Surfing Waves

Hi surfers.

I was inspired from another thread to make a short pop up video. Since I'm no expert myself, I was hoping others could put in their 2 cents.

I wanted to do this because learning to take off correctly was immensely helpful in my own development. In fact, It took a long time for me to get my own pop up down, as I learned incorrectly from the get go.

I hope others avoid learning bad habits early, so I call on others to make sure I'm not passing on any of my own.



(Do we not enter the video string after = with Youtube tags to embed the video?)

Nice video, I especially like the clips with Pete Devries. Next the perfect popup I like his positioning just next the peak. Is that called the shoulder or is this a separate named part of the wave just in between shoulder and peak?
The reason I ask is this was subject for discussion some weeks ago on this forum. The question was if I recall correct, 'should you take off on the peak or from the shoulder with fast pitching waves?'

It's possible some of those are shoulders. To me a shoulder is where the wave slows down. There is nothing wrong with taking off on a shoulder other than typically you are missing the good part of the wave but it may be more difficult to take off there. Long waves often have lots of shoulders each section having a peak and a shoulder so taking off on one shoulder still allows a lot of other sections where you will be deep instead of missing the most exciting part of the wave and just riding out the slow part. Where you should takeoff depends on the wave your skills and your board and it will change over time if you are learning or if you are backsliding due to not surfing enough. I think typically beginners think it's easier to takeoff on the shoulder and sometimes it is but other times it's nearly impossible even for the very best paddlers. And that is especially when it is big and scary so beginners are more intimidated and end up unable to catch any waves because even the best surfers have a difficult time taking off on the shoulders. When presented with consistent waves and no crowd I often experiment with taking off at various different places if I am having trouble catching a wave. If not I go for the farthest out peak because it gives more wave to play on so more fun. Of course when you are at dangerous breaks like some of the reef breaks in Bali you need to consider also the consequence of failure in the area you are surfing. Maybe you need to always consider this but it's much more important when life and limb are imminently on the line. But I think this thread is intended to focus on the popup and not positioning.

I would say my only problem with your popup is you have the wrong foot forward I see you have your left hand more back and your right hand more forward and you place your right foot right between the two. Looks pretty smooth and quick. I am not sure exactly what I do but when I try on land it feels so cumbersome yet in the water I can snap up real quick and smooth when I want to.

What's not "fair" is that newbies/beginners looking to improve their pop up are not going to be taking off on those top to bottom pitching lip waves. Taking off and popping up on a shortboard is more of a push down, control fall and jump back onto the board. I think you need to balance the video with demonstration of popping up on a longboard on a white water crumbler.

If I see a problem, it's that your back foot is "laying down" on the inside arch. To get the foot flat ( so that you can pressure the tail to bottom turn, etc. ) you then have to weight back. But that is a lot better than the bad habit of being only on the toes and ball of the foot that most newbies do.

I see a lot of this up on the tippy toes from newbies.

photo from Philippines Surf Report on Facebook.
You may want to include "bad form" so viewers can know what not to do or if what they're currently doing is bad.

Good video thank you.

Not sure wether I missed it, but I find it soo important to have feets land centered over the stringer. If you don't, you lose so much time to get in balance or lose it altogether.

Looks good.....for me if you can get your head higher, chest out more, raise the chin up a. It more and eyes down the line before popping you’ll make more room for the legs coming through and get on the actual wave quicker.

Tudeo wrote:Nice video, I especially like the clips with Pete Devries. Next the perfect popup I like his positioning just next the peak. Is that called the shoulder or is this a separate named part of the wave just in between shoulder and peak?
The reason I ask is this was subject for discussion some weeks ago on this forum. The question was if I recall correct, 'should you take off on the peak or from the shoulder with fast pitching waves?'

Thanks for the comment. I love watching Pete surf too. He's not flashy, but he can do it all so well. I'm not going to comment on where to take off, but I think OMS is right when he says it depends on the wave.

oldmansurfer wrote:I would say my only problem with your popup is you have the wrong foot forward I see you have your left hand more back and your right hand more forward and you place your right foot right between the two. Looks pretty smooth and quick. I am not sure exactly what I do but when I try on land it feels so cumbersome yet in the water I can snap up real quick and smooth when I want to.

lol! I did consider reversing the video so it was regular foot.

I guess I do subconsciously have my left hand back a bit. It's almost like I have the twist cocked and loaded before my chest leaves the board. That may be helpful to some, but probably not something to obsess over to begin with.

I agree that it feels a lot different in the water than it does on land. It's harder to do without the push of the wave.

waikikikichan wrote:What's not "fair" is that newbies/beginners looking to improve their pop up are not going to be taking off on those top to bottom pitching lip waves. Taking off and popping up on a shortboard is more of a push down, control fall and jump back onto the board. I think you need to balance the video with demonstration of popping up on a longboard on a white water crumbler.

If I see a problem, it's that your back foot is "laying down" on the inside arch. To get the foot flat ( so that you can pressure the tail to bottom turn, etc. ) you then have to weight back. But that is a lot better than the bad habit of being only on the toes and ball of the foot that most newbies do.

Track Start 1 (1).jpg

Thanks again Waikikikichan - I am unfamiliar with longboard pop ups. Myself, I ride a 7'4" mini mal. I pop up like this in pretty much all wave conditions, small and crumbly too. I see riders on longboards do shortboard pop ups on occasion (off the knees instead of toes) and it looks pretty bombproof.

Can you explain what would a long boarder on a crumbler do? More weight forward?

To your last point - I see what you're saying about my back foot. I should work on that. Not sure if it's an artifact from doing a land based popup, I think I rise faster (actually the board drops below me) and I get a pump in pretty quick, especially if I'm trying to take a high line right of the take off.

I'll pay attention to that foot next time I'm out - thanks for the tip.

You may want to include "bad form" so viewers can know what not to do or if what they're currently doing is bad.

Good idea for a follow up. If this gets any views/interest, Ill do it. My main goal is to get people away from the chicken wing/clamber up the board nonsense. Once I got away from that, I started catching WAY more waves and could focus on manoeuvres.

Oldie wrote:Good video thank you.

Not sure wether I missed it, but I find it soo important to have feets land centered over the stringer. If you don't, you lose so much time to get in balance or lose it altogether.

No doubt, that's an important point.

Maybe I should have included a list of points to remember. I know I omitted a lot of things, I researched other videos before I did this one, and I found they repeated a lot of these things (head up, watch the wave, stay crouched, front foot between hands) but almost none included the actual mechanics of getting to your feet - what the torso is doing. A lot say to "slide your feet under" - but It's not really sliding. Others say to "swing your feet under" - but it's not really just letting them swing either. A surfer really has to use the core and tuck their feet forward using a pelvic thrust movement, and use the power/timing of the wave to make it happen. Many say come off your toes. Some say It's all in the arms - but it's not all in the arms. There's confusion about using the knees. You have to come off your knees (as in the video) but people confuse this with popping onto the knees first (in a separate stage)

Big H wrote:Looks good.....for me if you can get your head higher, chest out more, raise the chin up a. It more and eyes down the line before popping you’ll make more room for the legs coming through and get on the actual wave quicker.

This could be another important point that could be included in a bulleted list in the vid. I wanted to focus on simply getting up, but there are other crucial points too, like watching the section in front of you. Hmmm..

JJ I think the objection to the choice of waves has to do with what a beginner might actually ride (not those waves). Perhaps those who are already riding those kind of waves don't need to be told how to popup

oldmansurfer wrote:JJ I think the objection to the choice of waves has to do with what a beginner might actually ride (not those waves). Perhaps those who are already riding those kind of waves don't need to be told how to popup

Yes, maybe those clips are a bad example?

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the mechanics are the same for small waves. I know for crumblers a surfer has a lot more time, and they are more forgiving, but even in those cases it doesn't hurt to jump to your feet quickly. No?

My thinking was that the clips of Pete were more to show the correct take off technique - as those clips are really good shots/angles for that purpose. Also because Pete has such a solid pop up. Not so much to teach how to take off in really fast, barrelling, pitchy waves.

That being said, I think it illustrates a perfect pop up.

I think you're right though - I think those clips won't connect with a beginner surfer. I'm targeting surfers who are just getting out back but have trouble with their pop up because they have been learning in white water, where they get a push from the foam and can take an extra step or two to get up. Those types of bad habits can get in the way of progress (that's what I was thinking in the other thread where yoyoyo was having trouble).

That's where I had trouble in my development as well.

JJGreenberg wrote:My main goal is to get people away from the chicken wing/clamber up the board nonsense.

I agree the chicken wing/clamber up the board nonsense should be avoided as much as possible. But I would like to add that I use the chicken wing in white water/late takeoffs, because I then miss the momentum of the wave helping me jump up.
This sometimes happens when my timing/positioning is off and the wave is already breaking before I can pop up, the turbulence is too big then (for me) to pop up, so I stay prone until I reach stable waters, but then the dynamics are very different to pop up so I resort to chicken wing like clamberings and then can ride the (rest of the wave) like normal.

Tudeo wrote:

JJGreenberg wrote:My main goal is to get people away from the chicken wing/clamber up the board nonsense.

I agree the chicken wing/clamber up the board nonsense should be avoided as much as possible. But I would like to add that I use the chicken wing in white water/late takeoffs, because I then miss the momentum of the wave helping me jump up.
This sometimes happens when my timing/positioning is off and the wave is already breaking before I can pop up, the turbulence is too big then (for me) to pop up, so I stay prone until I reach stable waters, but then the dynamics are very different to pop up so I resort to chicken wing like clamberings and then can ride the (rest of the wave) like normal.

Gotta do whatcha gotta do.

JJGreenberg wrote:Gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Well, that's life's universal truth for sure. But I was more wondering if this chicken wing technique on postponed popups is true for other surfers too, and maybe the way to go in that situation?

I arch up in that situation, take the hit/push from the breaking wave on the back of my legs and back, then pop up normally a second later after the initial hit passes, board is a bit more stable and I’m not being pushed down by the wave. Key is to arch before the hit so you catch the wave with your back and so that all you have to do is bring your legs thru after the hit passes.

I ride out to smoother water and try to time the popup for an upward motion or just be real quick. So when the wave buckles me up I popup on the way back down but sometimes I just go for it and try while the whitewater is still bucking me and try to get it on a upwards movement. I don't think my popup changes but if I get bucked while popping up I will stop and sometimes ride with one knee up or place both on the board and knee board (if I don't fall)

I have had the fails that end up on the face where I mistime the move and wind up on a knee, hip or hands slip and am somehow laying crooked still in the board and then manage to clamber up and ride the wave......has passed thru my mind that it must have been something to watch if anyone was watching.