Riding to beach -- Need help riding face/turning

[oceanbreak]

Hi all,

I've been surfing for about 3 months now almost daily. addicted. I've had a 9' gun, then a 7'10 popout, and now a 7'6 greg loehr super light funboard i love.

I'm 5'9 150lbs and surf in north florida.
I've had my share of struggles but i feel pretty competent now.. i can paddle out, catch waves decently and ride to the beach or somewhat at an angle (which usually means a very short ride)

I'm struggling to progress lately because i see other surfers do moves i don't know how/cant do. They seem to turn to the face then back towards the beach etc in a "pumping" motion a lot. Also, i cant ride the face of the wave.. but that could be cecause all i see is white water around me after i popped up.


Please help.. i don't know how to progress from here..

[Lebowski]

Go to youtube and watch all of the surf simply webcasts. They can probably explain everything you need to know at this stage far better than someone can by writing on here.

[dtc]

Pumping is a way to build up speed - the fastest part of the wave is around the upper 1/3, not the bottom. But if you just sit in the upper third sometimes you 'outrun' the wave (the shoulder or breaking part) or alternatively you might not get fast enough just from the wave to outrun a flat bit or the shoulder. So pumping involves going to the middle of the wave (speed) and then going 'downhill' (speed), with the ultimate aim of either doing a speccy manouvere (eg 90 deg turn) or perhaps just keeping ahead of a fast breaking wave. Or just having a bit of fun.

As to popping up with white water all around you, its hard to say but you probably not doing something quite right. Probably you are popping up way too late ie waiting until you have ridden down the wave and then popping up at the bottom, rather that at the top. Another option might be that you are popping up ok but then riding straight down the wave (ie directly to the beach) instead of across it. Or possibly you are popping up ok but the wave is going faster than you are, so the white water catches up with you.

If you look at a wave, at least one that is good for surfing, you will notice it will start breaking in one spot and then curl across the beach. If you surf straight towards the beach or are surfing too slowly, you arent moving across fast enough but the breaking part of the wave is, so it will catch up with you and you will be in white water.

And another option - if the wave is just breaking all at once ('close out') then there isnt much you can do about it. It will be white water everywhere. This is just a matter of choosing the right wave, but often there is a bit of luck involved as some waves close out for no apparent reason...

So if you are able to think about and describe what you think is the issue, then we can help. For example
1. popping up only at the bottom of the wave (is the board flat when you pop up and the wave has already broken?)
2. riding straight to the beach rather than across (do you do a bottom turn?)
3. riding across but having the white water catch up with you
4. something else?

Also, watch those videos suggested.

[oceanbreak]

Thanks for the replies. I've spend countless hours watching a re-watching every single surf instruction video before even making my first post here.

I should mention i guess that here in north florida we usually get 1-3 closeout waves. I do popup on the top or halfway through.. straight. then the wave just ends. I see shortboarders do the down, face, down, face again, or longboards do somewhat face/beach ride.

I'm just not sure how to go about doing it on a consistent basis. I'm goofy fotted and i have to ride most of the waves with my back.. which makes it harder i guess.

What should i try to focus on? Looking sideways instead of down/beach? trying to go out the back of the wave to get used to fast turns? Try to hold on to the rail and til it to popup at an angle? I guess i'm trying to figure out if i should ride the face or work on bottom turning.. are they the same?!

Lastly, i have a 7'6 fun.. which i feel like its hard to turn with at times. Should i try using my 6'10 shorty?

[drowningbitbybit]

It sounds to me like the biggest problem is that you're catching closing out waves way too late. Once you're stuck in the whitewater, you're not going anywhere

What should i try to focus on? Looking sideways instead of down/beach? trying to go out the back of the wave to get used to fast turns? Try to hold on to the rail and til it to popup at an angle? I guess i'm trying to figure out if i should ride the face or work on bottom turning.. are they the same?!

I think you're a bit ahead of yourself here and it's more the 'whole general mishmash' that you need to be looking at.
First of all, get out a little further back, pick your wave nice and early, start paddling for it before it gets to you, really paddle, and catch it while it still has a green face. If its broken, its too late. Try paddling at a slight angle too.
Then stop looking at your feet and the beach - look where you want to go. Really turn towards where you want to go with your head, hips, shoulders and arms. The easiest way to do this is point with your leading arm (you're right arm if you're goofy) where you want to go - it might feel a bit silly at first, but it works

Do all that, and you should find yourself going along the green face, or at the very least turning along the bottom of an unbroken wave, which is where you can progress from.

Don't worry about a bottom turn until you've nailed the clean pop-up and can ride along the face.

[dtc]

I just thought of another possibility... if you pop up and put your weight too far back (mostly on your back foot), you will stall / slow down the board and get caught by the wave. This is one of the counter intuitive things about surfing, but when going down hill (down the face) you have your weight forward NOT leaning back. You think you should lean back to even the board out, but that is wrong.

Its like skiing or snowboarding or skateboarding in this respect. If you lean back on skis while going down hill, you just fall over backwards or have no control. You actually have to lean forward. Same with surfing.