Struggling with shape

[barber87]

I ride an epoxy 6'8 torq funboard. It is the only board I have ever had so i need advice on how much difference shape makes..

Ive been riding regularly (3 times a week) for 18 months now since i moved to the coast. I'm doing alright, pop up nearly subconscious, can bottom turn, slow top turns, one or two cut backs buy struggle keeping speed, still pants on my backhand ☺! Grew up as a skateboarder, 10 years+

Now when i pop up, my back foot
Is a good 10 inches in front of the fins and ruins my carves untill i move it. If i lie further back when paddling im just sinking the tail and wont catch waves. The board advertises a 'forward wide point and shallow mid-entry'. To look at, the widest part of the board is significantly forward of centre; I find that when paddling this means the fins are too far behind me (try popping up but keeping your back foot over exactly the same piece of surfboard/floor).

Also with tge funboard shape, when i do get my back foot on the pad the board feels sooo long (guess im used to skateboards) and my front foot positioned behind the wide point of the board just feels wrong. If i have one foot on pad and one at wide point my stance is RIDICULOUSLY wide.

Am I ready for a shorter board, 6'8 is hardly a longboard tho
Or is it the shape that's wrong. I feel like i have to paddle so forward on this board its crazy. You know when you're nearly getting the push from the wave and youre leaning forward to the max, chin on board, knees doubled over! Im doing that all the time and i still get stuck on top of the wave! I feel like im hanging off the front of a 10 foot board!! No hope of popping up near the fins!!

Do i have to much float? Is this possible? Volume is apparently 42litres on website. I weigh 78kg, 5 foot 10.

Thanks in advance

[dtc]

Interesting question - the wide point mean that you lay forward and then your pop up ends up too far forward.

Firstly keep in mind that you will need to move your back foot anyway, it shouldnt be sitting over the fins all of the time.
Sometimes that might create a wide stance when your foot is way back, but moving the foot back 10 inches shouldnt make your stance overly wide. Its only for the turn and then you move your foot forward (or, more accurately, you move your weight back and then move the weight forward again). So it might feel weird but may actually be the right stance. Surfing is often counter intuitive.

But if its not working for you, then as far as I can see you have two choices: change your pop up or change your board. Maybe your pop up is actually 'too good' - you end up too far forward. You could work on that.

While its true that a surfer should be able to adjust to any board, its also true that some boards work better than others for a particular person - otherwise we would all surf the same board. Some surfers are more 'back foot' and some front foot and so forth. So there is nothing wrong with trying a different board.

I dont see that length or volume have much to do with it. They shouldnt be relevant to your issue, which is really around volume distribution rather than volume itself. 42L is fine for a 6'8 board - at the high end but wont be a factor in wave catching or stance.

If you are getting stuck on the wave, again there are boards that make it easier (eg fatter tail) but the Torq board isnt a particularly tricky design in terms of wave catching (for example, like a full on pintail might be tricky). So I'm going to suggest that is mostly technique/positioning/paddling rather than blaming the board.

Bottom line, to be honest, is that you are suspicious of your board and dont think its helping your surfing. So no matter what you do, you will always have that in the back of your mind. So sooner or later you are going to buy a new board, its already subconsciously decided. Do you need a new board? Probably not; but you want one. Will a new board solve your problems - maybe, maybe not; but you want one. So just buy one.

What should you buy - well something with the wide point pulled further back is the obvious answer. 6'8 is probably still a suitable length but you are thinking of shorter and want to try shorter so why not look at a second hand 6'6 and see how it goes. If it doesnt work out, just sell it and try again.

[dtc]

Interesting question - the wide point mean that you lay forward and then your pop up ends up too far forward.

Firstly keep in mind that you will need to move your back foot anyway, it shouldnt be sitting over the fins all of the time.
Sometimes that might create a wide stance when your foot is way back, but moving the foot back 10 inches shouldnt make your stance overly wide. Its only for the turn and then you move your foot forward (or, more accurately, you move your weight back and then move the weight forward again). So it might feel weird but may actually be the right stance. Surfing is often counter intuitive.

But if its not working for you, then as far as I can see you have two choices: change your pop up or change your board. Maybe your pop up is actually 'too good' - you end up too far forward. You could work on that.

While its true that a surfer should be able to adjust to any board, its also true that some boards work better than others for a particular person - otherwise we would all surf the same board. Some surfers are more 'back foot' and some front foot and so forth. So there is nothing wrong with trying a different board.

I dont see that length or volume have much to do with it. They shouldnt be relevant to your issue, which is really around volume distribution rather than volume itself. 42L is fine for a 6'8 board - at the high end but wont be a factor in wave catching or stance.

If you are getting stuck on the wave, again there are boards that make it easier (eg fatter tail) but the Torq board isnt a particularly tricky design in terms of wave catching (for example, like a full on pintail might be tricky). So I'm going to suggest that is mostly technique/positioning/paddling rather than blaming the board.

Bottom line, to be honest, is that you are suspicious of your board and dont think its helping your surfing. So no matter what you do, you will always have that in the back of your mind. So sooner or later you are going to buy a new board, its already subconsciously decided. Do you need a new board? Probably not; but you want one. Will a new board solve your problems - maybe, maybe not; but you want one. So just buy one.

What should you buy - well something with the wide point pulled further back is the obvious answer. 6'8 is probably still a suitable length but you are thinking of shorter and want to try shorter so why not look at a second hand 6'6 and see how it goes. If it doesnt work out, just sell it and try again.

[oldmansurfer]

My suggestion is to try to learn to popup with your hands further back maybe at your waist. If you can learn to place your hand further back for your popup then your legs will also go further back. I would tell you I know something about shaping boards and actually maybe I do but anyway not that much. I think it's possible another board the same length might suit you better. I haven't ever gotten into these incredibly short shortboards that the pros are riding but other than pros or very advanced surfers I don't think going really short is going to help. Back when I surfed a 6'10 was a shortboard although they were different designs and were more narrow and thinner most likely than the modern shortboards. Anyway they worked fine and still do so length probably isn't the issue but design might be. If you could borrow a board or rent one that might help to see how changes work for you. Another approach and the one I use is to get a custom made board from a local shaper or try to popup with your hands further back

[waikikikichan]

When i do get my back foot on the pad the board feels sooo long (guess im used to skateboards) and my front foot positioned behind the wide point of the board just feels wrong. If i have one foot on pad and one at wide point my stance is RIDICULOUSLY wide.

Question: How do you know where your front foot is ? How do you know where your back for is ?
Answer: You're looking at your feet. Don't look down.

Just like when you set up for a kick flip/ ollie. You feet are way further back on the deck than if you're just rolling/cruising. On a surfboard, your back foot should be over the fins on turns ( bottom turn included ). Other times, your feet is fine further up. ( But 10 inches in front of the pad on a 6'8" is pretty hard to do )

Are you drawing your back foot up on the deck first ? If so, you may be doing the crawl/step forward pop up. I would push up, clear space for your front foot to plant first, then let your back foot just lay down on the instep, then prop up where it was, so you don't step too forward.

[Big H]

Just imagine if you had a 9' longboard.....you are allowed to move around on the board. If your foot isn't where you want it then put it there......here is a video some old skool boys on boards around 6'8"ish moving their feet where they need them to be....check it.....watch the whole thing but point illustrated at the -3:13 mark.

[Big H]

What size and shape waves do you usually ride? Do you find that you get hung in the lip on a particular size/shape/type of wave more than others?

I know that if you start too far outside or if you are positioned too far back on your board, whatever shape it is, you'll get hung up and not make the wave.....maybe it feels weird to be so far forward on your board....small, weak or fat waves starting from an outside position I am more forward than on larger, stronger, hollow waves that I start inside for what will be a late takeoff under the lip. Wherever your feet end up who cares really; if you caught the wave that means you were positioned correctly on your board...there are ways detailed above where you can adjust a bit whether you land on the board forward, neutral or back depending on where you put your hands and how much you throw yourself forward, sometimes you need to more than other times on a fat wave to get down the wave....your feel will land where they will; attention paid to the important thing, making the wave and getting on smoothly.....as for your feet, move them into position after you're on the wave if you feel you need to depending on what it is you're going to do next.

[Big H]

One more thing.....when watching long boarders around here where for the most part the only people on longboards are new surfers with the odd exceptional exceptions.....I watch them in the lineup and the main "tell" on whether they are a newbie kook which I will have to watch out for flying boards when around them or if they know what they are doing is (besides their paddle which always gives everyone away) is that when they catch the wave....the speed of their pop up, how quickly they get into the wave, and if they move on the board....there isn't a decent long boarder in the world who sticks their feet on pop up and leaves them in place. Give it a try; it will help you on smaller boards later on as you'll intuitively begin to understand how to move with the wave.

[Big H]

Is this what you're on? If so, honestly, that's a nice looking shape that should be suited to a lot of different conditions.

[benjl]

I've got a 7'2 version and it does turn tightly if you stand way back and pivot the tail round. Otherwise standing mid way down will keep speed and trim / carve bigger radius urns.

It's a sweet shape, a lot of vee in the back third to help it roll as well. Mine doesn't have a pad and haven't felt like I really need one. I've found that fins make a bit of a different to its turning ability.

Just a little half step forward or back should change how it turns considerably

[benjl]

Also with the pop up on mine, in steeper / faster waves I let the wave slightly take the board from under me as I pop up some end up popping up further back on the board then where my body was paddling on it. For smaller waves I just pop up near te middle to keep the speed and planing

[barber87]

Thanks everyone for all the commens and tips. Sorry i cant remember exactly who said but...

Yes that is exactly my board, it seems like i exaggerated the wide point issue whe i look at that photo, but turn it on its side and you can see what i mean.

Yes i think youre onto domething with my crawler pop up as i really struggles for the first 6 months to get rid of my back knee 2 stage pop up. So maybe it is a remnant of those days.

No, i dont look down and ive heard that point before but i dont buy it. I know where my backfoot is because of how stif the board feels to carve and if i ferl wax or pad under my foot or even the raised kicker right at the back of my pad. My front foot i know where it is because of how much empty nose there is in my peripheral vision, wether i am onto unwaxed board or still on the wax and finally because of proprioception, the human body knows where it is in space without having to look, especially if you have just been lying on said board with the nose right infront of your face while paddling.

I will take all suggestions on board. Gonna try my mates 6'4 snub, gonna revisit my pop up technique and gonna try taking off a little deeper.

In answer to the question my local suf varies alot. Generally 2-6 foot beach break thats kinda messy most of the time with a little punch, rarely clean and tidy and even more rarely offshore! Its perfect at 3-4 foot, light off shore, high tide. It remains relatively slow but i wouldnt go as far as calling it weak.

Thanks folks

[Namu]

It sounds like you need to move your feet. You lay on the board and paddle where the sweet spot is, which on your board with a wide point forward, that is toward the nose. When you pop-up you land in the middle of the board. You cant carve or make sharp turns from the middle of the board. You need to shuffle backwards to get your back foot over the fins, your front foot should come back too since you don't want to have a poo stance, you need to be able to shift your weight on both feet. When you are on the back of the board like that you will lose speed, which means you need to shuffle forward on the board to pick-up speed and trim down the wave.

So when you want to speed up shuffle forwards, when you want to carve shuffle backwards. If you want to keep your speed up with your back foot over the fins you will need to pump the board and keep your board moving up and down the face of the wave to keep your speed up to setup a cutback or carving turn.

Getting a longer board like a 7'-8' fun-board / mini-mal will help you practice your footwork since moving your feet will not upset the board balance as much as a shorter board. Using a shorter board will reinforce the bad habit of having your feet glued to the board.

Watch this video from SurfSimply: