Sitting on a surfboard - how do you do it?

[Damien]

G'day,
am finding it diificult to sit on my board while in the line-up. Keep falling off!! which is annoying. Any tips on this?
Aswell how do you turn the board while sitting on it in enough time to catch the approaching wave.
Thanks for all the good advice on this forum,

[sinistapenguin]

Hi Damien

This is a tricky one. You've got used to catching waves, you paddle out to the lineup confidently, then you sit up only to fall off feeling like a fool.

Unfortunately there's no real secret, just balance. Use your hands and feet to keep you upright, then eventually it will click into place and you will be fine.

As regards turning around to catch waves, my tip is to grip the board between your knees, then lean back and paddle round with your hands.

The leaning back is the key to turning the board quickly. There's a classic scene in Big Wednesday (if you haven't seen it, watch it) where Matt turns to catch his first wave on the big finale day. This tells you everything you need to know - he turns a 10ft longboard on a dime!!

Cheers

Sinista

[surf patrol]

is perhaps the most embarrasing surf thing to practice. Imagine a smooth paddle out, totally nailing the duckdives, get out to the line up, sit up confidently and then WOAHH, your board pops out from between your legs into the air, you go backwards into the water and then you end up missing the set wave of the day.

Still, the good thing is that this is quite a quick move to get the hang of and before you know it, sitting on your board will be second nature.
Your legs do most of the work with your body doing the rest. Sinista gives you the key tips, the rest is practice - go out on a flat day for an hour or two and you will have it nailed.

[sinistapenguin]

It may sound stupid, but paddling on a flat day is great.

If you live near the beach and it's flat, but you fancy getting wet. Get your board out and go for a nice long paddle. It will help you with your general paddling strength and sitting on the board.

You can also practise duckdiving. If you can duckdive in flat water, it'll be easy when you paddle out.

I went surfing in Tolcarne, Newquay UK with my surf club once and the president of the club said "I'm going to check out Fistral" - he proceeded to paddle some 3/4 of a mile across the beach to the harbour wall in Towan. Walked over the point to fistral (1/2 mile) Surfed for 2 hours, then walked back and paddled back over to where we were.

I asked him how he managed to keep going for that long and he said, when he started surfing he would paddle about a mile a day in flat water, to practice.

He was also the last one standing at the bar that night - guess he practised in that department too!!

LOL

Sinista