[surfnli]

oddly phrased question i know.  connect physically, not spiritually, and literally at that.  to make things less confusing: i find it hard to stay on the damn thing when <insert your choice of unsettled water situation: a section comes down on me and i'm in the whitewater, trying to get around it; coming off the top, into the wash; really anything where i'm no longer on a smooth clean wall>.
 
i don't know why this is.  no such problems in the same on shortboards.  is it because the longboard is heavier/wider/flatter, so more of the wash comes across the board (and on a shortboard, you're arguably more on top of the water, less under it)?  is it because, when longboarding, one tends to stand taller, rather than a shortboarding squat, which could possibly put less pressure on the foot-to-board connection?
 
mystifies me.
 
oh and if someone could tell me how i can learn to cross step, that'd be sweet too.  i've started doing a turn parallel old school hawaiian style and walk straight forward and back kind of thing because i can't cross step.
 
thanks!

[NJ Longboarder]

more surface area for the wave to hit and throw you off balance.  keep the rail closest to the whitewater buried and you can usually plow through it and make it around.
 
for cross stepping, get on a long skate in smooth relatively flat area.  make a long skate yourself (i have one over 6ft) out of ply and a 2x4, tighten the trucks up real tight and cruise along and walk the board.  as you get more comfortable, go faster and loosen up the trucks. 
 
also, cross stepping back is a little more difficult, so don't be afraid to cross step forward and shuffle back for starters.  don't shuffle too much or you will develop bad habits.
 
just my 2 cents. 

[onefinookas]

phq the longboard, learn to crosstep on a shortboard, balls up and start walking crosstepping or shuffling off the nose vs up to the nose.  Running, walking or shuffling will only get you so far, check tudor out riding crosstep for section after section, it aint such a bad idea, one of my fave moves on the log is a crosslegged cutback, weird but very functional.  It also sounds like your standing a bit to tall on the log vs. on your shortboard where you are maintaining a lower center of gravity, standing tall is fine and good and it looks really cool but alot of the time I am so crouched down my ass is almost touching the board, especially when meandering through whitewater sections or exiting coverups.  If you have the surf encyclopedia take a look at Kieth Paul if you dont check out Rob Keagle or whatever from Cream surfboards, lower center gravity opens up alot more opportunity on the logs.

[NJ Longboarder]

what does 1fin know, he's a shortboarder now anyhow.
 
can't link to the photo, but this should give you a good idea.  keep that outside rail out of the water, bury the inside rail and plow through.  i guess getting low can't hurt either.  from photo 250 on.
 http://mjrphoto.smugmug.com/Surfing/Long-Island-West-10/Surfing-LB-West-NY-07-15-10/12947668_WvNJf#936528810_iuFxe

[onefinookas]

what does 1fin know, he's a shortboarder now anyhow.
 
can't link to the photo, but this should give you a good idea.  keep that outside rail out of the water, bury the inside rail and plow through.  i guess getting low can't hurt either.  from photo 250 on.
 http://mjrphoto.smugmug.com/Surfing/Long-Island-West-10/Surfing-LB-West-NY-07-15-10/12947668_WvNJf#936528810_iuFxe

sometimes snaggle will yell at me for surfing when she is not around, I explain to her I didnt surf  I longboarded and all is good.  I am an absolute board whore, period, I rode a longboard for two consecutive days two weeks ago and someone wanted to know if I was practicing for a contest as I have not ridden a longboard in consecutive days in quite some time.  Its not that I dont like longboarding less so much as i like every other aspect of surfing that much more that I have to do it all, all the time.  If I could take four boards down to the beach every time and be assured they wouldn't disappear I would ride 4 boards every session.  Oh and NJ longboarder is right I dont know shlt, i am pretty sure snaggle will agree to the validity of that statement.  See you at Manasquan, bitch.

[snaggletooth]

sometimes snaggle will yell at me for surfing when she is not around

let's clarify that. "sometimes snaggle will yell at me for surfing when she is at work, slaving away to bring home the bacon"
 
at least you've admitted that longboarding isn't surfing. it's a step.

[NJ Longboarder]

sometimes snaggle will yell at me for surfing when she is not around

let's clarify that. "sometimes snaggle will yell at me for surfing when she is at work, slaving away to bring home the bacon"
 
at least you've admitted that longboarding isn't surfing. it's a step.

women....always want to change you.  starts with "stop farting at dinner", "i think 12 beers is enough in one hour, you are drooling on yourself", "what is that funk...maybe you should wash you boardshorts once a year", "stop playing with your nuggets", "you should surf shorter boards, they are the coolest", etc.

[onefinookas]

i have yet to hear any of those complaints except maybe what is that funk, which is usually one of two dogs or a wetsuit and most definetly booties.  And never once has snaggle told me to ride a shorter board, I have ridden shortboards since 1995.  Not to beat my own drum but an often over look fact is I made into the semifinals of the unsound pro in 1998 I think that was the year?  I just tend to be labeled as a shlongboarder, dont get me started on labels.  If anything I probably push snaggle to ride shorter boards as I see my 5'4 Fartknocker as being 5" to big.  I just dont lean toward thrusters as for some reason I dont get the thrust out of them I do with 1 or 2 fins.  Not to say there are not other issues but they are minor I hope, maybe at some point Snaggle will be able to Justin proof a house until then I am a hurricane of a mess, from sunup to sundown with half finished projects and half eaten meals, love you pookie.


but i digress, I love the parallel stance, I call it the bhudda, you can drag your foot in the wave from that stance if you pigeon toed and hang your foot off the inside rail.  if your surfing alone there is no reason you cant just continue to run yourself right off the nose until you realize that perfect balancing point, Tom Wegner recommended that in an old longboard magazine, and its great advice.  Plus its longboarding, if your not incorporating coffins, cockroaches and spinners you might as well be on a funshape.

[NJ Longboarder]

my wife thinks my car smells like the zoo and i have too many surfboards.  she's right on both, but I will never admit it.

[UNCLE!!]

Ride without a leash and pretend there are lots of sharks in the water. But seriously, even when you ride your shorter boards, loose the leash. There isn't much that will keep you attached to you board like not having a leash. You will instinctively not want to loose the board and at the least, have to swim and t the worse hurt people with your loose board. So try this In an UNcrowded vicinity (I know... that last bit was really funny ) but loose the leash.  You will stop ditching your board and on a subconscious level try harder to make more difficult sections.

oddly phrased question i know.  connect physically, not spiritually, and literally at that.  to make things less confusing: i find it hard to stay on the damn thing when <insert your choice of unsettled water situation: a section comes down on me and i'm in the whitewater, trying to get around it; coming off the top, into the wash; really anything where i'm no longer on a smooth clean wall>.
 
i don't know why this is.  no such problems in the same on shortboards.  is it because the longboard is heavier/wider/flatter, so more of the wash comes across the board (and on a shortboard, you're arguably more on top of the water, less under it)?  is it because, when longboarding, one tends to stand taller, rather than a shortboarding squat, which could possibly put less pressure on the foot-to-board connection?
 
mystifies me.
 
oh and if someone could tell me how i can learn to cross step, that'd be sweet too.  i've started doing a turn parallel old school hawaiian style and walk straight forward and back kind of thing because i can't cross step.
 
thanks!

[Crackie Onassis]

I've found that the way you generate speed on a log is different than a thruster. On a log you need to set your rail and get going toward the middle to front of the board (not necessarily the nose but in that direction). If you need to stall, you go back to the tail. In other words, all the speed is in front of you.

Also, one of the best tips I've heard is that you need to ditch the "surfing stance" and relax. Pretend you are doing something else, like the boogaloo.

[Dorado]

how to connect better with a longboard ? ride it in conditions you wouldn't normally . Im in no danger of winning the best foot work award but i used to ride longboards a lot in all condiitons not just small loggable surf . From doing that I learned to man handle them in steep surf as well as mush . bottomline start riding the thing and get out of your comfort zone

[surfnli]

thanks for the advice guys!  to clarify:
 
(a) i never ride a longboard with a leash--neither longboard even has a leash plug
(b) i'm not ditching my board--i'm surfing rock bottom breaks without a leash and my board is probably going to the shop if i lose it
 
i just legitimately have a hard time staying on, standing decently tall, when going around broken sections.  sure i could crouch down and grab a rail to do so (and when i do so, i get around the section just fine)--but i'm not talking about a hard breaking waves--i'm talking about longboard waves out east.  the good longboard crew does it with flair, standing tall, i'd like to do that.
 
dorado i mean literally connect to it--like glue my feet to the board haha--but point taken.  it'll never happen though, i have no interest in riding a log in conditions above chest high.

[Dorado]

oh ......start eating some cheeseburgers and weigh your skinny butt down ... haha

[9ten]

thanks for the advice guys!  to clarify:
 
(a) i never ride a longboard with a leash--neither longboard even has a leash plug
(b) i'm not ditching my board--i'm surfing rock bottom breaks without a leash and my board is probably going to the shop if i lose it
 
i just legitimately have a hard time staying on, standing decently tall, when going around broken sections.  sure i could crouch down and grab a rail to do so (and when i do so, i get around the section just fine)--but i'm not talking about a hard breaking waves--i'm talking about longboard waves out east.  the good longboard crew does it with flair, standing tall, i'd like to do that.
 
dorado i mean literally connect to it--like glue my feet to the board haha--but point taken.  it'll never happen though, i have no interest in riding a log in conditions above chest high.

more wax?


seriously, you wanna get better at logging - be as good as "the longboard crew"? ride it more and in all conditions - you just gotta put in the time, there's no way around it. i'm sure they have...