Surfing Waves

I'm regular, but have difficulty going right....

I can take off smoothly and head off down the line on fast and steep waves going left (backside), but struggle going right (frontside), and I need a much cleaner wave to get it right. Even then I'm slow to engage the rail and head off in the right (no pun intended) direction.

I did a lot of kitesurfing before I took up surfing, and you're mostly on your heels on a kiteboard, so I presume this is why backside feels more natural.

Any tips to help going frontside?

I mostly ride a 7'3" Nineplus Magic Carpet (single fin) or a 6'0" DGS Scorpion (thruster)

Often on bigger waves on the 7'3" the fin will lose grip on the wave and spin out going right. I don't have this problem going left, even if I turn aggressively to get into the pocket.

Any advice much appreciated!

cuica wrote:I can take off smoothly and head off down the line on fast and steep waves going left (backside), but struggle going right (frontside), and I need a much cleaner wave to get it right. Even then I'm slow to engage the rail and head off in the right (no pun intended) direction.

I think most people have an easier time going backside in steep waves. Its easier to grab rail and lean into the face of the wave. And its usually easier to push harder into heel side turns.

For toe side turns, I usually lean into the turn more (compared to backside) to help engage the rail. I kinda started doing it thru trial and error but not sure if thats what surf instructors would recommend nowadays.

On your thruster, you could also try using more of a raked fin for the toe side rail. Sometimes I use an Asym fin setup for that reason.. raked fin for more hold/drive on the toe side rail.. and a neutral or upright fin for more pivot/maneuverability on the heel side.

On the single fin you can also move it more towards the tail for more drive/hold in the wave if you havent tried that yet.

Maybe you are still holding on to the kiteboard control bar with both hands. Your right hand needs to rotate clockwise around your back to effectively twist your upper body/torso into the wave's face. It's not good if your back hand is just hanging out in front of your chest.

I quit surfing for 12 years and restarted and when I did it seemed to me that it was easier to go backside. My backside bottom turns were great long before my frontside bottom turns. I think that it is partly because when you ride backside your upper body is already turned so you can see where you are going so you are already in position to make a turn. For me the solution was to practice my frontside bottom turns. Develop a bunch of different bottom turns but most importantly a projection bottom turn that gets you speed because learning to slow down is much easier

Backside is harder for me. Frontside much more natural. I stagger my hands a bit on the pop up; going left as a goofy my right hand is higher than my left on the board. Staring down the line as I get up with the stagger Im on and in alot faster than backside.

Just go right as much as you can and be really aware of what you are doing, where your hands are etc. Best way to learn is trial and error where possible, and getting good habits into muscle memory

If you are spinning out frontside maybe you are popping up too far forward on the board. Maybe you need to focus on pushing your toes down as you mention you are used to pushing on your heels. Maybe you need bigger fins? The heel issue may be part of why I learned to backside bottom turn well before frontside my second time around. It doesn't take any foot strength to push you heels down but it does frontside to push your toes down. I do exercises where I stand on one foot and then lift up on my toes several times a week to strengthen those muscles. I surf quads because I don't feel thrusters hold well enough. It's possible that if I could find bigger thruster fins I might like thrusters better. It took me three years of surfing about an hour a week to get to where my frontside bottom turns caught up to my backside bottom turns