Help me improve.

[BaNZ]

I shift my front foot close to the rail after I take off to turn so I can turn into the wave. I do shift it back to centre once I think I'm at the right position. Not sure if that is the right way of doing it.

You're right that I put most of my weight on the back foot that I think it's also lifting the head too high from the water.

When I look at the photo I'm surprised at my posture and the way I surf. It's totally different to what I think I'm doing.

I should try take some videos next time. For cromer, its the best I had this past month! Heard from the locals that it doesn't get much better than that.

[dtc]

I shift my front foot close to the rail after I take off to turn so I can turn into the wave. I do shift it back to centre once I think I'm at the right position. Not sure if that is the right way of doing it. .

Cant say I've ever heard of anyone doing it this way I have to admit. It sounds a bit like you are just trying to turn through weighting rather than also using your upper body eg look where you want to go and your lower body (and hence the board) will follow around as you 'unwind'. I think you mentioned earlier you thought you didnt do this quite right. Have a look at videos on how to do roundhouse cutbacks, they are usually pretty instructive on the whole 'look at where you want to go' stuff - even if you arent aiming for a big turn like a cutback, its the same for any turn

For example, in the first photo, assuming you are part way though a turn down the wave, you should be looking at the wave itself - much further to the left, looking at the wave face, not looking almost straight ahead. Not just your head being turned, but your shoulders turn (as before, from arm 'pointing' where you are hoping to go). In the last photo you are looking sort on at the right place but your shoulders havent turned.

Its not a 'hard' skill, certainly easier than standing up. its just a thing to remember to do

When I look at the photo I'm surprised at my posture and the way I surf. It's totally different to what I think I'm doing. .

Join the club!

[jaffa1949]

I think we might have just identified the problem...
Weight on the back foot will just stall the board and slow you down. To go along the face and 'beat' the wave, you need to drive forward by having your weight on the front foot, your head forward, and your leading hand out towards where you want to go.

I lean back because of 2 reason. 1 If I put on my weight on front foot I gain too much speed and I can't turn back onto the wave again. So I try and stay on the face by not going so quick 2. Fear. I will only lean forward if it is 2-3 feet waves and anything over my head, I lean back.

I also think my feet position are too forward. I don't have those traction pad. But if I do, my back feet is probably at least 1 foot infront of the pad location. I think I should get a pad so I can feel that I have my feet in the correct position. Maybe I can't turn easily because of that.

jaffa, you're right. I got my lingo mixed up.

dtc- One of my friend told me the 1/2 crucifix hand posture. He kept yelling at me to do it. I kept telling him the wave is too small and mainly because it looks too stupid. Guess I'm the stupid one for not listening!

Did try all the advices today, wave was between 5-6 feet so a bit out of my league. 1/2 the time I manage to ride along the face. A bit later I was exhausted and the lip curls too much so I keep getting thrown off the wave as I took off to slow. But I had so much fun. Some times my front feet is too forward so the head of the board is flat on the water and it was too steep so it didn't end up well!

Sadly so much of what you are doing is killing any speed you might get. You are in reality riding like you are still in the white water with lean turns and side foot movement.
Take off at angle and try driving the turn with you feet and body , rotate through your back and hips to drive the board around!
In some of the pictures your stance is pretty good and if you look closely you are forward and the board has speed.
Pay attention to this next bit!
When the board has speed it is more stable and maneuverable , slow equals bogging down, which describes most of your wipeouts!
Learn to drive beyond the white water into the next section of green wave!
dtc and the other posters are on the money!

[BaNZ]

Yes now I think about it, you're spot on. I still lean hard on the board and use my side foot movements to turn the board. At first I suck at it, I'll lean too hard and the rails dig into the water and I fall off. But I've been doing it for several months that I'm getting good with it. I guess this is a very bad habit and I need to get rid of it. I can take off at an angle, but I only do it when the waves are steep and big. In Cromer the waves breaks too gently and I've lost my paddle strength to be able to catch them at an angle.

I think I can actually shift my body to do the turns, in the second photo I was riding along and I saw the girl taking off infront of me. If I tried to lean on the board there was no way I could've get out in time. I had to do a sharp turn, I did it somehow but I don't remember how I did it. The turn also generated a little water splash! It was crowded that day so I had to do a few sharp turns. I think I'm able to do it but I just don't do it. Maybe it might be to with the size of my board 9’0” x 22 3/4” x 3 1/8”. I'm 62kg and 172cm which I find it difficult to control the board. After I switched to a 7"6 my gf was saying I was doing much sharper turns. Maybe because I didn't have much room to side step on the board therefore it forced me to use my body to turn...

Shoulders, yes there are so many things that I need to adjust. And looking at the wave face! I really need to keep all of this in mind. Can't believe I've been surfing nearly a year and still not able to do the basic!

Grrrr I wish I live closer to the beach with more consistent wave. I just get so excited and rush into the water, have a few hours of fun enjoying myself on the waves. Then I start trying to practice the techniques later on but by then I'm completely worn out.

[BaNZ]

I do thank you all for taking your time to give me advice. It so much easier for someone to point out what I'm doing wrong than figuring it out yourself. It's not easy especially as I mentioned earlier that what I think I'm doing is different to what I'm actually doing. I'm usually the only person at Cromer surfing a LB so there isn't anybody to teach me.

[dtc]

No problems, I'm happy its you and not me being picked apart - if it were me, we would have a far longer thread!

I was thinking about this and wondering whether you are quite tense on the board, so everything is sort of 'locked up'. I know its easy to say 'relax', much easier than actually relaxing, but turning your body to face where you want to go is actually a pretty natural thing; its just when we are doing things in an unfamiliar environment we sort of forget how to act naturally.

I remember back when i was in army cadets and it was hard to march properly at first, because you were so fixated on keeping time and getting your feet in the right place that your hands would stop swinging the opposite way to your foot (ie hand forward when foot is back - which is how we walk) and instead your hand would follow your foot (hand forward at the same time - square gaiting). It was a good lesson in how concentrating on something not normal (keeping in time) messed up acting naturally.

Anyway, its possible you are still focusing so much on the board itself and your connection to the board (your feet) and how the board is angled and so forth, that you are forgetting the rest of your body. An oft repeated phrase is "Surf with your body - not your surfboard". If you move your body, your board will follow - sure there are things about your weighting and foot positioning to develop, but thats the icing on the cake rather than the cake - so forget about the board and focus on the body.

A good way to start, at least it was for me, is to catch a non threateniing wave and go along the face doing a type of 'pumping' - instead of doing big turns, do a series of little turns ie up to near the top of the wave, then 45 deg down to about 1/2 way (or the bottom if is a Cromer wave!) then back up again at 45 deg. Just small weaving up and down, getting the feel, nothing radical, nothing fast or pressured. Twist your shoulders and your hips and look at where you want to go before the turn starts, dont do any conscious weighting at all, dont even think about your feet, just think about your upper body and looking at where you want to go.

Then once you have done this a few times (or a lot of times) and think you are getting the hang of it, do the same thing but try and go as fast as possible forward (not changing the nature of the turns). You will realise that its completely natural, when you are trying to go fast, to lean forward. Lean down the hill (the wave), then ease up a little going up the hill, then lean down the hill again. In fact, you will probably end up with too much speed and not know what to do with it, but what to do with it comes next.

Anyway, it seems like a whole lot of complex stuff but actually once you get the hang of it, you will just do it - because its actually the natural way of doing it

[BaNZ]

dtc, thanks for the tips! I can't wait to get in the water to try it out. I look pretty tense in the photos. I've tried pumping up and down the wave but I'm terrible at it. If I go too far up the wave I go over it and when I go down the wave I go into the white wash. It's also not often I can practice that because usually the wave closes very quickly.

There's a lot to think about for my next surf trip!

[oldmansurfer]

I sometimes slide my front foot toward the inside rail. It really isn't a conscious thing and it seems to happen on radically steep big takeoffs. It seems obvious that I am doing this to make the rail grab so I can start turning before I reach the bottom of the wave. Back in the old days on wooden boards without fins the surfer would slide their rear foot to the inside rail and drag the foot in the water to help turn it. There are lots of ways to surf. I never worry about if I am doing it right just that I enjoy it. I guess if you want to learn to do turns then practice is going to help. I find that the more I surf the more practice I get, but some turns such as cutbacks need to be done in very specific portions of a wave and to do a big carving cutback you need a big wave and a slow part of it. I have been working on my cutback for over a year now. I think I am starting to get it down but I need some big surf with a reasonable section to try it on. Longer boards weigh more. I found after surfing my 9'6" longboard for about three years I could feel the weight as I tried to do the various turns. I switched to an 8 foot board and so far there has been no sensation of throwing a heavy weight around. Don't stress it will all come to you in time.