Longboarding without cross stepping/nose riding

[VegemiteSandwich]

Hey guys n gals
I’ve been surfing around a year and got to say although I enjoy longboards and have no desire to shortboard, watching videos of cross stepping/nose riding absolutely bores me to tears.
I know it’s graceful, an art in itself, but i find watching Kai Sallas rip on a longboard like it’s a shortboard so much more entertaining, and that’s what I aspire to do.
Am I missing something, or are there longboarders out there that feel the same?
I guess living in South West WA there just are really no long rolling waves to do such moves easily on, there’s a lot of power out here even in the beginner spots I surf, so it makes more sense to learn to rip.

[jaffa1949]

You can rip on longboards, nothing looks more amazing than 9ft thrown in sharp arc off the top of a powerful wave, you can get barrelled all you need to do is have the waves WA certainly does and evolve your skill.
I am not smooth nose riding small wave surfer, I surf best with grunt behind me and what I like to do!
One thing which is my set up move is to develop as clean and powerful bottom turn as the foundation for all that you do.
Judge and find the powerlines between high and low on the wave face ride the wave not the board

[oldmansurfer]

When I rode a longboard it was much like I do a shortboard with the difference of more moving around on the board. The longer the board the greater distance you need to move your feet to adjust to what the wave is doing. On a shortboard you can just lean forward and backward and that will make a big difference in how the board performs but the longer the board the less difference leaning forward or backward makes which means you have to move your feet. There are some people who are quite good at shredding with a longboard. I very much like those style of surfers as well like this guy

[waikikikichan]

[Geezer]

I see the atlantis sub in the background. Inused to dive fir them and feed the fish outside the windows at 75ft when I lived in St Thomas. Shift was 4hrs/ four 15min dives with a 45min break. Used to fish in between with the chase boat captian. Good times.

[OlegLupusov]

it depends on the board length.
I have been longboarding for almost ten years without nose riding.
However, 9.6 board requires some stepping.
8 footer not so much

[oldmansurfer]

I would also mention the the very best top level surfers move their feet on their supper short boards to adjust to the wave Maybe just inches and it's not obvious but still they move them. As a beginner level surfer though the loss of stability involved in moving feet on a shortboard is not worth the improvement in board handling or even if you move your feet you don't have the skills to make the new position work well enough to make the possibility of getting off balance due to the temporary instability while making a slight change in foot position worthwhile. On a longboard either you move your feet or you won't be very good at it.

[oldmansurfer]

I don't cross step as far as I know but I do step forward and backward. It's more like walking quickly rather than cross stepping. My feet stay close to the stringer but on opposite sides of the stringer and I just walk like I would normally. Seems to work for me. The other thing I do sometimes is to unweight and walk the board forward or backward. The difference is my body doesn't move but the board moves under me. I am not sure why I do this sometimes but it seems to work when I do it. Most often I do this at the bottom of a wave where I was forward to get the board to drop back down the face and it's right when I reach the flats so I am moving forward well. I just lift my legs up and tiptoe backwards quickly so I can turn the board but because I have unweighted by lifting my legs upward the board goes forward because nothing is pushing it down into the water. I am not yet convinced of the need for cross stepping but that may change (or not)

[jaffa1949]

However you ride and however you enjoy is the best way to surf.
More skill means more things to enjoy as simple as that:
Be the surfer you want to be!

[bajoman]

Noseriding (like many things) can seem boring to watch but I don't think it should be dismissed until you've tried it... Being on the tip of a speeding board while levitating over that steep drop down the face of a wave is (another) great feeling in surfing! One of the many things you can experience longboarding, so why not add it to the toolbox? I agree that it can be boring if it becomes too much of the focus, but it can be quite exciting when it is one of the many maneuvers available riding a wave. And once you do it yourself, you might gain more appreciation for watching others get up on the nose... Cheers!

[HaoleKook]

I used to feel the same way. I think it was because many people seem to only focus on the nose ride, and even contests rate nose riding super high so it's a major focus.

What changed it for me was this video. Granted they're on mid-lengths but everything they're doing can be done on a 9'0. There is some nose riding, it's not over done, and it looks fun and enjoyable to watch.

[Banana]

I have a goal to noseride. I've gotten close, but haven't yet had a legit sustained noseride. As soon as I do, I'm going to buy a mid-length board for, and I'll switch between boards based on what I want to do for that day.

Here's the closest I've gotten to noseriding.

[jaffa1949]

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