Shaunm wrote:Video yourself,
good advice ...
back in the olden days I was fortunate enough to have a surf coach who was also on the coaching crew of a famous old Manly goofy footer (1988 I believe was his big year , I'm sure NC will correct me or something), anyways he was the video guy on the coaching crew of the champ, and was coaching a few blokes on the side as well ....
I had the same issue of linking moves , in that I could do the big move but then there was a gap between the next .... the coach started videoing me (with his giant camera back then that resembled a TV studio camera) and identified that I was hesitating not only between moves but sometimes even during moves .... sometimes in larger waves I would pull up towards the lip but seem to hesitate while deciding what I was going to do ....
also at that time I was riding Hot Buttered (not the most pleasent experience) but DY legend Russell Lewis was also with them and he sat me down one day to watch these old surf video's (pre Mark Richards sort of era) and I was quite amazed at how those guys were surfing ... it wasn't radical in todays standards of course but the main thing I noticed was the continuous movement of their boards .... even on their take-offs they would do a number of small turns before the actual bottom turn .... he got me to do a couple of key things to correct my hesitation between moves ...
Treat each wave as if I'd taken off too deep and after each move do the same .... this got me to get up high and 'pump' the board for extra speed (like wanto said) which created constant movement, which is visually good, and regardless of being in the optimum position or not, it provided speed to make a move look better ...
the other thing was to visualise in your head the moves you were going to do like a plan and once on your wave working through the set of moves ....this may sound tricky as the wave will not always do what you want it to of course, but if you work at it and concentrate it can be achieved ... surfing is naturally more about taking the opportunity that the wave gives you but when you turn that around and try to achieve a plan on a wave that is not a constant it teaches you a different dimension and pushes you to keep your board moving ... in very simple terms think about the last wave of your session, you plan to ride it as far as possible, get as much out of it as possible so you finish on a good note and not fall off ... that's a plan ...
Now these two things I talked (at length) about were methods for achieving smoother linked moves, maintenance of speed and continuous movement for visual appeal, but once it all falls into place you need to take the next step up (whatever that may be) ....
Many, many years later and of course surfing strictly for fun, I still actually approach surfing with those methods in mind as it helps get the most out of ordinary waves and after last winter I can say it helps put you in control of larger waves ....
Hope this helps ....
Haven’t seen the first but sure these gems would be well covered.
