Top turn carve

[jaffa1949]

Get your turns working , the last picture shows the beginning of a full rail bog. I make more spray by my falling off, does it make a better surfer, no!
The guys that win the big race, spray the champagne, but only because they have mastered their event and beaten the other competitors.
Think of throw spray as that ,mastering your turn, not a half way thing to do!
Get speed control and use it to drive your turns as the wave offers. You are starting to see that, a ways to go yet, work on completing, connecting turns then increase the Amplitude!

[IanCaio]

Those pics and that set up turn and you face position is perfect for a cutback.

Yeah, sometimes I miss some cutback opportunities because my cutbacks are still a little wide open, so I hold them for sections where I know I'll have some spare time. Now that I'm trying to improve my foot positioning I might be able to pull them off quicker and be more confident to use them in the right places

On the wave above you aren't getting any power from the bottom turn it's just a quick turn up. So I would say you need to commit to a stronger more vertical bottom turn as in drop down more pointing toward the beach and jam a hard turn. This will give you the speed you need to push hard off the top of the wave in a carving turn. then worry about your arms and head and stuff.

I'm not sure how my bottom turn is looking like on other waves, but I think on that one I was just pumping a bit before the carve, so I didn't get to make more powerful bottom turn. I think I could have made a wider pump through the face to get more speed and hit the lip more vertical.

Get your turns working , the last picture shows the beginning of a full rail bog. I make more spray by my falling off, does it make a better surfer, no!
The guys that win the big race, spray the champagne, but only because they have mastered their event and beaten the other competitors.
Think of throw spray as that ,mastering your turn, not a half way thing to do!
Get speed control and use it to drive your turns as the wave offers. You are starting to see that, a ways to go yet, work on completing, connecting turns then increase the Amplitude!

I noticed the digging rail too.. I think I pulled it out, but probably lost a lot of speed because of that. I'll keep trying to improve the turns and focus on getting more drive instead of more spray! Maybe the latter will come naturally then?

[Big H]

Those pics and that set up turn and you face position is perfect for a cutback.

Yeah, sometimes I miss some cutback opportunities because my cutbacks are still a little wide open, so I hold them for sections where I know I'll have some spare time. Now that I'm trying to improve my foot positioning I might be able to pull them off quicker and be more confident to use them in the right places

Try going to a wave that you already know and practice linking the same sequences over and over........you already know what is going to happen, when the face will open up and you need to cut it back or else lose the wave because you get too far out in front....take off at the same point then do the same things - IE: step one, take off just behind the peak....step two, go down to the bottom of the wave and bottom turn with projection out onto the face....step three, get out on the face and rise to the top of the wave not to sharply keeping speed..........you get the idea.....do the same things on a given wave in the same sequence to develop a new technique; link one to two, then two to three and keep going until you've sorted a sequence of linked moves that gets you to the end of the wave doing more or less the same things each time a few times in a row. Its what I do anyway.......

[oldmansurfer]

I noticed the digging rail too.. I think I pulled it out, but probably lost a lot of speed because of that. I'll keep trying to improve the turns and focus on getting more drive instead of more spray! Maybe the latter will come naturally then?

I think you are doing more of a snapping turn which slides the fins a bit and this loses speed. You can maintain speed in a snap by hitting the lip when it is pitching over which will add more push to you going back down the wave. I like to carve turns which to me means putting a lot of pressure on the board in the turn and burying the rail to get more pressure loaded onto the board so you can use it coming out of a turn. I imagine I throw some spray but I never look so not sure. Maybe you can try holding the turn a little longer to go a bit more back (a carve back) or if the tail is sliding like I suspect then slide the tail a bit more. I enjoy the feeling of doing a tail sliding turn and holding it so I am going sideways on the wave then release. I use the biggest fins I can buy so that I have more drive in turns but if I wanted to do tail sliding more I might go down a size.

[IanCaio]

Try going to a wave that you already know and practice linking the same sequences over and over........you already know what is going to happen, when the face will open up and you need to cut it back or else lose the wave because you get too far out in front....take off at the same point then do the same things - IE: step one, take off just behind the peak....step two, go down to the bottom of the wave and bottom turn with projection out onto the face....step three, get out on the face and rise to the top of the wave not to sharply keeping speed..........you get the idea.....do the same things on a given wave in the same sequence to develop a new technique; link one to two, then two to three and keep going until you've sorted a sequence of linked moves that gets you to the end of the wave doing more or less the same things each time a few times in a row. Its what I do anyway.......

I get what you mean, the thing is that most breaks nearby are sand breaks, the waves are a bit unpredictable. In the same session you get a mushier slower wave that is more prone to cutbacks, and then 5 minutes later you drop a steeper faster wave that you need to pump fast to get ahead of the closing sections. I'll still try to put your advice to practice, maybe looking for patterns in the sand breaks (even being a bit more unpredictable, each day the sand banks probably favors a kind of wave) and having a clear sequence in my head, trying to fit it in the wave. Maybe it will be more helpful to improve the technique to have that sequence already thought than figuring it out as I go

I think you are doing more of a snapping turn which slides the fins a bit and this loses speed. You can maintain speed in a snap by hitting the lip when it is pitching over which will add more push to you going back down the wave. I like to carve turns which to me means putting a lot of pressure on the board in the turn and burying the rail to get more pressure loaded onto the board so you can use it coming out of a turn. I imagine I throw some spray but I never look so not sure. Maybe you can try holding the turn a little longer to go a bit more back (a carve back) or if the tail is sliding like I suspect then slide the tail a bit more. I enjoy the feeling of doing a tail sliding turn and holding it so I am going sideways on the wave then release. I use the biggest fins I can buy so that I have more drive in turns but if I wanted to do tail sliding more I might go down a size.

I think you got it right, that's what it feels like I'm doing at least: I get some speed, then try to hit the lip kind of killing my lateral speed and turning down the face, though I'm not sure how much the fins slide. I usually get some speed out of it when I manage to hit the right section, right when it's starting to throw, so it feels like I'm dropping in again.

I can see the kind of carving you're describing, I don't think I managed to do something like it yet. Maybe now that I'm starting to figure out my back foot positioning I'll be able to try something alike, because it probably requires some really sharp turning. I'll keep you posted how it goes, but last two sessions I definitely felt a difference by focusing on my back foot

Here is another sequence from this same day, a bit after I hit the lip. I know the bottom turn looks a bit lame after the carve, but I'm almost sure I was just preparing to throw myself against the wave and bail out since it was closing out ahead of me..

[oldmansurfer]

Looks like you are doing better frontside as far as the carving goes. That bottom turn has your whole board sunk and will probably allow you to come from behind to the open face again. Seems like you are more timid backside. I don't think I have a good backside carve yet (but I do have a good snap off the lip) so who am I to talk I think it takes some time to get used to working from behind the breaking portion of the wave. I am comfortable doing bottom turns backside from behind the breaking portion of the wave but still haven't got a good backside carve.......well except for rare occasions. Anyway I am sure it will all come to you and hopefully me too

[dtc]

In both photo sets, after you do the turn your body/shoulders are still closed when the board is pointing down the wave. It’s like you set up well to do the turn, but you actually twist the board around with your lower body and your upper body stays still (and then has to rotate backwards ie to your left to keep balance). Rather than your upper body leading and your lower following

So in the second sequence first photo you should already have your front arm behind you and open. 2nd photo first sequence is set up right, but then you close off your body in the third shot

I’m not entirely sure why this occurs though. It might just be you are off balance a little bit because you let the board get a bit ahead of your centre of balance and need to recover (I’ll dig out waikikichans blog posts on this when I’m on my laptop)

for a more rounded turn you should be ending up like this

7CCD4F70-5BB3-4C3F-83E5-4946900C38B6.png (121.06 KiB) Viewed 680 times

[oldmansurfer]

I just realized in the bottom picture that is is back arm pointing where he should be going but that is the arm I use (left arm) But you can see the gouge he is leaving in the wave so he is getting some speed. In your picture the guy is headed back toward the whitewater for possibly a carve back or cutback. That is what I do rarely backside or frontside for that matter.

[IanCaio]

Looks like you are doing better frontside as far as the carving goes. That bottom turn has your whole board sunk and will probably allow you to come from behind to the open face again. Seems like you are more timid backside.

I've the opposite impression: I feel like I'm better on frontside to keep up with the wave, get speed and attempt barreling, but on the other hand I think I'm actually better on backside to try off-the-lips. Or at least they feel more vertical on backside, I don't know..

In both photo sets, after you do the turn your body/shoulders are still closed when the board is pointing down the wave. It’s like you set up well to do the turn, but you actually twist the board around with your lower body and your upper body stays still (and then has to rotate backwards ie to your left to keep balance). Rather than your upper body leading and your lower following

It could be the reason my arms move against the motion of the board, maybe my lower body isn't keeping up with the upper body during the turn and I twist back to regain balance. Not sure why that would be happening though, it might all be linked to the back foot being a little far forward. I haven't been able to surf last couple of days (waves been weak around, and I couldn't risk using my broken bike to go to the break that was further away), but as soon as I hit the water I'll keep you posted whether the foot placement is doing some good help! Last session it seemed to make a difference already

[oldmansurfer]

Hahaha yeah I didn't pick up on your arms being backwards for where they should have been on that bottom photo. You are a goofy foot and I am regular foot but you were pointing your left arm which is your back arm the direction where you should be going I also point my left arm but it is my front arm. I suffered a little dyslexia I guess it is difficult to tell what happens next from that picture. I thought you were ready to launch back in front of the break but not sure now. When I restarted surfing I found backside easier for a while

[IanCaio]

I guess it is difficult to tell what happens next from that picture. I thought you were ready to launch back in front of the break but not sure now. When I restarted surfing I found backside easier for a while

I'm pretty sure I was about to just launch myself behind the wave, like bailing out (because it was closing out in front of me). So I think I didn't really worry about the arm positioning, maybe that's why it's looks so odd

I only find backside easier for things like hitting the lip a little more vertically when I'm in the right spot. But I find frontside easier for steeper late drops and keeping up with the line when you need to speed up a little (my backside pumping isn't the best, but it's a work in progress ).

[oldmansurfer]

I find backside easy enough for late drops but then I get really a lot of practice at that since the steep breaking reef break I surf is mostly lefts which is backside for me. I have maybe 1 late frontside drop for every 50 backside. It's rarely steep at the rights that I surf (lately)