Ok, so you are punching out and a waist high water is approaching...... whats your method to get up and over ? :)
Waist height is relatively easy - switch to surf stance and put your weight on your back foot as you hit the whitewater. As soon as the board lifts at the nose and the water starts to go under the board, switch your weight to your forward foot and you should be able to ride over it. This should work up to about chest height, and maybe higher if you're a better SUPer than me (which is most people).
If the wave is less than waist height and if your feet are slightly offset in your stance (ie; not parallel - your front foot slightly further forward than your back), then you shouldn't need the surf stance, just a small thrust forward as the whitewater hits to offset the force and you'll get through/over it.
Someone will probably post Kai Lenny's clip where he crouches down & punches through a wave, but that only works for freaks like him...and dogman!
Yeh sailhack that's what I do and sometimes scrape over. Now- waist high w/w is prob off a soild 4 foot wave in im my books ,and Im getting up on it ok but then getting pulled back down. I guess practice and bury that paddle eh?
If you still can't manage to climb over it with that technique your paddle buried... then it's going to come down to timing and the old jump in. I flick the board forward and up on an angle as I jump and most of the time I pop up with the board next to my head - ready for the next one.
Yeah I would keep your sup as far away from your head as you possibly can :-)
check out this post there is some pretty good advice on it
"sets on the head with a sup"
That's great advice thanks to all. Yeh DJ I wish we could all do kai lennies duck dive. :)
First, the main thing is confidence: be afraid to fall, and you will fall...
And to the other good advices, I would add: crouch before the impact, and jump upwards when hitting the foam: this will let the board bounce "alone" (disconnect from you) on the foam, keeping you main body weight from being launched backwards or upwards or on the side or on whatever direction the wave fancies...
No need for your feet to actually leave the board, just jump enough for your legs to not transmit the upwards push of the board to your body.
Hey Colas, Thanks for the advice! Goin to give that a try. Whats your thoughts on C Drive fins for a SB 8'2 quad?
Select to expand quotecolas said..
First, the main thing is confidence: be afraid to fall, and you will fall...
And to the other good advices, I would add: crouch before the impact, and jump upwards when hitting the foam: this will let the board bounce "alone" (disconnect from you) on the foam, keeping you main body weight from being launched backwards or upwards or on the side or on whatever direction the wave fancies...
No need for your feet to actually leave the board, just jump enough for your legs to not transmit the upwards push of the board to your body.
As usual very good advice from Colas. These technical pointers are excellent and can save a lot of grief in the process.
David that is the first time that I watched the video of Kai and it was interesting to watch just how far forward his front foot is. Hmmmm interesting.
A picture tells a thousand words and a video tells a whole lot more.
Ozzie
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Hey Colas, Thanks for the advice! Goin to give that a try. Whats your thoughts on C Drive fins for a SB 8'2 quad?
C-Drive work best in my experience when you push against their grip to generate drive (underpowered conditions), or in challenging conditions (overpowered) as they do not "stiffen" a lot at speed like big-headed fins. For conditions where you are very comfortable but not pushing the board around a lot, they work OK, but I prefer the FCS Nexus H3 that have more natural speed and flow in these "optimal" conditions. Also C-Drives give a better paddling experience for SUPing as they make the row more controllable, especially on takeoff (less squirrelling).
This said, I think they could be a good enhancement to a SB 8'2 quad, but try to get small sizes for the rears, as the C-Drive grip can be a bit much quickly in the rear in quads in 7+ boards. for 8'+ boards, I feel that C-Drivework best as thrusters, you get the pivot and smooth transition of a thruster + the drive of a quad. Note that quite a lot of people enjoy quads with C-Drive in front in standard fins in the rear too.
Thanks Colas, Im waiting on Troy to grab a set of C Drives, but they have a hold up in manufacturing at the moment. At the moment Im running the small 3.5 fins on the rear and 4.5 on the front and it still holds nicely and feels looser. But I think it may have made the board a little more unstable on take off, but Im getting used to that. But combining the C Drives with the SB fins sounds like it s worth a try.Will be fun playing around with various combinations.
Great topic.
I recently adopted a combination of the various suggestions.
I start of with bend knees and upper body leaning forward.When the white water almost hits the nose I plant the paddle on push the board forwards using my legs and that way you punch through the wave. It is only a slight movement but I feel it gives a bit of momentum when you need it. That way you sort of do that 'jump" and make the board light. It also brings the weight on your back foot. I keep pushing of the paddle all the way through and push the upper body forward and put pressure on the front foot. I don't adopt a full surf stance though. I agree with Colas on the confidence part. Stay relaxed all the way through. At first that is a conscious decision, then that will become natural. I still have to make it conscious if the waves are bigger than normal. Test drive on the small stuff to boost confidence helps too.
what i do with my 10 footer in big waves
the funny answer is - i get oummeled repeatedly to the point where people on the beach and nearby surfers are thinking I have no place being out there.
first thing is look behind you to see whos there. Other surfers do not realise the danger and make no effort to paddle away sideways a bit to give you a bit of room. Usually I find a space on the beach to myself anyway.
I either punch through over the top with a surf stance, or bail and dive under the wave.
I've seen one with 8 foot of white water and the guy went to ride over it and then jumped off. The lucky thing was he didn't get dragged in too far by his board which looked like a big 9-10 footer, compared to if he had have jumped off before the wave hit.
One option is to turn around and catch the wave in.
Punch through or bail, but most important thing is know what you might have to do early.....to look behind early and if theres a chance you might have to bail then paddle sideways away from other people.
Would be great to see more vids of this, Actual real world paddling out... A bit like watching riders on very short sups but all you see is the ride on the wave not the actual paddle out of standing out back in the rough soup
