Surfing Waves

argh i need some serious help catching the face of the wave. i will position myself right and will make sure the wave is going to peel out, then ill paddle and as the wave picks me up and i try to stand i go straight down the wave and my board flys out from under me and i do a faceplant. What am i doing wrong? ive got a 9ft longboard.

Could be a number of things.. a couple clarifying questions:

- is the nose of the board going under the water? You mention the 'board flies out' from under you.. if the nose isn't digging into the water, do you mean it is shooting out forward from under your feet?

How big are the conditions (wave face)? Are they really steep, or sort of more meaty waves?

Off the bat, I'd say that if your board is nose diving, you're laying too far forward on it and need to back up a few. Usually the best place to start is with your face right above the logo etched on the board, and then tinker with that position.

If it's not the nose catching water, you'll have to explain a bit more.

try doing angled take offs or instead of goeing down the face go straight intp a big bottom turn

You might just be tyring to catch the wave too late. On a longboard you've got to get into them early (sit further out back)! Also, angle your take-off as well.

Drifting along nailed it. Sit back further on your board go for the wave earlier and paddel at a angel. Turn as quick as possible one you have the wave.

Alright thanks ill try angleling off... ive done that before but i think i angled to far... i flipped sideways... so if the wave is braking to the right, then i start it off turned slightly to the right?

well angled takeoffs dont work for me, so what i do is as soon as i pop up turn, unless its a huge wave, then i drop in absobe the chunks and the do big bottom turns. just try and find something that suits you

1 - sit further back

2 - catch the waves earlier, if the decent is too steep then unless you are angled (3) then you are going nose into water.

3 - if 1+2 do nothing for you then go for a slight angle remember too much = rolling done the wave too little and it wont do anything

If all else fails take up bodyboarding (JK) Try all 3 of the above together and you should do fine. But mix it up with what works for you, everyones different.

Driftingalong wrote:You might just be tyring to catch the wave too late. On a longboard you've got to get into them early (sit further out back)! Also, angle your take-off as well.

Excellent advise. A few people have suggested moving back more on your board. There isn't anything wrong with that, but if you go back too far, its gonna be tough to catch any wave. You dont want the nose of your board more than a couple inches out of the water.

had the same problem this week lol..