Spastic backside, sort of trying to pump

[pmcaero]

I'm trying to generate speed on the shortboard. I managed to pop up and start going down the line fairly high on the wave, and then somehow to do this little pump which helped, but looking at it in the video seems unsightly. Maybe more arm swing?

[oldmansurfer]

Why do you want to generate speed on that wave? Mostly it looks like no speed is needed. On weak waves like that you need to add your weight into the force of the board turning so the way to do it is to ankle turn up slightly then back down and when you go down the drop into a crouch and turn hard toward the top of the wave then turn hard back off the top of the wave toward the bottom and keep it up because the wave isn't providing any power so you need to provide it by turning constantly. It works much better if you can drop and turn on your initial bottom turn then keep it up. But what would work better is some waves with a steeper wall.

[pmcaero]

Why do you want to generate speed on that wave?

I want to learn how to properly do the side-to-side pump, similar to what I do on a surf skateboard, for when a wave has more face. The purpose of that is to outrun the breaking wave, then do a cutback before hitting the flats, and so on, thus maximizing the enjoyment I get from even smaller waves.

[oldmansurfer]

There was only the end part of that wave that had a steep face that needed keeping up with so that is the part you need to work at generating speed. In surfing there is no side to side pumping or rather that won't help you much in generating speed. It is up and down pumping that will.

[waikikikichan]

"More arm swing" will just make you look more spastic. Bouncing up and down looks silly too. Learn to work with the wave. Don't think of it as rolling along concrete. The wave is alive. That energy is rolling on the face, going up around and over. To get speed you need to RESIST then RELAX. You push with your feet /body against the deck, the board resists the wave and goes Down. THEN you relax that pressure and fall Up the wave. Timing is critical sorta like riding a swing or jumping on a trampoline. Do it right and you get rewarded.
You should try riding a single fin for a few weeks, so you can learn to feel the rail and fin underneath you.

[dtc]

Think of the wave like a hill on a skateboard. If you are going straight down the hill (like on the wave you are just going straight), then lifting the nose of the skateboard up and down or moving it side to side will not do anything - or will slow you down

If you are skating across the slope, then going up the slope and turning to go down the slope - you get speed on the down run. As oldman says - up and down pumping. As wkk says - relax (up the wave) and resist (down the wave). You cant do up and down pumping if you are going straight down the hill - there is no up and down.

So....turn first to practice your pumps.

[oldmansurfer]

Here is what I want to see, a surfer paddling on flat water then jumping up and keeping the board moving with side to side tacks like you do with a skateboard. I think this will never happen because if you are on a board small enough to allow you to quickly tack side to side you will sink like a rock before you can get going. There must be more to it than that though because other wise you could get a jet ski to get you up to speed and then tack to keep going and just keep tacking to get on a wave. That would be awesome if you could do that but I think not. Closest thing was Kai Lenny tacking along with a foil board........well he sort of did it but that is with a foil board but up and down pumping.

[pmcaero]

So....turn first to practice your pumps.

remember, this is a shore webcam with foreshortened perspective. If I wasn't going at an angle I wouldn't be staying in the pocket.

[pmcaero]

Here is what I want to see, a surfer paddling on flat water then jumping up and keeping the board moving with side to side tacks like you do with a skateboard.

what I meant was the tacking, when done side to side on a wave, translates into up and down motion.
I wanted to differentiate the maneuver from this kind of pumping in the flats going straight towards the shore:

[oldmansurfer]

Actually many of the pros tack side to side but I think they are just doing that to keep water flowing off the rails while they wait for the wave to form into the shape they went for the next maneuver.

[oldmansurfer]

Here is the surfing waves article https://surfing-waves.com/surfing-speed.htm

[dtc]

So....turn first to practice your pumps.

remember, this is a shore webcam with foreshortened perspective. If I wasn't going at an angle I wouldn't be staying in the pocket.

True but....if you are going across the wave your nose would point across the wave. Your nose is always pointing straight at the bottom of the wave .

Which suggests to me you are going straight (even if you think you are going across)

going down the line

going straight

[jaffa1949]

I know you are trying hard, BUT forget about pumping because what you are doing is not fluid, you are heading straight or almost straight to the beach on faceless waves , no guts where you choose to surf, jumping up and down and slightly swinging the nose to and fro is not pumping, any jumpy up and down motion destroys and flow in the board.

Pumping is when you are going across the face ( in your defence not any face to work with) and you swing the board upwards whilst maintaining speed and then swing the board down to gain a little more speed. Each hoppity thing you do visibly slows the board so it ain't pumping and all the arm swinging and poo stancing won't change that.
pick a slightly better wave area ( there are some available as others are riding better) and get a little more power and shape to learn on.
You and the waves you choose are a self limiting equation, I looked through your blog and the evidence is firmly in , you need to choose better waves.

[RinkyDink]

I don't think you look bad. If anything looks bad, it's that you're taking off on the shoulder of a mushburger. If you want speed, then take off on the section of the wave where the speed is: the peak. If you're going to ride a shortboard, then you're going to have take off on peaky, steep wave sections. If you want to learn how to trim on mushburgers and generate speed through trimming adjustments, then I'd say pull out your longboard and get started riding those mushburgers farther outside.

[pmcaero]

I agree to everyone who said waves weren't that great. The winds were light offshore and the tide receding. I'm hoping for better conditions this weekend.

[BoMan]

Ask a friend to shoot video for your next post. It's sometimes hard for me to see what's going on from the distant perspective. Since you are good with technology, also consider using a GoPro. Board shots could be combined with video from your existing camera to create a better view.

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[pmcaero]

also consider using a GoPro.

I have a GoPro clone (see avatar), but I need to glue a mount on my shortboard and then figure out some ghetto solution (Gorilla tape probably) to make a loop to thread the camera leash through, because I only had one of leash mounts those.
I don't like bothering people to tape my session.

[saltydog]

I don't think you look bad. If anything looks bad, it's that you're taking off on the shoulder of a mushburger. If you want speed, then take off on the section of the wave where the speed is: the peak. If you're going to ride a shortboard, then you're going to have take off on peaky, steep wave sections. If you want to learn how to trim on mushburgers and generate speed through trimming adjustments, then I'd say pull out your longboard and get started riding those mushburgers farther outside.

This.

If the plan is to ride backside and go right then take off on or near peak, or shoulder that's on the right side of the peak. The clip appears that you are way on the left side of the peak. I surf in that kind of waves often enough and I end up in the similar situation as you were in the clip. With my longboard I can cut through to get to the pocket on the other side most of the time but it could be tough on a shortboard. So... if you are on a shortboard it'd be good to take off at a spot that allow us to ride across the wave, i.e. ride away from the lip not toward it unless performing a cutback. (Unless I'm totally off the mark... then never mind )

[oldmansurfer]

What you want to practice speed turns on is a wave that is too fast for you to ride. Then if you find you can ride it you will know you have the right technique. When I learned the first time I found a wave that was insanely fast breaking and pretty much none of the surfers could keep up with the wave., They would just get tubed and wipeout. I kept at it till I could keep in front of the wave for the whole distance which was over 50 yards. Initially I had trouble getting past the bottom turn and then I was able to go a little further and a little further down the line. First you need a fast breaking wave not a mushburger. I think the idea of skateboarding tacking is just off the mark. What you do surfing is nothing like that.

[dtc]

for the wave in your video, it looks like there is a sandbar in the middle (where the white water is) and a channel on the right hand side (as we are looking at it - your left). So the waves is breaking down the edge of the sandbar but wont break in the deeper channel until further in (and then there is another sandbar over the far right, hence why the wave closes in from both right and left as the channel ends).

In waves of that size, probably you wont be able to surf across too much but you could in theory either go left and quickly cutback to the pocket or maybe go left and pump your way across the wave (not sure if this is possible on that wave). Or glide across on a longboard.

If the waves were slightly bigger, I suspect you would get a nice ride all the way across as the waves would probably break in the channel as well, but slightly later than on the sandbar.

Anyway as others have said, in particular old man, you can only do what the wave lets you do. That wave is really nice and easy for popping up and riding to the shore and that is pretty fun. But beyond that, its not offering much.