foot placement

[gnarkilljax]

I'm having trouble with my foot placement and was wondering if you guys could give me some advice. First off were should you back foot be should it be pushed up against the kick of the traction pad or in the middle? Also whenever i get my back foot is at the very top of the traction pad. And I have tried so hard to have back farther when i get up but i just can't. So any suggestions.

[Lodato]

When you stand up, make an effort to push the board a few inches further forward when you stand up. It will feel awkward at first, but you need to get that foot back on the traction pad to really crank your turns around.

[naniekso]

one thing that i did to help was to lay further back on the surfboard even before the popup.

i belive that your body naturally tries to find the balance point on a surfboard. and in order to turn, you have to stay off that balance point. so if you have more weight on teh back(back foot farther back) then its easier to turn rather than plane the surfboard(go faster)

[Forage]

Usually you want your foot right back against the tail stop on a shortboard so you can turn harder. If you look at pictures of guys in the tube, often they've got both feet a bit more forward for speed. If you spend much time getting tubed, then I have no business giving you advice at all. So for now lets go with "all the way back".

Popping up with your back foot in the right place takes a little while, and the advice above is all good. One thing I'd like to add is just to make sure you're moving your feet to the right place after the pop up. It gets you used to moving your feet around on the board while riding, and it gets you used to the feel of having your feet in the right place. This helped me train my feet to seek the correct place while I pop up.

Good luck.

EDIT: Oh yea, forgot my other trick. Put your hands a bit further back when you're going to pop up. You'll tend to land your feet back a few inches from that. At least I did.

[TynoXxX]

Hi, foot placement is part of the whole body+board+wave system, you can not just put your back foot further and surf you might have to change some of the following factor :

1. body placement : if you are too much weighted on your back foot it will be compensated by a foot placement too much forward. Try to surf with your arms well in front and the weight of your trunk more on your front foot, you will naturally need to displace yourself on the back of your board.

2. Does your baord feet your size ? if your board has too much lenght between front fins and the wider point of the board you will not be able to perform an optimal feet placement.

3. Any way you have to be mobile on your board (slightly) and adjust your position depending on wave type and section, dont really focus on absolute foot placement on your board but on feeling of speed and maneuvrability you get depending on your feet AND body weight placement.

Sorry for my english, hope it will help

[Wavecation]

I've been surfing for over 20 years and I recently had a eureka moment regarding back foot placement. I was riding in Cali late last year and for some reason while I was on a wave I decided to look down at my feet. I was shocked to see that my back foot, though I thought it was ALL the way back had about 6 more inches to go. On the next wave I made sure it was back further and my first snap off the lip I almost spun all the way around! I was grinning ear to ear. Finally I understood how all the other surfers could do such sick turns and off the lips. Surfing has been so much more fun since I made that small change.