How am I doing? (vid-bad anngle)

[Blackvans1234]

So about 5 weeks ago I attached a gopro mount to my 9ft longboard.
Unfortunately there haven't been waves in about 8 weeks (ish), and if there have, I have been working and unable to ride

Well, we finally got waves, I hooked up my gopro and paddled out in 3-5 foot waves. Later in the day the waves were about 4-7 foot. This was a bit beyond my skill/fitness level but I was determined either way.

Clearly my camera angle needs to be pointed up more.
Hows my popup?
Any other advice?

Yesterday made me realize that i'm still a beginner

[oldmansurfer]

It looks like you are surfing into a closeout section. I don't know how the rest of the waves are in that area but it looks like you are doing well until it closes out. If that is all the wave you have to work with then maybe work on learning to do a floater on the closeout section

[waikikikichan]

This was a bit beyond my skill/fitness level but I was determined either way.

That’s a good way to end up dead. “When in doubt, DON’T go out”

Clearly my camera angle needs to be pointed up more.

What brought you to that conclusion? To analyze your technique, we mainly need to see what your feet, knees, waist, shoulders, arms, neck and where your eyes are looking at. Your face doesn’t need to be centered in the video.

[dtc]

My quick thoughts

- looks not too bad overall

- your pop up seems a bit slow but its hard to tell because of the water. It looks like you do a 'two step' pop up and pushing off your toes, but that might be an illusion due to the water

- your front foot seems to be pointing at 3 oclock (ie sideways), should be more 1oclock (ie 45 degrees or so) - here is waikikichan talking about it in a bit more detail http://alohaki.jugem.jp/?search=1+o%27clock

- your hands seemed to be always in front of your body, although for the first few seconds this may not have been the case (as your hands werent visible). When you are going straight you generally want your front hand on your back side (ie to the left of your body). Often people have both hands in front to counter balance sticking their butt out too far. Having hands on either side will force you to be a bit straighter. This can also be related to the foot position. Of course there are times when you should have both hands on one side

Its hard to tell whether you were trying to turn or not (this is just inherent with go pro footage) but, if you were, then your arms needed to be swinging about a bit more/upper body rotating a bit more

Nothing terrible, just some fairly common type things to tweak. Its pretty hard to tell from a go pro because you dont have enough distance to see everything and you cant tell what the wave is doing. If you can get a friend to video you from the shore, that is much more useful

[RinkyDink]

Did you want to kick out when you did or did you just turn into the wave accidentally? At :29 seconds it looks like you start to turn into the wave. You might have been able to milk some more time on that wave if you had faded a little (trimmed your board a bit toward the pocket) to slow yourself down a little and let the pocket catch up to you a little more. It's hard to say, though. The GoPro perspective makes it hard to see what the wave is doing. Looks like a good beginner wave. I'd say work on not popping up to your knee.

[Blackvans1234]

- looks not too bad overall

Thanks!
- your pop up seems a bit slow but its hard to tell because of the water. It looks like you do a 'two step' pop up and pushing off your toes, but that might be an illusion due to the water
Im pretty sure I do a two step popup, I think I pivot off my knees instead of my toes (inside of knee(s) are sometimes sore)

- your front foot seems to be pointing at 3 oclock (ie sideways), should be more 1oclock (ie 45 degrees or so) - here is waikikichan talking about it in a bit more detail http://alohaki.jugem.jp/?search=1+o%27clock
So my front foot should be more at a 10 oclock (goofy footer). On the site you linked, some of those front feet are not nearly 3 or 9, but more 2 or 10, which I would've thought is okay? But those surfers are walking the board, so maybe that changes things?

- your hands seemed to be always in front of your body, although for the first few seconds this may not have been the case (as your hands werent visible). When you are going straight you generally want your front hand on your back side (ie to the left of your body). Often people have both hands in front to counter balance sticking their butt out too far. Having hands on either side will force you to be a bit straighter. This can also be related to the foot position. Of course there are times when you should have both hands on one side
I do think that was related to foot position

Its hard to tell whether you were trying to turn or not (this is just inherent with go pro footage) but, if you were, then your arms needed to be swinging about a bit more/upper body rotating a bit more

Nothing terrible, just some fairly common type things to tweak. Its pretty hard to tell from a go pro because you dont have enough distance to see everything and you cant tell what the wave is doing. If you can get a friend to video you from the shore, that is much more useful
What is friend? Where do I buy one?

I did intend to kick out of that wave, btw. Anyone have any advice on actually getting the board to point towards the ocean instead of jumping/flying off the board?

[Blackvans1234]

Did you want to kick out when you did or did you just turn into the wave accidentally? At :29 seconds it looks like you start to turn into the wave. You might have been able to milk some more time on that wave if you had faded a little (trimmed your board a bit toward the pocket) to slow yourself down a little and let the pocket catch up to you a little more. It's hard to say, though. The GoPro perspective makes it hard to see what the wave is doing. Looks like a good beginner wave. I'd say work on not popping up to your knee.

I wanted to kick out of the wave. In regards to ''popping up to your knee", I don't quite see what you mean. I think I use my knees instead of my toes.

Was I too high on the face of the wave?

Does anyone think I should've waited another half second or so and do a larger bottom turn after I pop-up (around 0:29)?

Hopefully there's smaller (3 foot) waves today (in the next 5 hours) and I can take more video

[oldmansurfer]

You are just a beginner so you can improve on everything you do including paddling, picking a position in the lineup, choosing a wave to catch, popping up, riding the wave all of that can be improved on and in fact needs to be if you want to be a better surfer and what you want to know is how to cut out of the wave. Cutting out is about turning. It's just that......turn up the wave, so what you want to learn is how to turn the board. You can't buy a friend but you can buy a surf instructor and that might be something for you if you can afford it.

[RinkyDink]

I wanted to kick out of the wave. In regards to ''popping up to your knee", I don't quite see what you mean. I think I use my knees instead of my toes.

Was I too high on the face of the wave?

Does anyone think I should've waited another half second or so and do a larger bottom turn after I pop-up (around 0:29)?

Hopefully there's smaller (3 foot) waves today (in the next 5 hours) and I can take more video

My bad. I thought you were popping to your knee, but it was just your torso as you arched your back. As far as what the wave was giving you is concerned, I really can't see the wave that well. Judging by how far in front of the pocket you were at certain points, you might have been able to get a longer ride, but it's hard to tell. When you're starting out it's rewarding to just surf along the green face. Do that 25 times though and you start wanting bigger, faster, longer, steeper . . . and eventually you'll start adjusting your surfing to get those things. Keep surfing.

[dtc]

- looks not too bad overall

So my front foot should be more at a 10 oclock (goofy footer). On the site you linked, some of those front feet are not nearly 3 or 9, but more 2 or 10, which I would've thought is okay? But those surfers are walking the board, so maybe that changes things?

I did intend to kick out of that wave, btw. Anyone have any advice on actually getting the board to point towards the ocean instead of jumping/flying off the board?

For the first, how did I ignore you were a goofy? Must have just been not wanting to embarrass you

Yeah, front foot is 10-11 on the clock dial. It doesnt really matter in terms of cross stepping or not cross stepping, its the same. You dont actually surf with your hips directly sideon, your hips are more at 45 degrees to the rails (side of the board) and your shoulders more square on. This is a bit different to what many people think (which is that you are totally sideways); the position is driven to a large extent by foot placement. Indeed, a really good tip for going backside (back to the wave) is to turn your back foot at 45 degrees as well and really open up your shoulders so you can see the face of the wave, rather than twisting your neck around and have the wave coming at your back.

Anyway, see pic below. this is a really good shot of your 'neutral stance' ie for going straight (although your back arm can be a bit further behind rather than out to the side, if you want to get picky). Its the stance you go back to after completing a maneuver, although of course you may only be in the stance for 1/2 second before needing to do something else.

In terms of kicking off, as others have said its just a turn up the face and then you go over the back. Its a good thing to do - firstly it allows you to practice your turns without any real risk (if your turn is terrible you just go over the back a few metres further down). Secondly, it allows you to keep control of your board (ideally you turn up, over the back, and then lay down on the board without ever losing it). This is needed if conditions are crowded, but also good practice not to rely on your legrope.

Last point - maybe see if you can keep a bit lower after popping up ie knees bent a bit more. Its much more comfortable to stand up, but staying lower offers more opportunity. And often stability

anyway, doing well, as said just some pretty common things to work on as you surf.

[Blackvans1234]

New video, enjoy!

My thoughts: not terrible actually. Maybe try to use the back foot to really turn the board, instead of leaning the board. Dedicate to the line more. Keep grinding!

[jaffa1949]

Ok Some things to work on, foot placements and making your feet more mobile both in forward and back and side to side. Cemented feet means you can only rely on leaning to effect a turn . Simply put, back foot pressure to raise the nose , the back foot pressure should be towards the rail of the direction you wish to turn , the front foot controls and can drive the front of the board that way too. It is not a passive turn like leaning, you need to have speed and engage your muscle power leading with your forearm and shoulder , .
Viewing your Upper body a turn is not effected by just swinging your body back and forth, the torque generated need to be transmitted through your lower body to your feet and board. Without this torque speed and power delivered you just lean over and fall.

Try to,get someone to video you from the beach , you will see much more of where your beginner’s technique is letting you down.

[Big H]

Was I too high on the face of the wave?

Does anyone think I should've waited another half second or so and do a larger bottom turn after I pop-up (around 0:29)?

Honestly, this for me is the fun of surfing.......

Don't ask.....go out there and TRY it.....first few waves go about the same and you do the same things.....then TRY doing a larger bottom turn and see what happens......TRY going higher on the face and getting thrown after seeing how long you can stay up there and finding out the relative hard way (those waves aren't going to make a dent so go for it).

I enjoy my time here and chatting about surfing, but you can catch a wave and ride.....nothing is stopping you from finding out the answers to your own questions......hat is really the only way you will learn and for me anyway, that is where the fun is.......

[Big H]

Is that you DTC?

[dtc]

New video, enjoy!

My thoughts: not terrible actually. Maybe try to use the back foot to really turn the board, instead of leaning the board. Dedicate to the line more. Keep grinding!

Apart from the 2 step pop up, you look fine for the level you are currently at ie sure there are skills and so forth to learn and do better on, but nothing that seems like something you need to scrap and re-learn

Not sure what is going on with the pop up, your hands seem to be in a reasonable place so I think its just turned into a habit. And you are standing up, which is the whole point of the process, so you perhaps dont need to be too concerned about changing. However, if you go to a shorter board then you wont be able to use your toes (as they will be off the end of the board)

Otherwise, as Jaffa said - move your foot around, think about weight shifts, think about body height. Kelly Slater says 'turn with your hips' (like golf swing).

https://www.theinertia.com/surf/the-diy ... our-speed/

btw: that wave where the lip came down on top of you - claim it as a barrel. Sure a short barrel, but you were fully under that lip!

Is that you DTC?

I wish, he looks young and fit.

One of these people is me...literally one of two shots of me 'surfing' that I have. In the other I'm in an even worse position

[RinkyDink]

New video, enjoy!

I see one major problem. At 1:02 you should turn your head and look directly into your GoPro and throw the shaka sign. Other than that it looks like you're making progress.

[gsseirik]

I used to have a slow "two-step" popup. In hindsight, I think that what caused it was that I was searching for balance at the same time as I was performing the popup- motion. So the thing that solved it for me was to just don't care about balance for a couple of waves (a good amount of waves where wasted..). The popups happened a lot faster, I fell a lot, but after a while the balance came naturally. I'm not sure if this method is to recommend, but it worked for me.

[oldmansurfer]

One of these people is me...literally one of two shots of me 'surfing' that I have. In the other I'm in an even worse position

IMG_0878.JPG

Not too desperate. At least it isn't breaking top to bottom. Looks like the front guy has a chance to duck dive it (or duckdip). You're not following Turtles instructions

[waikikikichan]

One of these people is me...

I can hear what you're thinking at the exact moment.
"5'6" at 31.00 L or 5'7" at 32.50 L ? "

[dtc]

Huh, yes. I was on my 6’10 x 3 1/4 thick board, so an instant reduction in volume would have been good. It was one of those bomb waves/clean up waves that breaks 25ft further out than the rest. But as old man says, it was a high tide crumbler so not too bad. I’m the person in the middle. The guy behind me was on a shortboard (and a really really good surfer). The one in front is a not so good young woman on a longboard, but she was very gutsy and took off on anything, often rag dolled and then popped up and did it again. Not old enough to have injuries!

I used to have a slow "two-step" popup. In hindsight, I think that what caused it was that I was searching for balance at the same time as I was performing the popup- motion. .

That’s a really good point.