Surfing Waves

Hi,

I`ve been learning to surf over the last few weeks with my girlfriend and thought i`d try and seek out a friendly forum to help us get better!

anyway, this wkend we went up to north devon to get some practice in - unfortunately it was all flat until yesterday afternoon when the waves got a bit better so we went out at woolacoombe.

all was well, managing to catch a few waves and standup successfully

then the waves got quite a bit bigger - i found that everytime i tried to catch the wave, the nose of the board would dip and the wave would crash down on top of me. It was as if the wave was pushing the back of the board up and the nose would then drop beneath the water and i was toast then!

i`ve tried moving back on the board but this does`nt seem to help with the bigger waves.
we`ve been using the foam boards and i was wondering if it`s anything to do with them - i was also pretty knackered having been paddling around happily for while -maybe i wasn`t paddling fast enough perhaps?

has anyone got any tips for this ?

thanks,
mike

It's called pearling. Have a search in the forum for 'pearl' or 'pearling'.

Try lying slightly further back on the board when you're paddling for the wave... I still do it now and again if I'm rushing to get onto a wave and don't get my positioning quite right.

Always makes for a good wipeout though

gazbert wrote:Always makes for a good wipeout though

cheers - i can honestly say, i`m getting quite experienced in wiping out

The foam board may not be able to perform well enough in the larger waves..

You are going to need to make adjustments to your technique for bigger waves.

You may need to sit a little further out...
paddle a little sooner...
paddle a little harder...
angle the board more...

You may not be getting the momentum and speed you need early enough to catch the bigger waves.

angling will do, standing up faster will help

cheers guys, thanks for the advice - i`ve had a good read of the other threads in this section and have taken it all on `board`(sorry!)

i`ll probably be going back in 3 weeks or so and will give it all a try. i think i probably need to practice more in the broken waves before i move into the bigger waves.

cheers,
mike

also very important for bigger waves, as these guys said try to paddle a little early it will make it easier, but as soon as you feel the wave "pick u up" pop up and take control. The longer you stay with your belly on the board, the more time your giving your board to pearl. The faster you get up, the more time you have to control you board and bring up and to the side so you can ride the face nice and with some style.....

question about angling...what is the logic behind it in helping you pop up? and how soon should one angle the board?

surfishlife wrote:question about angling...what is the logic behind it in helping you pop up? and how soon should one angle the board?

Depends on your position as the wave is coming in, but you don't need to start angling untill the wave starts to pick you up (or maybe right before it starts to pick you up).

It is mainly used for steep waves. If you going straight; the water just sort of drops out from under you. This leaves just the tail in the water and can easily lead to the nose just taking a...um...nose dive. Angling allows you to have more of the board in the face while you are trying to stand up. I hope I explained that okay.

ah, makes sense. sounds a bit tricky, timing wise though, to direct your board at an angle right before pop-up because at that point, you'll be paddling, no? i guess you'd have to know how to paddle at an angle...

i can't even paddle straight decently.

imagine walking down a really steep hill, if you walk straight down its difficult cos its so steep, but if you walk diagonally down the hill its less steep and easier to walk down, smae reason why roads in steep places wind up and down hills instead of just going straight up and down.

In very steep waves and late takeoffs you sometimes have to physically yank the board in to make the drop, air drops are fun but they tend to leave you stuck at the bottom with no speed which isnt ideal (and there an easy way to snap boards)

The problem with rented foam boards is they can be quite flexy which doesnt help matters, but they do have the advantage of being able to catch waves early on before they start to jack up allowing you to ride into the wave before it gets too steep. What length where the boards you used? if they where the 9ft ones then try one of the 7-6 boards, there a much better design for that type of board.

surfishlife wrote:ah, makes sense. sounds a bit tricky, timing wise though, to direct your board at an angle right before pop-up because at that point, you'll be paddling, no? i guess you'd have to know how to paddle at an angle...

i can't even paddle straight decently.

Leaning to one side when paddling will turn the board.
I've see this on videos and started trying it out my self: when popping-up they would grab the inside rail with one hand and place the other hand on the deck. This way they could sort of pull the board into the wave as they're popping-up.

Driftingalong wrote:I've see this on videos and started trying it out my self: when popping-up they would grab the inside rail with one hand and place the other hand on the deck. This way they could sort of pull the board into the wave as they're popping-up.

yeah, occy does that, watch any video of him and youll see it,

Driftingalong wrote:

surfishlife wrote:ah, makes sense. sounds a bit tricky, timing wise though, to direct your board at an angle right before pop-up because at that point, you'll be paddling, no? i guess you'd have to know how to paddle at an angle...

i can't even paddle straight decently.

Leaning to one side when paddling will turn the board.

Makes sense, thanks. No wait a sec...i had to think it over a few minutes. You wouldn't have to lean to the side much to turn the board, right? If you lean too much, that would compromise paddling efficiency huh.

Driftingalong wrote: I've see this on videos and started trying it out my self: when popping-up they would grab the inside rail with one hand and place the other hand on the deck. This way they could sort of pull the board into the wave as they're popping-up.

So essentially, you're pushing up with one hand? I can see how that technique works too...but does it then become a strength capability? I'm weak enough as it is, and am currently trying to put those surfer muscles in good use.

surfishlife wrote:So essentially, you're pushing up with one hand? I can see how that technique works too...but does it then become a strength capability? I'm weak enough as it is, and am currently trying to put those surfer muscles in good use.

no, you still use both hands, but with one flat and one on the rail (think of how spongers put their hands when theyre pulling in its kind of similar i think). One hand does take a bit more load than the other but not so much as it would be much harder, I know of someone who smashed their arm up and now uses this technique to put more emphasis on the stronger arm, but its not completely one-armed.
I tried surfing one-armed a few weeks ago after my fin bit me in my elbow, its much harder.

btw, you dont have to angle the board after you start paddling, just dont turn all the way to face the beach before you start paddling, stop when your pointing slightly down the line.

just wanted to say thanks for the advice guys -

i went up to saunton on sunday and hired a longboard instead of the foam sponge boards. I was catching and standing up on nearly every wave i tried to catch

it was the best session i`ve had since i started - well pleased! i thought i `d try to catch a couple of the bigger waves too - managed that and was really flying!

cheers,
mike