Taking Off

Nah it wasn't a current, prob 30 ppl on 1 peak no one was drifting

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Originally Posted by Erock

When I'm having trouble getting into waves, I usually start paddling with both arms and then progress from there.

On a serious note, I have always had a bad habit that resurfaces every once in a while without warning: grabbing my rail instead of keeping my hands flat on the deck while popping up. I often notice when I'm wondering why my takeoff seems slow and my weight/balance feels off. The answer always comes: "Erock, QUIT BEING A FORGETFUL KOOK!"

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Thought i was the only one, also... learning to / forcing myself to put my hands under my top of my rib cage rather than under my shoulders was life changing, once i started doing that it was like night and day

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Originally Posted by DawnPatrolSUP

Thought i was the only one, also... learning to / forcing myself to put my hands under my top of my rib cage rather than under my shoulders was life changing, once i started doing that it was like night and day

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Really? What does that do?

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Originally Posted by patgeds22

... the offshore-ness was making the waves seem much easier to catch than they were, ...

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Yea... sometimes it looks like it's got more punch than it does. Pretty sure that was the case on Friday. Clean and peeling, but not much juice. Other than maybe picking a different board, I think the problem was not with you.

As for leaning forward when paddling into a wave... and this seems to come up a lot... I've never had success with that technique and abandoned it a long time ago. Maybe it works for some people, but my experience, as a surfer and shaper, has been that every board has a sweet spot where it should be paddled from, regardless of the wave type. This has a lot to do with foil and rocker... but also planshape. Without getting into a boring discussion about physics and buoyancy and planing surface... just know that thickness flow... aka "foil"... aka "volume distribution" is the primary factor in where your center of mass has to be on a board when paddling into waves. Changing foil shifts that point fore and aft, which, incidentally, determines where you're feet land when you pop up. Intentionally shifting your chest forward or backward, away from that sweet spot, only makes paddling less efficient, bogging the board by forcing it into a less efficient planing angle.

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Originally Posted by clintopher

Really? What does that do?

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When i use to put my hands directly under where my shoulders are and try to pop up I would have mixed results getting to my feet, but when i started getting them lower under my chest / rib area I was getting to my feet with much more frequency. Basically you get more power to push up and thus getting to your feet faster and in better position once you are on your feet. Just my experience, do whatever works for you I say.