Not catching much

[Voodoo33]

I'm wondering what I'm doing wrong. I went out last week and had an amazing session with my daughter. We ran into a group of SUPers and one was awesome enough to let my 12 year old bogart his board for a few hours. She did amazing for a first timer.(so well she was dubbed the best female surfer in the water which kinda stung a little). I on the other hand was not catching a thing. So I switched boards with someone and was catching everything. To the point that my daughter and I were on together and both stood up and rode into the beach. She rode a Jimmy Lewis Hana Lei and I was on a 12'6 JL cruiser. Mine which is a Starboard 10'6 whopper was useless that day.  Mac couldn't even catch anything with it and according to him he never misses. He said the whopper just rolls over the wave. So my question is this what do you need to do different to get one board moving vs another? Is this question even answerable? I hope someone out there can give me a hint.

[crtraveler]

I know this is not what you want to hear, but it comes w/ experience.....Once you really get a feel for the board and get the timing down, you will have no problem catching waves. The same thing happened to me as well as probably everyone else.  It comes down to patience.....you'll get it.

[stoneaxe]

Typically a shorter board will need a steeper wave face than a longer board. When I'm on my 12-6 Starboard cruiser I can catch almost anything even getting onto waves before they start to break. My 9'er South County needs a steep face to get me on. If you moved inside with the whopper it would do better. You can't expect a shorter wider board to be able to catch a wave at the same spot in a wave as a longer board with more glide.

[surferkarl]

Paddle harder....

Also, general rule of thumb...the longer the board the further out you can catch the wave.  Not always true but in most cases it is...start a little closer in if you switched to a shorter board.  My 2 cents....

[Voodoo33]

Thanks for the help. When I do catch one that board is so fun! I guess I need to just got out there more and play around. I just got my paddle cut down as well so I have to get used to paddling correctly.

[jdmotes]

 Hang in there,Voodoo33... TOW (Time On Water) is all you need...
When paddling for a wave, get into more of a surfers position, one foot in front of the other, with legs spread and crouched so you can really sink the paddle blade deep to get your speed up. That is the key to catching waves is "paddling speed" and positioning the board on the waves face properly. Once you feel the wave lifting you and the board starting to accelerate down the wave face, step back with that rear foot weighted so you can make the drop... Practice, practice and more practice... 
If you are surfing that wave at East Beach, St Simons Isle, Ga, that's a great wave to learn on (soft and mushy)...
Have fun and hang in there and paddle on,                JD

[PonoBill]

As everyone has already noted, length is everything in catching waves way out. When we are coming in toward the beach from Maliko runs on 17' boards we often catch a swell a quarter mile off the beach, that then slowly turns into a breaking wave. As soon as the wave has enough face on it my board wants to round up and throw me on the reef--so there's a downside.

[colas]

To easily catch weak waves, one often underestimate the importance of a flatter rocker (for glide), and a wide tail, with some kind of "wall" (vertical rail section) on the rear.

From memory, the Whooper has tons of rocker, and a relatively narrow tail, and the Jimmy Lewis have a nice square tail...

[PonoBill]

You might work on your paddle technique a bit as well. When I first started surfing on a SUP I thought paddling was just paddling--how complex could it be. I used to watch Randy Royse leaning way out and making these ridiculously short strokes at the front of his board. I was tempted to suggest longer strokes to him but he was catching every wave he went for and surfing far, far better than I. So I emulated his stroke--and found myself catching far more waves.

Then I got coaching from Dave Kalama. The first thing he showed me was that most of the power in a stroke is in the catch and the tiny bit of pull as you pull the first foot. After that the power applied to acceleration decreases rapidly (though the effort remains high because efficiency is low), and once the blade is past your feet you're just shoveling water. It feels ridiculous, like you aren't doing anything, but if you reach out to catch, then get the paddle out of the water after the first foot of pull and grab another catch, you'll suddenly find yourself catching a lot of waves.

It feels so stupid that you'll discount the waves you catch this way. It took me WEEKS of switching back and fourth to finally realize I was consistently catching waves with tiny effort. Works the same way downwinding. The long strokes may give you 100 percent of the power available, but they do it slowly, and they waste as much energy as they yield. The short pull is like doing 70,70,70,70 compared to ooonnee huunnnddred.

[surfcowboy]

To share some of my learning experience, it's harder on the shorter boards, (can a 10'6" be considered short?) because you do have to be inside a bit more and with that comes the issue of being in there when a larger wave comes so I find myself sitting too far out to easily catch waves sometimes. (If I'm paddling like crazy, I know I need to move in a little)

Big boards are fun to learn on for that reason. Managing my position in the lineup is still something that I have to work on all the time whereas, as the guys here say, the more time on the water you have, you find that you can handle it easier and put yourself in exactly the right spot to catch the wave.

When people ask me about learning I say that surfing is easy, but coming to know the water is the challenge.

That Starboard will be fun and catching tons of waves soon, but strangely it will be exactly the same board as it is now. hmm... funny how that works.

[jdmotes]

To share some of my learning experience, it's harder on the shorter boards, (can a 10'6" be considered short?)

NO....                   But paddle on anyway,                   JD

[Skylab 2000]

Get further up on the nose of your board.

My board is shorter than most, 8'5" x 30" wide.  When I really paddle hard, to increase my chance of getting the wave, I have to step way up on the nose.  If not, too much weight is on the rear of the board, and the wave will more than likely just pass me by.

[surfcowboy]

LOL JD, I know right?

Now, if that post was a few years ago...

Keyword - "er", short-er.

[PonoBill]

Yeah, you can run up to the front and flail. I do that a lot. Works sometimes, with the added benefit of a lot higher speed in the bottom turn if you stay there for a few moments. Of course when you miss the wave you have to get back quickly or the nose sinks.

[jdmotes]

LOL JD, I know right?

Now, if that post was a few years ago...

Keyword - "er", short-er.

    Just playin with ya, Surfcowboy  ...               JD