards that open face and expect to get there.

Finally, I know many will disagree but the best thing i ever did to improve my surfing? Stepped down from 7'6 to 6'8. Two points to make on this; firstly i had a habit of always standing to far forward on my 7'6. Secondly i grew up skateboarding for 15 years plus (think 30 inches long!).

Mike

[pmcaero]

My pain piece of advice based on what helped me is this: your angled take off does put you down the line nively sometimes, however on this particular wave you needed speed to reach the open face and you should have come down to the flats a little more, compress the body and push up, round and past the white water

It was pretty small actually, probably not even 3ft. Also, closed out pretty quick. I think the Bic turn is much more ponderous than most boards due in part to its weight, so needs to be put on the line early. With my shortboard shaped funboard , which has (had) better performance, I was able to do what you said, but never with the Bic. One more reason to switch.

[pmcaero]

Get out back in the bigger waves to let that 6'8" run....

only 2-3ft today but the winds are good at least

[Big H]

You know what I mean...go to the break out back up the beach rather than the inside section in waist deep water; the break that you sometimes say is too hard or too much work to get out to.....thats where your next level is.

[pmcaero]

You know what I mean...go to the break out back up the beach rather than the inside section in waist deep water; the break that you sometimes say is too hard or too much work to get out to.....thats where your next level is.

yeah, no more of that kooky stuff. Unless I'm tired

[RinkyDink]

You know what I mean...go to the break out back up the beach rather than the inside section in waist deep water; the break that you sometimes say is too hard or too much work to get out to.....thats where your next level is.

yeah, no more of that kooky stuff. Unless I'm tired

Well if you're going to ride a short board, then you're going to need some size to propel you. I'm not sure you understand that. Your short board isn't really going to work that well in the weak, mushy waves you're surfing. Maybe in the winter you'll get some swells that'll work for you. Watch the Hurley Pro http://www.worldsurfleague.com/events/2 ... t-trestles and pay attention to how often the pros are limited in what they can do by the strength of the wave. Trestles is a nice wave, but it's often pretty weak. You can see that the pros frequently want to pull off a fast bottom turn and fly up the face of the wave for an air or snap-back, but a lot times they just don't have the momentum to pull those moves off. The ones who fall or get hung up in the lip are the ones who try to force a maneuver that the wave just doesn't have the power to support. If you're going to short board, remember that you will need waves with some juice and that often means you'll need steeper waves. That will also mean you'll need to work on popping up in those steeper waves. That requires being quicker in your popup on a board that is less stable and at a much more radical angle during your takeoff.

[pmcaero]

Well if you're going to ride a short board, then you're going to need some size to propel you. I'm not sure you understand that. Your short board isn't really going to work that well in the weak, mushy waves you're surfing.

No, I totally agree with you. I'm hoping for lots of good days to take the shortboard out. Yesterday was 2-3+ with offshore winds and made for great conditions, I was able to maneuver on the face and have some long rides on the shortboard. I felt like I was making true progress on controlling my ride.
I'm not going to waste time taking it out in anything less, I'll use the Bic or the beater for that.

[icetime]

From what I can tell:
Get rid of the double arm paddle, it doesn't help at all
Glance left and right before paddling for a wave and don't look back over your shoulder, you're unconsciously turning your board into the wave and paddling with less strength
When you're on the wave look towards the bottom when going down the line I noticed you're just floating towards the top of the waves then kicking out, you should look down, get to the bottom then look up and repeat so you don't lose the wave
And the most important part: Have fun