Surfing smaller boards 101

[burchas]

I recently got the ULI Totem 7’6 as my main tool for learning to surf.
The main reasons for buying this specific board for learning:

• The max length hard board I could fit comfortably in my apt. is an 8’6
• As a small inflatable it's much safer for me and the pips around me with my skills (or lack there of)
• It’s a good board to learn without worry about dings.

Up until now the smallest board I’ve surfed was a 9’5, but for the most part I was on 11-12’6 boards.
With the bigger boards I had no issues catching waves as I could generate enough speed to compensate
for my lousy timing and force my self on the wave.

With this board I can’t do that. it’s a super slow board. I tried placing my self closer to the break, but that
prove to produce wipe-outs rather than rides.

So few questions:

• What would be the best technic to get some good rides with this board?
• I watched few videos and noticed that the riders are already in surf stance way before the wave catches the board, is that a thing to do?
• What size and kind of waves should I aim for? (I tried 2-3 ft)
• Any tips how to generate more speed on this kind of board?

For the recored, I’m 5.8 175-180. The board is super stable for me (feels like a 160-170 litter)
even in very choppy conditions. The board turns like a mad dog. you can easily do 360 bottom turn
on it.

[anonsurfer]

With this board I can’t do that. it’s a super slow board. I tried placing my self closer to the break, but that
prove to produce wipe-outs rather than rides.

Your board is smaller and slower so you'll need to take off a lot later than with a longer board.  Switching to surf stance before the wave starts moving you will definitely help.  Just keep practicing, you'll get it dialed in. 

[TallDude]

The smaller the board the wider your surf stance needs to be. With short boards there is not a lot of surface area to even catch the wave. You need to drive the nose down the face of the wave. They will all be late drops on that board. On top of the wide surf stance you need to be forward of center. This forces the nose down and increases the boards waterline length. That's what gets you the wave. Once you feel the board start to plane, jump back and somewhat on the rail. Look at my foot position when I'm catching and the caught the wave. Notice the handle (center point) location relative to my feet.
Sometimes my front foot is almost on the nose, well off the deck pad.

[burchas]

The smaller the board the wider your surf stance needs to be. With short boards there is not a lot of surface area to even catch the wave. You need to drive the nose down the face of the wave. They will all be late drops on that board. On top of the wide surf stance you need to be forward of center. This forces the nose down and increases the boards waterline length. That's what gets you the wave. Once you feel the board start to plane, jump back and somewhat on the rail. Look at my foot position when I'm catching and the caught the wave. Notice the handle (center point) location relative to my feet.
Sometimes my front foot is almost on the nose, well off the deck pad.

Very helpful. So when you switch to the second position once on the wave  (2nd pic) do you also shift your weight backwards off center? ( as opposed to when you're trying drive the nose down)

would I also need to be more active to keep the small board surfing once on the wave compared to the bigger boards?

[TallDude]

I would say I move back and closer to the rail I want to turn on. I don't want to put too much weight on my back foot because that will slow me down, 'on my board'. The tail on my board is about 3/4" thick. The tail on your ULI has more volume. I will surf differently 'off the tail' than mine does. I don't have much experience surfing Simmons or Tomo (or Da Hammer) shape boards. They have more volume in the tail so you might have to put a little more weight on the tail or move your foot farther back.
If I'm going to go back side I shift both feet back and towards the rails. You might have to move closer to the rails anyway because of the thickness of the ULI rails? I've surfed the ULI's a number of times, with and without the wiki rails. If I remember correctly I had to surf them off the tail a little more.
Look at my foot position when I go back side. You can see how much closer both my heels are to the rail.

[TallDude]

Here one when I was surfing a 9'? ULI. My foot is forward.

[SUP Sports ®]

I would say I move back and closer to the rail I want to turn on. I don't want to put too much weight on my back foot because that will slow me down, 'on my board'. The tail on my board is about 3/4" thick. The tail on your ULI has more volume. I will surf differently 'off the tail' than mine does. I don't have much experience surfing Simmons or Tomo (or Da Hammer) shape boards. They have more volume in the tail so you might have to put a little more weight on the tail or move your foot farther back.
If I'm going to go back side I shift both feet back and towards the rails. You might have to move closer to the rails anyway because of the thickness of the ULI rails? I've surfed the ULI's a number of times, with and without the wiki rails. If I remember correctly I had to surf them off the tail a little more.
Look at my foot position when I go back side. You can see how much closer both my heels are to the rail.

Zackly...both my Jammer and Hammer models...for that matter...the Mallet, too..all have been designed wider tails with volume distributed further back so that they maintain speed and don't bog down...as such, they all like to be surfed off of the tail...and, towards the rail for turns...these are all finned with quad + my 2.25" StubNub...

I basically envision these short/wide SUPs as being two side by side twin fins...

[burchas]

Thx TD! I now have enough moves to practice. I think I'm going to adopt your smily face companion if it's alright with you 

[burchas]

I would say I move back and closer to the rail I want to turn on. I don't want to put too much weight on my back foot because that will slow me down, 'on my board'. The tail on my board is about 3/4" thick. The tail on your ULI has more volume. I will surf differently 'off the tail' than mine does. I don't have much experience surfing Simmons or Tomo (or Da Hammer) shape boards. They have more volume in the tail so you might have to put a little more weight on the tail or move your foot farther back.
If I'm going to go back side I shift both feet back and towards the rails. You might have to move closer to the rails anyway because of the thickness of the ULI rails? I've surfed the ULI's a number of times, with and without the wiki rails. If I remember correctly I had to surf them off the tail a little more.
Look at my foot position when I go back side. You can see how much closer both my heels are to the rail.

Zackly...both my Jammer and Hammer models...for that matter...the Mallet, too..all have wider tails with volume distributed further back...and, like to be surfed off of the tail...and, towards the rail for turns...these are all finned with quad + my 2.25" StubNub...

I basically envision these short/wide SUPs as being two side by side twin fins...

OK. I think I saw few vids of your boards in action before. I'll look for them again to have a closer look. If you have a good vid with me in mined please share a link. Thx

[SUP Sports ®]

Lots of vids and pics embedded in these specific board pages...

http://blog.surfingsports.com/jammer-sup

http://supsports.com/standup-paddle-boards/hammer-series

http://blog.surfingsports.com/2015/01/mallet-sup-2.html

Or, you can get them off of my You Tube page...

https://www.youtube.com/user/SUPsport?feature=watch

[burchas]

Lots of vids and pics embedded in these specific board pages...

http://blog.surfingsports.com/jammer-sup

http://supsports.com/standup-paddle-boards/hammer-series

http://blog.surfingsports.com/2015/01/mallet-sup-2.html

Or, you can get them off of my You Tube page...

https://www.youtube.com/user/SUPsport?feature=watch

Fantastic! I'll check it out closely.

[mrbig]

Google short sup technique. Good info on modified kung too stance. Weight on front foot ahead of the handle to catch the wave. Key on low volume short boards. Didn't matter as much on higher volume short boards. 7'11" 117 liters with a wide tail full surf stance. 8'4" 102 liters had to change. Otherwise the tail would sink. No Buenos!

What the tall one said!

And pump that sucker to max psi inflatable boy!

[burchas]

Google short sup technique. Good info on modified kung too stance. Weight on front foot ahead of the handle to catch the wave. Key on low volume short boards. Didn't matter as much on higher volume short boards. 7'11" 117 liters with a wide tail full surf stance. 8'4" 102 liters had to change. Otherwise the tail would sink. No Buenos!

What the tall one said!

And pump that sucker to max psi inflatable boy!

Thx! I found some very good tips there as well, also leads to good amount of short sup take-off vids:
https://www.youtube.com/user/cooolas/videos

[mrbig]

Burchas, glad it was useful for you. Helped me a lot once I went to lower volume short sups.

Colas makes a good point about paddling the sinkah in flat-water..

[burchas]

After talking with ULI owner Jim Weir, It turns out that what this board really needed was en extra 5 psi (23 with the supplied pump)  above what the manufacture recommended.

Such a great guy. He had tones of tips too, including good fins to improve the boards behavior.

5 psi & 2 fins later, I was catching waves all day long. This board is super fun.