Surfing Waves

Hi guys

New to the forum, great to see such friendly advice from most people.

Just a few probably rather ambiguous questions on progress and expectations really.

I've been surfing for approx 3 years, around a 2-3 times a month on average, bit more his past year. Live in Cornwall UK so mixture of weak summer stuff and decent winter power. My main board is a Fourth Reload 6'2 - 21 - 2 11/16 - 37L. I'm 85kg / 5ft 10" if that helps at all.

I'm at a point where for the last 3-4 months I feel I've hit a bit of a impasse in certain areas of my surfing that I'm struggling to crack. I feel my wave catching, pop up and general positioning in the lineup is improving nicely but it's turns I'm struggling with. Mainly getting them tighter, reading sections better and going steeper up the wave during the turn. I think half the time I'm so excited to be riding the wave in a crowded line up I don't want to waste it by being too ambitious so end up just doing the same mellow cutback a few times down the line.

Rather than asking for help on technique (there's so much advice on here already and I'm hoping to get some coaching soon), my question really is about progress from you guys who have made it to a decent level.

Is it something where I need to just go out and experiment on some surfs, even if it means cocking up decent waves? Maybe go out on a few days trying to focus on one particular move or one particular flaw in technique? Obv mixed in with just having fun.

In your experiences did more advanced turns suddenly just come to you or is it a gradual process over the years? Did you hit barriers then suddenly breakthrough and any tips on how?

Are turns easier to learn in bigger more powerful surf or smaller stuff? I assume speed makes it easier to a point.

What should my realistic expectations be for my board and someone of I'd say intermediate ability? (temptation to always look to the board for my own failings lol) I appreciate a pro could shred my board to pieces and surf almost anything well but for intermediate trying to advance, is a snap off the top or a tight roundhouse realistic on my board with correct technique.


Like I said some really ambiguous questions dependent on tons of other factors but any advice or tips at all would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers guys

James

First off, that board looks just fine for maneuvers. I think if you commit to your turns that board should be plenty friendly. Depending on your abilities, it might be a little small for a novice, but if you're not having trouble with catching waves and pop-ups then it's really just a matter of technique once you're up and riding.

One thing to know is that you need some speed to turn. If you ride a skateboard or a bike too slowly it's harder to maintain balance and turn effectively. The same is true with surfing. So in that sense some waves do allow you to generate or maintain speed more easily than others. But not all waves are best suited to top-to-bottom or vertical surfing. For example, if you're on a mushy wave or a fast, down-the-line sort of wave then trying to snap it off the top is going to be pretty futile. That's where reading the wave comes in. And the three best ways to do that are to 1) surf, 2) watch other competent surfers and surf videos, and 3) surf.

Personally, the moments that clicked most for me happened when I really committed to the turn - either laying it hard on rail or really turning back up the wave face toward the lip. Yes, you'll burn a bunch of waves trying to do more advanced surfing, but without the trying there's no succeeding. Visualize what you want your surfing to look like, and then commit to trying to make it happen.

Try mental imaging. Before you surf imagine you are surfing and go through the motions, popup, pretend you are turning and in your mind imagine you are turning. Picture what you want to do imagine how it will feel, imagine where on the wave you would do these maneuvers. Then when you surf you know what to do when....sort of I guess if you imagine things correctly. Work on your bottom turn first as everything else relies on that. My surfing is limited to me making choices of what to do on waves and when to do them so for instance at this point I am mostly forgoing tube riding to work on turns. I often can imagine a maneuver and then do it the first time I am in the situation I imagined doing it in so the limitation is the wave mostly.

mrleeson660 wrote:I've been surfing for approx 3 years, around a 2-3 times a month on average

but it's turns I'm struggling with. Mainly getting them tighter, reading sections better and going steeper up the wave during the turn.

my question really is about progress from you guys who have made it to a decent level.

If your question is what or how made the most difference in Progressing in my surfing technique. Straight up is getting a Carver skateboard. You only get to be in the water 3 times out of 30 odd days in a month. But you can roll down the driveway EVERY single day. You can't keep repeating the same exact maneuver on the wave due to the ever changing wave, crowd, etc. But you can repeat over and over again the same motions in the safety of your own driveway. In grain that muscle memory and work on the basic form that then translates onto the wave. If you want to get more learn angles, more power and gain more speed to do those turns by learning to pump, I would invest in a Carver or Smoothstar or Gravity with a thruster truck setup. Everyone I teach using a Carver improved greatly the next day. My wife learned how to turn her 9 foot longboard and bottom turn by using one.

mrleeson660 wrote:. I think half the time I'm so excited to be riding the wave in a crowded line up I don't want to waste it by being too ambitious so end up just doing the same mellow cutback a few times down the line.

Is it something where I need to just go out and experiment on some surfs, even if it means cocking up decent waves? Maybe go out on a few days trying to focus on one particular move or one particular flaw in technique? Obv mixed in with just having fun.

on various of their podcasts, the coaches at Surf Simply have covered both of these questions, so here is my paraphrasing/remembrance of what they said

1. yes, people love surfing the full wave and not trying anything too radical in case they fall off and 'waste' the wave. This isnt so much the case if you are surfing every day, but if your surfing is infrequent then its a factor.

Solution: surf the wave but aim to do a manoeuvre just before the end of the wave. So as you see the wave closing out, to a quick top turn or cut back or whatever you can. If you mess up, then doesnt matter, the wave was ending anyway (note: the end of the wave might not have much power so some manoeuvres are harder)

2. want to learn something - then go out and focus on it. So want to do a hard/180 degree bottom turn - go out and do it and dont worry about the rest of the wave. Do a hard bottom turn and end up going over the back - so be it. Do a top turn and catch a rail and fall off - so be it.

But what about 'wasting' the wave? Firstly you arent wasting the wave, you are learning something.

But its frustrating not surfing the whole wave: the surf simply guys suggest going out and doing your practice for 3 or 5 or 7 waves (depending on crowds etc). So the first 5 waves - do your stuff. Then surf normally and maximise the wave etc for the rest of the session.

Of course, your 5 waves every weekend puts you way behind a grom surfing every day and willing to spend 2 hours a day for weeks attempting something. And practising something 5 times isnt really that much - but its still 5 times more than you were doing it before.

Which is where the carver surfskate activities come in - because here you can practice something 30 times

waikikikichan wrote: I would invest in a Carver or Smoothstar or Gravity with a thruster truck setup. Everyone I teach using a Carver improved greatly the next day. My wife learned how to turn her 9 foot longboard and bottom turn by using one.

Wkk - which is the 'thruster truck set up' - does that mean (for the carver) the C7 or CX4 trucks? Or is one of them suggested?

dtc wrote:Wkk - which is the 'thruster truck set up'

It's basically the board company called Gravity own version of a pivoting truck system. But only sold in some parts of the world. I've never seen it sold in America.

I am way too precious with my waves too. I think a good tip is to alternate your approach every wave between easy and aggressive- first ride a wave and just enjoy/ride however you feel like, then use the next wave as a practice wave to be more aggressive even if it mean you might end the ride early.

It does seem to go through periods of slow gains perhaps due to not enough waves that offer the maneuvers you want to do. Then suddenly you will do something fun when the opportunity presents itself. Or at least that is how it is for me. While I haven't been surfing in a couple months the last time I was trying out a different board and the wave I was paddling for turned out to be breaking much quicker than I anticipated and ended up taking off in an area where the wave had broken below me in addition the wave was breaking way down the line at the top of the wave so in my mind I had an idea to do a backside foam climb if I made the drop and when I made the drop the board wanted to go back up I guess because that was my plan but it looked pretty narly with about a 6 foot section of the wave unbroken and looked like it was going to break again soon but the board wanted to go there and that was my plan so I just went for it and pulled it off perfectly. Rarely do backside foam climbs but pulled off this one. I always think I am going to do one but chicken out or I never see the exact right place to do one so I just don't. Lately I have been surfing much more backside than frontside and still never do one

Guys thanks so much for all the replies massive help much appreciated. Great to hear other people have the same issues gives a lot of confidence / motivation to keep at it. Definitely going to put a great deal of that advice into practice. I've got myself a Toledo Smoothstar (sick looking board). Time to get out there