Hi all, Happy New Year!

I got a new stick over Christmas but I'm having problems riding it once I've got into the wave. I'm loosing speed almost immediately after I pop up and the board seems to be bogging.


I'm making sure I'm low and have my weight on my front foot but it still keeps happening. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?


Thanks in advance.

Rocker doesn't match the waves? At a guess I'm going to say it's more rockered than your previous board and you surf flat waves.

What board is it ?? Model and dimensions? What's yr weight?

Thanks Legion but I don't think it the rocker as I've ridden it in a variety of waves.... knee high slop to 5ft.

I've dropped from a 7' down to a 6'4 JS Revolution. I've not changed anything technique wise but maybe I need to?

Not enough volume perhaps

I'm 80kgs Mac and the board is 38ltrs so there should be plenty of volume. The only think I could think of is that I'm getting my back foot down first and putting on the breaks, but surely as soon as I get my weight forward this should be rectified?

Way too much volume
I'm the same weight and I wouldn't dream of riding 38 liters
With a 2 3/4 thick board the rails would be so thick that you would struggle with any rail to rail transition

Select to expand quote

TimKay said...
Way too much volume
I'm the same weight and I wouldn't dream of riding 38 liters
With a 2 3/4 thick board the rails would be so thick that you would struggle with any rail to rail transition

And your shaping experience is?...I weigh more and my board is the same litres,my rails are refined as..getting to rail and pumping for speed is a breeze. Imo he is struggling from being able to have heaps of float which got him speed before,but now he has dropped volume he has not learnt how to pump.for speed as he only needed to float to gain his speed previously.

Select to expand quote

chrispy said..

TimKay said...
Way too much volume
I'm the same weight and I wouldn't dream of riding 38 liters
With a 2 3/4 thick board the rails would be so thick that you would struggle with any rail to rail transition

And your shaping experience is?...I weigh more and my board is the same litres,my rails are refined as..getting to rail and pumping for speed is a breeze. Imo he is struggling from being able to have heaps of float which got him speed before,but now he has dropped volume he has not learnt how to pump.for speed as he only needed to float to gain his speed previously.

Shaped a couple
Hopeless at it though.
But just read the write up on the JS site
I think my assumptions were the same as yours but you explained it better

You could be on the money there Chrispy as my last board was 45ltrs and I never had any issues.

So what you are saying is that as soon as I pop up I should be pumping a couple of times to get my speed up?

Select to expand quote

MornoPom said...
You could be on the money there Chrispy as my last board was 45ltrs and I never had any issues.

So what you are saying is that as soon as I pop up I should be pumping a couple of times to get my speed up?

Once you learn to pump properly it'll only take one pump and you should be already flying down the line. Try aiming high on the wave straight from take off rather than always bottom turning. Also a good pump should go almost top to bottom. 7L is a massive drop in volume and will take a lot of adjusting to if not a completely different approach especially if youve come from a Funboard type shape to the JS

...are you perhaps getting up a tad too soon, as the smaller board will take that fraction longer to get on the wave?

...or perhaps setting your line too high on take-off and not getting into the 'pocket' for max. speed?

extra 2- 3 paddles ! and stance

Select to expand quote

MornoPom said..

I'm 80kgs Mac and the board is 38ltrs so there should be plenty of volume. The only think I could think of is that I'm getting my back foot down first and putting on the breaks, but surely as soon as I get my weight forward this should be rectified?

back foot is the accelerometer,2-3 more strokes and make sure your stance is ok...i would hazard a guess that your feet aren't in the right spot get the back foot further back the only time on a thruster your back foot is too far back is when you stand on the plug or it slips off the back your stance should be slightly wider than your shoulders,coming from a 7 footer you might have been relying on the waterline length to get you into waves,and you probably weren't kicking.the kicking doesn't make a big difference to your forward speed the way most people think it would as what it does is change the your centre of buoyancy, moves it forwards and the board planes a tad better. if it still doesn't work then get some video footage and i am pretty sure there would be no shortage of armchair/desktop critics here. otherwise i will take that pig off your hands for an even $100

Thanks for all the advice guys, I'll let you know how I go in the morning.

Thanks for the kind offer Prawnhead, I'll keep it in mind

whats all this pumping talk?

Select to expand quote

saltiest1 said..

whats all this pumping talk?

like a skateboard.

If you need to pump on take off there is an underlying issue.

Select to expand quote

62mac said..

If you need to pump on take off there is an underlying issue.

Couldn't agree more. Unless it's a semi-close out or super fast, and assuming volume, rocker etc are correctly matched to surfer, the drop and bottom turn should be doing the work for you, no?

I don't know why you guys are so prejudiced against pumping...in my experience pumping is pretty damn awesome

Please take my advice with a grain of salt because I'm a pretty average surfer, below average honestly. But given I surf perth and the like I definitely put a semi pump action into the take off both front and back side. Front side it's like a step forward on your front foot on the balls under the toes. Basically it prevents you from falling all the way down the far of the wave and instead it makes you kind of boost up and do like a second drop down the face. Watch DVDs and you'll see what I mean. It's kind if a stab on the front foot. The thing is it could be a product of where you surf, a mate I surf with from Sunshine Coast has total opposite style, his first instinct after getting to his feet is to stall the board as if a barrel is coming. Totally different. Back side it is like a step onto the heel and open your chest up to the wave. I mean this as no offence but some of the bloke who say don't pump may either surf an easy wave or ride mals where it's more of a glide and trim. Think of the swing at the local park, how does that gain momentum without feet touching ground? It's a thrust forward. Skateboarders gain speed up a ramp, how is this possible? Boost up the thing, don't pig dog it.

No-one is wrong.

Yesterday I had at least two free-fall take-offs, with weight on the back foot to prevent nose diving on landing, many pump take-offs, due to tiny fast waves and at least a couple of regular take-offs, with regulation bottom turns. Old mate near me got a barrel on take-off, so he stalled straight away. So there are four different types in one short(ish) session.

Select to expand quote

PaddlePig said...
Please take my advice with a grain of salt because I'm a pretty average surfer, below average honestly. But given I surf perth and the like I definitely put a semi pump action into the take off both front and back side. Front side it's like a step forward on your front foot on the balls under the toes. Basically it prevents you from falling all the way down the far of the wave and instead it makes you kind of boost up and do like a second drop down the face. Watch DVDs and you'll see what I mean. It's kind if a stab on the front foot. The thing is it could be a product of where you surf, a mate I surf with from Sunshine Coast has total opposite style, his first instinct after getting to his feet is to stall the board as if a barrel is coming. Totally different. Back side it is like a step onto the heel and open your chest up to the wave. I mean this as no offence but some of the bloke who say don't pump may either surf an easy wave or ride mals where it's more of a glide and trim. Think of the swing at the local park, how does that gain momentum without feet touching ground? It's a thrust forward. Skateboarders gain speed up a ramp, how is this possible? Boost up the thing, don't pig dog it.

So.well.said...or.some.people that don't pump just don't surf..easy to give aadvice from the carpark...

Select to expand quote

MornoPom said..

Hi all, Happy New Year!

I got a new stick over Christmas but I'm having problems riding it once I've got into the wave. I'm loosing speed almost immediately after I pop up and the board seems to be bogging.


I'm making sure I'm low and have my weight on my front foot but it still keeps happening. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?


Thanks in advance.

i had exactly the same problem when bought a new "afterburner" few years ago which came up with fcs m5's.
i saw a light when swapped m5's for am's. i buy only am's since then.
jeez... half of my posts to this forum were about fins and they all went wasted.
my last purchase was set of stealth am2's from shapers fins . they are ferraris !

a good solid bottom turn of varying angles depending on the wave will put you into a first manoeuvre much earlier than a pump that can waste half a wave. practice.

Gday , you haven't changed tail shapes on your board?if you go from a swallow to a pin tail in the same dimensions for example. The difference can be huge a take off".

Select to expand quote

Prawnhead said..

extra 2- 3 paddles ! and stance

MornoPom said..

I'm 80kgs Mac and the board is 38ltrs so there should be plenty of volume. The only think I could think of is that I'm getting my back foot down first and putting on the breaks, but surely as soon as I get my weight forward this should be rectified?

back foot is the accelerometer,2-3 more strokes and make sure your stance is ok...i would hazard a guess that your feet aren't in the right spot get the back foot further back the only time on a thruster your back foot is too far back is when you stand on the plug or it slips off the back your stance should be slightly wider than your shoulders,coming from a 7 footer you might have been relying on the waterline length to get you into waves,and you probably weren't kicking.the kicking doesn't make a big difference to your forward speed the way most people think it would as what it does is change the your centre of buoyancy, moves it forwards and the board planes a tad better. if it still doesn't work then get some video footage and i am pretty sure there would be no shortage of armchair/desktop critics here. otherwise i will take that pig off your hands for an even $100

+1

My advice comes with a grain of salt also as I'm not a good surfer but here's my experience from my JS. I have the 6'6" Kingpin (volume is 38L from memory) and I'm 100kg, one of the things I've notice is there is a real sweet spot in the rocker for both catching and riding waves, the interesting thing is that when I go to paddle into a wave I need to be positioned about 1" further forward on my board vs where I'd position myself paddling out (I've never had this experience with any other board I've had, other who I've leant it to have noticed also), same when I stand up find I need my feet just a little further forward.