After trying it a couple times I've really continued with one goal in mind. I wanted to know how felt to really get the rail in the water for a turn. Something I finally achieved this morning after a few things clicked. It felt good. I've compared it to snowboarding before. It's got the steady constant wave and basically you just need to stand up. I was kind of surprised to feel how similar actually getting on the rail with this setup was to snowboarding. At least in my opinion. It turns out I have all the same weaknesses surfing as I do snowboarding. I look down at my feet too much. I don't move my upper body enough. I don't look where I want/need to go. I fixed these issues when snowboarding, but it didn't make it any easier to overcome them when surfing. I think it's gotten better, and these things should be in common with surfing in the ocean and in the wave pool.
I think I understand better what my body needs to do to get a board to turn, and just what that should feel like in the water. Riding up on the lip and back down. I'm under no illusions it's just like being on a real wave, but I hope some of it is transferable. If not, at least it's been enjoyable and a good start to the day.
There are a few quite good surfers that seem to go fairly often and I'm not quite sure why. Seems like they get in the ocean often. Going back and forth inside 7m (roughly) seems like it would get boring rather quickly. Has anyone else been on these artificial waves, and what did you think? Would you consider it useful to developing a certain set of skills for a surfer at a certain level?
