"Mindfulness" of what I'm doing while surfing

[waikikikichan]

Understood, but to take notes of where and how your feet were positioned takes you looking down at your feet. If the OP was falling off the back or falling to side, maybe he could take notice of where on the board he was standing. Like "my ankles were touching" or " both my toes were pointed at 12 o'clock". But he is doing something right, and i wouldn't mess with it. Instead of focusing with your eyes on a piece of tape, I would recommend "listening" to the wave with all your senses.

But maybe for inspiration you could slap on a "Eddie would Go " sticker.

[Big H]

Yeah.....I think that our bodies are capable of more than what we give them credit for....that advice that you (Wchan) gave about not using a ball of wax or scratch in the wax or a sticker or anything to line up on the board is spot on...I can balance myself much better and get the "sweet spot" if I just lay on the board and make minor adjustments after paying attention to my senses.....

I get what the OP is talking about though....I think it's a learner problem as I went through it as well.....about a year ago I got to where I could get up quickly and get out onto the wave but didn't really know too much about it, which on good days was fine but on bad days when there was a disconnect somewhere in the process, I couldn't break it down and figure out how to fix things...seemed like from the time I would start to paddle for a wave things sped up like they were on fast forward.....I learned to put my hands further back to pop up and to control that cobra arch right at the moment of truth to either hold up on the wave to keep from sliding right down the face before I could get up or to "dive in" and throw my head down and forward to get over the hump of a slower fatter wave....doing that gave me a little more time to control the get up and make that first turn and was a critical part of my learning...........I went from "here goes nothing/I hope this works" to "let's catch this wave riiiiiiggggghhhhttt NOW!". Difference is that the whole thing was a blur before, just stumbling over myself to do the movement as fast as I could the second I got that feel to get up, but seemed more often than not to be a stroke off the beat....now I can better anticipate when that time is going to occur and am ready for that feel before it happens (experience) so the get up is less of a reaction and more of a planned, controlled movement....that arching buys an extra split second as well....as far as the actual pop up, its too fast to guide, it still just happens....

I used to be in front of the wave and just start to paddle as hard as I could but not really sure if I was starting at the right time or not and sometimes the wave would catch me right and sometimes I'd get too far in front or have started too late....took awhile to be able to sort out where I should start from, and more importantly when to start to paddle to give myself the best chance....now I can see it coming and either paddle in or out to it then spin to catch it because I am more aware of spatial relations, timing and what I need to do to get that wave.....popping up is the same and while the actual pop up is a blur, the reps that I do on the living room floor keeping my head up looking at the corner of the ceiling then checking to see that my feet are lined up on the crack of the tiles of my floor seem to have paid off for that part of the action....for the rest, the pitch control (arching), timing, calmness of mind and increased awareness.....that all comes from what you say, paying attention to the wave with all your senses for hours and hours of practice.....


There was an illustration that I saw in a surf instruction book.....two pictures of the same thing side by side.....it was a point of view photo as the surfer would see if they were paddling to the beach......one was of a beach, palm trees, mountains behind and the tip of the surfboard was in the bottom of the picture; it was captioned "what an experienced surfer sees".....the second was the size of the first picture, only the tip of the board was in focus and huge in the picture....you couldn't really see anything beyond that....the caption was "what a beginner sees".

[Tudeo]

Adrenaline.

I write a report after each surf, partly because by reliving it, I can feel the joy even more than while actually surfing. While surfing things mostly just happen.

But often It's difficult to remember what exactly happened, I think this is because of the arenaline rush I experience when surfing serious waves.

That is interesting. I may start doing this but oddly adrenaline makes me remember waves rather than the other way. This ultimately might be useful in learning to surf over a long period of time. Just to keep track and document problems/successes you had with whatever board/fin configuration

Well, there are the moments that are visually and emotionally etched in memory. In my mind later I can still see the event and can even feel the emotion running through my system. The bottom turn i did a few days ago, the speed, the sound of the board clattering, the pressure on my legs, the depth of my crunch against the g-forces, the view of the lip of the wave trying to catch me, those things can stay vividly with me for some time. That's pure stoke for me.

But other times at the end of a session I have a hard time recalling events. Thinking about it and writing it down sometimes brings back the memories, and by that the stoke.

Who knows the mysteries of the brain? It could be adrenalin or it could just be some kind of brain damage caused by old hobbies..

Writing reports also helps me understanding surfing spots and what conditions to look for.

[dtc]

Big H, good post.

I suspect for most people the 'mindfulness' goes in almost sequential order. First you are concentrating on not falling off the board, then paddling, then paddling for the wave, then pop up, then bottom turns then ...etc etc. Each of those steps is a major effort and requires a lot of thinking to try and figure out why you did it wrong; then you have it and move onto thinking about the next and don't need to think about the previous step much. Personally I don't mind aids like marking my position on the board in wax or writing something in tape, if that works; because you do need to think at times - and, more importantly, need to remember to think and not just do the same stupid thing you mindlessly did last time. But that may just be me.

[pmcaero]

When surf is too unruly or closed out, I stay in white water and work on maneuvers, basically trying to do things the right way, or at least do them differently. That's how IMO you gain experience and mindfulness.
Last time I tried popping up and staying low, another time I was keeping my arms up . By focusing on just one thing, and not worrying about performance, I was able to actually make that move / position.
The advantages of white water and crappy conditions are, of course, easier to catch waves, and also generally fewer people to worry about hitting.
Whereas if you are in the lineup and the waves are clean, you will want to catch them rather than waste a good ride trying something dumb in front of everyone.

[oldmansurfer]

Well, there are the moments that are visually and emotionally etched in memory. In my mind later I can still see the event and can even feel the emotion running through my system. The bottom turn i did a few days ago, the speed, the sound of the board clattering, the pressure on my legs, the depth of my crunch against the g-forces, the view of the lip of the wave trying to catch me, those things can stay vividly with me for some time. That's pure stoke for me.

But other times at the end of a session I have a hard time recalling events. Thinking about it and writing it down sometimes brings back the memories, and by that the stoke.

Who knows the mysteries of the brain? It could be adrenalin or it could just be some kind of brain damage caused by old hobbies..

Writing reports also helps me understanding surfing spots and what conditions to look for.

My current surfing is entirely related to free time and not a swell or conditions. So I surf whatever there is so for me it behooves me to learn to surf all conditions better but I only surf for 30 minutes twice a week so it doesn't give me a good sense of what a particular fin configuration or board does for those conditions. I am surfing with 2 boards now and changing the fin configuration but I can't really see any problems with either board or fin configuration so maybe by recording which board/fin configuration I used and how the waves were and successes and failures I might be able to divine out the advantages or disadvantages of a particular board/fin configuration.

[RinkyDink]

I like the tape idea. I played basketball in high school and still grab pickup games now and then. When I take a jump shot, there's a mental image that fires in my brain of what that act looks and feels like as I perform it. I can see it and feel it in my mind right now as a I sit here. My jump shots are not just a mechanical reflex to me; there's a visualization that goes along with them. If I accidentally put my hand on a hot stove, I pull it away without any kind of mental image of the act. If my lights go out and I'm in pitch darkness however, I still have a mental image in my mind of turning on the light switch. That image guides me through the darkness. I think any activity a person repeats on a regular basis will prompt that person to set up a mental visualization. I find, during the process of setting up a visualization, it helps to have reminders of good technique so I form the right mental image from the outset.

[mjames]

I get what the OP is talking about though....I think it's a learner problem as I went through it as well.....about a year ago I got to where I could get up quickly and get out onto the wave but didn't really know too much about it, which on good days was fine but on bad days when there was a disconnect somewhere in the process, I couldn't break it down and figure out how to fix things...seemed like from the time I would start to paddle for a wave things sped up like they were on fast forward.....I learned to put my hands further back to pop up and to control that cobra arch right at the moment of truth to either hold up on the wave to keep from sliding right down the face before I could get up or to "dive in" and throw my head down and forward to get over the hump of a slower fatter wave....doing that gave me a little more time to control the get up and make that first turn and was a critical part of my learning...........I went from "here goes nothing/I hope this works" to "let's catch this wave riiiiiiggggghhhhttt NOW!". Difference is that the whole thing was a blur before, just stumbling over myself to do the movement as fast as I could the second I got that feel to get up, but seemed more often than not to be a stroke off the beat....now I can better anticipate when that time is going to occur and am ready for that feel before it happens (experience) so the get up is less of a reaction and more of a planned, controlled movement....that arching buys an extra split second as well....as far as the actual pop up, its too fast to guide, it still just happens....

.....................

There was an illustration that I saw in a surf instruction book.....two pictures of the same thing side by side.....it was a point of view photo as the surfer would see if they were paddling to the beach......one was of a beach, palm trees, mountains behind and the tip of the surfboard was in the bottom of the picture; it was captioned "what an experienced surfer sees".....the second was the size of the first picture, only the tip of the board was in focus and huge in the picture....you couldn't really see anything beyond that....the caption was "what a beginner sees".

This is all pretty spot-on, thanks!!!

I went out yesterday morning with all of these great ideas in my head from this thread. I got to my spot, the one guy who I always wait on to see if he goes out or not decided to leave, but against my better judgement (I usually base whether I surf this spot or move to the next by this one guy) I decided to try and paddle out in 4-6' closeouts on my 9'2" which ended up in 30 minutes of frustration and a pound of sand in my ears. Feeling frustrated I went home and had 4 cups of coffee, jumped on my morning conference calls, blah blah.... and decided I deserved an extended lunch break. So I went out for the second time at a different spot and ended up with some great rolling 3-4' waves and a not too crowded lineup. I couldn't find any duct tape in the garage so I just put an X in wax on the nose of the board to remind me ironically to stop looking at the board, to put my hands further back, and extend the length of time in the cobra arch. I've always wondered how some of the more experienced surfers get up and immediately cruise almost at the lip of the wave while they are riding along the face and I always end up right in the middle... well, by attempting to not look at my board (at all) and instead look down the line in a cobra arch before I pop up I had more time to push myself further up the face of the wave. I'll get out again a few times this weekend and confirm, but I think I may have been grabbing the rails when popping up too, all of this made my pop-up just a tiny bit too long and muddled, taking that split second necessary to get in a position where I had the option of moving up the face which gave me more control over the entire ride. Not sure if that makes sense, but it definitely helped me out. I'll let you know after the weekend (pray for surf)

[Big H]

Good times! Keep the stoke!