After a certain amount of time, you're going to find yourself comfortably being able to stand up on your board with a measurable amount of consistency. You can successfully paddle in to the wave, you recognize the feeling of your board moving on its own, and you can pop up to your feet. For a lot of beginners, your time standing on the board will have been limited to "surfing" a slough of whitewater as you careen straight towards shore as your big, beefy board wobbles through the soupy mess. You may be completely satisfied with this experience. But, you're really missing out on the good stuff. You possibly left a nice clean wave face behind you that you could've been surfing on had you not gone straight.
Here's the deal. You don't want to ride whitewater. It sucks. It's messy, bumpy, slow, disorganized, etc. Whitewater usually is indicative of the end of your ride; not the beginning. This is why you see surfers riding their boards along the nice open face of the wave - the "shoulder". They are riding away from the whitewater. And any wave good enough to surf will require you to pretty much ride somewhat parallel to the beach to stay out of the whitewater rather than straight towards the beach.
So how do you get your board to go parallel to the beach? I mean, you're basically pointing towards the beach when you're paddling for the wave, right? Ah...maybe you should rethink that. Why? Your board will basically go where you point it if you don't adjust its position by applying pressure to the board to make a turn towards another angle on our surfing compass. As a beginner, thinking about trying to turn your board towards the open face the second you stand up may be too much to concentrate on in the heat of the moment. After all, surfing can be a complicated combination of physical movements. So why don't you cut yourself a break and give your board a head start towards that open shoulder while you're paddling. When the wave approaches you, look which way it is breaking (left or right). If the whitewater or peak is coming from your left shoulder (with your back to the wave), the wave is breaking to the right and vice-versa.
Now, point your board 35-45 degrees away from that peak and start paddling. You're basically aiming to split the 90 degree angle between "straight ahead" and that open face you see before you. It's very important to look where you want to go and not what your board is doing. As stated before, your board goes where you point it. Where you are looking is a big factor on where that board will point. As you stand up, keep EYEBALLING where you want that board to continue going. You're already ahead of the game by having your board going halfway parallel to the beach on takeoff. Now just keep looking down that nice open face as you drop in and you will be surprised at how your body automatically starts doing its thing to get that board going towards the direction you are looking.
What will also surprise you is how your board will probably pearl less often if you quit pointing your board straight to the beach on takeoff. When you angle your drop, your board gets to utilize more rail surface. This rail surface kind of gouges itself into the face of the wave and helps to keep it steady and locked in for you. Eventually, when you get better at turning your board, you can augment that angled drop by immediately hard-turning your board even further parallel to shore as you're dropping down the face. It'll really sink that inside rail into the face and you can handle steeper waves like that.
So, to reiterate...
- Point your board towards the open face of the wave.
- Look where you want to go along that open face.
- Avoid going straight until the end of your ride.
Whiff
8 comments:
Don't you run the risk of missing more waves paddling at an angle?
Strictly based on my experience, I haven't noticed that. If I stay at or around 45 degrees, it seems to work for me. Again, I'm no expert. I'm just relaying my experience. Your mileage may vary.
However, it makes sense that that could happen. The best scenario would be to learn to quickly turn when you drop.
hey i'm a beginner and i've been told to do an angled take off also....but whenever i try, it seems like the wave rolls me over as i'm paddling into it. you're able to paddle into a wave at a 45 degree angle without rolling over? please tell me the secret.
I imagine different boards in conjunction with different waves will produce different results.
If 45 degrees isn't working for you then adjust your angle to something that works better for you that day. In my opinion, though, if you LOOK where you want to go you stand a better chance of getting there. So paddle in to it at an angle that works for you but keep your eyes looking towards that shoulder. You're more apt to get there.
Again, I'm just relaying my experiences.
For me I find that 35 to 45 degrees is to much but if you paddle into the wave at say 10 to 15 degrees then get to your feet quickly and complete the turn down the line. Your not having to turn as far. For me this trick has worked out great especially once I get into head high and higher sized waves where getting turned can be critical to making the section.
Great advice. Thanks!
Great Advice. Can't wait to go try it out. What shaped board do you use when trying this?
don't forget to get closer to the nose of the board but...ARCH YOUR BACK!
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