Ask Carroll

[Nick Carroll]

I wish someone would milk this thread of the current topic and get back to something (anything) surf related ...

Ok, Nick, you may have answered this somewhere in the last 10,000 posts, but the SMH had a thing on Mick Fanning in its weekend magazine including anecdotes of being a grommet and the 'tricks' played on his (buried up to his neck in sand with a dog turd shoved under his nose).

So what were your favourite/least favourite/most memorable experiences?

And, while we are reminiscing, I noticed that Bob Meistrell - 'inventor' of the surf wetsuit - just died. Any war stories on the development of wetsuits/dealing with wetsuits in the olden days... some of the obits mentioned that there was significant resistance to use of wetsuits when they first appeared and I imagine they werent quite the slimline flexible things of today.

Also, pure white board or fancy spray job?

The story in the SMH Good Weekend was about Joel Parkinson, not Mick Fanning.

There was no grommet abuse of me and my peers at Newport for the excellent reason that most of the generation of guys above me were dead from motorbike accidents or zonked on smack.

Bob Meistrell was 82 years old. I'm 53. When Bob and his peers, including Jack ONeill etc were dicking around with surfer rubber wear, I wasn't actually alive. So I can't help ya there. But I can tell you that prior to around 1995, almost all wetsuits were shit.

Re spray job, in my halcyon youth I was fortunate enough to be sponsored by two companies -- G&S and Hot Buttered -- who boasted fantastic airbrush artists. One, Jim Davidson of G&S, developed with me a kind of outline spray, set on the deck and about two inches wide, that ran right around the deck of the board parallel to the rail edge. I took two of those boards so sprayed to California in late 1979 as captain of the Australian team, and helped crush teams that were buttressed by the as then 14 year old Tom Curren. Later Tommy adapted the same outline spray on many of his boards including the famed Black Beauty. So there is one of Jimmy D's many claims to fame.

The HB spray guy, Martin Worthington, is a fcuken legend and I've had several great boards airbrushed by him, I have a 7'7" TF wing pin tucked away right now with a crazy airbrush design on the bottom.

So yeah I am a sucker for that but really, they don't make a fcuken hair's worth of difference to the performance of a board.

"Statement" boards, and people who ride them, bore me shitless.

[Nick Carroll]

Nick. Are there any redeeming features to the male form?

All that hairy crack and balls. I fail to see anything attractive about us.

Good god Braithwaite, have you never admired Machelangelo's David?

Take your eyes off the mundane man, and cast them heavenward.

[Nick Carroll]

OK Nick, this is something I have been noticing lately.

On my backhand, I can remain near the top of the wave after takeoff. However on my forehand I tend to drop much further down the wave. Is this normal? Or am I not turning my head far enough to look down the line when I takeoff on my forehand?

It's just a question of weighting. Typically you'll find it a lot easier to put weight on the heel rail and fin, because your weight is naturally transferring through the heels more effectively than the toes.

Since you're weighting the heel rail, your board's staying higher backside.

Less weight on the frontside rail means you're drifting down the face further before finding a catch point in the wave.

If you don't mind me saying petulance, this is a very simple technical failure and it tells me you really need to surf a shitload more in order to break out of what sounds like a fairly primitive stage in surfing development.

While doing so, start by thinking about why it's so much easier to weight the backside rail.

[Karlos]

Nick. Inevitably, when Aldi rules the world.

... Will you ride their boards while wearing their wetsuits?

We will all do whatever it takes to continue surfing in the new Aldi World Order.

A mate of mine bought an Aldi wetsuit (he's English so cut him a break) & the zipper broke after the first surf. It was so cheap he didn't bother taking it back.

Aldi has a long way to go before it's able to threaten the existing surf industry.

[Nick Carroll]

My second question is a pop-up question (not the shops, I hate those).

I’m in a pretty unfit state after a lengthy convalescence and it means I’m really slow to my feet, it’s more of a clamber and climb and my legs don’t always do quite what I tell them to. Sometimes I have to have a couple of goes at it. When I try to get up a bit quicker I tend to get my legs too close together, often right on the tail.

I’ve tried different sized boards and found I seem to find it easier to pop up on the smaller boards but then it’s harder in a way to catch waves due to fitness, and that means I end up not doing as much paddling or surfing. I've had a few false starts in my recovery but I'm finally back in the water now and impatient to move through this.

Do you have any suggestions for working on this? Should I just keep at it and let it sort itself out in time as my fitness, flexibility, strength and weight improve? Are there any land based things I can do to speed this relearning process up?

Urrghhh, pop up shops, appalling.

I think this is just a matter of time. And timing.

A lot of "surf instructors" pay an odd sort of attention to the pop up thing. They seem to think it's a question of strength. It's not. It's a question of timing.

The term pop up itself is a misnomer. In fact what occurs in most cases is that the board itself falls away from underneath you. You don't so much pop up as let it fall and slide to your feet as it does.

In other words, it's not a physical effort as much as it is a result of other efforts - getting yourself in the right place, paddling into the wave in a good line that's suited to the wave, and making a smart decision about what you're gonna do once on your feet. Do all that stuff right and the "pop up" takes care of itself.

First and foremost in all this is simply practice. You haven't been surfing much for a long time and I'm guessing you've pretty much done fcuk all else around the ocean in the meantime. Ie no bodysurfing or some such.

You're down on wave knowledge as much as you are on strength. So just go surfing a lot and bring both of these things back.

[Nick Carroll]

Btw sorry to do this but I am gonna have to pull the plug on answering stuff on here for a while at least. Got too much other stuff to do.

I'll see if I can have a look here from time to time but don't expect anything.

[petulance]

If you don't mind me saying petulance, this is a very simple technical failure and it tells me you really need to surf a shitload more in order to break out of what sounds like a fairly primitive stage in surfing development.

Thanks for the explanation Nick. No offense taken.

Not that I am making excuses but I know my main problem is I have a very low wave count per session despite being in the water for a few years now. Hence the lack of improvement.

[MrMik]

I wish someone would milk this thread of the current topic and get back to something (anything) surf related ...

And with some urgency, please!

[Karlos]

Btw sorry to do this but I am gonna have to pull the plug on answering stuff on here for a while at least. Got too much other stuff to do.

I'll see if I can have a look here from time to time but don't expect anything.

All of the 'medical' stuff a bridge too far?

[MrMik]

Btw sorry to do this but I am gonna have to pull the plug on answering stuff on here for a while at least. Got too much other stuff to do.

I'll see if I can have a look here from time to time but don't expect anything.

Oh, no! Just when I was getting ready to ask those embarrassing cook questions about those things that so burden my life...

So maybe one last question before you go...please???

If after 18 years of surfing, if you still suck at it, is it time to take the first surf lesson with a professional or is it all too late and/or hopeless anyway? I'm 47 and have not peaked yet, but am getting increasingly worried that time is running out.

[Nick Carroll]

Hmmm well MrMik a few things.

I think you can still improve as a surfer. That seems important to reinforce for you, and it's the truth. I'm several years older than you and I still feel improvements occurring in my surfing.

However -- if you're hoping for an improvement of any kind, you'll have to do something to break whatever cycle you're currently in.

Professional coaching can for sure break cycles of surfing behaviour. But there are many other ways - travelling to surf other spots, getting a new board, taking up a new training regime, and so forth.

The key to change is in the mind: if you change your ideas about surfing, you'll change the behaviour around it. Yet perhaps the most effective way to change your ideas about surfing lie through pure action -- movement of a physical kind leading to movement of a psychological kind.

Surfing after all is first and foremost a physical movement, a physical engagement with the world. Therein lies all its value. Engage with it; do it in as many ways as you can, pro coaching and all if necessary. Improvement will come from that engagement.

[swvic]

And here I was, attempting to lift my game in other threads so as the Great Nick Carroll might eventually allow me to ask a genuine fistula related question. Spend a bit of time with the family and return to find the cnut just can't be farcked, for now at least. I live in hope

[MrMik]

Hmmm well MrMik a few things.

I think you can still improve as a surfer. That seems important to reinforce for you, and it's the truth. I'm several years older than you and I still feel improvements occurring in my surfing.

However -- if you're hoping for an improvement of any kind, you'll have to do something to break whatever cycle you're currently in.

Professional coaching can for sure break cycles of surfing behaviour. But there are many other ways - travelling to surf other spots, getting a new board, taking up a new training regime, and so forth.

The key to change is in the mind: if you change your ideas about surfing, you'll change the behaviour around it. Yet perhaps the most effective way to change your ideas about surfing lie through pure action -- movement of a physical kind leading to movement of a psychological kind.

Surfing after all is first and foremost a physical movement, a physical engagement with the world. Therein lies all its value. Engage with it; do it in as many ways as you can, pro coaching and all if necessary. Improvement will come from that engagement.

Thank you for your considerate and thoughtful reply. Much appreciated!

I think that pondering your advice has actually given me the right idea of how to proceed: I need to start right from the beginning and body surf again! With fins and my shortest board, a 1ft strap-on hand-board.

There's a good chance I might even stick with it and give up trying to use stand-up surf boards, because I used to have loads of fun and get tubed all the time when body surfing, and I enjoyed the swimming and the views of the underwater world (using goggles) at the same time. Body-surfing is unbeatably easy to duck-dive, and to reliably get out of the way of any number of surfers (regardless of their ability) who are dropping in on each other while I'm heading to the line-up through the impact zone. It might be a case of selective memory, but I do not recall any occasions when I came out of the water after body-surfing thinking "Why the f**k do I waste my time on this?"

The more I think about it, the better it seems: "Just say no to surf-boards"

If the urge to take along a big piece of plastic into the surf grabs me again, then I 'll take some lessons (or psychotherapy!).

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[swvic]

Just bought that book. $21 from ebay

Cheers for the research offer Matticus (and the link), but I'll now be able to do it myself

[MrMik]

..
...
Surfing after all is first and foremost a physical movement, a physical engagement with the world. Therein lies all its value. Engage with it; do it in as many ways as you can, pro coaching and all if necessary. Improvement will come from that engagement.

Thank you for your considerate and thoughtful reply. Much appreciated!

I think that pondering your advice has actually given me the right idea of how to proceed: I need to start right from the beginning and body surf again! With fins and my shortest board, a 1ft strap-on hand-board.
...
...

Well I found that my old pair of fins had seriously deteriorated, so I went to buy a new pair today at the closest surf shop to work....the guy almost convinced me that what I need is a SUP! He reckon's it might revive my zest for surfing and has many advantages, like providing more of a whole body workout, ability to see into the water from above etc.

Anyway, I bought new fins, not a SUP, because after all there is no better whole body work-out than swimming, and the view under water must be much better than the view through the water from a SUP. But the idea is there in the back of my head...I might just have to use even thicker and wider boards than my various McCoys to increase the fun factor....and the better SUPs are amazingly light for their size. Some sort of carbon fibre construction. I'm loosing the plot....

[Nick Carroll]

OK now MrMik.

Here for a brief moment again.

Many older surfers have gone the SUP route in recent years, I am sure thinking something similar to you, ie it will be good for your fitness/"core", with the underlying secret hope that it will also be a kind of magic bullet for their surfing experience.

That standing on a 32” wide 4" thick longboard and wielding a paddle will somehow bring about a magical transformation in their surfing abilities.

Sadly this is not the case. There's only one surfer I know who has added significantly to his surfing skills via SUP and he is a profoundly skilled surfer, like far beyond anyone else who's ever tried this transition.

Every other sure I have seen give it a go spends a year and a half struggling, then finally reaches a stage where they can catch waves and only fall off 50% of the time, ie roughly their natural surfing level on far easier and less tortuous craft.

SUPS make these things harder:

Judging waves ( the line of sight is super weird)

Catching waves (you'll find it v hard to turn quickly and pick up a wave at the right moment)

Riding waves (the boards are almost all super clunky and shithouse and while it may be fun for a while thrashing away with the paddle under the mistaken impression that it can make up for a lack of judgement re trim speed, it does tend to hamper any timing or accuracy in turns and board placement)

Paddling out (a ha hahaha ha)

SUPs are also almost universally hated by every other surfer in any lineup you care to visit, especially in the hands of a beginner, especially if that beginner thinks he is now a Waterman.

In short, they suck, they're possibly the greatest confidence trick yet played on the poor ageing Australian surfing population, and if you do go down that road, just be aware, it ain't gonna help.

[Beanpole]

You left the fact that they are huge. Even the little ones. They have to be stored somewhere. Good Luck. A lot of the fatties on them look like frogs in a lily pond with aspirations.

Only successful one Gerry Lopez?