So I was at steel pier yesterday morning and it was pretty punchy with the winds changing. the sets had 1 or 2 with sick rolling peaks that were deep and then like 15 ft inside would be a shoulder to takeoff on but it was super punchy and tough to time right. I tried for the ones on the shoulder more since they were more frequent but I had my share that I didn't make. Any advice?
Paddle a little harder maybe? Larger swells can be tough to time the take off on, plus you got keep moving out to avoid the clean up sets and in to get the better shaped waves.
Paddle twice as hard, then paddle harder. Think paddle monster. Time it. Unless you want to do air drops to get pitted, but even then you need a pretty hard two stroke. Doesn't sound like your digging on the air drop stuff though. Sometimes if you surf a choppy day then a clean day or vice versa, it F's with your timing at first.
Ajust your angle accordingly. Sometimes waves run off so quick you need to paddle almost sideways. If your getting ahead of the wave, go staight and do a bottom turn into the sweet spot. AKA-slower peeling waves require less angle at take off.
Always charge the peak. Even if it's just crumbling it is much easier to make that section if you are already on your feet cruising than to try and drop in on it. It's all about positioning and judging the wave, trying to picture what it is going to do. After a good wave breaks there will be a bunch of foam and bubbles in the impact zone. Sit about 10 ft outside of that. Wait for a good one, commit, and charge. You have to understand the ocean and more time on your board is the only way to do it. I can sometimes turn around and catch one without even paddling, just shoving my board under water and riding it's buoyancy forward.
I was digging around trying to find a little gem from a late 80's Surfing mag. Wilbur Kookmeyer comic strip "Shoulder Hopping is For Kooks."
Good point. I often use that foam trail to estimate the angle I need to paddle and take off from as well.
I would say adjust your takeoff angle 6-8 degrees to the left, which will result in a more favorable trajectory, but only if your board has a drag coefficient less than...I dunno, like 0.63. Any higher and this isn't going to help at all. OR, you could just want a bunch of surf flicks and go try it until it works. Just sayin'.
Shoulders faces peaks. Y dont u just kiss a** n then the waves will b nice. East coasters are so picky about what they ride. Just catch the da*+ thing
we dont get a lot, man, so we have to pick apart every aspect of the thing to make sure we suck up and enjoy every last drop of potential fun to be had from it
Keep your head down when you're paddling hard and digging to catch the wave. Your head weighs a lot and the more forward it is the better chance you have of catching those hard to catch waves. My one buddy has dings in his board from where he presses his chin into it when catching waves and he taught me this technique years ago.
