Surfing Waves

I' ve seen it a lot in surf clips and during contests. The pro surfers are often diving through the wall to exit a closeout wave. Just like this surfer is doing it in following youtube video:


How is this techinque called? Does anybody know a a good tutorial?

I call it survival, but if there is a particular name for it I would not not. When I talk in the lineup I refer to it as punching through the face, but that's just how I tell my buds abut my ride

I call that a punch through also. I think often surfers just come up with their own lingo. But I started a thread here to describe the various varieties of cutouts. I missed that one on the initial list https://surfing-waves.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=26178. I recommend you practice on small waves initially but basically you turn hard into the wave dig the nose of your board into the wall of the wave below the lip and lean into the wave. I sometimes grab the board and it ends up being something like a duck dive through the wave. You have to be able to do a real hard turn for this to be effective. If you haven't got your turns down yet try other techniques and work on your turns.

CaptainMo wrote:How is this techinque called?
Does anybody know a a good tutorial?

1) Hawaiian-Pull Out
2) poke the nose into the waves face and drive thru, board and body.

Questions:
1) what's your level of surfing ?
2) what type and size board do you surf ?

Wow, thanks for this fast responses. I'm going to try this next week. Even so my turn isn't as hard as I would wish.

@waikikikichan: I guess I'm a solid intermediate but with a lack of fitness. So that I'm usualy surfing a lost V3 5'8...

On longboards in Australia we called Hawaiian pullouts Island pullouts.
You would run down the nose break the tail free driving the nose into the wave face mostly hang onto the rail and punch through the wave . The really cool guys could do it standing right on the nose . We called these standing Island pull outs..
There were flick outs before leashes and reverse flick outs boards went high in the air and the guys behind the wave had to dodge fly boards.

Jaffa is talking about the longboard version. I found this little bit http://www.surfline.com/community/whoknows/whoknows.cfm?id=1128
The article say Shaun Tompson developed this 30 years ago but I say not so since I was doing it more than 30 years ago as were lots of the surfers I knew and Shaun didn't teach any of us.

CaptainMo wrote:I'm going to try this next week. Even so my turn isn't as hard as I would wish. I guess I'm a solid intermediate but with a lack of fitness.

Then you better to not "attempt" to do this advance maneuver. If you can't do "Thru the Lip re-entries", you'll probably be shooting the board back, getting a rail to the shins or worse, bear hugging the fins.

Just make sure you don't try it in a crowded lineup or if there are people immediately inside of you. Hurt yourself and that is your own fault but you are likely going over the falls with your board and people inside of you will be in danger of getting hit. In the video the guys board looks like it may have gotten sucked over the falls but the guy escaped a pounding. The best outcome is both board and rider escape a pounding. The worst is...????? I am not sure. How I learned is in shoredump closeout sections on the end of a wave. I would crouch down and try to get covered up by the closeout then turn my board into the wave and stand up leaning into the wave. I still do this because it's fun and every once in a while I will remain standing on my board but I try to make sure no one is close enough to get hit by my board

oldmansurfer wrote:The article say Shaun Tompson developed this 30 years ago but I say not so since I was doing it more than 30 years ago..

I think every surfer with the right survival instincts 'develops' this move in the split second when it's the last and only option left.

There are always other options but if it works this is the best option in some instances. I think perhaps many surfers bail when they should stick it out but this option allows you and board to escape a pounding if you do it right.

I was thinking off this narrow escape, just before I ran into the reef

Don't practice this maneuver in a break like that one above

oldmansurfer wrote:Don't practice this maneuver in a break like that one above

Nothing like a rocky reef to keep you from getting sloppy.

I have a similar question. The scenario goes like this. You're on a board you can't duck dive. The waves are head high plus. You are paddling out and a set rolls in. You're trying your best to get past it and get outside. A pretty good size wave is coming at you. You might be able to make it over, but you also might not. You paddle furiously to get by it before it breaks. The wave has reached you. You're about 3/4 up the face of the wave and it starts to pitch. You can see the lip pitching over your head. What's the best way to get through the wave without going over the falls? I have found on a couple of occasions that I'm not able to punch through and avoid going over the falls. Nowadays I will often just decide to wait for a set to break rather than getting up the face of the wave while it breaks, but that's a hassle. What works for you when you're 1/2 way or 3/4 up the face of a wave and it starts to pitch? Alternative question: Should you never allow yourself to get 3/4 up the face and instead start turtle rolling way before (like in the trough) you even start up the face of the wave?

First don't get caught but if you do get caught then do a half duck dive into the wave instead of going up the face. I would probably turtle roll at that point because it's quicker but if you have enough speed you might be able to just poke the nose in through and go through the lip there. Have you ever heard of paddling sideways to get around a breaking wave? Just kidding but that is what I do paddling out.

RinkyDink wrote:I have a similar question. The scenario goes like this. You're on a board you can't duck dive. The waves are head high plus. You are paddling out and a set rolls in. You're trying your best to get past it and get outside. A pretty good size wave is coming at you. You might be able to make it over, but you also might not. You paddle furiously to get by it before it breaks. The wave has reached you. You're about 3/4 up the face of the wave and it starts to pitch. You can see the lip pitching over your head. What's the best way to get through the wave without going over the falls? I have found on a couple of occasions that I'm not able to punch through and avoid going over the falls. Nowadays I will often just decide to wait for a set to break rather than getting up the face of the wave while it breaks, but that's a hassle. What works for you when you're 1/2 way or 3/4 up the face of a wave and it starts to pitch? Alternative question: Should you never allow yourself to get 3/4 up the face and instead start turtle rolling way before (like in the trough) you even start up the face of the wave?

Anticipate that you are not where you should be but deal with it.......Paddle hard, have a head of steam, turtle hard as you get sucked up the face but still under the lip and pull down hard and hold your board....look at videos of the huge guns at Jaws....this is what they do......not really a big deal, just watch your head.

Depending on the situation, size and shape of the wave you can alternatively duck dip as you're on your way up......paddle hard, get up on the nose and push down hard.....the risk of getting sucked back over the falls is greater than turtling if you can't penetrate enough.

Big H wrote:Anticipate that you are not where you should be but deal with it.......Paddle hard, have a head of steam, turtle hard as you get sucked up the face but still under the lip and pull down hard and hold your board....look at videos of the huge guns at Jaws....this is what they do......not really a big deal, just watch your head.

Depending on the situation, size and shape of the wave you can alternatively duck dip as you're on your way up......paddle hard, get up on the nose and push down hard.....the risk of getting sucked back over the falls is greater than turtling if you can't penetrate enough.

Actually, what I usually see from the big guns is that they are bailing. Sometimes not even that is enough.

I've seen videos where big gun surfers were making it happen.......can't find them now of course. All I know is as you are going up the face you can see the top start to feather.....at that point you can push the nose down and duck dip under the lip or can flip and turtle under the lip....easier done when you know it is coming and aren't surprised and have to make a decision last second.

There was a surfer bailing her board yesterday in 2-3 ft surf....I was behind but safely off to the side.....she got a piece of my mind anyway. Hard for me to understand how a surfer can be competent in some ways (she was catching some of the biggest waves that came through and making nice bottom and top turns) and completely ignorant in other aspects (she ended every ride kicking her board away as she wiped out, constantly bailed while paddling back out, paddled back out right up the throat of the lineup).