Here are two pictures of longboard take offs in steeper waves. The one of my friend in the yellow rashy you can see is well forward and pushing the nose down as the wave steepens to match the increasing slope of the face,. To do otherwise (weighting the back of the board) would mean the wave lifting the tail and causing a nose dive. You can see quite a lot of water spraying off the front of the board. He makes it.
The next one is of one of my waves in West Timor, what you need to see here is how low my nose is to the water I am on the edge of the point where gravity pulls me in ( that surge the wave gives) three more strokes the secret ( three more strokes) to drive me down the face. Again I too am well forward and my pop up will further push the board nose down to the shape of the face. My feet are together and near the boards centre ( the board is 9ft 1inch)
I'm not afraid to show my failures , this is a sequence that shows exactly what happens when your tail is weighted and your nose is too high for the take off.
I had already lost this wave I hadn't paddled hard enough and am beginning to slip toward up and over the back of the wave.
In the next shot I have been forced further up the wave, as i didn't match the speed of the wave and my nose is not driving down the wave face . I am beginning to try and force it down.
Grim determination and force are not enough, the lip is beginning to have an effect on the back of the board.
This doesn't work and I am right at the top and the board nose is now almost horizontal and about to be tilted into a late take off and potential nose dive situation. If I had completed my pop up I might have controlled it ( like a re entry) but the upwards pull was too strong and I am still trying force the nose into a favourable angle. ( not working)
I am up and engulfed in the white water, some surfers could salvage this ( not me , not this time ) my inside rail is starting to take too much pressure
the next result is the nose dive although I only catch the inside rail it is enough,
Finally somebody else who is a really good surfer, in correct paddle position with legs up slightly, this guy can out paddle most people.
Just an added note to illustrate Waikikichan's comment about head up and head down, successful takeoff head down, deep hard paddle, unsuccessful takeoff, head up chest up shallow powerless paddle and no 3 extra strokes down the face.
Get someone to video, from the beach, no GoPro it hurts to see yourself the first time but it cuts through the beliefs we have of what we doing.

I've taken up troll hunting just for fun, instead of a rifle I'll just use a pun! 冲浪爷爷