Thursday, February 18, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
longboarding bigger waves...some snippets of advice!
like longboards in big waves. Like you've found, though, the problems are obvious.
First, you should really think about where you paddle out. Even at the most wicked closeout-beachbreak, there's got to be a deep channel somewhere so all the water piling up on the beach can go back out to sea. It might be diagonal or even zig-zag from the beach. Don't just paddle where everyone else (shortboarders) is going. Watch for a while, read the water, look for the soft spots and the currents & use them to your advantage.
You other advantage is your board's paddling speed. Put in down the beach & paddle out & around the long way. An extra 10 minutes of paddling will leave you in much better shape to surf than will taking 10 waves on the head.
Finally, learn to duckdive it. With a little practice & a willingness to really throw yourself into it, its completely possible to duckdive a longboard. You have to charge at the oncoming wave, jump way up to the nose & drive it down hard with both hands, then press the tail down hard with your foot as you extend your hands back out to move the nose ahead & up, under water. Its harder to do than the turtle roll, but it also gets you back into paddling position a lot faster, so you might end up only having to do it a couple times, when you might have turtled 5 times, or you might have used your current technique 10 times.
BAILING???
But best of all is to avoid the problem by going around or finding the seams. Don't give up - its worth it.
Bailing your board can be bad practice even if by yourself because your going to break your leash and trash your board. Sometimes it is unavoidable though. Where I surf, I am usually one of those sitting outside, so I really have to worry about hitting someone. But yesterday, I just missed getting a wave, turned around and had a set wave bearing down on me. I could only take a stroke or two but realized I had to bail. quick glance inside and everyone was way inside. Bailed my board but only got about 2 strokes under under wave. Damn thing suck me over the falls. Was lucky I didn't hit anyone. Suppose I should have bailed sooner, but I always try to make it my last choice.
I like the tipping the board on an angle and sinking rail first method. Much easier than trying to push a flat longboard underwater. If a wave is about to break and I just need to punch through and think I may not get the tail all the way through before it breaks on it, I kind of dive off my board near the nose, turning the board towards me and pulling it down and forward with my arms. It's a pretty cool feeling when it works and is faster getting back on and paddling again than a full turtle roll.
Another thing one can do when faced with a medium sized wall of just broken wave white water is to turn around towards shore, still sitting on the board, and sink the tail way down and nose way up. Hang on to the rails with your hands and since your tail is under water, the wave will mostly pass right by you (like the waves passing by all those beginners trying to catch waves from too far back on their boards). You've got to turn around once it's over but hey, when I'm worn out from paddling or duck diving and don't feel like taking a big breath and going under again, I do the sit and hang on method since my head stays out of water, ha! It looks kooky, I must admit. I'm too kooky to care.
If it's big, the only salvation is ditching. Get a big, thick,long leash....12 ft + length. But be prepared for an underwater sleigh ride. The longer leash will allow you to dive deeper and get under the foam ball. You need to put distance between you and the board. There are no heros in trying to duck dive or turtle when its big. (actually duck diving can be a huge issue, i.e., if you duck dive through a large face, and try to pop up to soon, or too late you can get sucked back over the falls.....underwater. Think about that...missing the surface pop up by 12 inches, just to get sucked back over the falls, and have a 30 second hold down.) A rule of thumb is that you should be able to hold on to your board to double overhead. When it's big you usually don't have to worry about people behind you, most of the people are on the shore watching.
First, you should really think about where you paddle out. Even at the most wicked closeout-beachbreak, there's got to be a deep channel somewhere so all the water piling up on the beach can go back out to sea. It might be diagonal or even zig-zag from the beach. Don't just paddle where everyone else (shortboarders) is going. Watch for a while, read the water, look for the soft spots and the currents & use them to your advantage.
You other advantage is your board's paddling speed. Put in down the beach & paddle out & around the long way. An extra 10 minutes of paddling will leave you in much better shape to surf than will taking 10 waves on the head.
Finally, learn to duckdive it. With a little practice & a willingness to really throw yourself into it, its completely possible to duckdive a longboard. You have to charge at the oncoming wave, jump way up to the nose & drive it down hard with both hands, then press the tail down hard with your foot as you extend your hands back out to move the nose ahead & up, under water. Its harder to do than the turtle roll, but it also gets you back into paddling position a lot faster, so you might end up only having to do it a couple times, when you might have turtled 5 times, or you might have used your current technique 10 times.
BAILING???
But best of all is to avoid the problem by going around or finding the seams. Don't give up - its worth it.
Bailing your board can be bad practice even if by yourself because your going to break your leash and trash your board. Sometimes it is unavoidable though. Where I surf, I am usually one of those sitting outside, so I really have to worry about hitting someone. But yesterday, I just missed getting a wave, turned around and had a set wave bearing down on me. I could only take a stroke or two but realized I had to bail. quick glance inside and everyone was way inside. Bailed my board but only got about 2 strokes under under wave. Damn thing suck me over the falls. Was lucky I didn't hit anyone. Suppose I should have bailed sooner, but I always try to make it my last choice.
I like the tipping the board on an angle and sinking rail first method. Much easier than trying to push a flat longboard underwater. If a wave is about to break and I just need to punch through and think I may not get the tail all the way through before it breaks on it, I kind of dive off my board near the nose, turning the board towards me and pulling it down and forward with my arms. It's a pretty cool feeling when it works and is faster getting back on and paddling again than a full turtle roll.
Another thing one can do when faced with a medium sized wall of just broken wave white water is to turn around towards shore, still sitting on the board, and sink the tail way down and nose way up. Hang on to the rails with your hands and since your tail is under water, the wave will mostly pass right by you (like the waves passing by all those beginners trying to catch waves from too far back on their boards). You've got to turn around once it's over but hey, when I'm worn out from paddling or duck diving and don't feel like taking a big breath and going under again, I do the sit and hang on method since my head stays out of water, ha! It looks kooky, I must admit. I'm too kooky to care.
If it's big, the only salvation is ditching. Get a big, thick,long leash....12 ft + length. But be prepared for an underwater sleigh ride. The longer leash will allow you to dive deeper and get under the foam ball. You need to put distance between you and the board. There are no heros in trying to duck dive or turtle when its big. (actually duck diving can be a huge issue, i.e., if you duck dive through a large face, and try to pop up to soon, or too late you can get sucked back over the falls.....underwater. Think about that...missing the surface pop up by 12 inches, just to get sucked back over the falls, and have a 30 second hold down.) A rule of thumb is that you should be able to hold on to your board to double overhead. When it's big you usually don't have to worry about people behind you, most of the people are on the shore watching.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Attitude in crowd while surfing...
How to cope with crowded surf
Coping with the crowd factor, is now a necessity in the water. It seems like everyone is learning how to hassle before they learn how to surf.
In this ever increasing competitive world, some of us compete in our jobs, at school, trying to keep up with the Jones's, the fashion stakes and even trying to find a front row parking spot for our cars down the beach.
In the water it's just as bad, how many times have you seen some poor guy sitting out the back, waiting for that boomer, while every one else is busy picking off the smaller ones. Then when the poor guy finally sees his wave, some one snakes him on the inside to call him off it.
How do you think he feels?
How do you think you would feel.?
Yep! Pretty pissed off.
Attitudes both in and out of the water and what vibes you give off, are going to determine the outcome of your day.
If you paddle out with an attitude, people will soon notice you and if you give them a hard time you will get one back.
Chill out, learn to give and you will receive, have a look at how many waves you have had and then compare it with the crew around you.
A good surfer is one who shares, not the greedy ones, who snake and hassle to get nearly every wave that comes thru.
Just like in everything we do, to gain respect, you got to give it.
Coping with the crowd factor, is now a necessity in the water. It seems like everyone is learning how to hassle before they learn how to surf.
In this ever increasing competitive world, some of us compete in our jobs, at school, trying to keep up with the Jones's, the fashion stakes and even trying to find a front row parking spot for our cars down the beach.
In the water it's just as bad, how many times have you seen some poor guy sitting out the back, waiting for that boomer, while every one else is busy picking off the smaller ones. Then when the poor guy finally sees his wave, some one snakes him on the inside to call him off it.
How do you think he feels?
How do you think you would feel.?
Yep! Pretty pissed off.
Attitudes both in and out of the water and what vibes you give off, are going to determine the outcome of your day.
If you paddle out with an attitude, people will soon notice you and if you give them a hard time you will get one back.
Chill out, learn to give and you will receive, have a look at how many waves you have had and then compare it with the crew around you.
A good surfer is one who shares, not the greedy ones, who snake and hassle to get nearly every wave that comes thru.
Just like in everything we do, to gain respect, you got to give it.
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