Whipping it back around?

[Bulky]

OK, between the fading sunlight and the crowds (90 degrees in November with a bit of a bump coming in draws a crowd) I only caught a few, but I see what you mean about bending your knees.  Didn't have many chances, but I think previously I was mostly standing upright and just kind of leaning the board back around so there was certainly no snapping.  I'll keep at it.  Thanks, guys!

[SUPerstitious]

In addition to looking where you want to go (body will follow the head), one thing that seems to always kill a turn is looking down at your feet or the board, or trying to see how many buckets of water your board is throwing off.

[headmount]

SUP.. Spray.. so funny and so true.  Took me awhile to really grasp how much I needed to bend my knees with these SUBs.  Years of prone surfing steep waves with 7-7.5' by 18-19" in boards ingrained ankle turns into my operating mechanism so I'm having to relearn on these wide boards.  But they do turn and I'm loving it.

 A more square turn off the bottom can potentially squander speed if not done well and so far, for me anyway, these big (over 9") boards make that possibility even greater.  We have down the line situations where hitting the lip at a much less aggressive angle, like a floater over a section type hit, becomes  a more functional move with the boards I'm able to stand on.

[PonoBill]

I'm the king of losing speed before my bottom turn. Sometimes it seems like I stop dead after the drop and have to wait for the wave to catch up to get going again. And that works so very well . I also tend to turn hard at the bottom and extend my body into the turn before the rail and/or fin is fully engaged, which means the board doesn't turn sharply enough under me and a wind up face-planting on the inside of the turn.

For me I've found it's often necessary to screw with my timing--to look up at the lip while I'm dropping down to the bottom. That turns me a little and keeps my speed up before I move to the rail. More speed = more aggressive turn. It also helps greatly to remind myself to bend my knees and lower my ass before I turn. Trying to crank a tight turn when you're standing tall with knees locked is pretty tough.

[Bulky]

Trying to crank a tight turn when you're standing tall with knees locked is pretty tough.

Exactly.  That's clearly my #1 mistake.  Gonna break that habit!

[magentawave]

Do you guys always jam the paddle into the wave when doing a square off the lip or cutback?

And lets say you are a regular foot here...    When setting up for a round house cut back, do you move your front foot past the center of the board to more on the left side of the board?

[headmount]

That's a great question and I'm just learning.  I cringe at the word 'jam' because every time I've done anything close to that, I've almost been yanked off the board.  Now I try to think of it like a snowboard turn where I put a little blade pressure and increase until I get what I want out of the turn.  

There are probably some great threads in the past on blade usage that would be good for me to review.  If any know where they are, please post.

[SUPerstitious]

Do you guys always jam the paddle into the wave when doing a square off the lip or cutback?

And lets say you are a regular foot here...    When setting up for a round house cut back, do you move your front foot past the center of the board to more on the left side of the board?

For me, my front foot stays more or less over the center line of the board, and if my rear foot is over the fins/on the tail pad, I can shift it slightly towards the rear left, put some weight on my heel, and really rip into the cutback. That said, I am moving my front foot a few inches in either direction, but not too much.

I am finding that the secret to success of getting the board around has more to do with my rear foot placement and weighting towards the rail on the inside of the turn my board will do as I want.

I also find that I lose some speed after the turn if I try to shift my front foot too much. I think the reason is that if I put my front foot towards the rail before the turn, I have to move it back to center, or to the other rail, and the amount of weight needed to lift that foot enough to easily move it, makes me put too much weight on the tail of the board (my rear foot) and that seems to be like pushing the brake pedal.

This probably doesn't make a ton of sense but it's the best I can do to explain it. No wonder they say a picture is worth a thousand words....

[magentawave]

It makes a lot of sense and thank you. Its more about moving the back foot over a little to the left rail. Do you use the paddle at all during a cutback?

[Bulky]

SUPERstitious--that's a good explanation and I like the way you break it down to more of the back foot--I think I might be jumping around too much with both feet and that has to rob the board of momentum.  As I have so much of the learning curve ahead of me, I like learning about the little tweaks and how the affect trim.

Now, unfortunately I'm headed to Vegas for the next week so I won't have much ability to try any of this out...

[SUPerstitious]

It makes a lot of sense and thank you. Its more about moving the back foot over a little to the left rail. Do you use the paddle at all during a cutback?

I try to use the paddle as much as possible, mostly for leaning on it through the turn, dragging it across the crest of the wave, and getting up some extra speed. Not so much as a rudder though (still cannot figure out how the paddle works as a rudder).

As far as using the paddle through the turn, I am finding on faster/steeper waves and harder cutbacks, I keep the paddle on the same side as the face of the wave, and lean on it as it drags behind me. On slower waves/slower turns, I put the paddle on the beach side of my body and try to turn around the paddle (think of a flagpole in downhill skiing...if that makes any sense).

In some odd way I think the use of the paddle while surfing is sort of like cross stepping on a long board. It looks way cool when I see someone really engage the paddle on a wave.

That said, I am sure I look way cooler in my mind's eye, than in any onlookers eyes, but that's fine by me. 

[magentawave]

In case you guys haven't seen this yet, its a guy in Brazil absolutely tearing it up on a SUP in fun waves. This guy is light years ahead of any other SUS action I've seen so far. You can see how much his paddle is an integral part of his surfing. His aggressively powerful style reminds me of how Ben Aipa used to shred on a shortboard back in the day...

http://vimeo.com/51831022?action=share&post_id=1387004412_467145216669695#_=_

[linter]

damn, that guy is good, and very entertaining to watch as he navigates the crowds  thanks!

[littleray]

In case you guys haven't seen this yet, its a guy in Brazil absolutely tearing it up on a SUP in fun waves. This guy is light years ahead of any other SUS action I've seen so far. You can see how much his paddle is an integral part of his surfing. His aggressively powerful style reminds me of how Ben Aipa used to shred on a shortboard back in the day...

http://vimeo.com/51831022?action=share&post_id=1387004412_467145216669695#_=_Perhaps the most entertaining video/music selection posted to date.

[Bulky]

That's a great video, Magenta, and it speaks to your question about "Jamming" the paddle.  He's "buttering the muffin"--probably the clearest example I've seen of that--while keeping his legs bent and lots of weight on the back foot.  Hope for big guys everywhere. Thanks for posting!