What's your steeze?

This just reeks of the shredmachine's semantics professor.

 

I actually think this could be a pretty informative and interesting tread. Good stuff emass.

I like to think of surfing like sex. When your doing the dirty you play off the chick, some times things get slow and passionate, some times things wild and intense. But the whole time your playing off each other's actions. Well when I surf I try to play off what the wave is offering, matching her curves, and coping a feel every now and then. Flow

In general I tend to drop in and flow up and down on the face. Call it pumping or a combo of bottom turns/top turns. Whatever. Then throw in cutbacks when applicable and necessary. On a LB my turns are more drawn out, on a SB things get a bit tighter. I never get 100% vertical, but that's something I'm trying to improve on.

The main goal is to stay in the pocket/power source of the wave , which I guess in turn ends up giving you longer rides.......and more speed.........to do more turns.

 

let the canvas guide your brush; not the other way around,

 

Word...depends on the canvas...but on my ideal canvas, something like this... , steep, hollow, and fast...I keep a high line, always looking for the barrel obviously, and strive to smash the end section.

 

First, I make sure the cameras are rolling. I get the thumbs up from my Volcom rep that lights, camera, and action are happening. Then, we set up a fake fade. A little grom from the neighborhood who is getting some free t shirts makes the shoulder drop in front of me. Then, I drop in, do a massive hack right behind him, and upon re-entry I palm his head and throw him over the lip of the wave. Then I do my patented shove-it which nobody else in the world can do. After I land it with fins facing forward, I slide into a 180 and am now riding goofy. I do an air judo goofy footed, with my bottom foot doing the judo chop UNDER the board. Again, nobody in the world can do this. After I land this, I get into the barrel section where I do the third of my 'nobody in the world can do this' moves of the loop-de-loop inside the barrel (while simultaneously throwing a shaka with one hand and a shocker with the other - I call that the sha-ker). People on the beach at this point have all reached orgasm and their eyes have fallen out of their heads. Approaching the final section of the wave, I bust a 14 foot one-handed method with my other hand covering my eyes. I land it blind, do a 360 air chop hop in the white water, ride the board to the beach. When the fins get stuck in the sand, I walk directly onto the beach into the arms of 6 of the hottest babes in the world who all start taking off their clothes.

 

Yeah man. Its just all reaction. Its just repetition. Once you have done a certain maneuver 1000 times, it is just muscle memory and responses. Especially back here on the eastside, you take what you get and play off the wave. If its offshore and clean, I am barrel hunting, not matter the size. Doesn't matter if it is chest high or overhead, my main focus is dropping in, a lot of times not even all the way down, just stall a little on the face, take the barrel line, use the arm brake deluxe and maintain the speed in the barrel as long as possible. On these small days, I have been kinda shooting out and trying to get back in. Tough to maintain barrel speed on a small wave riding a large board.... But everything else just sets itself up. When there is an open shoulder ahead of you, its time to throw a roundhouse. When that closeout section is racing towards you, its time to go airborn and really wind up your body.....

If you have the luxury of a long point or reef break to play on with decent size, those are the only times that you can really go out there with a calculated approach, because you have all the time in the world and the waves are very similar in every set. So, those long reef break days are where I would practice throwing big roundhouses over and over and over. Or if its a little steeper, its taking a long bottom turn and taking a vertical line back up to go off the top.. again, over and over and over....

Only piece of advice I would give you emass, is that it's not all about speed. I think everyone in the beginning surfs like it is a race. Pumping, getting speed and the occasional top turn, but after a while, you realize that in doing so, you are missing out on the most critical part of the wave, almost every time. This goes back to what the boys have already said. React to the wave. I learned a lot from a buddy who was a lot older than me but had been a sponsored pro for over a decade. He was from Florida but had been out on the west coast for about 10 years. It always blew my mind that on almost EVERY wave, no matter the size, this guy would find a tube. And usually right on the take off. I mean, he was just mentally in a different place. I always thought, dang, I wouldn't have even thought to drop in and speed check right off the bat. I had a more high speed approach..... The the better you get, the slower you will go I think. It's less about the feeling of safety and comfort and more about the fact that you understand what you are doing more. You don't want to be out in front all the time. You don't want to be hitting a section that is 15 feet out in front of the critical part of the wave.

Take your time, slow down. The wave will give you all the speed and power you need, if you stay in the pocket.

All it takes is throwing a roundhouse on a great wave, looking back and seeing a giant spitting tube that you have outrun... Once that happens a few times, you will change your mentality. Its a paradigm shift that only comes with experience.

 

This is probably the best post I have ever read on this site. Nicely done.

 

at this point, i'm aiming at having the most fun, conditions permitting. I let the waves determine my board choice. primarily, my approach is getting tubed if the waves offer it up, which doesn't happen often. if the surf is hollow, why bother prioritizing anything else? secondly, i like to stay in the pocket no matter what the conditions. i overlooked that most-important tactic a lot as a kid just trying to go super super fast to attempt some kind of maneuver. now my surfing is hopefully more fluid, and I try to use the wave to make the speed for me. I lay down a hack when called for, but I don't force things. there's a lot of ugly forced surfing going on out there. keeping a loose body and an open mind to different styles of surfing and equipment is my goal. oh, and bodysurfing...i've been doing quite a bit of that lately. great cross training.

 

right ^^^
i am now the older guy laughing at kids trying to surf their tater chips in waist high crap. they may be great surfers, don't get me wrong, but boy that sh** doesn't look fun at all. after doing a bit of traveling, and riding a lot of different kinds of boards, you realize what a fruitless endeavor that really is.

 

Awesome post! I always wake up too soon from this dream.

 

This. The wave dictates how you surf it. Surf accordingly and in the moment.

 

Boom...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMkfh4eX9v0

Ho makes the semis at pipe... calling it.

 

I enjoy dropping in, getting a nice bottom turn, try and get vertical if I've got enough speed, or pump a little to get it going, up and down the face in smooth rhythm, taking long drawn out carves, smacking the lip, looking to do a floater if it's available, if I get too far ahead I do a cutback and try to get back in the pocket. I like to launch on the end / close out section.

But like others have said, it's all about what the wave is offering up. Sometimes I do things on reaction and don't really remember how or why I did what I did, but i did it. Barrels are obviously the goal if they are there to be had, but usually for me they just happen. I prefer more of a power surfing style vs. barrels and airs all the time.

Although, I admit I would like to be an expert at all of it. I just go with whatever feels good for the most part. I try to free my mind and let the wave and instincts take over most times. Calculating can make it less fun IMO.

 

whatever feels good. like bruce brown's timeless phrase, getting barreled is the "ultimate thing" for me but doing a big hack or getting a good noseride is almost just as good. to each their own on how you get stoked. just get out there and do it!!!

 

^^^ All good stuff, especially not out running the critical part of the wave and looking back to see a barrel that you coulda had

 

I'm nowhere near where I want to be. Not even close. I can't even see it.

That being said, I thought the aerial stuff was cool, until I saw that Taylor knox video. I'm setting my goals to surf with power. No, before anyone pigpiles, I'm never going to be knox. That being said, his style is absolutely boss.

 

That's about the smartest thing I have ever seen you post. Knox is the current poster boy for classic power surfing. Sick bottom turn too!

 

If it's barreling, I try to get barreled. otherwise I generally like to surf rail to rail while doing my best to stay in the pocket. Can't do airs, and don't really have any desire to. I tend to chose my board based on the conditions and whether I want to just cruise down the line on my longboard, or ride something shorter and work the whole wave face

 

It's all reaction to the wave without even realizing as far as the basic type of maneuver/approach but I tend to get stuck on "flair" tangents lately. I'll get going in a session and start getting really repetitive with fins out, tail slides, and tweaking turns to reverses when a more standard or beefy rail turn would do better to keep pace with the wave or look more ascetically pleasing. Sometimes I have to really concentrate and turn off the auto pilot to mix it up.

Somebody else mentioned the ol' handbrake for barrels. I use my hands a lot for leverage (not sure that's the right term) or balance in tweaking stuff out and laybacks. I don't think newbs realize how much hands in the water for situations besides barrels can open up your surfing because they are focused on everything else. My mixed-bag of laybacks is probably the only thing in my surfing that ever impressed anyone.