Hey guys, when I pop up my back foot is an inch or two in front of the kick pad instead of on it. I can feel this limiting my turning ability because my foot isn't over my fins, resulting in half assed turns. Anyone know how to fix this? I know I can move my foot on the kick pad after I pop up, but I'd rather focus on my turns than foot placement.
This mindset might be the thing holding you back. The fact that you rather focus on turns shows that you are not conscious of what goes into the technique of a good turn. You wouldn't choke half way up a baseball bat to hit a home run would you? Baby steps man... get the fundamentals down and the rest will follow. Sorry if it sounds like I am preaching at you but I've been there before and it sucks.
depending on the size of your board--esp. Tail width--moving your feet around is fine to do...shuffling forward, moving rear foot closer to either rail--Benny has it right!. However, adjusting your pop-up technique--putting your arms further back when pushing up will move your entire body back and cause your feet to lock in place further back.
When I teach kids how to surf, I tell them, "back foot stays back" when you pop up. Focus on getting your knee under your chest to plan your front foot, and keeping your back foot back... back leg kind of extended, planting your foot more on the inside of your foot, rather than flat, then rolling it up to flat as you stand up. On another note, I feel like I put more power into my turns with my back foot over the leading edge of the rail fins, rather than over the rear fin or in the middle of the cluster. For me, it puts more rail in the water, and creates a more powerful turn, as opposed to a tight, snappy or flicky type turn. Both kinds of turns have their place, so don't feel like you need to completely abandon the back-foot-slightly-forward foot placement. Learn to use it purposefully, and make it part of your repertoire.
You will know as soon as you drop in. Provided you make the drop and set the rail for your bottom turn, you can move your trailing foot back as soon as you lift your weight to drive to the top. Takes timing.
fwiw my back foot moves around quite a bit. it doesn't always stay back on the end. it moves forward a bit to pump and back to the back to turn.
I don't like tail pads. I like to move my feet a tad, depending on the conditions, and I feel a tail pad is too predetermined. Also, I like to turn my back heel outward a bit while going backside, it opens your hips and shoulders so you can see the whole wave better.
I had a hard time getting my feet back far enough when I first went from a twin to a thruster (showin' my age) and I found a tail pad helped make me position my foot where it needed to be. I currently don't have a tail pad on my main board (Quad) but I kinda miss it. The tail pad didn't bother me when I moved around but it did give me a reference point to where my feet needed to be depending on the situation.
change your username from "coolryanrocks" to "raddadbrad". You'll be throwing huge backside fans in no time.
I would suggest surfing more until you figure it out. Sounds like you haven't been on that board very long. It can take a bit to get a board dialed in.
Same thing! It took a few sessions to figure that out, going from a twinnie to a thruster. It was like a light bulb went off when I found the sweet spot! I used the tail pad, then upped it to a tail pad and a front pad (for like half a session, tore up my chest), then decided after buying a new board to screw the pads entirely. My back foot hurts sometimes after good days, but that is what I'm used to, and I don't launch airs (showin' my age), so tailpads are optional or superfluous for me.
