“The only difference between you and me is time in the water and commitment”.
-Taj Burrow, WCT surfer in his book, Taj Burrow’s Book of Hot Surfing.
It’s no secret that the quickest method to improve surfing performance is to increase your wave count. More waves equal more time on a wave increasing your muscle memory as you execute standard maneuvers time and time again.
Muscle memory is the interaction between the brain and the nervous system. When we apply this theory to sports it is called “proprioception”, which is the process our brain uses to know where our body parts are in time and space. Someone typing quickly without looking at the keyboard is an example of muscle memory, or proprioception at work. The more you execute a motion, the more muscle memory patterns you set and the more unaware you become of movements and mechanics. You can free your mind to focus on the objective at hand. Muscle memory is established through repetition of motor skills until it becomes automatic.
Sounds easy enough, but how do you get more wave time to improve your muscle memory and improve your surfing performance? You can't surf when its flat and you should surf after it rains, so for these times, SurfScience has three suggestions for you to get better:
Sidewalk Surf
surfing alternatives carveboard
The Carveboard
Small surf got you down? Pick up a carving skateboard and shred the blacktop! Skateboarding was truly born of surfing and for good reason. You can improve your surfing if you practice generating speed, carving on open wave faces, and nailing reentries. Watching “Dogtown and the Z Boys” will inspire you to hit the streets. The kids in that documentary treated everything like waves; they carved up pools, ruled playground slopes, shredded hills, and cruised parking lots. They skated it all, improving the muscle memory needed for the next swell.
Traditional skateboards are a great way to increase your comfort level on a board but if you want to go a step further, the Carveboard can take you there. The movements made while Carveboarding replicate the motions needed to execute the cutbacks and rail turns of modern high performance surfing. By finding a cement slope or driveway, you will be able to practice hitting the lip and coming back around just like you would while doing a figure 8 on a wave face.
Shred The Slopes
surfing muscle strengh options
Snowboarding Gives Rail To Rail Action
he learning curve of the average snowboarder is much steeper than that of a surfer. It only takes a few days for a novice snowboarder to mix in turns and gain speed whereas a surfer may need two years to acquire the muscle memory needed to nail the most basic maneuvers. Again, it’s all about time on the board. Can you imagine getting six hours of actual wave time in one day? At that pace it would take only a few days to carve! Six hours of wave time is not realistic, but you can hit the ski slopes and work on your board skills. Many of the skills translating to surfing are speed checks (stalls), half pipes (giant open faces), the fundamentals of turning, and overall comfort on a board.
Become a FlowRider
surfing alternatives
The Flowrider Is An Alternative Wave
Tom Lochtefeld, the founder of Wild Rivers Water Parks, founded and patented Wave Loch technology in 1991. What followed is the perfect mix of surfing, skating, and snowboarding: the FlowRider and FlowBarrel. Each use jets to shoot a three inch layer of water over a surface engineered to replicate the shape of an ocean wave. This “sheet wave” riding has now morphed into its own sport, with 16 stops on the 2009 Wave Loch Flow Tour and the National Championships taking place in Waterville, Alabama.
In a recent interview with SurfScience.com, Marshall Myrman, Cheif Operating Officer of Wave Loch, told us Lochtefeld’s main goal was to get people barreled for the first time while increasing our wave time. A true Champion of the People! FlowBarrel was soon born, replicating a big mean barreling left-hand wave. Can you imagine getting barreled for two minutes at time? Neither can we, but riding a never ending wave will surely improve your muscle memory and the board skills needed to excel at your local break.
Hopefully this article impressed upon you how important it is to nail down your muscle memory in the sport of surfing. Easier said than done when you may catch only ten waves per session, but you have other means of achieving greatness. Go, Surf, and speak well of SurfScience.com when you rip the top off your next wave.
vendredi 27 juin 2014
Five Tips to Improve Your Surfing
One
of the most difficult challenges to face any athlete is finding a way
to improve your surfing. It’s no easy feat. It takes a commitment to
spending time in the water and using the right equipment. Beyond those
factors, there are no obvious actions you can take to improve surfing
performance. The Scientists at SurfScience.com want to help. Read our
tips below.
Surf Lessons
Taking
a surf lesson is a great way to improve your surfing and feel more
comfortable in the water. Beginners will quickly learn some of the
fundamentals that are usually learned only through experience and time.
Surf lessons also help you avoid beginner surfing mistakes that new surfers might not have thought about. Who has time for that? Quicken that learning curve and get better faster.
Challenge Yourself
This
tip could apply to any sport. Don’t allow yourself to feel too
comfortable. Once you master the 2-3 foot mushy beach break, then it’s
time to paddle out on the 5-6 foot days. You will be surprised how your
instincts and muscle memory will take over, allowing you to make key
maneuvers in critical sections of the wave. A little more size will also
provide more speed. This will facilitate your surfing improvement.
Surf Around
Surfing
is a dynamic sport where you must adjust to your surroundings.
Traveling to an unfamiliar break with different conditions will show you
how much you can improve your surfing and how quickly you must react to
unexpected shifts in the wave’s surface. Surfing fast and steep waves
for the first time will be a real learning experience. Be safe by
paddling out with a mate who knows the break.
Surf Trip
Going
on a surf trip will open your eyes up to a different way of life. It
can also drastically improve your surfing. It’s easy for the average
weekend warrior’s skills to plateau when you surf only once or twice
each week. If the conditions aren’t epic (likely) or if there is a good
crowd in the water (also likely), then it can be difficult to get your
wave count up or score some long rides. The cure: surfing good
conditions with no crowds for several consecutive days. You will have
time to work on your mechanics, catch a lot of waves, and elevate your
surfing. You will feel like a different surfer when you return home.
Hire A Coach
Professional
instruction is not just for beginners. Tiger Woods has a swing coach,
after all. You will love hearing helpful tips from someone who knows how
to surf and helps others improve their surfing as a profession. Your
coach will watch your technique, wave selection, and will probably use a
video camera to point out areas of concern. It will do a ton of good to
hear his pointers and critique of your style while watching your
session on video. We also highly recommend hiring a surf coach on your
surf trips. Make the most of that trip and improve your surfing! He will
help you maximize your time away from home and guide you to the most
appropriate breaks for your surfing ability.
Surf Faster With a Few Easy Tips
There
are two types of surfers. Those who want to surf faster and those who
lie about it. While there is no substitution for experience and time in
the water, there are a few easy tips you should know to help you surf
faster.
Ride A Flatter Board
Board
design starts with the rocker, which is the curvature of the
surfboard’s foam. General principles dictate that more rocker will
result in a slower board that turns well. As you get to the flats of a
wave the rocker will push water instead of gliding over it. A flatter
rocker will plane easier and work very well when you don’t have larger
waves to help generate speed.
Sanded vs. Gloss Finish
Although there is some disagreement in shaping communities, a sanded board is thought to ride faster than a gloss finished
board. The main reason is the gloss finished bottom does not hold any
water on it while riding the wave. The water beads right off. This
sounds like a good thing, but a sand finished surfboard will actually
trap some water along its bottom surface allowing a film of water to
slide along water. This trapped film of water will reduce friction and
make the board slick and lively.
When asked about this theory, Erik Nordskog, founder of On It Pro, offered his own insight.
"In
the high performance boating industry, we found that a sanded finish
works better on a displacement hull (v bottoms) since there's more hull
pushing through the water," explains Nordskog. "On a hydro plane, a
gloss finish works much better! This is what a surfboard is more like! A
sanded finish on a hydro plane hull actually will trap air with the
water which slows the boat down. A gloss finish is the only way to go."
Try A Quad
Keep Your Bottom Clean
We have mentioned before how important it is to clear wax
from the bottom of your surfboard. The hydronamics involved with board
design require you to clear all substances from your board. This
includes dirt, salt, sand, and anything else you find under there. To
remove wax you can use a straight flat surface (old credit card, library
card), a hair dryer, hot sand if you’re on a beach, or some eco
friendly board cleaner.
Apply Some Product
Nordskog's
company makes a product called Extreme Cream, designed to lower the
friction of your board on water. Erik mentioned the fact that although
sand finished boards will make some boards surf faster, they have
drawbacks.
“The
idea of sand finish is the water molecules collect in the pores, giving
you water over water. That’s fast. You have slick over slick. Our
product is actually more slippery than water. A sand finish will attract
dirt and the salt. All the elements attract to it, it’s just filthy and
hard to clean. There’s no need for a sand finish anymore.”
We were intrigued, so we asked why this substance won’t simply rub off once in the water.
“People
have used a lot of different things over the years, like car wax. It
might look good but it creates friction. Any other kind of material
comes right off immediately. Nothing sticks and stays. When you have a
polymer it instantly starts to bond with the poly surface or the epoxy
surface very well.
"It
helps the little guys because they don’t have the paddling power and
speed. It also helps them connect sections easier. For beginners its
good because they can paddle faster and get into the wave easier. Pros
can shred more because they get more speed."
Change Your Fins
A
fin’s sweep is the degree to which the tip extends beyond the fin’s
base. Fins with a large sweep will propel the board faster and remain
fairly stable, but you sacrifice some turning ability. Fins with a
smaller sweep give the surfboard a tighter turning radius, but don’t
offer as much stability. A more rigid fin will also offer more speed. Be
careful not to go too rigid, or you will have trouble turning.
Conclusion
Surfing
with speed will enhance your skills and your overall surfing
experience. It obviously helps to learn how to read a wave and stay in
the sweet spot, but your equipment can make a noticeable difference.
With a few simple changes you can make more sections, complete more
turns, and become a better surfer.
How to surf quickly
You’ve been surfing for a few months and you’re comfortable with all
the basic elements of surfing. You can paddle. You can stand up. You can
drop in. But your surfing… well, it ain’t pretty. Why? It’s likely that
the next area you need to work on once you’ve dropped into a wave is
generating and maintaining speed. There are several important aspects to
keep in mind when working to draw speed from a wave, the first of which
has more to do with your knowledge than your skill.
Although the average surfer doesn’t need an extensive quiver of surfboards, it’s true that every type of wave can benefit from a specific type of surfboard. Slower, softer waves can be utilized best with a thicker, flatter board (or a longboard), while curvier rocker and a pin-tail shape are the preferred shortboards for fast, down-the-line type of waves. As you head to the surf shop to make your next board purchase, keep these important questions in mind:
To get down the line with a lot of speed, you need to know how to pump. Pumping basically describes the action taken to maintain a surfboard’s forward momentum by constantly re-adjusting the board with the wave face. Pumping usually happens on a steep section of wave, or wall. Here are the basics:
Wave Check
By now you’ve probably become well-acquainted with a variety of wave sizes and types, from ankle-high to overhead, mushy and slow to hollow and fast. Different waves offer different possibilities when it comes to riding them, so the first way to increase your speed prowess is wave selection. Understand which waves will allow you to go fast, and which ones won’t. Walled up waves tend to produce faster sections, breaking with force from top to bottom. Slow waves are usually flat and soft. Surprisingly, wave size is not necessarily an indicator of how fast a wave breaks; you can surf much faster on a rifling, chest-high wall than on an overhead mush-burger.Sled Selection
The other factor that has less to do with your actual surfing and more to do with your knowledge is surfboard selection. Generally, the more foam a board carries (and thus the more buoyancy), the faster it will plane over the water’s surface. Tail shapes, concaves, and rail types are all potential speed factors, and boards with a flatter rocker will hold greater drive than boards with a curvier rocker. Different types of fins, as well as fin configurations, also alter a surfboard’s speed. For example, twin-fins usually supply more drive than the traditional thruster, although they lack the control of a tri-fin.Although the average surfer doesn’t need an extensive quiver of surfboards, it’s true that every type of wave can benefit from a specific type of surfboard. Slower, softer waves can be utilized best with a thicker, flatter board (or a longboard), while curvier rocker and a pin-tail shape are the preferred shortboards for fast, down-the-line type of waves. As you head to the surf shop to make your next board purchase, keep these important questions in mind:
- Do you know what type of waves you want this surfboard to work best in?
- Do you want more speed? More volume and a flatter rocker are the two most important speed-enhancing board characteristics.
- Do you want a board for bigger days? Remember that half the battle in surfing overhead days is paddling power. Select a board with generous length and volume.
- Do you want a small wave board? Go thick and go flat. Consider a fish or a longboard.
Setting Up For Speed
As you begin to conceptualize the surfing approach that will allow you to generate maximum speed, the first aspect you need to examine is your bottom turn. If you find yourself stalling out as soon as you execute a bottom turn, it’s likely that you’re coming too hard, or square, off the bottom. This means that your turn is too sharp, causing you to lose all the momentum gained from your initial drop down the wave face. Drawing out your bottom turn by taking a wider-arching line will help you maintain speed. Bend your knees, stay low, and feel yourself projecting forward toward the wave face. Also be sure to begin your turn at the appropriate time, not starting too early or waiting too long (in which case you’ve already lost all your speed).It’s Pumping
Have you ever watched a great surfer launch a massive air or lay down a huge, arching cutback and think, how did they do that? At the core of every maneuver is surfing’s most important facet: speed control. And in most cases, going fast is the key.To get down the line with a lot of speed, you need to know how to pump. Pumping basically describes the action taken to maintain a surfboard’s forward momentum by constantly re-adjusting the board with the wave face. Pumping usually happens on a steep section of wave, or wall. Here are the basics:
- Find the right section. You’ll need a steep, walled-up wave face in order to gain maximum velocity.
- Once you’re on a steep wave, concentrate on staying high on the wave face. A pump will take you part of the way down the wave before you need to adjust back up.
- Compress your weight down into your board. You will naturally begin to head back down the wave face.
- Before getting too far down the wave, decompress your legs and spring back up the wave.
- Beware of excess body movement. Don’t flail your arms and keep your head and eyes forward.
- Repeat as necessary, but don’t go overboard. A few good pumps will be plenty.
Trimming
The term “trim” refers to an angled path across a wave face, or a sustained glide across a wave. Most commonly associated with longboarding, trimming is one of surfing’s most simple, and refined, maneuvers. In a reference to its unadulterated purity, many surfers refer to the act of trimming as simply “the glide.” It is an action based on inaction; an act of harmonious cohesion between surfer and wave. The steps to setting up a perfect trim are as follows:- Select a wave that tapers long and evenly. A warbled, closed-out wave face will simply not allow you to sustain a trim line.
- Once you’ve come off your bottom turn, set your inside rail at an angle that will allow you to stay high up on the wave face.
- Relax and hold your line as long as you desire.
- Get stylish. Bend your knees, lean back, and feel surfing’s ultimate soul maneuver.
Earn Your Wings
Along with the drop and the bottom turn, the ability to generate and control speed is an integral part to successfully surfing a wave. Behind every hack, air, or snap is speed, so don’t expect to be able to execute any of these maneuvers without first knowing how to fly down the line.
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