Having trouble cutting back

[DannyG]

Hey everyone, i need some advice/assistance. I ride a 5'9" Dumpster Diver about 19 3/4 wide. When cutting back on my forehand it feels as though my rail digs (could be wrong). Aside from that i feel very very unbalanced. I have recently discovered that i point both my arms the opposite direction to which i am turning and my arms are not open, not sure if the balance is caused by my bad technique or vice versa any help would be extremely appreciated. If more details are needed feel free to ask thanks. EDIT: I am talking about as soon as i begin my cutback.

[oldmansurfer]

Did you look here yet? https://surfing-waves.com/how-to-cutback.htm I think if it feels like your edge is digging then you aren't going fast enough or aren't adding enough power into the turn for the speed you are going. You also have the wrong form though so maybe that is it. Your arms should not both be on the same side of the board. Once you release from you bottom turn or whatever turn you are going to start your cutback from then you should be starting to rotate your upper body in preparation for making the cutback and at the end of the cutback your lower body will catch up to your upper body and you will be in a normal stance again till the next turn.

In the picture on the top of the page that I linked the surfer is preparing for the turn back from the cutback allready by rotating the upper body to prepare for making that turn.

[DannyG]

Did you look here yet? https://surfing-waves.com/how-to-cutback.htm I think if it feels like your edge is digging then you aren't going fast enough or aren't adding enough power into the turn for the speed you are going. You also have the wrong form though so maybe that is it. Your arms should not both be on the same side of the board. Once you release from you bottom turn or whatever turn you are going to start your cutback from then you should be starting to rotate your upper body in preparation for making the cutback and at the end of the cutback your lower body will catch up to your upper body and you will be in a normal stance again till the next turn.

In the picture on the top of the page that I linked the surfer is preparing for the turn back from the cutback allready by rotating the upper body to prepare for making that turn.

Thanks heaps man i think it will be a combo of all

[waikikikichan]

1) Not enough speed going into the turn, so you bog down and sink.
2) You jamming a square peg into a round hole. Work with the angles and curves of the wave, don't just force it.
3) Equipment -
Surfboard -the Dumpster Diver by Al Merrick / Channel Islands ( but actually some same they ripped off Roberts White Diamond ), has what we called in the shop a "Bump Squash". There's this hip above the fins that acts as a release point.
Fins - you may be using too big of a fin, that doesn't allow you to flow thru the turn.

But if you're not Dave Rastovich, I would blame that double hands going clock-wise as the board is trying to go counter-clockwise as the main reason.

[icetime]

Keep your back arm tucked in you're not a helicopter and keep your chest wide and stay compressed, also it could be bad positioning on the wave as everyone is suggesting here.

[DreamSurf]

Hey everyone, i need some advice/assistance. I ride a 5'9" Dumpster Diver about 19 3/4 wide. When cutting back on my forehand it feels as though my rail digs (could be wrong). Aside from that i feel very very unbalanced. I have recently discovered that i point both my arms the opposite direction to which i am turning and my arms are not open, not sure if the balance is caused by my bad technique or vice versa any help would be extremely appreciated. If more details are needed feel free to ask thanks. EDIT: I am talking about as soon as i begin my cutback.

u need to go to the other direction then u usually would take and put pressure on the inside. kinda like a powerslide on a skimboard. my english is ok but not so great im srry. immediately change direction like you would do a 180 on a snowboard. i found myself get of that whitewash. didnt manage to keep me standing. the cutback can also be done on a small wave. i have more succes on that.

do you have this issue only with shortboard?

dont take my advise as sound. im just a beginner. interested in the threads evolution)

[Big H]

I know in my case I improved my cutbacks once I improved my backside bottom turns....surf backside for a couple of sessions concentrating on smooth bottom turns that maintain your flow then try cutting back on your forehand again and see how that goes.

What WKK said about the square peg/round hole could be as well....watching others I see the best surfers do a holding tic tac across the top part of the face of the wave waiting for it to steepen, then attack as the wave breaks, taking speed out of the bottom turn linking into their next moves.....less skilled unsuccessful cut back is a surfer who seems to "find" themselves trimming down the line, and impulsively decides to turn back to the wave without any set up for that turn......no speed, bogs out, catches rail like what was said.....cutback is born (e) out of the bottom turn and the speed generated there.

[DreamSurf]

and just to add. you dont have to perform the complete cutback. you can go halfway, that way you can feel the cutback and correct back into your original stance. and if you feel you can go 3 quarterways and then full cutback you master it.
my plus side is the frontside i have a feeling for that. the backside has always been my handicap and have struggle to do that. only in skatevboarding i achieved all the backside kick heel 360. and it took me longer. testing it on water my body just smacks into the water.

but to me it works to the cutback halfways . its a carefull approach

[kookextraordinaire]

Moving one's arms is just one more thing to think about. Rotate your hips and push down on your back foot. Arm movement is just a natural extension of what your body is doing. Like when people flail their arms about pumping for speed, it's actually the body (weighting and unweighting) which does all the work.

Also, if you watch really good surfers (I don't include myself in this category!), they are looking in the direction to which they are cutting back.

[oldmansurfer]

Somehow you end up moving your arms right or maybe you never learn to surf that well. As far as pumping for speed to get maximum effect you arms need to be coordinated with the rest of your body so flailing just shows you don't know what you are doing. If you watch good surfers their arm movements are coordinated with their body movements and not flailing around.

[kookextraordinaire]

Since you jumped down my throat for not being a good surfer (i'm not great, but competent), I think I should clarify my post. I was trying to say that flailing about demonstrates bad technique. I see a lot of people doing this, and I'm sure we've all been guilty of it at one time or another. I agree that arm movement is coordinated with body movement, but there is a particular reason for this. Arm movement reflects what a surfer is trying to do. I was told (and at least to me this make sense, seems to work) that when pumping for speed one is almost jumping and unweighting while pushing off the back foot (compressing, kind of like the latter half of a bottom turn) and coming down on the front-foot (engaging the gas pedal of the surfboard).

Consider jumping a as high as you can from a standstill on flat ground. You throw your arms in the air. But throwing your arms by themselves isn't going to make you jump, but it will make you jump higher. If you think about it in surfboard terms, throwing your arms up helps unweight the board when turning up the face, but you need to unweight by turning up the face slightly and compressing as well, using the rest of your body.

That's what I mean by saying what you do with your arms is a logical extension of what you are trying to do on the wave, and that it helps not to think about it. When cutting back, if you turn your torso the arms go along for the ride. The same applies for a bottom turn, etc. So, easy there, Bruce.

[oldmansurfer]

First off no offense intended. Secondly I know what you mean about not thinking about it. I learned to surf without instruction and without thinking about it (very much). But it appears that some cannot. If everything is working right then your arm movements are coordinated and if not why wouldn't trying to bring your arms under control help? It seems to me that if your arms are an extension of the what you do then to get your arms in the right position might also help to get the rest of your body in the right position too? If not help to line up your body then it will help to keep your body from getting more out of position because the weight of your arms are affecting your movement. I also agree though that just moving your arms isn't going to do it.

[kookextraordinaire]

Sorry about that, working on my dissertation so am a bit grumpy! I'd much rather be surfing, put it that way.

Yeah, you have a good point there about controlling your arms, being even slightly out of balance can make a huge difference. When I learnt to surf I mostly just watched the better people at my break and read a lot about it online. However a lot of the advice seems to be conflicting. There seemed to be two schools of thought when it come to turning. Some say that turning initiates from pointing your arms (like you said, positioning them correctly), which makes your head turn, which prompts the rest of the body to follow.

The less-mentioned technique is to turn from the hips, then the rest follows, scroll down a bit here: http://www.surfermag.com/features/how-t ... 0DiCItH.97

But perhaps it all translates to the same movement, in that lower body follows the upper body. What do you think? That aside, it seems many people get caught up in the individual components of surfing rather than the whole of the body working in coordination. A bit like this single-minded craze surfboard volume, come to think of it.

[DannyG]

Thanks for all the replies guys, when I get into the water I'm just gonna have to force myself to do these things. I have been skating a longboard and long boarding as well - this is helping a lot because it causes me to slow my body movements down. Skating has helped me improve 2x as fast, i act as though i am doing a bottom turn then i compress and lean of the rail and open up my hips and arms.