Struggling to get in at an angle..

[drowningbitbybit]

The problems I am facing right now is my short ass arm, As soon as that board lifts even just a bit as the bigger waves him me, I lose the ability to dig deep

I think this is a much simpler problem than fins or angles or anything else - it's likely that you're simply arching your back too early and stalling the board before you've properly caught the wave. A shortboard won't lift by you paddling alone (that's entirely weight distribution), and if the wave is doing it, well, you should already be popping up.

So, yes, paddle faster, but also keep your head down (plus the inevitable extra paddle) and keep the nose of the board down until you've caught the wave.

Also, be aware of what your knees are doing - as you arch your back as the wave hits you, its easy to put too much weight through your knees and stall the board.

[Lebowski]

Im aware at the obvious reasons why quads are easier to paddle and thrusters are not, as with a quad more water flows through the center of the board creating more drag.

Pardon?

To be honest, based on what I've read from your threads, it sounds like your main problem is that your board is too small for a surfer of your experience level. 7 months surfing and a 5'9 don't really go together.

You mention that you're catching waves super late. A bigger board would help with this. And unless you're surfing at a very high level, you'll be able to perform just the same turns whilst having a lot more fun.

And regards the fins, I honestly think most of the difference people claim to be feeling whilst paddling is placebo effect. I've never noticed any particular paddling difference between different fins sets, and even if I did, I'd attribute a poor surf down with few waves to many other factors before looking at my equipment.

[dtc]

Not strictly true for two reasons.

Ahh, you are right - I fell into the trap of extrapolating from what happens when you are at planing speed to what happens when you are paddling. Not the same thing

For Andy - I dont think you can blame your arms. Your arms only need to be long enough to get into the water, so maybe 6 inches long. I'm sure your arms manage that. You dont have to be digging very deep - check out freestyle swimmers, they dont stretch their arms out completely underwater. I know your issues with board transport etc, but I'm wondering whether you could borrow a bigger board (I dont know - say 6ft10) and try that for a session and just see if its a flaw in the technique (eg you cant catch waves with the bigger board either) or a skill issue (you just havent developed the skills for a 5ft9 quite as much as you need to).

[peazz]

I cannot ride longer boards, One wrong move, one pearl and my back is done for, it happened to me before. I did borrow a board in bondi a few weeks back 7"2, I paddled straight out to the back with ease but I pearled the board and put my back out for a few days.

I'm willing to struggle for a bit and to be honest, Its not as bad as im making out, Im catching waves, able to paddle straight out back, duck dive and im progressing, its just a few technical things.

I went for a surf today, caught 5 waves in an hour, wiped out on a further 3,, so 8 in total. managed to get into two super early and even angle my board but people dropped in on me so didnt get to see them through because of having to pull out.

Something clicked today, I paddled and focused on keeping my board flat and the nose out of the water just a few mm instead of an inch, I managed to get into greener faces and had alot more time to pick my angle.

I have adhd so it helps to fuel my failure , I do have a bigger board in hong kong (only 5 inchs) but its got a load more volume.

[Lebowski]

I don't know what's wrong with your back, but if it's so easily damaged then at some point you will injure it no matter what board you're surfing. Plus, pearling is a skill issue, not a board issue.

[peazz]

Lebowski,

I have never liked longboard before I found out I had compressed discs and a degenerating spine, I rode one twice and just hated it, rented a shorter board and loved it.

I pearled because it was bondi low tide, they jack up fast and are hollow, not really the place for a flat 7"2 (IMO).

I have never pearled my shortboard since getting it.

[peazz]

Update, I am making a point when I know I caught the wave now of looking down the line instead of straight to the beach, I am consistently catch green waves by keeping my nose only a few cm out of the water (its shifting my weight forward) and consistently taking off angled.

Once I have this motion of looking down the line ingrained and second nature I need to focus on setting my rail, because atm Im not setting my rail and wiping out alot..

The good news is, Im making progression and things are going well. shame this consistent surf is all over for me in 6 days..

[peazz]

So went out for a session today.....4 hours without a break >:), I caught so many waves I cant even count them with all my fingers and toes... epic session where alot of stuff has clicked.

Board may of been to small when I got it, but the past 8 weeks of pure determination has got me through.

Wanted to share my experience for learners coming across the thread...

1. make sure ur back is arched ALOT while keeping the nose out of the water a few mm, By doing this when I / u drop your head to get down the face the nose of the board will drop and the tail will lift getting you down the green face ALOT easier (imagine going downhill!)

2. When you pop up, Do not look at your board, Do not look at your feet and Do not look at the beach, If you did step 1 correctly, you will be in to the wave early and have enough time for this step.

So, your not looking at the beach and your not looking at your board / feet, You are going to look left and right, find out where the shoulder is, As you pop up keep your eyes in the direction you want to go..

Naturally your weight will shift, if you are looking where you want to go DURING your pop up, everything else will follow. Its imperitive that you keep your eyes fixed in the direction you want to go.

I may have the wrong idea here (and would love to know if i do) but for me its working and my progression is moving forward... Only 5 days left until I go home thou

[jaffa1949]

Isn't it great peazz when it all comes together and you really start to move forward..
You've earnt it by short board surfing by perserverance

[peazz]

Thanks Jaffa! It does feel amazing and Im very chuffed with myself that I have made it this far and not reverted to a longer (ish) board.. I told you I was a dedicated soul, Moving back to Hong Kong in 5 days and Going to be hard to surf as regular as I have been, So need to come up with with a solution to stay in shape.

Going to start swimming to keep my paddling up, and will be skateboard to keep my legs balancing muscles working, pull ups to keep my back strong and push ups for obvious reasons... Have I missed anything?

EDIT: Another thing that clicked today (after wiping out many times on steeper drops) is I need to stay super low on the board to keep my center of gravity lower, Infact doing this loosens up the board and makes it easier to turn, I would of got a snap off the top of the wave today If someone didn't drop in on me -_-

[jaffa1949]

Yeah have a look for a good Pilates class in Honkers, if you can get a good teacher, then the core muscles that support the spine will go a long way in slowing degeneration and good active muscles strengthen bone even the little supporters around the spine>
BTW I consider a successful patient was one who was doing Pilates and only needing to see me twice a year!
Look for a PM

[peazz]

I am defiantly going to look at Pilates everyone has recommended it to me and need to keep my core strong.

[dtc]

1. make sure ur back is arched ALOT while keeping the nose out of the water a few mm, By doing this when I / u drop your head to get down the face the nose of the board will drop and the tail will lift getting you down the green face ALOT easier (imagine going downhill!)

I have said this before but will add it to andy's good comments - my suggestion is that people spend a few minutes finding out where they should be laying on the board to get the nose in just the right position. Do this by paddling in some flat water (out the back) and moving back and forth until its just right (nose about 1cm or so out of the water). Then mark the place by drawing a line with your fingernail in the wax at a suitable level (I use eye level, but you could use nose or mouth level or whatever works for you). Then when you go from sitting to laying down, in preparation for paddling, you know instantly if you are in the right place or not and can adjust really quickly. Even if you dont have time to physically move, you know that you may have to really arch your back (if you are too far forward) or not arch as much (if you are too far back).

Eventually you sort of get 'in tune' with your board and almost know instantly whether you are in the right place or not.

As Andy pointed out, you often want to be a lot further forward than you think - after spending time perling your natural tendency is to be too far back. So marking your board shows you where you should be, which not always where your brain thinks you should be.

If you want to go further, practice going from sitting to laying down at the right spot and mark where your hands grabbed the board in the move from sitting to laying down. This is not as accurate as you wont make exactly the same moves every time, but when starting out it may be of assistance.

Andy, dont forget your glutes (or your credit card if you want to do pilates in HK!).

Hope you had a good holiday - you got the typical east coast summer waves for the most part, but they can be quite fun once you escape the longerboarders...and some hot last few days for you.

[peazz]

DTC's advices is right on the money, finding your sweet spot can be difficult, but the aim is to make sure your nose is only a few cm out of the water when paddling! its ok for it to be under the water when u are at a standstill.

I am doing glute excercises already, I mentioned them to the chrio 5/6 weeks ago, he checked them and said they are very under active..

Just got back from another epic session, caught so many waves again I cant count them on all my digits...

Im consistently pulling off my bottom turns after take off, Ok I dont nail them every time and even do them if the waves are closing out but its all good practice.

Something amazing happened today, I took a wave looking down the line and got a frontside wave, I got super low (from the knees) bottom turned into the lip keeping my eyes fixed where I wanted to go, I got full on spray out of the rail through the turn and managed to get a lip slap / top turn off!

I did not get back down after I drove up the face and rotated my board on the fins, I lost my balance, but for my first time going vertical it felt so amazing...fueled me for the rest of the session.

Even better news, I got my full session on my GoPro.... Will sort out an edit and get it up!

[oldmansurfer]

Yeah that is so great when you do something beyond your expectations. I love when I interact with the wave in ways other than just riding over the surface of it. So tell me Andy how do you attach a camera to your board? And does it get caught on your surf leash or interfere with your surfing?

[peazz]

I picked up the GoPro surf board mount pack, it comes with 2 sticky pads and 1 FCS plug, so if you are getting a board shaped u can have a plug put on the nose.

It doesnt interfere with me surfing or even get tangled in my leash, the only thing I have to deal with is a camera in my face haha!

honestly mate, If you got the dough, go grab yourself a GoPro you wont regret being able to criticise your sessions!

[peazz]

Not got round to a edit yet, Im collecting more footage to show some other bits of bondi, but here is a frame I pulled out just before I snapped of the top and wiped out.

Ill never forget this breakthrough moment.



EDIT: Right click the image > view image, Copied link from facebook and its to big, but dont want to sacrifice quality

[oldmansurfer]

I guess I am leery of paying $400 for a camera that falls off and is lost in the ocean or ends up damaging my board which I totally love at this point and lesser so getting hurt myself by it. It would really help me for the times when I get so concentrated on the wave ahead I have no idea what the wave is like behind me. I guess I would need to not turn turtle when I have the camera mounted since it will be in close proximity to my face with massive violence happening but that should be ok as I can just abandon the board and swim for the bottom.

[peazz]

You could always invest in one of the floaty backdoors for it as well mate? So it if the 2 plugs and camera leash fail and it does come off you will see a huge orange block floating in the water

[oldmansurfer]

I was looking around at stuff on the internet about gopros and found a lost gopro facebook page. There are lots of lost gopros all over the place. Maybe I need to see the various set ups to see how I can make it safer. Do you have a suggestion of a web page to go view the mounting and safety features of gopro for surfing?