Author Topic: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement  (Read 15281 times)

APPST_Paddle

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Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« on: February 13, 2018, 06:22:28 PM »
This is a bit long winded, but here goes:

I had a bit of a breakthrough in the last few days and wanted to share a bit of it. A little background first - I've been SUP surfing for 3 years and have worked down in board size/volume and will continue to do so, although my primary board right now is a 8'8" Jimmy Lewis SuperTech, 108L. I went with a bit of extra length (I've had 8'4" and smaller boards as well) because our waves are typically slow, and I wanted a lower volume, thinned out rail with enough stability to stand on.

In any case, I went on an once in a lifetime trip to Tavarua (I won the trip) and was not sure how I would fair with Cloudbreak. It ended up being a blast, and unforgettable. Waves were chest - overhead, with solid power, but it was doable, although certainly more power than I've experienced at home, Costa Rica, or California.

I only used the GoPro for half of one session, just because I was the only SUP and I wanted to focus on riding and sometimes the GoPro throws me off. In any case, attachment #1 is a screen grab off a video at Cloudbreak, cool wave, beautiful reef underneath, and all I can notice is how off my foot placement is. I thought it was just because I was setting up quickly and not having time to reset my feet from staggered surf stance paddling in to a proper stance.

So - fast forward to back at home and we actually have waves. I used the GoPro and noticed I did the same thing at home. Front foot is not on the stringer, back foot is nowhere close to the traction pad.

The last two days I've been determined to place my feet back and correctly located. Today - we had decent waist-chest waves with some power, I was able to really set my feet back and wow, what a difference it makes turning and pivoting the board with your back foot over the fins. I know this feeling from kiteboarding with a surfboard, but just thought it was our waves being too weak to get far enough back. It's not, it was just poor form. Anyways, I'm going to continue to work on it but the GoPro video today validated what I could feel (2nd pic).

The back foot set over the front fins really makes turning fun and more powerful.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2018, 06:25:32 PM by APPST_Paddle »
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10'1" JL Black and Blue
14' BIC WS Tracer
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FRP

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2018, 06:36:53 PM »
Thanks APPST

Yes foot position is something that I to am trying to work on. To ‘unroot’ my feet and start to move around on the board and occationally in the right position is a revelation. Starting to try to walk to the nose of my 8’10” Speeed. So much to learn ......

Cheers

Bob
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APPST_Paddle

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #2 on: February 13, 2018, 06:42:25 PM »
Thanks APPST

Yes foot position is something that I to am trying to work on. To ‘unroot’ my feet and start to move around on the board and occationally in the right position is a revelation. Starting to try to walk to the nose of my 8’10” Speeed. So much to learn ......

Cheers

Bob

Bob,
Yeah, I ride a Jimmy Lewis Black and Blue as well, and on it, I have no real issue getting back on the tail on it to pivot turn, and then running up to the nose. The longboard style of riding makes it a lot easier to get back, since the board has more float.
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surfcowboy

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2018, 07:30:30 PM »
Man, I need to do this. I tend to trim and ride mid board on the point breaks here. I've been working on walking the board but now really need to get my shorter standup and see if I can force that back foot onto the traction pad.

Thx for the reminder.  Can't believe you got to SUP Cloudbreak man!

supthecreek

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2018, 07:38:14 PM »
Hi APPST
Awesome trip.... so very cool you got to surf Cloudbreak!

Great topic and pics..... I see this foot placement a lot, so it's nice to see a thread to discuss it.

It's not bad to have your feet trimmed forward going down the line at Cloudbreak....
But during a turn, when your feet are on opposite sides of the stringer, they are fighting each other.

1st pic - your back foot is trying to bury the rail, and the front foot is opposing it.

2nd pic is great.... front foot neutral.... allowing the back foot to bury the rail in a nice turn.

I have to work on getting my back foot to the stomper..... I tend to rely on the rail too much, so I don't get a nice slashing turn, on a cutback.

My Soloshot3 is up and running, so that will urge me to step all the way back more often.
Funny...when surfing the 14' Search, I have no trouble getting to the stomper.... it's the only way it turns.
But on my normal boards, I struggle to make the effort.

SUP surfing is so much fun to work out... so many things to learn!

eastbound

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #5 on: February 14, 2018, 07:30:41 AM »
been feeling the stomp and arch bar more, of recent--it's good--requires lower, more spread out "laird" stance--turns better, for sure--but ive been finding that, with my front foot amost laughably far forward, i can still trim weight forward for scceleration, while keeping the back foot on the stomp--requires very wide front/back stance--finally got that and getting relaxed with it--next level for me
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APPST_Paddle

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #6 on: February 14, 2018, 07:52:33 AM »
Yeah, another morning of good waist-chest+ surf, and I swear it's like night and day difference, especially on my frontside surfing. I listened to some old Paddlewoo podcasts, one in particular with a student who basically said riding in the middle of the board versus the tail is like cutting with a dull vs. sharp knife, and that analogy is spot on. I am carrying more speed through the wave and can go top-to-bottom with more hits than before.

The main difference I've made is that I would typically paddle into a wave with that staggered stance and as I catch the wave I would moved back some, but would not re-center my foot, this caused all sorts of issues I'm sure, particularly sluggish turns and as Creek said - counter-balancing my rail. Now I'm sliding back before I initiate a bottom turn with the goal of having my front foot over or right behind the handle.

The funny thing is I've reviewed backside waves with the Gopro, and I get back properly, but my front foot is still misaligned, so I"m going to work on that next.

I feel like I've progressed more in 2 days than in the past year, video definitely helps, Soloshot 3 is probably the next step.
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PonoBill

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #7 on: February 14, 2018, 08:45:15 AM »
foiling is forcing me into a wider stance, and swapping out with Headmount is forcing me to take the same stance on my surfboard. I'm practicing taking waves with the same stance on my SUP just to keep from resetting my mental process: Front foot across the stringer, back foot on the fins. I'm falling a lot, but I'm turning that 10'4" hard and tight. This thread is a revelation. I've been thinking about it as practice for foiling but it could be practice to surf better. I run all over the board surfing in the punky waves we use for foiling practice. I'm going to swap my 9'0" or 8'8" L41 for the 10'4" and get more value out of the swap out time. Besides the fun of learning this with a good friend, I might get a twofer out of swapping. I hate the weak turns I generally do.
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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #8 on: February 14, 2018, 09:25:42 AM »
Rick, You should put up more of your pics on the subject...   There's a guy from SoCal who did a really neat video about having both feet on the uphill (for lack of a better word) side of the stringer.  (sorry I could not find it...)

I personally have a helluva of a time getting out of the parallel/race stance - I waste a lot of makable waves. I have bookmarked this post from Erik at Progression Project.  Hopefully, I can simply re-train myself to paddle in his 'normal surf stance' when the water warms.

http://progressionproject.com/different-stances-use


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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #9 on: February 14, 2018, 11:04:41 AM »
Hey Adam. I thought I posted these pictures I took of you at SanO? I just realized they were sized too big, so I don't know what happened with that post? Anyway, here they are. Glad you had a great trip. In the last picture you can see your feet placement pretty clear. Not the greatest surf day at SanO, you can't beat the weather and atmosphere :)
« Last Edit: February 14, 2018, 11:14:01 AM by TallDude »
It's not overhead to me!
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APPST_Paddle

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #10 on: February 14, 2018, 12:26:26 PM »
Hey Adam. I thought I posted these pictures I took of you at SanO? I just realized they were sized too big, so I don't know what happened with that post? Anyway, here they are. Glad you had a great trip. In the last picture you can see your feet placement pretty clear. Not the greatest surf day at SanO, you can't beat the weather and atmosphere :)

Thanks, yeah it was a great trip, and thanks for the pictures. Those help reinforce the fact that I was pretty far off with my foot placement.

Between those pictures and the Fiji GoPro footage it's been quite the revelation that I was riding mostly wrong, ha.
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10'1" JL Black and Blue
14' BIC WS Tracer
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Kenalu Ho'oloa 95, Werner Rip Stick 79

eastbound

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #11 on: February 20, 2018, 08:54:03 AM »
on fri, appst, i had a decent sesh--thought of your post, and really made effort to be back on the stomp as much as possible--makes a huge difference
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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #12 on: February 20, 2018, 02:07:50 PM »
been feeling the stomp and arch bar more, of recent--it's good--requires lower, more spread out "laird" stance--turns better, for sure--but ive been finding that, with my front foot amost laughably far forward, i can still trim weight forward for scceleration, while keeping the back foot on the stomp--requires very wide front/back stance--finally got that and getting relaxed with it--next level for me

Yes, definitely requires a wider...lower...more powerful stance...never heard it called "laird" stance...but, makes sense as he is a power surfer...

You do get more drive having your back foot over the fins...and, you can shift your weight as required to accelerate or stall...or cutback...etc...
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surfinJ

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #13 on: February 20, 2018, 03:42:08 PM »
Hey Rick, your warm water colors are looking too good from the winter angle. Here the early am, when the wind is best, have been mostly in the low 30’s. Seems to get harder to get going as the years pile on.

Since your post’s floodgates have opened to the bombs, here’s an other.



APPST_Paddle

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Re: Video Assist with Technique - SUP Surf Foot Placement
« Reply #14 on: February 22, 2018, 04:48:33 AM »
Hey Adam. I thought I posted these pictures I took of you at SanO? I just realized they were sized too big, so I don't know what happened with that post? Anyway, here they are. Glad you had a great trip. In the last picture you can see your feet placement pretty clear. Not the greatest surf day at SanO, you can't beat the weather and atmosphere :)

I did, and those pictures help to reinforce what I was saying in this thread - that last picture is all but embarrassing, ha. It shows how big of an issue having my foot placement off could be to my balance, etc.

I can't tell you how much this has excited me to get in the water and practice, and luckily mother nature is cooperating this week with some decent waist-stomach high swell. Just landed a Soloshot3 too, so more video should be coming.
7'6" JL Super Frank Lean
8'2" JL SuperTech 
10'1" JL Black and Blue
14' BIC WS Tracer
6'5" JL Flying-V/GoFoil Maliko 200
Kenalu Ho'oloa 95, Werner Rip Stick 79

 


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