Takayama in the pink...tough paddle

[waikikikichan]

hahaha... the video... that's what the swiss guy today suggested. I had a good laugh.

In all seriousness, you should try doing that. Not actually going for the wave, but to sit on the board at the peak and then lean your upper body forward and just place your hands on the deck. Just to feel the momentum and timing of the wave. Basically saying to yourself, Hmmm if I were to go for the wave, I would go ............. NOW.

[tommykrebs]

I would never quit (never did) because something is difficult but the gap between what a can do and what is required is so huge that I doubt I can close this gap with a lot of workout's. I paddle now for 6 months and do Yoga for years and now I do a lot for gaining strength also. Like push ups. I am not over weight at all. 186cm and 83kg. My endurance is good but not great. I can ride my road bike up to 100km with 1500m elevaition gain. But I cannot exceed 500 watts. That's not a lot. I was never able to touch the hoop playing basketball, for instance. I used to box but I had always trouble with explosive workout's. So I am NOT an Athlete. I am just fit for my age.

When I count my strokes or seconds till I get my surfboard up to speed I need 2-3 times more power to catch the a wave in time. Where should this power come from? Assume I would get every now and then a wave, I would say: okay, lets work on my strength, but I am so far away to catch a wave that it makes no sense at all to put effort into it. Unfortunately, it's pointless.

My plan was to surf the next 5-6 years and I bought five very nice surfboards for that reason. Next to the Takayama three Christensons. But now I will settle down in Germany and play Golf again. What a bummer!

[waikikikichan]

As for your paddle power/strength problem: " Paddle smarter, NOT harder "

There was an actual US Olympian swimmer that used to surf in Waikiki around us. Even with his fitness / power / strength couldn't catch as many waves as we did.

As for your board choice: Duke Kahanamoku said "Surf the wave, NOT the board."
I always tell beginners: " A good surfer can surf ANY board. "
Maverick said: " It ain't the plane, it's the pilot. "

You basically need 3 things to catch a wave: POWER, POSITION and TIMING. If one is weak, say POWER, then knowing where to be and when to go will make up for it.

[tommykrebs]

Yes, I know that positioning will help with poor paddling and there are countless examples on the internet. I have seen a guy in Portugal catching waves only with positioning and almost no paddling at all. But you need many years of surfing to be good at it. What I do next is to paddle out with my 7ft phish and take only waves at the peak. My pro active paddling becomes better and I try to move all the time. Only at the peak because my paddling is too weak to paddle for the shoulder. Even they look steep enough. The 7ft is harder to paddle than the Takayama but in steeper sections and bigger waves I am getting so afraid with the 9ft because it is so prone to nosediving, that most of the time I bail out. Its easier to commit with the Phish. If the wave is not closing out fast and has a nice long slope I am able to catch waves with it. But I need a lot of paddling and time to catch it. Those waves are rare. Most waves I have seen in France, Portugal and Spain are hollow breaking and I cannot do anything with them.

[tommykrebs]

As for your paddle power/strength problem: " Paddle smarter, NOT harder "

Do you mean with smarter a better positioning?

BTW: I was 2009 on Oahu for Kitesurfing. A very beautiful and very expensive place to live. Even more expensive than Tahiti. Every day I had to walk 30min to my rental car parked at the Zoo. There is no parking place in Waikiki without a 24h parking meter.

[tommykrebs]

Can you elaborate "Timing"? Timing when to paddle for the wave or when to take off or something else?

[waikikikichan]

Do you mean with smarter a better positioning?

Yes, Better positioning ( on the board and in the lineup ) among other things like...
Brain vs. Brawn.
Awareness of the line up, swell, rip, wind direction, tide, double ups.
Knowing who goes, who doesn't go. Who tends to go right/left.
Realizing some waves are just not meant to be ridden.
Working with the wave, not against it.
Technique to move a lot of water a short distance, rather than a small amount of water a far distance. *
Being smooth to not upset the glide versus a powerful chopping of the water's surface.

Choosing the right equipment for the task at hand. The ITP has a massive trash can lid nose. That's not good for beach break waves. Donald Takayama shaped a model for the that purpose, it's the board I ride here in Japan's most beach break waves.

But again, here Dino Miranda proves the "noserider" can handle steep big drops on the Northshore.

[waikikikichan]

Can you elaborate "Timing"? Timing when to paddle for the wave or when to take off or something else?

Yes,
WHEN to start paddling
WHEN to wait a bit for the wave to stand up more
WHEN to ramp up the power
WHEN to initially go hard then ease up
WHEN to pop up quickly or WHEN to stay down a bit

Knowing the difference between QUICK versus RUSHED.

You may be the most power batter, but if you swing too early or too late, you missed the ball and strike out.
You may have the most powerful Horsepower car, but it doesn't matter if you shift at the wrong moment.

[tommykrebs]

Thank you very much. Very interesting and at the same time pretty much to digest.

[tommykrebs]

The main difficulty I have with the Takayama is how fast I nosedive. In 2009, on my worldtrip, I started with a 7.6 epoxy Minimal and later I bought in San Diego an ISLE 9ft. With both boards I never nosedived. The ISLE had from memory more volume and I catched almost every wave I wanted. So, although I catch almost nothing now, I am pretty good once standing on a board.

Nosediving is completely new to me and because of nosediving I had some over the handlebar-moments in bigger surf, which were scary. As a result I avoided to paddle for the steeper peak and paddled only for the shoulder. But the shoulder is too soft. Although I catch no waves I think that I am stronger than in 2009. Couple days back I did a paddle battle against a younger woman to see how slow or fast I really am and I was faster than her. But she catched some waves this day and I did not. I suppose because I don't trust the Takayama anymore to paddle it at the peak.

I will never paddle for wave with it again but I have one last thing I want to know. Before I put into a bin (first I have to cut it into three pieces or it will not fit), I will find a decent surfer/longboarder and I want him or her to try out the Takayama. I am very interested what he or she think's about it.

In hindsight I think a high performance longboard with more nose rocker would be a better choise for me. I have no benefit of faster paddling because of Takayama's little rocker. I am looking forward to paddle my long Phish from now on.

[tommykrebs]

I am still thinking that I am not very strong in paddling, like Ben catching a 2ft wave in the video above, but maybe not so weak I think I am. Always paddling for a wave at the shoulder and not catching it and paddling at a steeper section or peak and nose dive leads to frustration. And nothing in between. You need a slope and gravity to surf a wave. And before all the over the handlebar and nosediving I was never afraid to commit for bigger waves. It changed with the Takayama ITP. I didn't quit on it because I thought it's me (yes, it is) and I have to make it work. But it is too difficult for me to catch waves with it. Way too difficult.

Like I said, when I choosed this board, I thought little rocker will help me to catch more waves. It was the opposite. With this board I need to be a stronger paddler and catch the wave earlier. Or take off the moment it's nose diving. But this happens too quick for my skills.

[tommykrebs]

Even I paddled hundreds of times in vain to catch a wave with the Takayama, I spend many days in different waves at different spots and I learned a lot how to read waves and became better in pro-active paddling. And I figuered it out why I couldn't catch wave with the Takayama, which was not easy to understand. A lack of strength and skill. I am sure without the easy nose diving, I could catch a lot of waves with it.

But in the end it was not in vain because I learned a lot. Time to leave the Takayama behind and move on.

[tommykrebs]

She stepped on the tail and showed me the rocker of the board. She told me that board is not suitable for a beginner because I will nosedive easily with a board like that.

Did she mean the board didn't have enough rocker or too much? Asking because interested in getting a nose rider myself, and interested in the 'Pink', I thought they have relatively flat rocker but could be wrong.

She mean't that it doesn't have enough rocker and I would nosedive easily as a beginner. But the way I see it is that with less rocker, you will paddle faster which would help you catch the wave before it gets too steep. But I guess beginner doesn't have the strength to paddle harder so it kinda makes sense?

Exactly! (from page one)

[jaffa1949]

Don‘t cut the board up and bin it sell it on!
Make good your loss!
You are not ready for a high performance board!!!!!
#YOU ARE BEING GIVEN REALLY GOOD ADVICE
You choose to argue for your limitations, if the boards you believe work for you use them, the answer is not another board, it is learning to ride one board !
Tough love segment………… If you feel you know better than really experienced advice, just go for it!
I am frustrated in just hearing how you struggle when the solution is in front of you!

Surfing is not easy

[tommykrebs]

It was a joke. I'm just frustrated over the board. That's all. And I will not buy a different longboard or paddle the Takayama. I am done with longboards. If I want to surf small waves I would rather rent a foamy. I am sure to be capable to surf the 7ft. I did it before and I need a slow and not hollow breaking wave. And it is way more fun than a longboard. It is fast and I can turn it almost like my surfskate. The reason I didn't spent more time with the 7ft is that I wanted to make the longboard work. To figure out why it's so hard to catch a wave. In the end it's a LONGBOARD. Can't be that difficult...

And I am grateful for the advice that was given.

[jaffa1949]

Appreciate your answer, it really is only surfing what works for you

[tommykrebs]

It's a bummer that a small wave took eight hairline stress fractures into the nose of the Takayama. I think this will reduce the value by a margin. I don't know what it will cost to repair and how it will look after that. I don't need 500€ and I am thinking about to give it away to someone who has no money to buy a good board. Maybe I contact the shop, I bought it. I like the idea better than to sell it for a couple Euro's.

[Geezer]

Hi; I’m teaching my 14year old daughter and use the videos this bunch makes for explaining concepts to her. She seems to respond to how they describe fundamentals; maybe you will as well.

You do really have to let go of the idea that you need to paddle faster. You said yourself the instructor told you your speed was fine. Issue must be timing, technique and positioning. I coach my daughter into waves; sounds like this “ok this one…slowly, slowly, slowly…(wave begins to lift tail)….now GO!”


https://youtu.be/lRqgfxzwAzE

[Geezer]

More on posture. Head up, chin up, arch up, push up, stand up (never look down).

I feel like I am looking over my cheekbones; head high and chin up enough so that they are in your vision looking forward.


https://fb.watch/jkNfQwUEny/?mibextid=qC1gEa

[tommykrebs]

Hi; I’m teaching my 14year old daughter and use the videos this bunch makes for explaining concepts to her. She seems to respond to how they describe fundamentals; maybe you will as well.

You do really have to let go of the idea that you need to paddle faster. You said yourself the instructor told you your speed was fine. Issue must be timing, technique and positioning. I coach my daughter into waves; sounds like this “ok this one…slowly, slowly, slowly…(wave begins to lift tail)….now GO!”


https://youtu.be/lRqgfxzwAzE

Oh, the OMBE surf.... I have seen it all. "He is looking full of fear over his shoulder and is panic-paddling away from the wave in the flat, wasting energy. hahaha" (oh yes, they are laughing about the dumb guy's, paddling hard for the waves in their video's.)

I come from Golf and there is an Canadian Teacher, who teaches to hit the ball with an effortless swing. Without any force hundred's of meter's. Easy like eating an ice cream cone. Is it possible to hit the ball far without force and tension? Yes, it is. But I needed my whole life to learn it. If you start to play Golf with 50, like the most, you will never learn to hit the ball effortless. Never.

In my lesson, the surf instructor let me paddle for the wave when it was 70m away, knowing I need the time to get up to speed. And even this was not enough. I was too slow. So, please don't tell me I was in the wrong spot because the surf instructor know's where to sit and when to paddle for a wave. Maybe you never surfed a Takayama ITP and maybe you are good enough to make it work, but for me, with my skills, it's the wrong board. Because it's nosedives in no time. It's not if, it's when. The only way to catch a wave with it, is to catch the wave early before it becomes some steppness. Or, which is way too difficult, with the OMBE method. Feel the lift of the tail and hop on. I tried this and 95% of all waves I felt the lift of the tail, it closed out right after that. The other 5% went on, me standing on top of the wave. It's very tempting to believe there is a short cut to catch waves without hard paddling, like believing to hit the golfball far without effort.

To learn the magic trick of catching waves easily you only need to pay 250$. (OMBE website) It's snake oil to make money.

And again, I surfed many waves in 2009 with a different 9ft longboard and I am not familiar with nosediving at all. And not because I caught the waves early. No I remember vividly to caught some waves free falling onto the board because I was too late.