Surf Tips - Learn to Surf
One of the problems surfers find when they
are starting out is how to keep up enough speed to ride the wave to
the end. The secret is to ride high. This means try and stay as far
up the face of the wave as you can, not too far though, or you will
feel the real power of the wave as it sucks you up and 'over the falls'
this hurts!! I know!
Staying higher up the face gives you the
momentum to do those manouvres you've been dreaming about. Staying high
is very important when you are surfing smaller waves, which don't have
the power of bigger ones.
Manouvres
- The cutback
- manouvre is used when you need to get
back to the power source of the wave.
Imagine a point on high on the face of the wave that you are
going to do a circle around, crouch down , when you get out
onto the face straighten up a little and put your wait onto
your back foot to pivot the surfboard around. Putting your
trailing hand in the water can help with this.
-
- Once heading back to the breaking part
of the wave pick a point on the whitewater and take the weight
off your front foot, this will raise the nose of your board
slightly and pivot the surfboard, your momentum against the
breaking wave, will push your surfboard back around so you
are cutting accross the face of the wave again.
-
-
- Things to remember when cutting back
- Try not to go too low on the wave, because
if you go into the trough you will lose all your speed and
the wave will overtake you.
-
- Don't put too much weight on your front foot,
or stand too far up on the board, or you will bury the rail
and stall the surfboard.
surfer:Bun, Surin Beach Thailand
The cutback
-
The Re-entry
-
is when you turn up the face of the
wave vertically and hit the lip of the breaking wave, as you turn
back into the wave face.
Aim your board towards the lip/top
of the wave. Pick a point where you want your surfboard to go. Once
at the top using weight on your back foot and your front foot guiding
the board back around and down the face of the wave.
The re-entry and the more aggressive version hitting the lip (below)
need to be done with a certain amount of speed, or you will find
yourself falling mid way through the turn.
hitting the lip
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The Bottom Turn
-
The bottom turn is usually done after you
take off or to set yourself up for your next manouver. The idea of the bottom
turn is to get on the rail of your surfboard to gain speed. It is also used to
get around sections of the wave in front of you that have already broken.
-
-
The bottom turn is done in a
curve by leaning on the inside edge of your surfboard. Keep your
eye on a point on the wave in front of you where you want to go.
Being on the rail of your board creates speed and you should be
able to accelerate onto the face of the wave ready for your next
turn.
Practice, watch others, ask for advice,
and check back here for more updates to the page.
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