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Tips, Technique, and Style - The Definitive NY NJ Guide to Surfing / Re: taking off on sub-6' boards

« on: September 05, 2008, 02:20:08 PM »

So, ideally, as you pop up, what part of the lower half of your body should be the last point of contact with the board before you hit a crouching position?
For me its usually somewhere on my quads just above my knees, but as I said, I think I tend to support slightly more of my body weight on the right side. I'm goofy, so that ends up being my front foot and I'm not sure, but I think having slightly more weight on that side might be contributing to the knee drag.

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Tips, Technique, and Style - The Definitive NY NJ Guide to Surfing / Re: taking off on sub-6' boards

« on: September 05, 2008, 01:36:29 PM »

Thanks Looseness- So I take that to mean you don't move your legs to any sort of position at all? Just trailing straight out from your body and -BLAM- into standing?

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Tips, Technique, and Style - The Definitive NY NJ Guide to Surfing / taking off on sub-6' boards

« on: September 05, 2008, 01:12:25 PM »

Hey all,
I just recently started to dabble in sub-6' boards (a Chris Birch 5'8 single bump pin). I love the looseness and the speed, but I've noticed a few things about my take-off style on the 5'8 versus my previous 6'4 semi-fish thruster.

The first thing is that I have a tendency to sort of drag my front knee as i pop up which seems like it might be slowing down my body's transition to standing. On my old board i used to bring my back foot in slightly and use my foot against the knuckle on the tail pad to provide a "support" to push on as i popped up. On my 5'8 I don't have a tail pad and since the board is shorter, it takes a more exaggerated movement to bring my back foot onto the tail to brace the pop up. So I've been leaving my legs straight and popping off my upper legs (around my quads) as I push up, using the platform of the board to provide that solid base to get my feet up and under me. But i've been wondering if doing that had created my new bad-habit of dragging my front knee. So my question to the keel fish/speed-dailer/toilet seat cover/whatever riding population out there is what is what technique do you have for getting that "pop"? Do you bring a foot in to support you or just snap up as you straighten your arms and shift your weight down to your legs?

My other, slightly more straight forward question is in regard to the take off itself. Often I seem to sort of hang at the lip after i pop up which sometimes causes me to come down on to the wave face late. I think this is just because I'm jumping the gun a bit on the take off and popping up at bit too soon. Do you have to take off a bit later with a shorter, wider board?

Thanks!