RealSurf Surfers' Forum

I'm sad and embarrassed to say I've never been barrelled in the 3 years I've actively surfed for.

Anyone else, suffer the same tragedy? Or do you remember your first barrel and care to share the experience?

getting closer, it's supposed to be, and feels like, you have to pop yourself in just under the start of a crest breaking

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Toby wrote:Practice massive tail stalls and check turns into the pocket. If you dial in those two techniques, wait until it's a head-high hollow day with an upcoming peeling section and you (almost) can't miss. Be prepared for floggings.

yup, almost said that second point, of course since I am still getting there, I couldn't figure out how to say it right.
I was going to say that you do a little u-turn in front of, and under the lip.

Also pull into tonnes of closeouts, it's fun too.

I am in no way an expert tube rider but I've been recently working on this:

The best advice is pull in heaps and prepare for floggings as said above.

Also stay on ya board!! I always have to fight the self preservation instinct to jump off through the back of the wave. Spent ages never making barrels till i realised that was because i was ditching early.
I worked out that if I try to touch the deck of the board with my hand its remind me to stay with the board and the wave, this also keeps me crouched lower.

An old timer around here gave me another piece of good advice one day and that is to always look ahead and UP past the top of the lip in front of you, that should point you towards the exit.

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I will never for9et my first barrel, I just took of super deep, at the bottom turned hard and the lip just hurled over me and I just stood their lookin9 for the exit, a lon9, lon9 barrell.

But to 9et me to that point I used to purposely 9o lookin9 for closeouts on 9ood days just to pratice takin9 of deep, keepin9 the eyes open and pullin9 in and not bailin9, 9ettin9 smashed mostly. But I tell you it paid of for when it was really on Im was ready. For me closeouts build up your confidence but other people may disa9ree.

trm85 wrote:I'm sad and embarrassed to say I've never been barrelled in the 3 years I've actively surfed for.

Anyone else, suffer the same tragedy? Or do you remember your first barrel and care to share the experience?

Move outta Vicco & you might have a bit more luck for starters

To get barreled you definately have to change your approach to a wave. If you are not finding barrels, when there is one, chances are, you are racing away from it. If you are constantly pumping down the line you will probably miss out on most of the action, chances are your comfort zone is out on the face. If you find your self doing lots of cutbacks but not hitting the lip much, this will also indicate that your comfort zone is away from the action.

I'm massively in this boat... pulled into many close outs, but never come out of a barrell. I've come very close a few times at cronulla point a few times, but most of the time all i can hear is that noise about a foot behind me that sounds like i have a big shell stuck to my ear... it plagues me.
I ride quads alot too and find this doesn't help my cause as I spend most of my time way out in front doing round turns... no barrells out there...

It took me years, prob 2 or 3 years before I got one. And ive still only had 3 or 4 that I consider proper barrels. Had heads of split second cover-ups but...doesn't quite cut it. and im still searching for one longer than a few seconds.
Used to ride a lid and got some amazing barrels on that. Ive been starting to think ill never get barrelled like I did as a teenager on a lid ever again.

I agree with the pulling into closeouts as good practice. Use an old board if its heavy though. Sucks snapping a fav stick when your mucking aroung on unmakeable waves.

The hand stall is your friend. Are you natural foot? If so, when you take off in some hollow/ sucky waves use your right hand and feel the wave face as soon as you plant your feet. From a delicate touch, to a full blown penetration of the wall, get up to your elbow in the wave face if you need to. You'll start getting tubed once you get a feel for how to stall and what pressure you need to be applying.

My first was Burleigh on a 3-4 foot day. I remember paddling back out afterwards shaking like a dog. Then I seemed to get one every wave I caught, and to this day I've never had a session like it ... No matter how hard I try.

JET01 wrote:I'm massively in this boat... pulled into many close outs, but never come out of a barrell. I've come very close a few times at cronulla point a few times, but most of the time all i can hear is that noise about a foot behind me that sounds like i have a big shell stuck to my ear... it plagues me.
I ride quads alot too and find this doesn't help my cause as I spend most of my time way out in front doing round turns... no barrells out there...

I normally surf up the other end, around Elouera/Wanda.

Thanks for the advice guys, time to start picking up all those wasted close outs Better to do it on a beachy than a reef.

Jimi wrote: Used to ride a lid and got some amazing barrels on that. Ive been starting to think ill never get barrelled like I did as a teenager on a lid ever again.

My thoughts exactly. I don't think I've been barelled at all since I made the switch at 19 or 20yrs. The fact I ride a longboard most of the time probably expalins part of it.

Just keep pulling in to close outs. Keep pulling in to close outs. Keep pulling in to close outs. Keep pulling in to close outs. Keep pulling in to close outs. Keep pulling in to close outs. Keep pulling in to close outs.

And then one day a close out will let you off and you'll come flying out. It will be the deepest tube you can get and it will blow your mind.

Ringmaster wrote:Anyone can get barrelled in 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6-vb20srZI

Suffer no longer

That's fantastic!

Really very good for surfers in say Victoria.

One of my mates got gutted by his fin from pulling in to close outs.I personaly have snapped the nose of a board off with the back of my head and put my teeth through my bottom lip getting smacked with a rail.So I disagree with using close outs for practise.Re-entrys are good on close outs.I cant remember my first barrel but cyclone Abagail in the early 80s I was surfing kirra and burleigh at their absolute best and aahhhh the memories.Watch other guys approches and poach their pull in style...