Surfing on SUP raceboards is FUN!

Jeff Chang surfing his 14' Wet Feet Raceboard

Surfing on raceboards is a lot of fun and a great skill to practice if you want to get faster on downwind runs, since it's all about surfing the bumps. Surfing these big, long boards also allows you to catch and surf waves that others can't, which opens up all kinds of uncrowded spots and smaller waves that are barely breaking that you can catch from way outside,surf and ENJOY without a crowd.

These two videos are from our weekly SUP training group, in the first one we go over some tips on how to surf waves on long raceboards (sorry, the sound is not the best as the microphone was picking up the wind noise). The second video has action on the water with a voiceover going over some of the tips. We hope you enjoy the footage. If you like our videos, please subscribe to the blueplanetsurf youtube channel!

Part 1: On land coaching:


Part 2: On the Water- Surfing SUP race boards:

Aloha, Robert Stehlik

www.blueplanetsurf.com

Speed is Everything: Pendulum Surfing

I was watching surfing in town a few days ago. A thought struck me. The surfers that looked good managed to keep a type of speed and flow in their surfing. They were easy to look at. Conversely, the surfers that looked jerky and rough failed to maintain speed throughout their ride. They were hard to look at. This leaded me to the question: “how does one maintain speed through the whole ride?” It is a simple question yet a very difficult task. My conclusion was that one must surf as if they were a pendulum! Here are a few tips.



I was once told by the famous shaper Ben Aipa that surfboards were like airplane wings. This is true. If you look at your tail; the upper rails are rounded and the lower rail section is usually flat (in modern surfboards). As the water wraps around the rail there is more friction on the top rounded rail and less friction on the lower edged rail. This causes lift. If you are surfing with no speed, you are handicapping yourself as your board wants to lift but cannot as you are going to slow. It is as if you are on a jet airplane that is going down a runway yet cannot take off due to low speed. The question becomes, “how do you create speed?” if your board only works at a certain threshold of speed?



The Take Off



The take-off is key to good surfing. This is your initial burst of energy as you start off at the top of the wave and gravity accelerates you down to the bottom of the wave. Utilizing this speed cannot be understated as it is the first event in a process of speed “nurturing” and “continuance”. You carry this speed into your first maneuver. If you fail to use the speed in your drop, you are destroying the potential of the wave to be surfed in a pendulum fashion. The drop sets up for your fist turn; the bottom turn.


The Bottom Turn



After you drop to the bottom of the wave, you will usually have a great deal of velocity. You must utilize this speed or lose it. The best way to transform the speed from the drop in to a maneuver is to bottom turn. A bottom turn literally means turning off the bottom of the wave and heading towards the top of the wave where you prepare for your top turn. Classic speed surfing is an activity where you move the board from top to bottom of the wave, bottom to top of the wave and top to bottom of the wave (that is a mouthful, yet it is key to understand). Like a pendulum, you do not bleed off any speed! Up, down, up, down. You utilize the force of gravity, as a pendulum. It is really that simple!


The Top-Turn


The top turn has many variations. Yet any good top turn is set up by a solid bottom turn. A top turn is done, as the name entails, at the top of the wave. A top turn can be an off the lip, floater, or snap at the top of the wave. The important fact is that it is done in the top ¼ of the wave face. By turning at the very top of the wave you start heading back down to the bottom of the wave gaining a great deal of momentum and speed. This speed is then used again in the bottom turn to project you up the face for another top turn. In this way, you do not loose speed throughout your entire ride.



Top turn—Bottom turn---Top turn---Bottom turn = FLOW!




A surfer who is able to utilize this type of Pendulum speed, moving from the top of the wave to the bottom repetitively, gains what surfers call “good flow”. If you look at Kelly Slater surfing, he is continually manipulating his speed in this pendulum, yoyo fashion and he draws a beautiful line in the process. No one can argue that Slater does not have good flow in his surfing. We can create flow like he does by surfing like a pendulum.



Don’t surf the bottom of the wave



Some SUP surfers and long-boarders make the mistake of surfing the bottom 1/3 of the wave. By doing this they miss the “power pocket” of the wave. Because they are not continually climbing and dropping, they lose speed and fall off or bog a rail. They are not utilizing the “gravity potential of the wave” as they don’t climb high enough up the face to gain speed dropping down the face. This is a common mistake of beginners that I wish you to avoid.



Don’t worry if you can get pendulum surfing right off the bat. It takes a lot of time to master. Yet once you get it down, your surfing experience will be greatly enhanced. Also, I believe that drawing a good line in ones surfing is like being an artist. The wave is your canvas. Why just use the bottom third of your art piece? Use the whole canvas to draw out your dreams! Until next time, practice you pendulum surfing!

Getting Barreled on a Big Board by Len Barrow

One of the hardest things to do is to pull into the tube on any piece of equipment.  The problem gets exponentially harder as your board’s length and thickness increases.  Despite this, pulling in on a big board whether it be a SUP or longboard is possible.  Here are a few quick tips.

Firstly you need to understand what type of barrel you are pulling into.  I know this sounds a bit strange but there is a great variation in barrel types.  One type of barrel is a running tube.  Running tubes can be described as fast tubes where you sometimes have to weave in the barrel just to keep up.  The tube runs when you are in it and you must be fast to get out.  Another type of tube is what I call the bending or A frame short tube. Look for waves that are heavily peaked (that’s why they call them A-Frames) with a tapering shoulder that are next to a channel. These waves barrel and shoot you out into the safety of deeper water.  They are ideal for bigger boards as you can pull in an have an exit door within reach and you don’t have to weave in the barrel to get out. 

The Set UP

The Set-Up is everything.  Big boards such as stand ups and longboards require much more setup time in relation to shortboards.  When I mean set up, I am referring to the period of time maneuvering your board into position before pulling into the barrel.  Typical with a larger board, don’t get too ambitious.  Bonga Perkins and Duane Desoto get massive running barrels on SUPS and Longboards but that’s why they are world champions.  We mere mortals should look for A frames peaks described above to attain makeable barrels.  As you develop your barrel skills you can get more ambitious yet it is great to keep it simple at first.  Paddle hard into the wave and you have two options

A. If the wave is looking like it will barrel of the takeoff prepare to tuck under the lip.  Bend at you knees, not your back and compress your body to fit into the tube.  This is the most important aspect of the barrel position.  Have a go for it attitude mentally.

B. If the barrel looks like it is going to form down the line head for that area.  When you get to the barreling section in this case, you may need to put on the breaks.  For SUP and surfboards this means to stall.  A stall is accomplished by literally leaning back and pulling a little wheelie   Be patient.  Let the wave form up for you.  In other words let the wave do the set up work for you.  The more time you spend setting up, the more success you will have of getting out of the tube.

Entry into the Barrel

The lip will throw over you in both cases and here is where it gets tricky with a big board or sup. You need to understand that a SUP or longboard literally have 3 to 4 more feet of rail than a shortboard.  You must be able to control the extra rail.  How do you do this?  As the lip throws over you, the lip may contact your long rails and force your nose to point at the beach.  This is how people get axed by the lip.  With a big board it imperative to control this incorrect drift.  This is done by putting pressure on the inside rail (the rail in closest contact to the lip) and keep correcting your trajectory every time the wave wants to pull your nose toward the beach and a definite wipeout.  This pressure keeps the nose pointed towards the barrel exit.  In the meantime, enjoy the view!!!!!!

There is a mental aspect to this also.  If you think you are going to wipeout, I promise that you will!  You must have a go for it attitude and literally believe that you will make the barrel.  You can “will” your way out of some barrels.  This sounds strange but try it.

The Exit

 

There are two types of exits.  One is the clean exit where the wave just spits you out.  It’slovely!  This type of exit feels like being reborn.  The other type of exit can be a bit rough.  We call this a chandelier exit as it is as if a chandelier of water has just fallen on your head.  In this type of exit you must again hold your line with pressure on the inside rail or the wave will push your boards nose towards the shore and you will wipe out.  Don’t be afraid of having a wide stance as it provides stability as the lip is crashing into you.  Bend at your knees and use them as shock absorbers and will your way out of the barrel with your mind!

 

Keep practicing! Barrel riding is both the most difficult thing to do as well as the most thrilling aspect of our sport.

About the Pictures:

It is said that a picture can communicate a thousand words.  Here are a number of pictures of myself 1.setting up for the barrel, 2. engaging in the barrel and 3. exiting.  Compare the pictures with the article and things will start making sense.  It just takes a bit of Zen attention!

Hope to see you in the tube soon.