Here is a surf related topic…I should call it wide stance vs. close stance I am going out in the morning. Hopefully with limited company (applicable to all creatures). It is obviously gonna be some "sizable" windswell. My question is this, when surfing dumpy windswell, what do you differently if anything with your stance? Perhaps compared to a "longer" period swell. I went out on Thursday (maybe Friday) morning last week when there was the honking Northerly winds. I was so stoked on it I made a remark about it on a SwellInfo thread. I approached that session with a wide stance. I was able to carve the heck out of the waves. The rides felt more like a snowboard sesh than anything. I say all of this because I went down to Rodanthe Sunday morning. I had a good sesh (clean, chest high barrels prior to wind switch). On the way home, one of the guys I was surfing with stated that I keep my feet too far back. I caught plenty of waves and rode out a high percentage of them. Would the wide stance have made a big difference? Perhaps in the barrel, yes, but I mean this in general. I totally typed a lot here, but what do you think? With my feet further back, I feel like I surf more with the tail. When I first started, one of my buddies that surfed for a living (at one point) said that is the key. I can turn harder and feel like I get better "glide". Totally absurd that I am thinking this but just curious. wide stance or get on that tail? If you actually read this, what are your thoughts or make us laugh. I didn't proofread because I'm tired so I hope I actually make sense.
I say if it feels good and you're getting the results you're looking for then don't change a thing. Everybody has their own "style" and if that's you're style then go with it brotha. That's my .02 There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's
The shape and size of your board determines foot placement initially, and from there you should shuffle your feet around based on the shape of section that you're riding or approaching, or maneuver you're planning to do. Ultimately, shuffle your feet as needed, and don't get them stuck in those imaginary bindings!
Funny that you say that. This morning, namely on my last wave, I had my feet further back. Result was fast attack on the wave that ended up feeling like I was on the edge of control. Very fun. The waves are quite slopey today in my locale. No fun unless you get them at the critical point. Perhaps I am just getting used to this board. I will advocate the Roberts White Diamond. I felt powerful in the wide stance, but not as much manuever. The tail on that thing just holds on that wave and lets you get all squiggly.
Seems to me that wide versus narrow might help keep you steady in fast waves, but more important is your ability to shift weight front to back, and not to use a "horse" stance - knees pointed out, rather than back knee pointing more forward and able to collapse inward and move weight forward.
Like Doug said, it's dependent on your board but the idea is that your back foot is on top of you fins as much as possible in order to transfer as much power from your hips and legs to your fins. Your front foot should be able to make minor adjustments back and forth to shift your weight forward to gain speed in a barrel or move back slightly to help load up your back foot for a carving turn. I think surf simply has a good video about stance where they warn against the "stinkbug stance". In most situations your most athletic stance is with your feet slightly wider than your shoulders. Put some fresh wax on your board before a long session and you'll be able to see where you're putting your feet, how you're pivoting, etc.
All good stuff and yet another great technique thread. I'm all about the wider stance and the degree I have my front foot out matters to my performance a lot and it's something I tend to non-stop while skating. Where do you brahs put your front foot with respect to overlapping the stringer? My front heel has been too close to rail for a while now and not only has that hurt balance and stability, it ends up killing speed. Heard that on the walking on the board, even if it's minor. Altering foot placement depending on where you are at in the ride and maneuver is something I was not doing any of at first. Skating helps that a ton because I'm slightly altering foot position at all times throughout my rides. Is really giving me a sense of control on the surfboard and prolonging my rides. One thing I've really worked on lately is the bend of my back leg into turns and carves. Where you now have the back foot turned more on the instep and hardly flat at all and your knee gets further bent towards kneeling down. Can some of you guys please explain when and why you do that and how it relates to your performance? To me, it's helping my front foot loading for drive and also helps me change a level to get a lower COG when needed.
To me this is all about weight transfer and spring loading. Getting weight off the tail and more onto the front foot is usually what I am doing when I don't want to stall, and then shift back some weight to turn, but also to propel me up the face I need to straighten my legs and throw up . . .I mean throw my hands up!
On my longboard I have a stance that everyone says is too wide but then On my short board i have a closer stance it's really odd and then on my 5'6plank I have a varied stance since it's shaped out like a longer board. I'm working on a more consistent one though
I'm all about M.R. At 4 minutes on this. Maybe I'm just an old soul. For you youngsters, this dude can do it up at pipe in a twinfin. His foot placement at 4 is how I approach (if I don't I try) my waves. Not my style in a barrel unless I catch the shoulder, get slightly ahead, hit the top of the wall, drop back into the face and widen stance simultaneously (at least it seems that way). New thread name...ode to mark Richards. We're taking this forum back. I can't believe I typed all f this. I'm pretty much a loner when surfing and don't ask folks about this. If this so what it takes to improve the forum, I just might open up like this is a Barbara Walters interview. When it warms up, I'd like a swellinfo get-together. We will take the beach and tell everyone the beach is closed, throw our empty beer cans full if sand and elevate vb to the worlds 8th most dangerous beach. Hotties are allowed but no dudes unless they have beer. This should thin the lineups on the waves I pray for but am skeptical of arriving cleared. We can make history together.
I grew up riding twin fins in the mid to late 70s. I only had one board, it was a 5'9" swallow tail, about 22" wide and 3" thick. Same with all my buddies. We would surf anything from knee high to double overhead barrels on the same boards, with mixed results. Once it got overhead, I would have to widen my stance because the twinnies are so loose on the bottom turn - the outside fin pops out and all you have is the inside rail and fin to give you hold. My stance was way too wide once I switched over to thrusters in the early 80s. After using an Indo board and riding a longboard for a few years, my shortboard stance became narrower, and more stable and stylish. Going backside, I try to turn my back foot more towards the front, instead of sideways. This brings your shoulder and hips more towards the wave face and you can see the lip better on big waves. I still have trouble on my frontside foot placement in small surf. It helps not getting too far back so I don't lose speed on the turns. But on small waves on my fish there is no time to set up on the take off so I have to shuffle a bit forward once I am going down the line.
[video=vimeo;65029409]http://vimeo.com/65029409[/video] Speaking of MR.. This video has some good advice if you are having trouble going rail to rail.
