Latest Surfs...

[oldmansurfer]

went back out today and it wasn't the same......there were some nice waves but lots of waves of various configurations so hard to pick the nice ones out. There seemed to be a bowl section that came in as a double wave then part of it bowled up and sometimes broke really nice and sometimes it didn't...... lots of current too. It was only me and the kite surfers out. I had some fun rides but they were so bumpy with all the chop it felt like I was offroading it LOL

[Jester]

I meant it's brilliant you were stoked!!

[Jester]

Had a majorly good session Saturday, there were some long rides, 2ft waves mostly but with a period of about 9 secs meant I could actually get through no prob. Still tiresome paddle out though!

Caught one where the wave collapsed shortly after I took off, it wasn't a pealer and there were sections all over the place so I headed into the white and with a bit of doo-hickery managed to pick up enough speed to swoop back out to the green face, was super excited!

Everyone was in good form out there, was getting welcoming comments from everyone in the line up and def felt like I'd earned my right to be there. Still on my 8'4 bic. Still learning, still making it turn more and more

Timed one wave kinda funny and actually popped up as it was breaking over the falls! The drop was probably only about 3 feet but I stuck it and rode it out backside, well happy!!

Funniest wave of the day - getting caught inside and an ominous wall of whitewater smacking me in the face, head pointed down giving it the old grip of death when I feel the violence of the wave swing me round towards the beach and suddenly I'm racing along, eyes still closed from trying to punch through, I knew what was happening so thought to heck with it! And popped up! Closed my eyes before the wave hit me, now opened them to find myself riding a wave again standing up!

Fun times!! Love this surfing malarky

[drowningbitbybit]

Very small but beautifully clean surf out there today.
Took out the 5'10 and had the first really good surf on it - I could catch the small waves and the slideyness made for some fun sections.

Caught 4 or 5 good ones. Sadly, my best wave of the day was completely mucked up by some learner on a foam board, who completely failed to wipe out when I thought he would, and so it was me dropping in on him
Fortunately I could pull out and off the back while he got probably the best ride of his life, and also a from me!

[oldmansurfer]

Caught one where the wave collapsed shortly after I took off, it wasn't a pealer and there were sections all over the place so I headed into the white and with a bit of doo-hickery managed to pick up enough speed to swoop back out to the green face, was super excited!

You sound just like my best friend when I was a teenager he used "doo-hickey" all the time

[drowningbitbybit]

Very small but beautifully clean surf out there today.
Took out the 5'10 and had the first really good surf on it - I could catch the small waves and the slideyness made for some fun sections.

...and exactly the same today

[dtc]

Very small but beautifully clean surf out there today.
Took out the 5'10 and had the first really good surf on it - I could catch the small waves and the slideyness made for some fun sections.

...and exactly the same today

Snowing where I am... (not on the coast) with almost gale force winds ...

[oldmansurfer]

Went out today at Middle Horner's, It was fun but difficult to line up the steep waves. They would lurch up and break in a short area and there was a lot of current and you had to be at the peak and exactly in the right place and it was inconsistent. Still it was fun and my first wave I did a backside bottom turn to cutback into the whitewater an then another cutback. I am feeling a little confident in my wave riding skills but need lots of work on my wave lining up skills . I took one good sized wave on the head....turned turtle and had the board ripped out of my hands then the board was pulling on my leg , the board was sticking straight out of the water (tombstoning)

[Jester]

Had a little surfy surf there yesterday, it was really small but I just loved being out! The waves were only knee high at best and it taught me a few things. I decided to work on my paddling, I watched a YouTube video of how Kelly Slater paddles and tried some high energy paddles and how to enter my hand in the water coming from a high angle and going deep, keeping the head up and still and it was kinda interesting!

Took a few backside as well as frontside, have found an interesting thing, maybe you guys could expound a lill more. This may only be true of small waves but maybe it applies to big waves too.

I was getting my board set down the line but because the waves were only really tiny and wasn't a shoulder that stood up for long (just sections closing out into each other) I found that I was tracking fairly locked in without movement up and down the face or more precisely the small hump in front of cresting whitewater. I got frustrated at having no turning and movement so I began trying to force it and make some of my own. I started to use my legs and weight much much more than usual..even when I was heading just merrily straight along I would try almost jumping and turning at the same time, but not jumping, more unweighting my legs to make the board light enough to move and then I'd drop down low into the board again and try and drive it around or down the 'hill' to get just a little bit of action. It kinda seems to work!

I was flinging my arms around a lot too to help with weight transfer, like when trying to jump up to make my body lighter as I tried to climb the board. I found when I needed to turn around I actually had to wind my arms up the opposite direction to the way I wanted to turn then fully unwind in like a windmill action towards my turn (horizontal windmill) my favourite seemed to be dropping right low and using the extra force as I compressed to turn the tail and give me a lill boost of speed at the same time.

I know I wasn't doing great and was still riding whitewater half the time but for the day that was in it I was quite pleased, I feel like there's a few techniques I'm just barely beginning to grasp for small wave surfing and when iI practice them more I think the small flat days are gonna be more fun.

Before this on a small wave I'd just pop up, make a small turn and lock in to ride along the line but now I'm thinking that maybe I can do more!
Is this just a small wave thing or do you guys do this on the bigger stuff too?! I guess I'm asking because the power has meant I've never knowingly used these techniques on a larger wave, too easy to start a move when you've got a big push!

And any more tips would be appreciated with flat days! There was a lill grom out there on a foamie that looked about 4ft long and he was absolutely killing it in ankle-biters!! I kept watching him trying to pick up tips!

[oldmansurfer]

To bad you don't have a video of the grom and you so we can compare and figure out what you are doing different. I think the maneuvering you are talking about is similar to what I do in small mushy surf. I start the turn with my ankles then drop down and use my gravity and my weight dropping to set the rail then push the turn with my legs by extending them as I turn. If you follow this with crouching again fro the top turn you can sometimes get a rhythm going on the wave. All of those actions are an exaggeration of what I try to do on other waves. The exception of that is if I am going really fast or on a particularly big or powerful wave or if it's really choppy. So not sure what the difference between the grom and you was but just from your description I would think he was taking off on different waves or in a different position

[Jester]

He was quickly tacking the front of his board left and right in quick succession, something I have no idea how to do, also because he was that much smaller and his little short board was tiny and boyant he was able to swoop down the face and make a sharper turn even though it looked about only two foot high. The length of his board and height of him (or lack there of!) Made the wave much bigger on him and looked almost shoulder height! if I'd tried that on my board the nose would've dug in had I tried to lean down the small face like him or the back would've sunk under my increased weight.. Such quick sharp turns on him!

Those are my pathetic excuses and I'm sticking to 'em the lill nipper could shred though! Blasted kids these days

[oldmansurfer]

I forgot to mention that if I want to make a powerful turn I will exaggerate those moves to get maximum power. For instance if I am bottom turning and I want to max it out I will drop really low as I reach the bottom of the wave to add some more force to the turn before I push the turn out with my legs

[oldmansurfer]

Speaking of powerful turns I did one today. Went out at the sandbar break and It was intermittent head high waves but on my last wave I finally lined up a wave with a wall so I dropped down as hesitated just a fraction of a second and then hit the lip doing a power slashback but unfortunately the wave closed out before I could get back up for a floater and all I got was that one maneuver but if I were in a contest I am sure they would have given me at least 4 points for that turn, it was perfect.

[dtc]

Jester, the little kid on a short wide floaty board is doing what the grown ups using 'groveller'' boards do (which are short, wide and thick) ie sitting high in the water and skating across the top; your longer board is sitting 'in the water' with the tail/rails locking into the wave (sounds like you could almost give nose riding a go if you were truly locked in). Skating across a wave is like riding soap - fast, unbalanced, tricky and not for larger waves (and beyond my skill level as well), but good for small waves if you can do it. Your comment about his "little short board was tiny and buoyant" is quite correct.

Longer boards naturally have a longer turning arc as well, unless you are pivoting right off the tail. Lots of people like that smooth arcing turn rather than the short sharp turns of a shortboard. Have a look up about the difference between trimming turns (probably what you are used to) and carving turns (what it sounds like you are moving towards) - but remember that carving turns on a LB, esp in small waves, can be hard - you actually want to look at a pivot turn (ie weight the tail, lift the nose, pull the nose around). You also didn't mention moving around the board, which is important with a longboard.

Have you had a look at waikikichan's blog http://alohaki.jugem.jp/ There are lots of photos on small waves using longboards and some tips re turns - eg see his one on 8 May 2015 re bottom turns and notice the feet and weighting and the one immediately after that about winding up.

[drowningbitbybit]

Skating across a wave is like riding soap - fast, unbalanced, tricky and not for larger waves

Ooh yeah, that's my thing
Give me a little 2-3ft wave and a board with the hold of a nonstick frying pan and I'm happy as anything


Back to Jester's question...
On a small wave on a fat skatey little board, there are going to be three levels of pumping the board...
1. Front and back - load the front to get some speed or onto the face, and then pull back before the nose digs in. On a large wave, you'll do this during the pop up, and then gracefully surf the wave. On a small wave, you'll do it again and again, somewhat inelegantly.

2. Side to side. The tic tac motion of heading up the very small face, then down the very small face. It's the same as on a big wave, but the size of the face means you go from up to down and back again continuously in relatively small tight turns. Weight is on the back foot.

3. Flippin' it around 'cos its fun. As well as surfing the wave 'properly', I'll often just flip the little bugger around for the hell of it. On a small day, you're not investing a huge amount of energy, paddling and re-positioning into each wave, and so that's when I'll just fling it about. Also, I'll always finish the wave with some big turn or maneouvre that I probably won't make, just for the hell of it - the rides over anyway, so why not try that big 360 carve? Okay, the real reason is that you've already run out of speed, and so you're even less likely to make it, but hey ho

[oldmansurfer]

Jester, I am always trying to do more on any sized surf but what that more is changes. I try to work the small waves but often end up just riding along because I surf an 8 foot board that is difficult for me to make tight little turns so I just go along looking for something fun, hoping there will be a tubing section and I can get my feet tubed or if it's a little bigger I might try to crouch down and get tubed. All the stuff you describe are techniques used by lots of surfers. Sounds like good waves to try doing foam climbs. But for me if the waves weren't any bigger than knee high I wold be thinking of SUP which would be a challenge to me.

[Jester]

Ah thanks guys. Yup I've read Waikiki's blog a few times and his instruction on turns quite a lot! I bottom turn without problem pretty much every wave unless I stuff my pop up! I've kinda developed a slightly falling pop up at times where I'm actually coming up off balance towards the face and as I'm leaning that way and looking down the line the board just carves round to catch me. If it's a bigger wave I'll swoop down first accompanied by a holler and a massive grin before my bottom turn. Sometimes it's not as arcing and as smooth as a carve and is more of a pivot and I can feel like I'm forcing it round a little but it's def not a trim turn unless I've started along the face from the very start and am more angled.

I've started doing cutbacks now and really enjoying the whoosh around, again it probably ain't pretty but you gotta start somewhere!! I don't find any prob with pivoting to turn except the loss of speed when you weight the back (so far I usually put this down to initiating a turn that I actually don't have speed to complete) hence my attempts to throw my weight around in the really small waves! When I have at least a two foot face I can turn and pivot and sometimes carve with quite a bit of ease now. On the small wave I knew I didn't have enough momentum to put my weight on the back to get that pivot so what I did was kind of hop up, the board had felt stuck in a rut under me, then while I was light, direct a bit of weight on the back foot to turn and compress down really low to push it into a move, I had basically lost all momentum at this point so I was just trying to make myself lighter so the board would come up and be able to move a bit. Like I said if I'd had an extra foot in height on the wave I would a been practising Waikiki's steps but I hadn't generated enough speed for that so I was trying my damndest!!

As regards weighting and moving around, I do occasionally hop forward to get over the feeling that I'm slowing down too much but then I find I almost immediately have to hop back as the nose can sink. I have placed one foot outstretched onto the nose once or twice but i consider it a cheater move as all my weight was actually on my back foot near the middle of the board. Although it's an 8'4 it feels surprisingly short at times and I def don't feel I can walk it as an inch or two and my weight tells me I've gone past the centre of the board or I see the nose start to plough under! I tried knee paddling and it's actually too short for me so no nose walking!!

The only time I can confidently get my left foot back over the fins is when I'm carrying more speed or I'm dropping down a face or doing a carve, the rest of the time it bogs down too slowly so my weight is usually (on small waves) over my front foot near the middle. The last few weeks have only been lill piddler waves and I think that's been 50% of my learning experience so gotta make do with whatever's there though!
I've gotta learn to do that side to side tic tac thing a bit more, I think I gotta be braver and get my body more off centre than it is when trying to pump, think at the moment I might be using my head as the top of a pendulum and my board as the bottom when riding the line, I spend too long on my wave side rail, gotta commit to leaning away from the wave so that my board is wave-side of me and borrowing a push from the energy of the wave. I also could be standing too tall! Everything seems to be easier when I drop it down low..its my default 'get out of jail free' move

Still learning so there's so much to feel and knit together, really appreciate the input and having a place to try and understand what's going on though. Have a short video taken a few months back that I ought to edit and learn how to put up here but it's not really interesting, just me rolling down the line. Might pop it up if I get time!

Thanks guys!

[oldmansurfer]

Surfing is so......... I don't know what to say but I love how you get in these what should be off balance poses yet it's all just a part of surfing. When I am surfing sometimes I take notice that I am at the top of the wave but my body is parallel to the bottom it seems like I should just fall down and for that fraction of a second time slows down but then it all speeds up again and then I finish the turn which brings the board back under me again and I think how the heck did I just do that?

[drowningbitbybit]

Solid 6-8ft this morning on the points and open beaches with a very strong cross/offshore wind producing very fast barrels... looked amazing, but way out of my comfort zone. Found one of the few sheltered spots on the Gold Coast where it was a more manageable 3–4ft, but paddling into the wind still made getting into the waves incredibly difficult

Caught a few of the smaller leftovers and just about satisfied my surfing itch this morning

[oldmansurfer]

Had to work yesterday but got out today in knee high slop. I caught a bunch of waves, got some exercise, hoping for more tomorrow