Surfing
In this article we will learn how to position yourself and stand up on a surfboard! Surfing is an art form... and these are the tricks of the trade.
As ever, Red Bull surfing sage, Mornington Peninsula surf maven, Craig Regan is on hand to dish out a few salient nuggets of wisdom...
Tip 1: Position yourself on the board so that the nose of the board is level with, or just above, the water
“Many times I see people in the water, and I think ‘you poor bastard, you’re doing it the hard way, and you’ll never get a wave today.’ The physics of surfing tell me you’re not surfing today.”
As Regan will tell you, the one thing even more important than break positioning is how you position yourself on your board. Your board isn’t gunna ride itself, and unless you’re on it correctly, the waves are just going to mock and undo all your hard work of getting out there in the first place.
“You can always tell a beginner,” says Regan, “because the nose of the board sits out of the water between thirty and forty degrees; if you know anything about physics, if you’re on a piece of board and you’re tilted at that angle, and you’ve got a wave coming through that’s got a downward slope on it, then you’re creating drag. So, the trick of it is that you have to position yourself on whatever board it is so that the board is level with the water.”
For a beginner, this can be a scary concept – you can easily, and mistakenly, feel like the wave is going to pitch you up and send you into a nosedive. Making things trickier, given that you can’t see yourself from a side-view, how exactly do you tell if your board’s level or if it’s sticking out too far?
According to Regan, there’s only one remedy: an age-old dose of prolonged trial and error.
“You’ve got to know – and this is where experience comes into it – you’ve got to take a few falls to work it out. You’ve got to take a few waves on your belly even, to see if you’re too far forward, or not forward enough. And you’ve got to spend a lot of time working that out. You know, I think it’s like anything – it always takes commitment and hard work and dedicating yourself to being good at it. And being prepared for a long journey.”
Tip 2: Remember that every wave will be different, and you might need to adjust your positioning accordingly
It’s important to remember that every wave is also different, and requires a slightly different tweak of board position.
“Sometimes you get a fat wave where you’ve gotta be a little more forward,” says Regan, “which means it hasn’t got the same steep curvature of a wave that might be a ‘sucky’ wave.” (A sucky wave, by comparison, is when it hits the reef or sandbank, a much shallower wave that has the tendency to jack right up).
“If you’re paddling into one of those, and you’re in the wrong position, you might take a bit of a nosedive.”
Assuming you’ve got that sorted, you then need to consider speed: the brute power generated by your paddling as prepare to meet the wave’s speed as it hurtles your way.
“It’s all about positioning yourself on your board plus the speed of your paddle,” says Regan, “so that when you get in there, you’re on it. And man, there’s nothing sweeter than that feeling when you’re laying on the board in the right position and you feel the wave just slowly take you, and you know you’re in businesses.”
That, folk, is called “the launch”, and if you’ve set it up properly – with proper positioning – you’ll be in for the ride of your life.
Tip 3: Once the wave takes you, it's time to "pop up"
The time thus comes to stand on two feet and ride back to shore like a maverick. How exactly does one go about this? Jump up swiftly, or gingerly, with a little holdback? Again, it all depends on the given wave:
“Some waves will allow you a bit of time,” say Regan. “They’re not just trying to throw you three feet in front, and they’re just breaking beautifully and they’ve got a nice little roll on them, and those waves are beautiful, because you can take that extra second just to take in the vibe of that whole process, and when you’re ready you just get up and you look pretty cool too.”
Sometimes, says Regan, it’s nice to have that extra second just to feel that moment. “Usually, I’d say, for beginners, once you feel the wave take you, that's the time to pop up!"
Tip 4: Push your chest up with your arms, pop your front foot forward towards the middle of the board, let go of your rails and... stand up!
By now you’ve have realised whether you’re a goofy or a natural-footer – natural means you’re got your left foot forward, and goofy means you’ve got your right foot forward. This will come naturally one way or another. As for where to put them when you’re up and away, this depends on the size and weight of your board. But usually, this is towards to the middle of your board.
“If you’re just learning, you’ve gotta work out – and it depends on the size of your board – you’re probably going to have your feet more towards the middle of the board,” says Regan.
“If you’ve got a big log (i.e. a Malibu), you might find that you’re going to be more in the middle of the board. If you’re on a shorter board, if they wave slows down, you normally have to move your front foot forward to push the front of the board downwards to create the speed if it starts to slow; you’ll see the guys sometimes pumping the board – they’ll go ‘whack, whack, whack,’ – so what they’re trying to do is building up speed by pushing the nose of the board down the wave.”
Once you’ve placed your front foot in the right spot on the board, all you have to do is steady yourself, let go of the rails and stand up!
Tip 5: Keep your knees bent and the weight on your back leg
When you stand up, remember to stay low – use your knees to stay crouched – which will keep you balanced as you ride the wave.
Once you get a feel for the “pop-up”, and you start to learn the intricacies of riding a wave, you’ll want to remember to (generally) keep the weight on your back leg. This will help keep you balanced and directing the board where you want to go.
With any luck, you’ll end up stoked, standing and ripping!
