surfing tips and tricks.

[Clif]

Lucky Al is moving to set up his new guest house in Vietnam. Pretty stoked at the moment, I reckon. Albeit, busy. He'll be on an exposed coast and not too far from ...

Off to do some surfing tricks myself in Indo on the 14th June. Touch down in Bali and then onto either G-Land or West Sumbawa depending on swell etc. Caaaarn Huey ... you can parteee with me.

Tip for self: stay away from Ulus (unless bigger, so you can practice your tricks). I always get suckered to go there and try it again.

Then back home for Typhoon season. It's been a long haul waiting for this season. We found a new left on the Mainland and have watched it peel at ankle high (at most) for months.

[Beanpole]

Carroll just snaked Shearer's thread.

Classic grass cutting of shearers turf.
Bit of a major drop in.
Obvious practice for in the surf.
So that's the tip I guess.

[DucksNuts]

Here is my pop up tip, noting my level of sucking: for a natural, place left hand on board below shoulder at around mid rib level, place right hand way way down near your hip (reverse for goofy). Not sure who told me this, might have been someone on this site at some stage (NC I guess) but its made a huge difference. Gets the hips up nice and high.

nah mate, that's a really bad idea that I see propagated quite frequently on the internet by beginners and intermediates.

Watch the very best guys and you'll see the hands are roughly parallel under the chest always.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkGaJ8w0V1Y

I disagree Steve. I remember vividly the first time I saw this - watching Slater take off behind the rock at Snapper a few years back in the contest, from a water angle. Very steep, knifing it right into the barrel, the inside hand further back on the board.

I kept an eye out for it and noticed JJF doing it at Pipe along with JOB and others

I'd have to see footage to believe that. I've watched thousands of hours or live pro surfing and video footage of pros.
I just went back then and watched some of the footy of the last day QuikPro last year at Kirra. Parko, Fanning, Slater : all roughly hands parallel under the chest.
Watching Flores and Crews right now is the same.


If the hands are too off kilter it throws the board off kilter.


And of course the pros have the timing and more importantly positioning down pat. Most rec surfers don't. They spend most of the time sitting at desks staring at screens getting weak in the middle. Getting that pop-up motion down pat and keeping those muscles strong and activated pays handsome dividends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaWWRvNLs84

The 1:00 mark shows it on a smaller one

[daisy]

ok so Hanoi's favourite Realsurfer Lucky Al had farewell drinks last week at the city's finest French bar and then more-or-less shook the Hanoi dust off his feet forever. He is now no doubt rarely on line and missing all the excitement of the Fiji women's event as he learns the ropes at the guesthouse, which incidentally is located smack bang in the middle of Vietnam's sharkiest waters.
http://media.tinmoitruong.vn/public/med ... map(1).jpg

I passed an originally-pink-but-now-mostly-yellow 7'10 fun board on to him to take down the coast (former learner board for my ex-missus..), it should be ideal for any waves he is likely to get in the next 6 months outside of the occasional typhoon. hopefully it will keep him off an SUP for a while longer at least.

Hanoi won't be the same without him. obviously.

[Lucky Al]

thanks for that daisy, the picture of the shark should be great for my guesthouse business. but seriously i'm here to tell you that there's no need to worry if you just don't think about the sharks. like the other day we swam to this island out front and i'm here to tell the story today. you just have to take simple precautions. don't think about the sharks.

[steve shearer]

looks cherry Al.

[ctd]

For anyone wondering the answer is yes!

It is entirely possible to fall off WHILE attempting to perform the swiss-ball jack knife with push up on solid ground.

Wait until you have sweaty hands and one slips and you face plant into the swiss ball, then rebound. Then fall off. Then the ball rolls over the top of you (or shoots across the floor to hit the woman doing dog poses in the rear and she turns around and there you are laying on the floor starting straight at her)

Epic in the gym, especially when you are surrounded by mirrors like at most gyms.

[Beanpole]

I never really thought there was much of a problem with sharks in Asia generally since they don't swim that well without any fins.

[Beerfan]

I never really thought there was much of a problem with sharks in Asia generally since they don't swim that well without any fins.

Well played beany, well played.

[Beerfan]

Al just needs to paint the bottom of his boards with a picture of an Asian chef with a cleaver. Shark attacks will cease. Might even work worldwide.

[Beanpole]

Al just needs to paint the bottom of his boards with a picture of an Asian chef with a cleaver. Shark attacks will cease. Might even work worldwide.

Large image of a bowl of soup with some fins sticking out of it.

Although this might bring on a revenge attack if the shark had any fins left.

[Lucky Al]

there's a snapper rocks just up the beach from the new place. the tip is to take off behind the rock. the trick is to be six inches tall.

[Beerfan]

Depends on the wave though. A mate of mine who is a very good surfer had ankle surgery, and while he was out of the water, I spent 6 months or so hitting up a river mouth break ( his home break ), in the hope of getting as good as him. Lots of 2-3' waves. It improved my steep take offs a great deal. His first surf back he got barrelled first wave on a tiny wave, then mentioned he was a bit "rusty". Cnunt.

So after 6 months at the rivermouth, are you a 'very good surfer' now?

Sadly no.

[tootr]

OK on the tricks side, apart from the ancient deck soaping trick, on any board with removable fins, on your mates board put one or two of them on backwards,

trust me, quite often they don't find out until the first wave.

[Beanpole]

If someone snakes you grab their leg rope as they are taking off and hold it just long enough to put them out of sync with the wave then let it go.
Note: this may end in a blue if done too obviously.

[rmb]

If someone snakes you grab their leg rope as they are taking off and hold it just long enough to put them out of sync with the wave then let it go.
Note: this may end in a blue if done too obviously.

If you are to do this learn to fight or paddle really fast which may help your surfing.

[Beanpole]

Yes paddlingower is a good idea and I encourage all surfers to learn some martial arts to improve their agility.

Also helps if you are bigger than the snaker of course. Not necessarily that hard given the predilection for potential jockies to become hot surfers.

[JSB]

If someone snakes you grab their leg rope as they are taking off and hold it just long enough to put them out of sync with the wave then let it go.
Note: this may end in a blue if done too obviously.

Don't try and grab it too late, it hurts like hell