Surfing Waves

my friend and i are practising pop-ups, and we're starting to argue a little about the correct position on the board.

I maintain, as i saw it on a video, that the wider apart your feet are, the more stable you are, and your back foot should be right at the back of the board.

My friend thinks feet should only be about shoulder width apart.

ALSO... I read somewhere, that you should place your back foot on a pop up first, and then your front. Only a milisecond apart, but the back foot should definitly hit the board first.

My friend thinks this may be rubbish and more likely both should hit the board at the same time.

Enlightenment, anyone??

I can only tell you what I do and what I have seen/heard others do.

Simple one first - my front foot hits the deck a millisecond before my back. Although the weighting might change depending on whether you are a front or back foot surfer (see below) I am not aware of anyone who doesn't do it this way. Unless you are jumping in the air and landing on your deck (not a good idea) I think that one foot is going to hit the deck a fraction of a second first.

The rest is less simple. Yes, the further apart your feet are the more stable you will tend to be. And the lower your weight the more stable you will be (that's why the crouching and bending of the knees). Usually a good thing to aim for when you are beginning. But the weight-as-low-as-possible (aka "stinkbug") stance is also pretty ugly. So you'll want to find a tradeoff that gives you stability, power and doesn't look ugly to poor, innocent bystanders. Like, if you are longboarding you are aiming to, ultimately, be light on your feet and upright - looking like you aren't trying at all (way harder than it sounds).

On a shorter board your back foot should be in the "sweet spot", which varies depending on your fin configuration (and some other factors). The sweet spot gives you the best tradeoff with responsiveness, turn power and control. You'll find it with practice, but the back foot will be in the region of the fins, assuming a tri-fin/thruster setup start with your back foot being centred between all three fins... Maybe slightly forward of that.

So you are both right... And both wrong :)

Just my 2c, anyone have anything to add or corrections to make.

-doug

Well I think that Doug has done a good job there... Explaining how and when to pop-up is very difficult as you just learn to do it. Front foot or back foot hits first I don't know... I feel that my front foot goes through first, but as I pull it through the back foot may already be set??? This question pops up so often but I am afraid to try and think about it whilst out; it becomes second nature and thinking about it may muck things up

Try to relax and just think, I want to get up quick and balance myself ready to make a turn… I don’t know when you forget about it but sooner or later you won’t even give getting up a second thought (getting up backhand is another story).

With regards to leg width... goes back on what you are riding and how you feel. Knees bent for a start and lower to the board creates a lower centre of gravity as you would expect, as for wide spread ie. A good position for pulling the good old “poo stance” Shhhh Don’t worry you are not alone, there are a lot out there still pulling this one. You may feel more comfortable but I feel that an exaggeration past shoulder width when not warranted may impair your balance rather than benefit it.

Shoulder width to just past is a good guide; get set for the bottom turn by having your weight ready to be transfered to your back foot. When riding a longboard a more parallel stance is generally accepted as good style ie. Feet virtually together often attracts attention and defiantly making it look easy is the key to style when longboarding.

With absolutely no intention of meaning this is the right thing to do, just this is what I do...

My back foot comes up slightly before my front foot, and as it goes onto the back of the board, I kinda pivot around it, although without putting any weight on it, then the weight settles onto both feet more or less at the same time. But that back foot definitely goes onto the board first

As for positioning, if I ever make my mind up or find a perfect formula which works on all boards, in all spots, on all waves, I'll let you know...

You've got a good idea about foot placement when you are starting out. You will discover that adjustments to foot placement are necessary depending on what you are trying to do...

getting the right foot place ments its different on each board, youv got to find the sweet spot of each board.

One example of what I was getting at...you need diffrent foot placement if you want to pump the board than if you want to do a bottom turn.

dougirwin13 wrote:IBut the weight-as-low-as-possible (aka "stinkbug") stance is also pretty ugly. So you'll want to find a tradeoff that gives you stability, power and doesn't look ugly to poor, innocent bystanders.

Not sure whether you're surfing to look cool, or surfing coz you love it -- but i would suggest keeping as low as possible in turns, but you can straighten out a bit when you're just cruising

your thinking about it too much, it just needs to be a smooth movement as you pop up so as not to upset the trim of the board, dont worry about which foot lands first just keep it stable. As for foot placement when riding do what works for you and your board, my foot placement tends to be different all the time, on bigger waves ill have my back foot further back, on smaller waves it comes forward more to keep momentum up, and shift it right to the tail when you want to pull one of those big fins out snaps

dreamer wrote:Not sure whether you're surfing to look cool, or surfing coz you love it -- but i would suggest keeping as low as possible in turns, but you can straighten out a bit when you're just cruising

Sure dreamer. Also keep in mind that I am a longboarder. So I aim towards a combination of style and power.

Regardless of board there's plenty of low, powerful stances that aren't "stinkbug" ;)

And, least we forget, your stance isn't static. Dreamer is spot on - it should flex and chance, dance with the wave.

-doug

thanks so much everyone.

guess i've learnt - carry on practising and giving it all the effort.

But don't sweat the small stuff!

Marti
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