Popping up problem

[Joewestt]

Whenever I pop up on my board my knee seems to scrape the board and grazes and it really stings sometimes! Was just so wondering if anyone knows why this happens and any advice on what to do differently? I have been surfing for about 2 and a half years so am intermediate but I have been living with this problem ever since I started! It's about time I should sort it haha :S

[Rickyroughneck]

I would recommend practicing on land. It is harder on land (land doesn't move down :/) so if you do it enough, then you should get higher back in the water.

[Joewestt]

I would recommend practicing on land. It is harder on land (land doesn't move down :/) so if you do it enough, then you should get higher back in the water.

Thanks man I will give it a go and see if it works!

[dtc]

cut and pasted from another post - It could be your hand position - the purpose of the arm thrust (push) is to get your hips high enough to bring your legs under. If your hands are too far forward, then you cant get your hips into the right position - they will be too low and there wont be enough room for your legs and they will scrape along the board.

Make sure your hands are no higher than shoulder level and preferably at rib level. A useful tip is (for a natural footer) is to have your left hand around mid rib height (just below shoulder) and right hand close to the bottom of your ribs (I'm old and my right hand is actually almost down to my hip because I need an extra thrust to bring my legs forward). Having hands at slightly different levels gives you a natural 'twist' as you push up. Remember that most of the time, at the 'top' of the arm thrust, your shoulders should be no higher than your hips. When you are on the board moving from flat to sitting (at the line up), push yourself up to sitting by putting your hands in the correct pop up position and it will become natural to place them in that spot.

Another possibility is simply not committing to the pop up. Doing a half assed push. Push hard, commit.

[IB_Surfer]

Got a buddy that has the same problem. It wasn't much of an issue in the winter because the wetsuit protected his knee, but in the summer while wearing his shortie he kept gettng the top of his left knee scrapped against the stomp pad. After trying to change his pop his pop up he came up with a different cure: he bought a 2m long leg spring suit and stopped trying to change his pop up, the neoprene is sufficient protection and he doesn't stress over it.

What size board are you riding and how much do you weigh?

[still-learning]

I use the same approach to what DTC suggested...helps me (especially when i am knackered or damn lazy) to get my legs through and hips rotated in time...works a treat!! try it!

[Joewestt]

Got a buddy that has the same problem. It wasn't much of an issue in the winter because the wetsuit protected his knee, but in the summer while wearing his shortie he kept gettng the top of his left knee scrapped against the stomp pad. After trying to change his pop his pop up he came up with a different cure: he bought a 2m long leg spring suit and stopped trying to change his pop up, the neoprene is sufficient protection and he doesn't stress over it.

What size board are you riding and how much do you weigh?

Yeah that's the same with me it's okay when I wear a wetsuit but wearing boardshorts just ruins my knee completely! I ride a 6ft 4, 6ft 6 and also have a 7ft 2 and it is an issue on all of the boards. I weigh 80kg

[surf patrol]

I have the same problem on my left knee but with a 4/3 wetsuit! It's pretty annoying. It started happening out of nowhere, I'm guessing because I've been staying out longer. After the session the skin on my left knee is raw. I've just been surfing less, to let it heal. Been trying to change my technique but I can't stop using my left knee to give me a slight boost to swing my legs through. I have no trouble getting to my feet on a wave. But this knee thing is really pissing me off.

Here's a clip of my pop-up

[jaffa1949]

I can't see the knee thing in the video?
Video in the surf might expose it!

[hcfkavh]

I should've taken the video form the other side...it's very subtle but I do use my left knee bc I have a small piece of gouged skin to prove it. Aside from that is my pop-up ok? would it suffice in larger/faster waves? slowly trying to work my way up to larger waves to prepare for winter. I started august of last year so last winter I skipped out on a lot of sessions due to the wave size, totally off topic...

I would like to get footage while surfing but I don't have any friends that surf or would accompany me early in the morning.

[TowelCircus]

The bigger the wave the easier pop up is. Iwould rather swim a lot to get confidence and watch a lot of monster wave footage .
Some people have learn to pop up very early on the wave, as soonas they can they pop up but the result is they lose speed at the beginning of the wave and the pop up is harder to perform. If you give one more struck and pop up when you are really into the wave face popping up will be easier.