Steep Drops

It may be that the bottom turn is keeping you from out racing the close out section.

 

I agree angle and getting to your feet as quick as you can are key. Its hard to get back into the face of a steep fast wave if you go straight then make your bottom turn, especially in our fast shallow shore breaks.

 

bingo! ........^

 

build up your knowledge of specific spots and their quirks and features and you'll figure out where to be (and when best to be there vis a vi the tide) so you're not having to make such late drops. Plus the right board is a huge factor. I have a couple boards (shaped by locals who surf the same waves, not someone in say, Laguna Beach) with extra nose rocker for those steep, low tide dredgers.

 

Okay. Now we're getting somewhere. There's a lot of good info getting put out here.

First and foremost, however, your equipment has to be able to do the job. It sounds like you have a fish(y) board and that will really limit you. The nose rocker is most-likely pretty straight, so unless you're surfing shoulder-high or higher, straight drop-ins aren't going to work out too well for you. Since it's wide, you're probably going to pinch a rail on an angled take off.

Secondly, your surfing is going to require a lot more energy and focus. To make your specific board work, you're going to have to do what aka pumpmaster suggested and do a partial turn on the way down. Turning back to the top of the wave with a flat board is pretty sketchy, so plan on working no higher that the middle of the wave til it's end.

Lastly, find some spots that break at high tide without dumping on the beach. Low tide has a tendency to enhance the steepness of the wave.

If you encounter steep waves frequently, you may want to start looking for a narrower board with a good deal of rocker. This is just my opinion.

 

3 Things

1. Proper board- to me the most important thing for steeper waves is a board that you are CONFIDENT with. There are lots of specific design characteristics that will help you, but it's 100 times more important that you believe you are going to make the drop before you even stand up.

2. Watch others- surf vid's are good, but I learn so much more from just watching others. Not just the really good guys either. Look for guys who appear to have an intermediate level. They're probably doing things a little closer to what you can accomplish, so watching them will give you a better idea of how you are running into trouble. Once you can take off no problem, then start trying to do the no-paddle mystery takeoff...but don't worry about that stuff for now, master the basics.

3. Keep laughing at yourself! The day it's no longer funny is the day you should go take up golf. Years down the road you can look back and laugh...and then laugh at the people you see trying to learn once you've already done so.

 

this is how you do it: paddle into the wave as late as you possibly can, and go for the big air drop, you probably won't land it the first couple times, but it will look really cool if you happen to get a pic of it

 

Set your feet and visualize.

 

paddel fast as **** and take at least one extra paddle to make sure your into it. thats all.

 

im using a 6'2 thruster and a fish that a little shorter and dealt with the steep drops recently too. my bayhead break, for me, is notorious for this nonsense and up until this year i've always had to deal with a lownumber-ride-sessions because the steep drops always owned me. yet, no matter what i dealt with the beatings in order to learn and after a while i started getting used to the speed, the angle, the steepness, and what to do when you are up.

the hardest for me was the fact that my board was so short. i went from being able to push up and take a second to feel the wave before jumping up, on to these waves where you literally need to jump on the board almost right as you begin to catch the wave. unfortunately for me, my backside balance is poor and i usually end up doin a big bottom turn carve and get RAILED by the wave. however, my frontside is waaay better and i feel a small turn almost near the bottom keep most of the speed and gets you moving out of the danger zone.


short version: getting to your feet extremely quick solved my problem of steep waves... now only to fix going left

 

Yes, but not in the way that we're concerned about. The "notch" is known as a wing or a step. It allows the water to release from the board's edge & gives a little more bite in the turn. Without it, the wider tail would break into a slide easier in a hard turn. There's more to it, but that's the concept.

Where are you?

 

I just air-drop all day every day. Low Waimea type stance and just straight up air drop it. All day every day.

 

Might sound like common sense but keep the nose up.As you surf more and more you'll relize what waves to catch and what waves to pass on.Alot of times after I pass on a wave I check it out to see how it broke.

 

If your riding a longboard you need to be farther back on the tail or your guaranteed to get worked.

 

With a 6'8" surfboard or any surfboard you want to get on the wave early and get up quick once you feel your board accelerate, but most importantly get a good angle on the wave, don't ride the wave straight or you will get pearled, You want a good 45 to 55 degree angle on takeoff to the open face of the wave, don't get too much of an angle or you will tossed over the falls which is worse than pearling, once in position set your rail and enjoy the view.
For extra speed get your stance closer to nose of the board, front foot 3/4 to the nose and back foot 3/4 to the tail; put it this way your back foot shouldn't be on the kick pad, if you have one (Tracktop), Once your in the open section of wave then shimmy back to normal stance. That's how Mick Fanning does it...

1. get on it early
2. get up quick
3. set angle
4. set rail
5. smile you’re in the green room or the brown on the east coast

 

I have always found the most successful way to drop in on steep waves is to lay in your rail as you are popping (fast of course). and when I say lay in your rail, I mean not dropping straight and making a bottom, because steep waves = fast. No time unless the face is holding up to drop straight and make a long bottom turn. I like to paddle hard in any direction into the wave. I think direction you paddle can be adjusted as you pop. you begin to lay the rail by turning your head and shoulders as you initiate popping. and as you get to your feet you drop and lay into your toes or heels (frontside or backside) and keep you head and shoulders pointed down the line.

 

Words of wisdom. I found myself doing this a lot too, looking at where and when it broke, and if I'm not looking back, listening to when it broke after I passed it to get a feel of how long it took to break (kinda dorky, I know)

 

Four pages of responses on equipment ,stance, concave, yada yada. I promise you your problem is you're not paddling hard enough. Bigger waves = longer period = faster = sucks up more water = you need to paddle harder and faster, when you think you're ready to drop, paddle once more.

Shift up a little on your board, put your face down, and start paddling hard and commited, guarantee it will make a huge difference.

 

This is a great thread - lots of good stuff. It was good to see frankshred's comment a few comments above, because that's always really helped me, leaning a bit on the inside rail. Not sure if this is technically the best way to do it, and no one ever told or taught me this - I just one day started trying to replicate the feel of snowboarding, when you're in a half pipe or a steep section of hill and you need to lean and keep that uphill edge.

I'd be curious to hear from others about whether this is considered a good way to go about it.