Returning to surfing after 14 years

[Fay]

Went surfing today, in 2 ft short-lived mush (IoW waves are generally short waves) but had a great time. Caught loads of waves, stood up on about 50% of them. However I found this time, I was pearling and also losing my balance quite a lot (the other 50%!). I also kept catching my leading (left) foot which was annoying.
Still, a much better sesh than last time. Stoked.

[dtc]

Huh, you did better than me. First time to the beach in 10 weeks and I was confronted with 1-3 inch waves (yes, inches). Plus a cold onshore wind blowing them flat and making things generally unpleasant. Needless to say, I went fishing (which was just as successful). Weekend result: waves caught = 0, fish caught = 0; trips to the fish shop to by dinner = 1; family members laughing, yet again, at my inability to catch fish = all of them.

As to perling, there are lots of threads around with tips. Often its just not paddling fast enough.

As to balance, I found one thing that helped me was staying low after popping up - crouched down, bum below/even with knees (ie not your head leaning downwards, its your hips staying down). You only do it for a few seconds, then you have your balance, the board is 'biting' into the wave and you can stand up (a bit). Make sure your shoulders are facing slightly forwards (ie not straight out to the side of the board) and your hands are on either side of the board (for you, left hand on back side). It helped me to get into this position on land and understand how it felt. This video explains some of the concepts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLqWLeOtn0s

Jumping up straight to your feet seems much harder - not sure of the 'physics' behind why, it just is. To me, anyway.

There was a recent thread on catching/hitting your foot - viewtopic.php?f=6&t=20363. Although hitting your front foot is a bit unusual. I suspect its not getting your hips high enough in the pop up to get your leg through - just not enough clearance.

Good luck - you are doing better than me, at least!

[Fay]

Thanks dtc. I did find that staying low helped but, again, it was getting my feet into the correct position. I thought it'd be like getting back on a bike and, indeed it was up to a point (although when I got back on a bike a few years ago, 25 years after I'd last ridden one, I was all over the place!).

I am probably not going to get a chance to get out again before my trip to Cornwall in a month's time (also hoping to pick up a second hand board while there).

My sister and her kids are currently on holiday in Cornwall, my youngest nephew (who is 9) is having his first surfing lesson this afternoon...lucky boy as he's starting at a good age. I hope he gets into it.

[jaffa1949]

Thanks dtc. I did find that staying low helped but, again, it was getting my feet into the correct position. I thought it'd be like getting back on a bike and, indeed it was up to a point (although when I got back on a bike a few years ago, 25 years after I'd last ridden one, I was all over the place!).

I am probably not going to get a chance to get out again before my trip to Cornwall in a month's time (also hoping to pick up a second hand board while there).

My sister and her kids are currently on holiday in Cornwall, my youngest nephew (who is 9) is having his first surfing lesson this afternoon...lucky boy as he's starting at a good age. I hope he gets into it.

Hey guess who's going to be his favourite baby sitter,sounds like the other real part is coming on too. The surfing that is.
Don't worry your body memory will catch up, it's just trying to find you at the moment.

[Fay]

Thanks Jaffa. I'm practising pop ups on land at the moment, as the surf is currently flatter than a flat thing in the flattest place in the world. I have no doubt that, next time I get in the water, I'll be fine or nearly fine.
As for my nephew, he wants a surfboard! When they visit us for holidays, I guess I'll have to take him surfing.

All being well, I might be able to make a quick visit to Australia in 2013, either NSW or Queensland. This won't be a surfing trip as such, but I hope to get some in. What are the best breaks in QLD/NSW for novices/out of practice (to date) returners?

[Fay]

I have got a new board! Well, it's actually second-hand but new to me. It's a 9'2" NSP epoxy board which our local surf shop had in. Perfect for what I want and fits neatly inside my estate car, with 2" to spare. I decided to go for an epoxy board rather than a fibreglass one, because I am rusty, I thought I'd just ending dinging the crap out of a custom job.
I took it out today to our local break which had 2-4ft waves. The good news was that the board caught everything I went for. Everything, even the mushy stuff. I also found that this board was less liable to tip than the foam board when paddling for waves and catching them.

I had plenty of paddling practice. Push-ups and swimming have helped a lot.

Re pop-ups, I said in my last post that

I have no doubt that, next time I get in the water, I'll be fine or nearly fine.

These turned out to be famous last words because that's where today's good vibes ended. I could not stand up. Every time I tried to get up, the board stalled. I didn't have that problem with the foam board from the surf lessons the other week. I seemed to be in the right place on the board, no pearling and no stalling while riding prone but when I went to stand up, I just stalled and off I fell; I wasn't able to get fully to my feet. I was starting to get pissed off, so I called it a day and headed in, decidedly unstoked and feeling worse than just merely kooky. The fact that my right knee had decided to hurt on the way down the steep steps to the beach, meaning I had to sit down until it sorted itself out, didn't help.

[RonG]

Every time I tried to get up, the board stalled. I didn't have that problem with the foam board from the surf lessons the other week. I seemed to be in the right place on the board, no pearling and no stalling while riding prone but when I went to stand up, I just stalled and off I fell; I wasn't able to get fully to my feet. I was starting to get pissed off, so I called it a day and headed in, decidedly unstoked and feeling worse than just merely kooky. The fact that my right knee had decided to hurt on the way down the steep steps to the beach, meaning I had to sit down until it sorted itself out, didn't help.

If the waves were really a solid 2-4 (roughly thigh to chest high), then a 9'2 board should not have had any problems in and of itself. That's decent longboard-size surf. Is it possible you're popping up too far back on the board? If you're trimming fine when prone, it seems like you'd be either standing up prematurely (before you've really caught the wave), or with feet too close to the tail and therefore stalling the board.

[Fay]

Thanks Ron. I'll get a little further forward next time and see how it goes.

[dtc]

Fay - as Ron said, it may be that you are just popping up too early, before the wave has enough 'curl' to power you along. Sometimes waves look like they are about to break but annoyingly continue on.

In terms of the pop up - are you just not getting to your feet at all, then falling off because you arent stable; or getting to your feet but falling off almost straight away?

[Fay]

Dtc - both. When I get to my feet, or try to, the board stalls and off I fall. But a lot of the time I am not even properly getting up. This board is more stable than the foam ones I was practising on recently but even so, I am just not able to stay on the thing. I am as rusty and as slow as hell, which is to be expected I suppose, this being my third time out since I got back into surfing.

On a side note, I'm finding that I can't get my front (left) foot forward as much as I should. My left leg is weaker than my right these days, due to sciatic nerve damage although, that said, it's also probably as much down to being out of practice as anything else. However, practising pop ups on land, I find that if I put my right foot forward instead, it's much easier. Should I consider switching stance? Or would that be counter-productive? Although I'll have a go at it anyway.

Anyway, as I said in an earlier post, I am going to Cornwall at the beginning of October where I have got a couple of 1 to 1 sessions booked at one of the surf schools. I'll also talk to them about the problems I had last session.

[dtc]

You wouldn't be the first person to be 'confused' over which stance you should have - for example, I am left handed, left footed but a natural footer for surfing; which seems all wrong in my mind - but its what my body makes happen.

That said, you probably find it easiest to bring your right foot forward because it’s the stronger leg, not because its the foot that should be in front. As a fellow back problem/sciatic sufferer, I know my legs are different in strength - it becomes natural to rely on the stronger (non-sciatic) leg for everything, which exacerbates the problem and then you never use the weaker leg/never feel confident about it and your mobility is affected (etc etc!).

I found it very useful to 'rehab' by doing lots of single leg exercises to strengthen the weaker leg and don't forget the glutes (if you google 'unilateral leg exercise' you will find plenty of exercises - I like the single leg Romanian deadlift and various split squats, all of which you can do at home using just body weight). I also found just standing on my weak leg useful, particularly if you have an unstable surface (bosu ball, or something similar).

Anyway, back on point - if my back is playing up I find the 'aussie sprinter' method of popping up to be much easier. You do need to do it quickly, because it will be your back foot landing first, but I don’t find that I stall - your front foot can get there pretty quickly and I focus on getting some weight onto my front foot as soon as possible. Plus its easier to get your feet forward if you finding they are too far back - you just take a bigger step (much easier than trying to fling your feet forward after the push up) and its not so reliant on upper body strength. Stay low.

As a caveat: its not a technique that is very useful for shorter boards (because you need to start with your feet on the board) and lots of people will say 'don’t learn this technique if you want to be a 'real' surfer''. But, you aren’t using a shorter board and (like me) you are suffering the slings and arrows of getting old; so maybe give it a go. My view is 'if you pop up, you are successful' - but I know others disagree and say 'practice until you do it right, don't get into bad habits for short term gain'.

Its described here at the end of the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoH8xWlPNeg

[Fay]

Thanks for the advice dtc, I'll Google those exercises and see what I come up with. I've seen the Aussie sprinter before and I'll have a go at that although it looks awkward - but if it works then it can be as awkward as it likes.
I've heard and read various points of view on how getting to your feet should be done but I think that, as long as it works, then who cares if it's lacking in some style? I am never going to be ripping it up on a shortboard so I'm not too bothered about how I get to my feet. I might resort to the knee method in that video you linked to at least in the interim until I get the hang of surfing again - I never was that great at surfing but it's almost like I am learning all over again. Maybe I am. I thought I'd get back into it, pretty rusty of course, like getting back on a bicycle but it's like going back to my earliest days of surfing again. I guess it's the price of being 42 and no longer in my 20s...

[Fay]

I've just spent a few days down at Newquay and had three 1 to 1 lessons, using my own board, which helped a LOT. I am getting to my feet a lot faster and more consistently and not pearling or stalling the board. My left, leading, foot is not giving me nearly as much trouble getting it into position. Having an instructor to yourself, rather than being part of a group, is essential to progress and I had things pointed out to me where I was going wrong - positioning on the board, feet not far enough apart, etc - which made all the difference.
I did wipe out badly on my last session, bruising my hip (the sacroiliac joint area hurts) and can now hardly sit or move(!), but hopefully I'll be able to get out some time later next week, surf - and bruised hip! - permitting. I just need practice.

[tenerifesurfingcamp]

Hi Fay! Never say never! The mind of a surfer is forever young! I live in the Canary Islands and one of my friend is 75 yesrs old and still surfing!!!! Come here and I will show you my friend every morning go surfing at 7 o'clok in the morning!