How To Turtle Roll
The Duck Diving lesson is all well and good for surfers who ride shortboards, but what about those longboard lads and ladies out there. Hopefully you've found your way here before going out and trying to duckdive your 12ft board in 6ft surf and taken a battering.
Duck diving relies on sinking the board nose first and going underneath the wave. Longboards are too buoyant to get away with this and the Turtle Roll is the way to get out to the lineup.
Longboards in the Lineup
The guys over on the Forum were kind enough to put a few tips together on how to roll with style - and here's how you do it.
As the wave comes towards you
- Flip the board over, with the board on top of you, fins facing upwards.
- Pull the board down towards you, grab hold of the board near the nose.
- Make sure you pull down hard while you are upside down.
- Hold very tight onto your rails as the force of the wave taking your large board can easily yank the board out of your grip.
- The wave should pass over you, hopefully not pulling you back too far.
- Once the wave has passed, flip the board back over and climb aboard - smiling to yourself having pulled a perfect turtle roll maneuver.
As with surfing in general it is not good form to let your board go when faced with breaking waves - it may injure other water users. Also remember that you have to keep clear of surfers who are riding in on waves - it is your responsibility to keep out of the way, even if it does mean paddling into a wall of whitewater.
It's not easy and like duck diving it is really all about practicing. It's a lot harder to get a longboard through a wave than it is a short board, the bonus with a longboard is that you can get them paddling through the waves faster.
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