Surfing Waves

Hi I needed help in my surfing and Ive gotten some good help here before and was hoping to get some more. Ive been surfing for about a year and learned on a longboard then moved to a 6'2 shortboard. I can get out to the line up catch green faces and ride down them confidently and turn onto the face, but I cant seem to keep going with the face and th wave leaves me behind every time Ive tried to pump but it seems like I dont go anywhere. If anyone can help me out and give me some things that may be wrong such as not bending knees enough, not enough back or front foot pressure, or anything of that matter I would really appreciate it!

Hey,

I would suggest moving you leading foot further forward and more weight on that foot too, if you pearl you've gone too far. try not too loose to much speed when you turn onto the face to - if you do I would think that you need to turn down the face again to keep the speed going.

Good Luck.

It sounds like your stalling the board. Without seeing how you surf it is hard to say. Just try to keep the board trimmed and moving as fast possible.

i had this same problem!!! and i just figured out how to solve it. my problem was that i would just go down the line, and not turn my board towards shore any. by turning your board to shore you stay on the face while your moving around. try it out.

you need to stay in the pocket of the wave to keep moving. u either need to learn to cutback or to get speed from the wave by climbing up the face and dropping back in again.

scarborough's final comment is the key.. you have to keep moving up and down the face to generate momentum. If you notice the pros, you can see the board moving side to side very quickly - going up and sliding down to generate speed.

Yes, the wave is moving forward and pushing, but you're a large, slowing object and no matter what, it will just move right through you if you don't generate some energy of your own.

So to keep going with the wave would I push down with my back foot to go up the wave then put the weight on my front foot to come down until I have enough speed to do a maneuver or the wave is over?

You would do this. You would bottom turn up the wave. Once you hit the lip, do a top turn then bottom turn and so on... Thats pumping. If you see the wave abotu to close out put pressure on your back foot look over your shoulder and start turning the opposite diirection towards the wash for a cutback.

pushing down on the back foot stalls the board. dont do it to keep momentum. you do need to turn hard of the bottom of the wave to get back up the face then drop down again to build up speed.

but wouldnt you need back foot pressure when bottom turning to take you up to the top of the wave? if im wrong please correct me all this help is great thanks alot!

a little yes but back foot pressure is more appropriate for short quick turns in the face of the wave. the bottom turn is slightly different as its where all the drive comes from into each manoevre. for the bottom turn you need to lean into the turn putting some weight over the inside rail (the one closest to the wave). until you have turned to be facing along the wave or back up it depending on how quickly its breaking.

pumping for speed isnt quite the same as working top to bottom on a wave. to pump you need to "unweight" your board. this means try to lift weight from both your feet. (usually means bending your knees upwards). the board should rise up the face under your feet. then you push down hard straightening the legs and that should give u more speed.

ive seen a lot of people standing with wieght on the back of the board bouncing the nose up and down but that doesnt really work. if you watch the pros the whole board is sliding up then down the wave.

surferdude_scarborough wrote:ive seen a lot of people standing with wieght on the back of the board bouncing the nose up and down but that doesnt really work. if you watch the pros the whole board is sliding up then down the wave.

Yes it does if you're surfing on small, gutless waves.
Alternately weight the front to carry you forward, then 'rescue' it by weighting the back. It gets you over the crumbly sections or (for a very short distance) over the flats.

This way of doing is particularly important with a fish when you dont have a lot of rocker (so you exagerrate back and forth movements) and have a lot of surface area in front of the leading foot.

Its a different thing to what you're describing going up and down the face (which is obviously the best thing if there is enough wave to do it with) but there is a time and a place for the bouncey pump (summer at saunton)

ok fair nuff. its never really helped me get anywhere tho but then i dont ride fish. even with the bouncy nose thing uve still got to unweight its just on a different bit of wave surely?

surferdude_scarborough wrote:even with the bouncy nose thing uve still got to unweight its just on a different bit of wave surely?

Not really - unweighting the board will help carry you up the wave, but the bouncey up and down thing is to carry you through the section where there is hardly any wave. If you unweight there, the board tends to just stop!

Also of course, its a style difference thing - I think the bouncey pumping thing is most useful when the board is gonna slow and get bogged down and then sink... which is more of a problem when you weigh 12 and a halfstone and are not built like a stick insect

Okay, just thought about it a little more...
As well as the flat or crumbly section, the other time I'll be pumping is when the weak wave has almost passed me by and Im almost behind and above the peak. Its a last ditch move to recover some momentum, but a good pump (almost sinking the nose through the wave) can get you back in front of the peak or onto the face.

Again, only relevant on slow, gutless, crumbly waves.

ok yes it does work on rubbishy slow waves to recover but only to recover.

http://www.surfingvancouverisland.com/surf/tricktips/

Check out...
Pumping on a Frontside Wave
&
Speed on a Backside Wave

dbbb wrote:which is more of a problem when you weigh 12 and a halfstone and are not built like a stick insect

if i bring my 5'11 down to saunton will u have a go?

surferdude_scarborough wrote:

dbbb wrote:which is more of a problem when you weigh 12 and a halfstone and are not built like a stick insect

if i bring my 5'11 down to saunton will u have a go?

Of course
It'll sink, but I'll have a go

I enjoyed the whole board-swapping session last year. And it'll be fun to get you on Phil's longboard while he 'rides' your 5'11

sinks with me on it