Surfing tips sub forum??

We’ve got some very experienced surfers here, any interest/chance a sub forum totally for surfing tips is possible/worthy?. Im by no means a ripper, so hearing tips from some of the better, more experienced surfers would be cool.

Mark

Some stuff you can help, and some you just can’t

Top of my list of things you can’t do anything about

  1. Be young
  2. Be short
After that come the things you can do something about.
  1. Swim.  The faster you paddle, the earlier you catch waves.  Get to your feet before you get pitched!
  2. Bend your knees, but keep your back straight.  Get as low as you can.
  3. Take Shotokan Karate.  Not for the fighting.  If you knew me, I'm the biggest wimp there is.  But Shotokan Karate is all about keeping low, solid and balanced.  And it is helpful if the crowd does get too unruly.
  4. An the biggest tip I can give is to totally commit to your turns.  When you turn, no half -way effort.  Lean into that turn and push with everything you can give.  Just know you will make it.  Guys kook out when they aren't as focused as they could be.  When you start, you will probably wreck.  Bodyparts everywhere.  But once you get used to a powerful and committed turn - nothing better.

http://carverskateboards.com/techinfo/c7.php

This has helped my surfing a TON! Expensive but, I bought just the trucks and slapped them onto an old deck I had laying around.

I don’t get in the water as often as I would like and these keep me fresh when I do. No lag time in getting my water legs back.

Mark

What you should really do if you want to surf better is to take a private lesson that includes video material. No better way to learn. And there are loads and loads of books and video/dvd on the subject of course. but watching yourself surf is one of the best learning methods as far as i am concerned!

the carver is also a great tool btw, i have one too, very very nice

wouter

Knowing where you are in rela

first time i have been able to

Spit it out pinny :slight_smile:

thanks for starting this thread , Mark !

 

I , too, hope we hear from good surfers here !

 

  ... I hope it will be experience and skill shared , here  [.... and,  not opinions ] ,  preferably ?!

 

 Same with my ' the photography' thread ... I want to learn from others' experience !

 

I have been picking Stuey's brain lately , and when my brother is here , will do the same  [ as well as via facebook messages , while he is still 3000 miles away at present ....]

 

I'll take a punt at what 'pinnypinny'  was about to say  [ I may be waaay off, but] ...

 

" knowing where you are in relation to the wave / ? lip ? " ?

 

not sure about his second " first time i have been able to " one , though ? [ ? '...sneak onto a computer , without the missus hassling me " , perhaps?  .... but , it was obviously cut short , though ?  uh oh , poor "pinny pinny" !] 

 

  here's 'some' of my two cents worth ...

 

 1.  making sure I ride the 'right' board for the conditions ,

 2. feeling confident in the board  [and fins !] , and my ability

    and....

3.  going for it !

 

  Tied in with  point 3 .....

 

   mental attitude , for me , can often play as big a part as physical fitness , wave selection , board selection , and positioning on takeoff ...

  q:  ever had one of those  days where your mind is "not on the job"  , so to speak ?

 ....  for example , slightly distracted by other thoughts , worries , pain , or others in the water , etc ?

 

  PLEASE ,  can we hear more from people on the 'surfing tips' subject ??

There IS , actually , quite a lot to surfing well, when you break it down into steps [as occupational therapists , physios , sports scientists , and exercise physiologists , to name a few professions , have to do , with everyday activities !]

 

  cheers !

 

  ben

Body surf as often as possible and in all kinds of conditions. It will help in learning how to read waves and get you fit. Get down to at least 10% body fat (currently working on that one myself). “ripping” is not necessary to be a good surfer, sometimes it’s all about flow and style…

It’s easy: When the wave breaks here, don’t be there.

Best tip I ever got was reading a Surfer when I was a kid and Ithink it was Phil Edwards/“The Tamarak Kid,” who ever that was, said, “I sit and watch people surf, and most people jump off before they wipe out.  If the didn’t jump off they’d be surprised at the rides they could make.”  So I took it to mean not to jump off in critical situations, and I found I made waves, sections, I would’a thought I couldn’t.

(chuckling) - I’m really glad you said ‘really experienced’ and not ‘really good’ or ‘really skilled’ - I might fit the former, but definitely not the last two. I’m gonna assume basic competence and a desire to go beyond that…kinda like what I’ve been hoping for for …eesh, a looooooooonngg time now.

Like Taylor sez, going for it helps you improve. Plus, you start to realise that yes, you can get away with doing whatever it was you would have bailed on. Surfing with a friend who is better than you are helps too- they’ll tell you to go for it, take waves outside your comfort zone, and your comfort zone expands. 

Visualisation - kinda thinking through a wave and what you'd do with it, that can be good...or at least it works for me. You don't have to be in the water or on the beach to do it either.

Most importantly, another Phil Edwards idea - enjoy it, have fun with it. Surfing ain't curing cancer, it's not giving sight to the blind. It's a good time and if it isn't a good time that particular session it's time to go in and do something else until the good time comes back for ya.   Doc......

Put a smile on that sour puss. Be aware of who is getting waves and make sure you arrange for those not getting any. Tune bad behavior at your local break LOUDLY, so everyone who needs it, gets it! 

I tell beginners to study the line up before going out…watch what everyone is doing…then go out there and do something different! 

I think a sub forum would be great. I have a lot of things im working on surf wise and could use an entire sub forum. I wont even start to ask here. 

Yew! That is one of my favorite things in surfing!

The Yin to that Yang:

 

Learn to Trim - extra points for hands behind the back

Trimming - as in going straight down the line, no flapping hands or wiggling, no Huntington hop, try not to shuffle your feet - graceful. Maybe not the most exciting to watch somebody else do it; but fun to do and fundamental to surfing well (IMHO). If you can read waves well enough to do that, you learn when to lay in a cutback, setup barrels, or air it on the closeout.

Cool guys, some good advice here. I started the thread because i had one of those times when you're in purple patch, you can't do a thing wrong for a few surfs, turns are crisp and well timed etc, then very next surf, similar waves same board, BANG, can't do anything right, struggle with feet in the wrong spot. Weird. Normally, im reasonably consistent, but now and then i'll go through a period where im just not even thinking, im just doing, its awesome. Then, usually, all of a sudden, i go the opposite for a few surfs, and kook out big time. Very frustrating. I've started surfing specific yoga, really just for more flexibility, and plan on doing more ab strength excercises.

…the problem with cranking up on the bottom turn, is what occurs next…I mean, if you are not so good in Surfing, better not to do that until you can manage other stuff; you know, smash the curl of the wave in a good beachbreak wave could be hurts badly if the board slip off your feet or you cannot manage that super fast turn and you only have air under you.

 

-also, DOC; that thing about forget about it and wait for better times is not applied when you have plenty of crowd in the main line ups, if not you lose your place on those line ups; and that s is true.

 

What should happen next is a big hack off the lip :wink:

My advice is forget everything else and focus on the wave.  Keep your feet weighted regardless of how you’re oriented to the rest of the world.  Pulling some Gs makes “down” wherever the bottom of your board is facing.  This works if you’re just making little turns or upside down under the lip.  Think ahead and have your board follow you.  Don’t think about falling off.  If you do, you will.  Instead, visualize where you’re going to be three of four turns ahead of where you are… then just let you’re physical being catch up to your mind.  

When I was a kid learning to surf, I’d spend my time on dry land surfing in my head.  I still do.  If you visualize what you’d do in various situations over and over, then when you do it in the real world it will come fairly naturally.  

Once you believe you can pull off a maneuver, you can.  If you worry that you’ll choke, you will.  

 

beery ,

 

  what board[s] are you mainly riding , when you have the "good one day , shocker the next " sessions ?

 

  and .... PART of the answer 'may' be your comment about 'not thinking about it' [too much?] ...

 

  yes , pre-visualisation and confidence IS good

 

  but

 

I have always had the BEST surfs when I have been totally relaxed ...sometimes you pull off a wave after a ride laughing , thinking "what did I do on that wave ?" [if that makes sense ?  ....something like a ?"zen -like state" ?? , at the risk of sounding wanky ?]

 

"jaevee" ,

 

  please .... DO  post here ... THAT'S  what this thread is FOR !

 

   cheers mate !

 

  ben

 

p.s. it's getting late here in 'woz' now , so I'm hiting the sack [off to bed] ...but I have some questions and photos to post next time i'm 'computing' ... BUT , " ciao for now " ! 

I think you need to do the math first.

Any one hour you’re in the water, you’re probably going to catch six or seven waves an hour — a good guy might catch 12 or 15 waves an hour, max — and those waves are going to last 10 seconds each. So for any hour in the water you’ll surf for a minute, meaning five minutes of surfing a day,…”

And that is KS describing surfing 5 hrs a day in the Mentawais! Not 2 second close-outs.

 

I didn’t realise it until much later in life, but all my competence in retrospect came from other related activities. There simply is not enough wave time to improve much by surfing alone. 

Body surfing really helps catching waves. Swimming a few times a week with paddling. 

Time skating (few hrs a day) in one month is probably more total time than wave riding time over a whole lifetime.

Tai chi/ chi gong/ or martial arts that focus on stance and a form are really good for weighting, movement and co-ordination.

In one day on a trampoline you get orders of magnitude more air time than a lifetime of air reverses. Do a day training with the olympic freestyle ski and snowboard dudes in the off season. It is an eye opener.

Get an easy to surf board, relatively flat and wide to start with.

 

 

KS Q and A.

 

**Q.** Any traps newcomers fall into?

**A.** A lot of times I’ll see guys who are nowhere near the level of the board they’re riding. They might love surfing and love how it looks, but you really have to work your way up. It takes eating a little humble pie at first, and stepping back to equipment that might be a bit slow, but do it. It makes things better for everyone in the water. KS