My backside turns are weak. Tips?

[Bean]

The Dave Kalama stuff is great.  But, here is our very own STC ripping it up in real world conditions.  The wide stringer strip really gives you a good visual perspective on where his feet on the board.

[Zooport]

The Dave Kalama stuff is great.  But, here is our very own STC ripping it up in real world conditions.  The wide stringer strip really gives you a good visual perspective on where his feet on the board.

Very helpful.  Thanks.

[SUPcheat]

Yup, judging from supthecreek's footwork, at least one way of doing it seems to be: paddle straight with legs in midline until wave hits,  step back a little forward on the board in modified surf stance, left foot at 1PM around the rail, wait for the wave to energize the board, take a short hop back towards the tail, move back right toes to the right rail and lean with toes to right to turn right with body toward the right, use forward toes to fine tune, body and leading arm to right.

To go left, move right heel to left rail, shift forward left foot heel also to left rial, crouch, turn body and leading arm toward left, pressurize left rear rail with right heel and left heel, use forward heel for fine tuning etc., shift back to "neutral" modified surf stance when straightening out.

It took me a long time to un-paralyze my feet just to get standard surf stance when I was first learning.  Now, I can more or less modify my standard surf stance a couple of times while judging the wave behind me, but it took forever.

Turning is the same way, I can have it in my head but it takes forever to push it down into what my feet can do.

[Bulky]

I'm barely good enough to give anyone any tips, but when I do get a good backside turn the feeling is almost like sitting in a chair and swinging my legs out.  The key is to sit back--way back--so that we're weighting the rail.  Easier to do that going frontside as you just need to bend your waist and get your upper body out over the water.  Takes a little more faith to sit back and believe your board is gonna come back to your and help you pop up.

I'd imagine fins have something to do with it too, but don't want to turn this into a gear thread.  If you're running a big center fin, push it all the way forward in the box--makes a difference.  Running a twin or quad will loosen the board up quite a bit.

[PonoBill]

Hmm, Dave's site is looking very dated. Who's the schmuck maintaining that thing?  I guess I'd better block out some time to update the look a bit.

[Zooport]

HOLY COW!  I followed the above great advice, and the vids, in my session this morning and my wide-tailed, 8' board just whipped around backside.  Putting a foot on the rail was the key.  Thanks to everyone for the help.  Now I have to work on getting my cutbacks smooth and controlled.

[PonoBill]

Back foot on the rail is the key to backside turns. A very lovely Hawaiian lady prone paddler told me that a long time ago. She really didn't like SUPs in her local (thousand peaks) but she probably couldn't stand seeing my wanky backside turns. Haven't seen her in years. Too bad, very easy on the eyes.

[jdmotes]

 In your next life come back as Kai Lenny...   Paddle on,    JD

[GOTWAVZ]

Zooport - some great advice here from the group, but if you really want to improve you may want to consider
1) video taping your self while doing back side turns  - you would be amazed at what you think you do and what you really do (ie foot placement, body placement, paddle placement) or

2) Hire someone to coach you.  I just hired Anthony Vela to help my son and he has definitely improved his riding in so many ways.  One of the tricks that Anthony uses is he stays on the beach and sees what your doing on the wave. I was trying to coach my son by surfing with him. That only goes so far because you miss what he is doing on the face of the wave.  Here is his web site if your interested, he came up to HB, so you can definitely use him. Super nice guy also.
http://performancepaddling.com/

[Zooport]

Back foot on the rail is the key to backside turns. A very lovely Hawaiian lady prone paddler told me that a long time ago. She really didn't like SUPs in her local (thousand peaks) but she probably couldn't stand seeing my wanky backside turns. Haven't seen her in years. Too bad, very easy on the eyes.

PB, I've been around Thousand Peaks several times and it appeared to me that there are peaks everywhere there.  Countless peaks breaking everywhere, with plenty of room for a large number of people.  I just hung out there though and didn't surf, but I suppose there must be specific spots where it is better.  Never saw many people surfing though.  What's that scene like?  Isn't it wide open?  Hard to imagine tensions when there is so much room. 

[SUPcheat]

  Here is his web site if your interested, he came up to HB, so you can definitely use him. Super nice guy also.
http://performancepaddling.com/

On Vela's site, the small "featured video" when blown up shows him and his wife turning and doing cutbacks.  I can finally see the forward foot about on the rail at 1 or 2PM with them shifting the back foot from rail to rail, toeing down on the right rear rail and straightening their body to go right, then moving the back foot to the left rear rail to heel pressure the rail on the left and crouching low while the board turns left. 

I'll see if I can do that this weekend when I go back to Santa Cruz.  I am on a right hand break mostly, and I have been doing a bit of a right turn instinctively when catching the waves.  I have to practice that back and forth heel to toe stuff with the rear foot shifting from rail to rail and crouch into the left turn and see if I can do it.

[PonoBill]

Back foot on the rail is the key to backside turns. A very lovely Hawaiian lady prone paddler told me that a long time ago. She really didn't like SUPs in her local (thousand peaks) but she probably couldn't stand seeing my wanky backside turns. Haven't seen her in years. Too bad, very easy on the eyes.

PB, I've been around Thousand Peaks several times and it appeared to me that there are peaks everywhere there.  Countless peaks breaking everywhere, with plenty of room for a large number of people.  I just hung out there though and didn't surf, but I suppose there must be specific spots where it is better.  Never saw many people surfing though.  What's that scene like?  Isn't it wide open?  Hard to imagine tensions when there is so much room.

the breaks I like best are straight out from the paved parking lot, which is never a great idea for SUP. If you move around there's surf aplenty, but the best right is just outside the rock garden, straight out. There's a channel to surfer's right of the break and a second nice spot just beyond that. When the swell is good sized you can ride the right into the channel and pick up the left from the other break. Fun stuff.

The vibe is generally mellow but on a good day there's choke longboarders in the main lineup. Move along, nothing to see here.

[DavidJohn]

Any tips for improving backside turns?  Both cutting back when going frontside on a wave, and generally all around surfing when going backside.  Seems like I can't get my board to turn backside as quickly as I would like.  Is there a foot placement technique?

I'm not a good surfer.. and no expert.. but I'm thinking.. Look first.. swing and drag your paddle second.. and turn the board third..

Check 2.45 in my vid.. Foot movement is also needed on most boards.

[linter]

  okay, if you want to see some hot-stuff backside, check out this clip.  it's from a longer video that i cut down to show backside only.  at various points, during the close ups, you can see that he has both feet well inside the center line, almost to the rails.  you can also see how he moves his feet.  look at 2:15 for some slo-mo up close.  a couple of other things to notice: where his eyes are, how he plants his paddle and uses it to pivot on, and how much he bends his knees (a lot, a lot of the time).   i have this vid on my phone.  when i know i'm going to surf rights, i have a look at it before i go in the water.  it hasn't helped, really, but hey, one day it might!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtXAZRi1cnk

[Bean]

Undeniable skill, but a lot of shuffling going on...must be a regional thing.