Anyone have advice on learning to turn the board quickly while sitting to catch a wave? I am very slow and am on the 8 foot fish. Truth be known, even balancing while sitting on the board takes some effort and concentration. :)

Sit on your board just in front of the fins,work out the spot to sit,too much back and you'll be doing back flips.Around the last third of you board.Once again you can practice this in a pool,lake or any water,next time you paddle out practice this for 30mins and then start catching waves,hope that helps.

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62mac said...

Sit on your board just in front of the fins,work out the spot to sit,too much back and you'll be doing back flips.Around the last third of you board.Once again you can practice this in a pool,lake or any water,next time you paddle out practice this for 30mins and then start catching waves,hope that helps.

What Mac said, I always try to keep my legs out to the side while sitting on my board for better balance, I use both arms and legs to turn the board, using your legs will take some practise but if you are back on your board as Mac says you will pivot the board quite easily. Cheers

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62mac said...

Sit on your board just in front of the fins,work out the spot to sit,too much back and you'll be doing back flips.Around the last third of you board.Once again you can practice this in a pool,lake or any water,next time you paddle out practice this for 30mins and then start catching waves,hope that helps.

^^^
kadil - as everyone has indicated, Mac is on the money.

The other tip is as you see the wave coming, pull the board a little more vertical with your hands, and use your legs and trunk to turn the board... making it more vertical reduces the amount of drag the bottom half of the board has in the water and allows you to 'twist/spin' the board around much easier.

As it happens, I lent my old 8fter to a mate who rides short boards last weekend... and he could not get around in time to catch the waves... this is the tip I gave him (along with Mac's tip of sitting a little further back).

Again - watch the guys who do it well...

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GPA said...

^^^
kadil - as everyone has indicated, Mac is on the money.

The other tip is as you see the wave coming, pull the board a little more vertical with your hands, and use your legs and trunk to turn the board... making it more vertical reduces the amount of drag the bottom half of the board has in the water and allows you to 'twist/spin' the board around much easier.

As it happens, I lent my old 8fter to a mate who rides short boards last weekend... and he could not get around in time to catch the waves... this is the tip I gave him (along with Mac's tip of sitting a little further back).

Again - watch the guys who do it well...

GPA thats what i do and now mac has the info as to why i beat him onto the waves ,but it works for me

I'm no 100kg beast like some of the boys in here, lucky to be 70 in my fat period so I use my body weight to swing it around. So from where your sitting just put your hands on rails, lean back, pulls the nose up then just swing it with your hands and the inside of your thighs whichever way you want to go.

Then if you want to get into them easy take a double handed stroke to get you speed up then just paddle as hard as you can, try to get your shoulders down as low to the deck as possible, this will keep your nose down and help you paddle into them..

or if you got a fat a.rse and gut like me when you turn to catch a wave the momentum just keeps going and I do a full circle.

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tankchamp said...

or if you got a fat a.rse and gut like me when you turn to catch a wave the momentum just keeps going and I do a full circle.

Lean back use your legs to turn,lean to one side,say the right side and grab your rail with your hand on the same side as you are leaning.

GAME OVER ASEA

To turn with your legs, you remember the egg beater kicks at school swimming lessons? Basically follow the same principle. You can work it out from there as I don't know how to explain the rest

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newguy said...

To turn with your legs, you remember the egg beater kicks at school swimming lessons? Basically follow the same principle. You can work it out from there as I don't know how to explain the rest

Well said oldguy

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newguy said...

To turn with your legs, you remember the egg beater kicks at school swimming lessons? Basically follow the same principle. You can work it out from there as I don't know how to explain the rest

like newguy said
head beater kicks

Hmmmm what to do? Study athletes, training, hours exercising to develop technique .......or...... Eat pizza and drink beer until I am heavy enough to use momentum. Tough call!

buy a paddle and stand up mate,easy peasy

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chrispychru said...

buy a paddle and stand up mate,easy peasy

Having a big board I thought that might be possible at first. When lying on the board I feel like I am totally out of the water, but when I ride a whitewater wave until there is no more wave I can balance on the board and sink it to the bottom. No sup for me, especially if I use pizza and beer to improve turning to catch a wave.

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kadil said...

Hmmmm what to do? Study athletes, training, hours exercising to develop technique .......or...... Eat pizza and drink beer until I am heavy enough to use momentum. Tough call!

well from experience, you'll have more fun on the P!ss

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62mac said...

newguy said...

To turn with your legs, you remember the egg beater kicks at school swimming lessons? Basically follow the same principle. You can work it out from there as I don't know how to explain the rest

Well said oldguy

No white hairs yet ole 62 mate

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kadil said...

Hmmmm what to do? Study athletes, training, hours exercising to develop technique .......or...... Eat pizza and drink beer until I am heavy enough to use momentum. Tough call!

Could pay a grom couple bucks to turn you around everytime a wave comes?

yes i still struggle when im on the log. that thing is best left facing the beach, sit backwards and hop around

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chrispychru said...

yes i still struggle when im on the log. that thing is best left facing the beach, sit backwards and hop around

Haha saw what you just editted mate. Just letting boys know some of us here aint popping up on zimmerframes

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newguy said...

chrispychru said...

yes i still struggle when im on the log. that thing is best left facing the beach, sit backwards and hop around

Haha saw what you just editted mate. Just letting boys know some of us here aint popping up on zimmerframes

nor am i. i must say nor is mac or asea and lacey has more go than 15yo grommy im only 26 mate

And I'd bet they'd out surf me any day too! Even if I took up an SUP!

you look 78

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62mac said...

Sit on your board just in front of the fins,work out the spot to sit,too much back and you'll be doing back flips.Around the last third of you board.Once again you can practice this in a pool,lake or any water,next time you paddle out practice this for 30mins and then start catching waves,hope that helps.

Tried this, worked well. Cheers Mac.

Also tested your theory on high tide Vs low tide for noobs, and support your thoughts. Stayed at the beach for six and a half hours to prove it. If you can reliably get up in the white water, then mid to high tide is good training ground. Even rode a few along the wave instead of toward the beach. Woooooooooooooo. If I had hair, it would have been be blowing in the wind :)

Low tide is good for white water popup training, jumping with the wave as it breaks rather than paddling on to it, that's about it. This time my popups were much quicker.

There was one extremely fit dude paddling almost parallel to the beach, when the wave came up to him, he had lots of speed and caught the wave so easily, just got to do all the surf fit training.

Also have to remember stay low and arms up in the right position otherwise I seem to bend over to get low. Just seems so unnatural, but works so well.

Slowly slowly getting better :)

Hey kadil that's great mate catching your first unbroken wave I still remember that day
Paddle fitness is all about paddling more,dig deep with meaning not a pussy stroke,paddle hard,paddle close to your boards rails and once your hands/arms are underwater angle your stroke so your hands are under your board at the deepest part of your stroke.

Took my daughter out today who has not surfed in 10 + years had her catching unbroken waves after five whitewash rides.

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62mac said...

Hey kadil that's great mate catching your first unbroken wave I still remember that day
Paddle fitness is all about paddling more,dig deep with meaning not a pussy stroke,paddle hard,paddle close to your boards rails and once your hands/arms are underwater angle your stroke so your hands are under your board at the deepest part of your stroke.

Took my daughter out today who has not surfed in 10 + years had her catching unbroken waves after five whitewash rides.

I don't think my paddling is that bad compared to 70% of people who are typically out, but jeez this bloke could paddle quick. It just wears me out so much. Short answer, quit complaining and get more exercise.

Took my daughter out on the weekend too. This was her 3rd time out and is a bit better than me at riding the wave, but she's got some work to do to catching green waves though. All good, she is on the replaced foam board. 50kg lighter on a similar size board. It would be more like me surfing on a 9'6" I guess.

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62mac said...

Hey kadil that's great mate catching your first unbroken wave I still remember that day
Paddle fitness is all about paddling more,dig deep with meaning not a pussy stroke,paddle hard,paddle close to your boards rails and once your hands/arms are underwater angle your stroke so your hands are under your board at the deepest part of your stroke.

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kadil said...


Took my daughter out on the weekend too. This was her 3rd time out and is a bit better than me at riding the wave, but she's got some work to do to catching green waves though. All good, she is on the replaced foam board. 50kg lighter on a similar size board. It would be more like me surfing on a 9'6" I guess.

PS , it was quite funny, the daughter got bored between waves and decided to stand up facing out to sea. No problems standing on a stationary board bobbing up and down between real waves :)

oh no she was on a sup

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62mac said...

oh no she was on a sup

no, safe, it was an 8' foam beginner board

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kadil said...

62mac said...

oh no she was on a sup

no, safe, it was an 8' foam beginner board

Phew!!