Falling behind

[Millsy82]

Recently I'm working on my wave selection as that is the main thing that's holding me back but due to summer waves, work, family and school holidays meaning beaches are pretty much heaving I can't always get out when the waves are good.

What I have found is sometimes I mess up my positioning so the wave is breaking near/on me (not huge so not too much of a problem there) what happens though is the pocket is say 2 mtrs away and I try to get round the white water but usually end up just chasing it then by the time I get somewhere near it closes out.

What I'm doing is pretty much the same as when I'm pumping for speed but I just can't seem to get round it. (I have a couple of times).

Could it just be weaker waves meaning I can't get speed to get round or what is it I should be doing.

[oldmansurfer]

It is difficult to say exactly what the problem is but likely since you were able to get around it a couple times that you will learn how to do it. I think it is likely that you could do bigger/stronger speed turns and that would help. Put more power into the turns push harder compress more.

[dtc]

It might be the wave ie if a wave breaks but there is a section (another breaking part) just in front of it, then you have to deal with the white water. Which is really a question of speed, meaning an early pop up, quick pump or double pump before the bottom turn, hard bottom turn as old man says. Or (depending on the wave) you pop up and stay high on the face and no bottom turn, try to zoom past the section before it breaks.

or move a few metres over and take off on the other side of the section ...

[Tudeo]

what happens though is the pocket is say 2 mtrs away and I try to get round the white water but usually end up just chasing it then by the time I get somewhere near it closes out.

So ur too deep. This is about positioning and wave reading.
It's not a problem, it's just part of the learning process. After u build up some more experience, u'll start recognising wave shapes and do a last moment adjustment for positioning.
So if looking at the wave coming, u see ur too far on the shoulder or too deep, do a quick paddle to the right or left to get to the sweetspot for takeoff. This will give an easy and relaxed takeoff and a nice clean face to surf. Enjoy!

[Millsy82]

what happens though is the pocket is say 2 mtrs away and I try to get round the white water but usually end up just chasing it then by the time I get somewhere near it closes out.

So ur too deep. This is about positioning and wave reading.
It's not a problem, it's just part of the learning process. After u build up some more experience, u'll start recognising wave shapes and do a last moment adjustment for positioning.
So if looking at the wave coming, u see ur too far on the shoulder or too deep, do a quick paddle to the right or left to get to the sweetspot for takeoff. This will give an easy and relaxed takeoff and a nice clean face to surf. Enjoy!

That is exactly what I'm doing. Last night for example was fairly difficult to read as it wasn't brilliant I would get where I thought I needed to be but it just peaked just behind me meaning I've had to take off in the white Water. Last night though wasn't too much of a problem as I was by myself with no one around for 150 meters either side so I could just paddle straight back out and go again,normally though there are quite a few people around so if I mess up I have to wait say another 10 waves before I try again.

So really I'm just trying to make the most of the waves that I catch instead of going I was in the wrong place and giving up as I might be sat around for the next 15 minutes.

[Tudeo]

Last night for example was fairly difficult to read as it wasn't brilliant I would get where I thought I needed to be but it just peaked just behind me meaning I've had to take off in the white Water.

If u take of in the white water u can angle the board in the direction of the clean face and don't do a bottom turn but turn to the open face the moment u get to ur feet. The push from the white water gives u instant speed to make the wave, if u angle it right.

[oldmansurfer]

You might practice doing foam climbs. This requires compressing into a bottom turn and release upwards over the top of the foam

[BoMan]

Especially if you surf a beach break study the water before paddling out. I always look for sandbars as the waves will break over them as long as the tide is not too high. Wave action can shift where the sandbars lie so it's important to notice changes since your last surf.

Note where other surfers wait, where they paddle to catch waves (Tudeo's advice), and how they take off. (Are they angling or doing bottom turns) If no one's out watch the waves roll through, make predictions about where they will break and see if you were right. Based on your observations pick a spot that looks good and get out there.

Here is a fisherman's video about reading the beach that helped me.

[oldmansurfer]

Figuring out how to ride a break is something I enjoy doing. Unfortunately the conditions I surf in rarely allow me to do that in the 30 minutes I allot for surfing. Maybe 6 months or so ago I was out at a break with another older surfer. There was a nice section of wave that allowed a few turns then it went into a slack area where the wave died out and then a suddenly steep area (obviously shallow water). On my first couple of waves I didn't get to even try to ride the steep inside section because it broke before I got there so I made a note in my mind to do some speed turns immediately when I get to the slack section. This got me onto the face of the wave before it pitched over but only barely and I had to be high on the vertical face to try to get speed and the lip hit me tossing me over. So the next wave I tried even harder to do speed turns and got well into the wave and close to getting tubed. Unfortunately my time ran out and I had to go in. But it was fun trying to figure out how to do it. The other guys solution was to not even try to ride that section which I am sure wasn't as much fun as I had.

[Millsy82]

When you say speed turns what is it that you mean please. I will start tryi g to do the foam climb you said might be a bit ahead of me but I'll give it a try.

At the moment I'm still just going top to bottom and they are steadily getting tighter but still got a way to go.

[waikikikichan]

As the saying goes “ You got only one chance to make a first impression “. If you blow your job interview or mess up a date, no matter how much your try to chase them, it’s over. Cut your loses and be better prepared for next time.
Same for wave positioning and timing, once you blow it, it’s over. Better to kick out and reset for the next one.

[oldmansurfer]

I am different and very often out of position but can manage to get back into position quite frequently. Perhaps you would say that means I was in position and technically I guess that is right but then if you don't push your limits you will never know what is possible. So if you think "this is beyond my capability" it will always be. Not until you think you have a chance to do something and try will you learn what your limits truly are ....for the moment because your limits will change with time and skills learned or lost. But I am guessing that Waikikichan recognizes a common problem and the solution for now.

[Millsy82]

As the saying goes “ You got only one chance to make a first impression “. If you blow your job interview or mess up a date, no matter how much your try to chase them, it’s over. Cut your loses and be better prepared for next time.
Same for wave positioning and timing, once you blow it, it’s over. Better to kick out and reset for the next one.

I'm sorry but if you watch the pro's even they get it wrong from time to time but they manage to get round and set themselves back up again. I know they are pro's they have spent a lot of time practising their skills but it's not going to be something that only pro's are allowed to learn so they must have started somewhere. The fact that I have managed to get round some means it is possible, yes some waves might be like flogging a dead horse but time will teach me which waves are like that.

If I gave up on every wave I was not 100% in the right place i would go from 10 waves an hour down to 3/4 even though 3 of the others I have good rides on.

[waikikikichan]

I am not deterring you from getting better or trying to improve or take risk. What I am saying if the wave runs away, then the wave has left you behind, especially if you get stuck behind the curtain or in the flats. Sure Pros ( and even average surfers ) can get back in to the pocket (sometimes), utilizing different technique as the Foam Climb, Pumping, etc. But as you stated, you are now just getting the basic ups and downs, doing a foam climb is an advance technique that you'll probably have to be able to do full cutbacks on the face from left to right. But do go for it and try some foam climbs, the more you try, hopefully it'll come more and more naturally. But be careful, If done wrong ( and without confidence ), you're probably get bonk on the nose after you bear hug the board or a rail to the shins if the boards flips into you.
Like you said, you can make some and some you can't. Same for me today, I could get around some and some I got destroyed. And you are right, sometimes you really don't know until AFTER you take off.

[Millsy82]

I do see what your saying but the whole reason really is if I'm stuck out back with 10 other people and I've gone for it I may as Well at least try something as I'm going to be waiting around for the next set at least.

You never know it might help with cutbacks etc. I can do cutbacks if I've picked the right wave and done everything right but it's not very regular at the moment maybe 1 every other session and they are not the tightest yet but getting better. My main problem is wave selection which is what I'm really working on at the moment it is nice to know what is the next step though as I can practice that when I get the opportunity.

[oldmansurfer]

There are lots of tricks to getting around sections. If it is on the takeoff then a hard bottom turn is the best unless it allows you to angle before the bottom then maybe an angled drop and then a hard bottom turn and a foam climb or whatever it takes. A good bottom turn involves weighting or compressing into the turn then unweighting or projecting or releasing the compression in the direction you want to go. But some times you get stuck at the bottom of a wave that is breaking in front of you with not much momentum. In this case the basic move is to just to turn slightly back toward the wave. The wave is moving forward and your board is going sideways so you can help to make a little more forward progress by turning a little more sideways. I lean and push the inside rail into the water slightly. This just gives a slight boost. If that is not enough then a forward hop or two might help and to do this you suddenly crouch down compressing like you would in a turn and you do make a slight turn but it is the up and down movement that makes this work and when you release out of the compression (in a forward motion) you bring the nose of your board up and when you come back down you push the nose back down again. If there is a little wall at the bottom of the whitewater this is easier because you can go up and down that little bit of wall and get some gravity to assist you. It behooves you to keep track of what the wave is doing in front of you and be prepared to take whatever action needed

[oldmansurfer]

I left off the part after needed "....take whatever action needed to stay in front of the breaking part of the wave

[dtc]

I also think that there are two different factors being discussed: a wave that has a section which a surfer could get around (with the right skills, positioning etc) and a wave with a section you cant get around. A wave can be the first one time, and the second situation the next wave. So its not just skill, its wave selection - and its pretty impossible to comment on wave selection over the internet (plus everyone gets it wrong, you dont necessarily know what a wave is going to do until it does it)

For sure try to get around or through a section and see if you can. But a failure to do so doesnt necessarily mean a skill issue by you, it might just be the wave.

[oldmansurfer]

It could be the wave but if you are close to getting around it then it is possible for you to get around it and definitely others could. At any point in time of learning to surf there will be waves that YOU can't ride. In the future many of those will become waves that YOU can ride. Consider that as a beginner you just about can't ride any wave but you learn to do so. This will continue for as long as YOU strive to learn to surf. The perception that a wave is impossible to ride is one that drives many surfers to learn to ride them.