Mick made me think of this topic after his post next door in the Mundaka thread

Would you rather be a Goofy or a Natural - are you happy with your stance? Most of the places I have lived or surfed frequently being a goofy would have been or would be a much better stance for me......

We have 2 left reefs here that have an awesome first section that would be unreal on yr forehand....in NZ spent many yrs at Raglan and its 3 left points in a row.....spent a lot of time in Indo - mainly surfing lefts......but NSW has many a long right point break but I do not get to surf them often enough and most of time they seem like an easy wave on yr backhand.......well at least you do not seem to be penalised to much if you are a Goofy....as for the West Coast and all of those secret spots - when I have been there its mostly been lefts that I have surfed.......maybe I should do a Jas and switch - but seriously its too late for that I am hoping my next trip brings me more rights....my next Indo trip will be to a place full of hollow rights to try and balance things out a bit. If I lived in Simondo and Tux land I would be more than happy with my stance.

So do you think its better to be a Goofy or a Natural?

I would dig the pure ability to switch Ted .... to open up a new aspect to a wave ... but I am just a poor natural foot pig

On the GC natural by a long shot,Bali Goofy heaven.

Happy with what I am

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chrispy said..

Happy with what I am

I was talking about yr surf stance

Ted, you got me thinking.... I pop up in Natural, but I can then switch to goofy if I get enough time. Funny thing is, I can't pop straight up to Goofy.

When Water Skiing, I'm left foot forward as well, however on a skatey, I can only seem to ride well in Goofy stance, but still push with the right foot and have the left at the back of the board..... does that make me manky?

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MichaelR said..

Ted, you got me thinking.... I pop up in Natural, but I can then switch to goofy if I get enough time. Funny thing is, I can't pop straight up to Goofy.

When Water Skiing, I'm left foot forward as well, however on a skatey, I can only seem to ride well in Goofy stance, but still push with the right foot and have the left at the back of the board..... does that make me manky?

MR your ****ed mate

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MichaelR said..

Ted, you got me thinking.... I pop up in Natural, but I can then switch to goofy if I get enough time. Funny thing is, I can't pop straight up to Goofy.

When Water Skiing, I'm left foot forward as well, however on a skatey, I can only seem to ride well in Goofy stance, but still push with the right foot and have the left at the back of the board..... does that make me manky?

It makes you mongo foot..... .
I do the same, surf natural and skate goofy.

Surf goofy but can skate both goofy and natural. Never really worried about rights vs lefts. Love surfing backhand.

haha yep...that's why I said that Ted, I live in West Oz Goofy heaven. The majority of waves that barrel with a bigger swell are sectioning lefts that would be easier to read on your forehand. I just tend to grab a rail & hope for the best lol Places like Uluwatu (small racetracks) are really challenging when the waves sucky from the word go. My old rashie still bares the scars from the day after last years Ulu's 1st night surfing contest.

I did a lot of skating in my younger days 9yo - 22yo before I tore ligaments in my right knee. I was a fairly good skater by the standards back then, but something I've never understood is I was goofy. I always had a surfing kinda style too, pushing off my turns off the top of ramps or bowls. But yeah goofy, I really struggle trying to tic-tac as a natural foot on a skateboard. Somehow I ended up natural foot as a surfer when I started standing on boards at 11yo.

I can take off natural on a LB & switch over to goofy & trim, but its like I've hit an ejector button if I try & do anything else like cutting back or going for a floater. I reckon I could get better at it with practice, but then backhand on LB waves is just as much fun as forehand anyway & as you say...its probably too late for that for me too. I should concentrate on improving other skills like cross stepping & nose riding.

Whats better, goofy or natural? I agree with what peeps have said, depends on your location

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smh said...
Surf goofy but can skate both goofy and natural. Never really worried about rights vs lefts. Love surfing backhand.

Best post so far....
SP I skate mongo...you two don't. Mongo is when your foot is on the front of the board when push
There was no name for it when we were kids..but kids now ha've to have a name for everything

I must be a Mongo as well Chrispy. I also do things weird like a few of you in here......I surf, snowboard and skate natural...play tennis right handed and cricket left - both bat and bowl but get this I play golf right handed !! I can kick pretty well with both feet but favour the left. I play snooker right handed as well. I am also more left brain orientated as well. I am so mixed up sometimes

Mum was on top ............makes me a goofy.
Surfing all those points and river mouths in NZ, raglan, whangamata, Omaha, mangawhai, piha, shipwrecks, taranaki, and now in WA I'm happy to be goofy.
I can stand cross foot natural long boarding.

Ted I used to camp on the point at Manu bay and regularly surfed boneyards on my own in the late 70s early eighties. Got chased out of indicators by an angry farmer with a gun ! A mate and I Surfed Manu bay at midnight on a full moon. Spooky.

Mongo foot eh, haha that's new to me

The missus is ambidextrous with a lot of things...just asked her about it & she listed off a bunch of things, like writing with her right hand, but painting with her left. Playing tennis with her right hand & using a knife with her left...She was forced to use her right hand for stuff as a kid, so I guess some areas were less supervised

100% dextral with everything I do.

I couldn't so much as scratch my arse with my left hand.

BTW, did you know that shells can be right or left handed, just like us, but it's far less common, almost a rarity, but it does happen. Next time you pick up a classic looking shell, hold it upwards or downwards and in your mind, compare it to a normal right handed screw thread. You'll probably find they are almost always identical.

im right-handed with everything

Natural footer and loving it...my backhand was really strong from growing up in WA...and now I am fine tuning the forehand by living in Vicco....it does take me a while to get into the swing of things surfing lefts now as I only go left a couple of times a year living down here

when i worked in the mountains in summer i would hit south coast nsw on the weekend. place is mostly lefts. got pretty go at backhand down there, but then i got back home it faded a bit

then i was surfing shorties i would go as many lefts as i could find. then you click on backhand you can get so vert and radical and it feels so good.


however on the goldie happy to natural. but you have to look of the lefts to be a balanced surfer.


so many natural footers on the goldie are weak on their backhand

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laceys lane said..


then i was surfing shorties i would go as many lefts as i could find. then you click on backhand you can get so vert and radical and it feels so good.




so many natural footers on the goldie are weak on their backhand

True my best ever back hand wave was on a 5.11 at d-bah off lovers,great bottom turn set the wave up for 4 or 5 very vert rad lip smacks,I'll never forget that one wave

Pffft I'm just happy to get to my feet going left or right.
I miss the south coast so much. So many fun waves and plenty more to get tha hairs on your neck up

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chrispy said..

Pffft I'm just happy to get to my feet going left or right.
I miss the south coast so much. So many fun waves and plenty more to get tha hairs on your neck up

You need to get down here Chrispy. Pick up SP and Ted on the way down. Autumn's the go.

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smh said...

chrispy said..

Pffft I'm just happy to get to my feet going left or right.
I miss the south coast so much. So many fun waves and plenty more to get tha hairs on your neck up

You need to get down here Chrispy. Pick up SP and Ted on the way down. Autumn's the go.

I lived on and off down there for years mate

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chrispy said..

smh said...

chrispy said..

Pffft I'm just happy to get to my feet going left or right.
I miss the south coast so much. So many fun waves and plenty more to get tha hairs on your neck up

You need to get down here Chrispy. Pick up SP and Ted on the way down. Autumn's the go.

I lived on and off down there for years mate

Yeah I know and and as you would know theres so many little spots down there without the crowds .