Help- Board nose diving.

[Tecx]

Hi Everyone,

First of all I'm a newbee so please be gentle with me.

I'm after some information.

I have just had a surfing lesson a couple of weeks ago after that I wanted to carry on surfing so I want out a brought myself a BIC 7ft egg board which is a short board is it not ?
Now I went out into the sea at East Wittering to do some paddling exercises and my board keeped on nose diving.
My feet were on the edge of the board my hands were out by my side my back was arched but the board kept on nose diving.
So I moved down the board and had my feet hanging off the board and the nose came out of the water.

THE QUESTION I would like the answers to is ARE MY FEET SUPPOSE TO HANG OFF THE BACK OF THE BOARD

[jaffa1949]

With a short board your feet are off the back of the board , they should be together not out as outriggers and your paddling should be along the rails of your board not like paddle flippers.
The board you bought may be tending to the smaller end of what you could learn on, but you've bought it! I would have suggest 8ft as your first board.
All learners go through this sort of learning, especially after a couple of lessons at a surf school.
The foamies they are use a redesign to catch wave no matter what so you can have, THE SURFING EXPERIENCE. Going to a surfboard after that is difficult, short board more so.
The answer get out in the surf as often as possible, do what you are doing, get paddle fit and understand how you can get paddle glide on the BIC. that is only the beginning.

[oldmansurfer]

Several things help to keep from nose diving which used to be called pearl diving now called pearling....First it is a common problem for newbies, you will learn not to nose dive sooner or later, it's not the end of the world. Building up your arm strength and getting into the waves quicker before they are too steep will help, angling your board on takeoff will help so you can paddle at a slight angle or turn the board just prior to popup or just after popping up. On really steep waves I usually use my ankles to turn the top of the board toward the direction I am going (so I push the inside rail down). I find that I can also paddle and just before popping up angle the board down the wave in the direction I want to go by leaning in that direction. One other thing that most newbies do is to lean back when you drop down a wave but what you want to do is to lean forward and get down quicker before the wave gets steeper. Where your feet are when you paddle is not so significant. If the nose is even slightly underwater when you paddle you might be able to takeoff on waves. What you need to pay attention to is where is the nose while you paddle? If it sticking out of the water 6 inches you are way to back on the board. You have to adjust your position as you paddle so the nose is 1 inch out of the water (forget where your feet are). Eventually it will be automatic. However even the pros nose dive from time to time. It's all a learning experience. There are so many things to learn about surfing and it is ongoing for all of us.

[Tecx]

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for you help on this matter, I will stop worrying now.
I will just have to get out there and practice,Practice

[IB_Surfer]

work on your paddling,

Pearling is more common when beginners are not strong paddlers, so they end up at top of the wave and then get shot down straight, resulting in pearling. There is more to it, non-beginners pearl too, but this is the most common reason.