Steep Drops

"Also, for learning, it may be a lot easier dropping in on the shoulder rather than at the peak.[/QUOTE]

For learning maybe, not sure. Its easier to gain speed from the peak so you wont have to make a steep drop. Shoulder drops on fast waves can get quite steep since the wave is hitting the sand and beginning to dump. Specially during winter when we have freight train barrels. commit to the peak, it will be the best thing for your surfing.

 

take off at an angle so that it is easier to get down the line and avoid being taken over the falls

 

Again, really good discussion here. Started out as one fairly newbie looking for advice and now it's an interesting discussion of techniques, even for the more experienced.

As for a lower volume board helping, I haven't found that. My board for these types of waves was a narrow semi-gun but I found I wasn't getting enough speed when I tried to paddle into overhead winter freight trains. I started riding a 6'10" single fin Merrick G2 (narrower pintail than the G1) and found it helped a TON. (although the lack of rocker is a problem). the thing is 3" thick and the float helped me get in so much earlier, almost like a longboard. So I found that having more volume actually helped. Again, it depends a lot on ability and style.

 

this could be part of my problem. i'm a bigger guy, 6'3" 240lbs, on a bigger board, 8'4" x 24" x 3.25 and i'm catching them too late, i think. i started learning to "surf" on a boogieboard, riding white water. then i moved up to a 7'6" funfish, still riding whitewater. i seem to be catching alot of whitewater now as well, and having trouble catching the green waves.

just need more practice, i guess. i'll try the shoulder trick next time i'm out.

 

You got 25 lbs on me, but I feel your pain. If you're 240 and relatively new, you may want to go with a longboard and get into the wave earlier. Funshapes are an odd bird. Personally, I find them more appropriate for fatter (or flatter), but clean waves. I'm sure they can be worked beyond that description, but not by me.

surfman brought up a good point: If you have enough board to get in the wave earlier, you can being standing up and on your way down the line before it breaks. That's longboarding, though. Your 240 lbs won't be able to get in that early on the board you mentioned.

There's a number of shapers that make big guy boards. Infinity has several models exclusively for bigger guys. I'm a huge fan of my Cluster V. It can turn & cut back like a board 3 feet shorter. It moves out, too. He makes big guy short boards, as well.

 

yea i'm happy with this board, it's a big boy board. 24" wide and over 3" thick. it floats me better than my buddy's longboard (he's got a 9 footer) i'm on the way to losing some lbs so i'm not super worried about getting another board. i've caught waves and stood up on my 7'6" funfish - i just think i might be trying to ride this more bouyant board like i was the funfish - catching too much whitewater instead of trying to catch the wave earlier.

 

Your buddy's long board most-likely has less overall volume than your 8'4"....just a guess. My statement about "enough board" was directed specifically at length (all other dimensions being the same).

Longer boards catch the wave earlier that shorter boards. This is why the standard big wave gun is 9 to 11 feet long. There are smaller guns (and tow-in boards), but when getting in early matters, the longer ones are the design of choice. I'm just applying that principle to this situation.

 

Just go practice man. Everyone does it differently, so you need to figure out what works for you. Also, please don't waste waves for people who know how to surf. Unless you are undoubtedly on the peak with no one else in range, don't drop in.

 

Start at the peak, but grab rail a little bit and start your drop almost horizontal to the flats... Take a really high line and once you get up and maintain your balance, angle back down the face at a 90 degree angle to gain speed and dig in to a bottom turn. But my advice simply put is take a light angle, almost parallel to the beach and then take off on a high line. I find even on air drops, if you free fall a foot or two but are angled almost sideways, you side fin and rail will catch and immediately start propelling you down the line.... you will pearl every time if you try a steep air drop aiming at the beach.

 

what I do on steep waves.... my backside, I usually pop up to a stance where I am on 1foot (front foot) and knee (back foot), I grab the rail and crank a hard fast turn.
front side steep waves, no issues, I go as normal, but I am turning the board harder into the bottom turn.

 

Quick to go or you'll be saying OH NOOOOOOOO........People will tell you that you need a certain board to ride steep waves and I think thats crap.......You have to be fast out of the gate first off. If you get up to slow you're gonna eat it. Practice practice practice.....Faster you are the better off you are. I as others have said like to angle myself into the wave since I'm not as fast as I used to be and you dont have to make the bottom turn. You should really have some decent nose rocker in your board if a begginer but it's not a 100% gotta have. Experience can get you around that. Ive seen guys drop into steep barrels riding Alaias and they are basically a plank. Unlike what the girls will tell you ... size doesnt matter. A good friend of mine rides nothing but longboards.....period. So when the surf is steep he's on it.....but he's quick as hell. I'm a big guy and my shortboard is 6'10 and I have no problems getting into steep surf. Keep your head up and and keep hittin it.

 

I like the angled approach, but I also ride a fun shape. If I try to drop straight in, I don't seem to have enough speed to make it without tumbling. I paddle hard at a slight angle and drop slightly sideways down the face.

 

bottom turn, bottom turn, bottom turn all the other advice is great, but after 38 yrs of surfing, bottom turns. watch guys at pipeline, it's hard to get a take off steeper than that.

 

more than anything it's committment. You can pop up as quick as you want but if you are not committed your are going to get worked. Hesitate and your doomed

 

^ This, once i got over bailing out and made the decision to committ no matter what, that's when I started catching almost everything I tried for, with the occassional biff, cause I'm definitely working on my technique still, as i'm sure we all are.

 

you get on a sponge like me and airdrop straight into the barrel and crush your balls on impact

 

Exactly! The steeper the better on the sponge.

 

learn to read the wave correctly and get the right type of board...or just go to Long Island where they get more of a sideshore breeze that tends to feathers the wave a little

 

It's all about the "bodyboard take off". Don't paddle like you would with a longboard. Get in the spot - usually the peak. The shoulder looks appealing but won't give you power/speed you need to get ahead of the section and be in charge. Right as the wave approaches, paddle extremely hard and throw your weight forward as you start to get up. Keep pressure at the front of the board or rails with your hands. This allows the board to keep going down the face without you having to pop up super quick.

Backside is good for angle takeoffs but frontside is all about the bottom turn.

Can't be afraid. Go to s-turns and learn the hard way

 

This thread is over two years old. I hope the OP learned by now.