Critique on Some Surf clips?

[noahb2710]

I know these clips aren't great, but its all I have. Surfline rewind clips and the occasional video I get. I feel like I've progressed a good amount over the last year, but still have problems doing things like turns, generating speed, ect. It's gotten better, but obviously there is a long ways to go. Does anyone have tips or critiques after watching a couple random clips I found? I live in Virginia Beach so I know the waves aren't anything great, but it's what I have.

[oldmansurfer]

Looks like you are doing okay. To make better turns you have to learn to use your weight compressing down into the board on bottom turns and releasing weight to get back up the wave. I think the thing that will make you have the greatest difficulty in improving is to think of surfing as guiding the board like you would steer a car turn this way or that way and you can do that but that is what beginners do. Advanced surfing is more like guiding your body with the board or using the board to help you get your body from point A to Point B to point C etc. It all starts with a bottom turn. That's my theory anyway. I am sure others will have other ideas. In my mind something that would help would be to learn to move your body up and down on land. So something like standing at the bottom of a set of stairs then jump up one stair and jump back down. Gradually increasing the number of stairs you are jumping up and back down but I would try to do a set of jumping up and down without stopping for several jumps. This will train you to be accurate in the movement. Perhaps a safer alternative could be found where if you fell it wasn't on stairs. I used to do that type of hopping on trails when I hiked but also on boulders in stream beds and washouts from rain along the trails I hiked. Ideally a dirt bank with a slope similar to a wave then jump up and back down and repeat. I never tried the stair thing well actually I did do lots of stuff on stairs including jumping a specific number of stairs or jumping just over the banister to the next level of stairs below and keep repeating but I never did exactly what I was saying just saying that because it is something generally available to anyone anywhere (stairs) and should be safer than what I used to do.

[waikikikichan]

Starting with the 2nd clip:
The wave did closeout, but you ran into the lip with your chest "closed" and the inside rail engaged. If you had opened your chest and lead with your front arm and started to roll onto the bottom/outside rail, there was a chance the wave's energy could have redirected you back down. Also where you look is where you go. Did you ever look back down to your landing spot, or where you looking out back the whole time ?

3rd clip:
Not sure if you "wheelie out" from the squirt speed of your board or it was your technique to bring up your front arm to un-weight to pop up on the lip. But after the initial hit the lip, your front arm was just being used for balance instead of for leading the direction and drive. You're also are "paddling" the wave with your back hand in a unconscious effort to gain speed. Not needed.

4th clip:
Nice line. Although I think I see a bit of a locked arm then a sudden violent rip back of the arm. It didn't match the body line and work with what the wave was doing. The upper body moved but did not translate down to the legs, so the board did not move in unison.

Now to the 1st clip:
Just impeccable. Very nice line and patience to get around the breaking lip and perform a beautiful executed wrapping cutback. Then a nice re-entry off the lip on the final closeout section and end on your feet.

Advice:
1) Use your front arm for steering and direction to lead the body/movement. Back arm for drive but NOT for paddling the wave.

2) Be proactive not so much reactive. If you're surfing a beach break and you know the waves closeout immediately, don't need to look and react. That is too late. Initiate your action before hand, instinctively.

[oldmansurfer]

My observations 1rst clip looks good, 2nd clip looks like you could have done an off the lip or a floater if you were ready, 3rd clip you navigated a backwash seems okay to me not sure what else you could have done yeah maybe if you timed it better, 4rth clip looks okay to me. One of the things you could have done in the third clip is to weight down into the bottom turn to get more speed that is if you weren't off balance from the backwash. To weight down in the bottom turn when you drop down the wave you also drop your weight by crouching into the bottom turn then extending out of it to project further in front of the wave but once you are behind it's difficult to get back in front on a small wave as you have to provide the power because the wave isn't going to. As waikikichan says plan ahead because it's much more difficult to do anything after the fact. Learning to get more power from your bottom turn is the thing to do learn to put your weight into the bottom turn and project out. Once you get good at that then you might be able to use that skill to get ahead of a small wave that you have gotten behind on.

[njbeethoven]

Thank you to both of you. I feel like I’m getting better but I just don’t feel as fluid as it seems like good surfers are, and I loose that power easily, especially if I try to turn. I think the bottom turn may be the biggest problem.
I’ll work on thinking ahead and my bottom turns. I appreciate the feedback

[oldmansurfer]

If you surf bigger steeper waves it’s easier because the wave provides lots of power. On mushier and smaller waves you have to add a greater percentage of the power required to do maneuvers and once you slow down it’s challenging to get moving again. It all starts with a bottom turn and then it’s a matter of keeping speed on a slow wave by turning constantly Or a longer board can help