Back foot issue

[bro]

My apologies if this has been covered before

I am having an issue with my back foot placement. Firends have said (read, critisized, teased etc) about my back foot being too far forward. A lot of the time in front of my tailpad. Not sure if it is doing it all the time I don't think it is but it seems to be happening a bit. I don't feel my feet are too close together etc.

Any reason why you think this might be the case and how I rectify it?

cheers

[ric_vidal]

My apologies if this has been covered before

I am having an issue with my back foot placement. Firends have said (read, critisized, teased etc) about my back foot being too far forward. A lot of the time in front of my tailpad. Not sure if it is doing it all the time I don't think it is but it seems to be happening a bit. I don't feel my feet are too close together etc.

Any reason why you think this might be the case and how I rectify it?

cheers

Put it further back. Solved.

[Surfin Turf]

^^^^^

bro ... you must've known someone was going to say that .....

[ric_vidal]

^^^^^

bro ... you must've known someone was going to say that .....

OK, you reckon he wants a serious answer, Turfin?

Dear Bro is your foot placement a problem, or only a problem to the gits you surf with?

Maybe you are ridding the wrong equipment?

Mate, I reckon there are some great surfers who surf well forward on their boards, say like Mr T Carroll, unlike his irreverent brother Nickelbum, and they just reposition as is necessary for the execution of a more critical turn. Always strike me as being more drivey position.

Don’t be a sheep bro, sorry that’s not a kiwi joke (yet).

[Surfin Turf]

Maybe you are ridding the wrong equipment?

RV is right .... get a shorter board .....

[Nick Carroll]

bro, how is your surfing being hindered by your back foot placement?

What's not working for you?

[bro]

I guess I asked for it.

NC, I don't feel it is a hindrence at least I am not aware of it. Some times I am conscious that my weight is too far forward and on take off as I go for my first weight transition I can catch or bog a forward inside rail which gives me a little wobble (or a lot depending how bad it is) before i get a more correct line but after that I don't notice it unless I am looking for it

[cs]

Bro, have a few surfs on a single fin.

I find you've really got to get your back foot right back to turn them. Once ya back on your normal board your back foot slips back going into turns etc...

Also riding a fish can lead to your back foot being too far forward.

Just my experiences though...

[Nick Carroll]

I think if you're not feeling it as a hindrance, then don't sweat it.

But if you want to work on your foot placement, do it from the front foot, not the back.

Most surfers set the front foot first. Your natural stance width does the rest as far as the back foot goes.

So if you want to shift the back foot on a permanent basis -- or even temporarily -- work on the front foot placement on takeoff, and let the back foot find its way.

Then use feedback from the tailpad to further adjust.

Methinks it's a common enough style error, to have your weight a little too far forward for effective use of that critical area of the board around the front fins. Bogging a front rail may or may not be caused by that; I'd have to watch you surf to help any further.

[creased]

Don't know about the concensus, but for me it's a matter of adjusting, both feet, according to the situation. I've always treated a shortboard as a long board, weight forward/weight back depending on your aim for the next section.

Nothing worse than placing the back foot too far back (stall), sliding off the tail and copping a edge scape up the ankle

[lovemuscle]

aye Bro I sometimes have the same problem. I reckon its a few reasons. Maybe try paddling a bit further up the back of ya board, I reckon at the last second your pushing your board backwards. Also most of the time if you are taking serious drops you will automatically be going for the middle of the board which aint a bad thing cause ya looking for speed. Just adjust during a transition. Its the only prob I have with my surfing now and then, I sometimes feel stuck or my feet slowly wiggle back ,meanwhile my boards lost speed and I flap about.

[munch]

Can't believe I'm gonna say this but how about riding something a bit longer for a while, where you have to move around

I do what you do sometimes and force myself to get my back foot back onto the foot pad after take off, but riding a longer board gets ya moving around the board on a sub-conscious level

p.s there used to be a guy who surfed at manly in the mid 80's who surfed with his feet really close together funny the things you remember, eh rode tc's with a martin potter type spray ...

[dUg]

Bro I feel your pain having copped a bit of flack myself in years gone by for surfing too much off the front, but this is from mates who routinely crush the glass on the tails of their boards . Try as I might, I am NEVER gonna push that hard... you might just be the same.

*WARNING... POSSIBLY CONTROVERSIAL PERSPECTIVE **

My two cents... front foot surfers can train themselves to surf more off their back foot and benefit greatly from the using the two stances in different conditions ( more off the tail when there's more juice / wallyer surf and off the front / sweet spot in racy but less grunty stuff ).

What allowed me to get further back was surfing boards with wider tails ( fishy ) in smaller stuff, and I think when you start to get those nice gougey turns off the last 1/3 of the board happening, you realise something's been missing. Fin placement in your boards makes a big diff too - I reckon I surf a good 3" further back than I did 5 years ago and it's mostly due to those factors.

Coming back to my earlier *possibly controversial* comment, I don't know too many guys who surf powerfully off the tail who can make a graceful transition to surfing off the front foot (oooo... I'm asking for it aren't I?? LOL ). The ones that do have mainly mastered it from barrel riding I reckon - and in that case, you will often see them shuffle back a few inches before they do that huge hack to wash off exit speed.

I do believe your surfing will benefit from getting your weight back a bit ( mine really did ), you might just have to re-think the type of boards you're riding. I recommend watch yourself surfing on video too. Once you get over how humbling that is, you can start to make positive changes.

[bro]

Thanks for all the comments

not sure I want to go shorter on the board length, I don't think it is that simple (could be wrong) but I am 6 ft and ride a 6'3 most of the time so coming down in length would mean having to go wider and thicker which I don't want to do as the board would start to get a bit fishy

I also don't want to ride a fish as when I jump back on my shorty it takes me a while to get any sort of form back and depending on how fishy the fish is I think they are bad for your shortboard surfing

I ride a mal a bit so do shuffle around with foot placement

I will work on some of the things you guys have mentioned and see how I go

cheers

[ric_vidal]

Thanks for all the comments

Reckon Nick’s front foot advice is the best Bro, the back foot will end up where it is comfortable.

Hard to explain, but I also find sometimes a bit of a casual drag up of the back foot helps position it further back.

[RichQ]

Hey,Bro,...I too used to suffer from "Backfootforwarditis"....my back foot was directly over my front fins....I was always sliding out thru cutties & big bottom turns.
Stumbled across a kind of remedy.....I pulled the tail into super narrow pintail ( 13") then moved the whole fin cluster up 1-1.5".....found the board much more sympathetic to ride. Now I can push as hard as I like thru turns (within reason)...the board is still really loose but drivey at the same time.
I'm of the opinion that you should stand where ever you feel natural
(or goofy...as long as youre STANDING!) & adjust your board to suit YOU.
Where your back foot is makes a HUGE differance to what kind of tail shape you ride. Many other surfers have the same foot issues for many reasons....Ive got theories........happy to talk about em...ad infinitum...mmmmm.
Rich.

[Surfin Turf]

I sometimes suffer from on odd phenomenon .... backhand never an issue ... somedays on forehand I can find my back foot sneak foreward a bit .... like on Saturday I was taking off a bit deep to beat the pack and found a few times on my forehand that I was foreward a bit and it felt a bit slidey in the bottom turn .... but when the odd left came through there was no issue .... I was wondering if the deeper take off was sub-conciously making me stand that little bit too foreward ...... :?

[slowy]

Bro,
I feel your pain!! I have just gone through this very problem myself. I was riding a fish hybrid for about two years and about two weeks ago got a new high performance shorty (thanks [b]pridmore[/b]..its going nicely). First session was head high and fairly sucky I was taking off with my front foot way forward, great for the take offs and racing the lip..but trying to come back quickly round off the top..forget it!! It felt slow and boggy.
Funny as turfin' was saying, my backhand was producing better back foot placement than the foreside. Must say that it only took 4 surfs to feel the back foot sliding at will backwards every now and then, so I think it will be remedied sooner than later "unconciously".
I really feel (as did others) that this was a direct effect of riding the hybrid. So hang in there Bro your foot placement may naturally adjust to the feel of the new board as mine has done.
Cheers and good luck