Surfing Waves

so I have been surfing since I was about 12 Im 30 now-I am very good at pumping down the line frontside and backside and my bottom turns frontside are very good however my progression surfing has been halted by my ability to have good maneuverability and be able to turn well frontside for a top turn, re-entry or cutback. My issue is this-i have trained myself to get my back foot all the way back on the traction for the top turn or cutback however when I go to do this my stance becomes too wide and despite my back foot being all the way back on the traction i end up with all my weight on my front foot and i cant turn the board to the shore or back to the curl so I end up just falling off my board. My weight distribution gets all messed up with the wide stance and i cant whip the nose around. I need serious help because I havent progressed for years because of this despite being able to do this exceptionally well on a surfskate with proper mechanics/technique all around. If I try to narrow my stance I end up having to move my front foot and my back foot back on the board which takes too much time and I fall.

Well all I can say is typically if you've been doing it wrong for years it's going to take years to set it right. How big is the board you are using? How tall are you? Regardless this is how I would approach such a problem. Make a cardboard cutout of your board and practice popping up in the right place to do top turns and cutbacks. And also work on making your wider stance more comfortable. Take a wide stance then crouch and shift your weight over one foot and then the other staying crouched the whole time. You can l earn to have a solid wide stance with practice.

From what I'm reading, you know the WHAT and HOW to turn from practicing on your surfskate. But your problem is the WHERE and the WHEN. When you're riding on your surfskate, you roll to the ramp, curb or driveway. In the ocean, that driveway is coming at you also. So if you're not able to bring the nose down and getting stuck at the top, START your turn down already at Mid-Face. Yes, don't wait until you get to the top and say " Hey, now should be the moment I should turn down ". By the time you think it, it is too late, the moment has past you by ( literally ).
You have to be one step ahead.

** also I think your front foot stance might be too closed/strong, meaning the toes are pointed to 3 o'clock **

This is great advice thanks!

oldmansurfer wrote:Well all I can say is typically if you've been doing it wrong for years it's going to take years to set it right. How big is the board you are using? How tall are you? Regardless this is how I would approach such a problem. Make a cardboard cutout of your board and practice popping up in the right place to do top turns and cutbacks. And also work on making your wider stance more comfortable. Take a wide stance then crouch and shift your weight over one foot and then the other staying crouched the whole time. You can l earn to have a solid wide stance with practice.

Thanks for the tips! I am 5’10” and ride a 5’10”

I learned to surf long ago and quit for several years then restarted. I got to where I was doing fantastic bottom turns but the top turns were weaker or if I really pushed hard the board would loose and edge sometimes resulting in a spectacular turn with me pivoting around my butt however not what I wanted to do and I found similarly that I didn't have time to move my feet back after popping up. I didn't do the cardboard cutout but this was what I did years ago to get my feet to go where I wanted them. What I did was simply to arch my back more before popping up so my hands go further back when popping up and then push back on the popup instead of straight up. Definitely arching your back more gets you further back a couple inches and maybe that is all you need.