Question: I was told by my surf instructor if I wanted to turn Right, put pressure on my toes and if I wanted to turn Left, put pressure on my Heels. But I always seem to fall off. Why ?
Answer: There's a difference between BEING on rail and CATCHING a rail.
Last week we talk about cutbacks, being on rail and leaning with your board. But like with any technique, it is not just as simple as pressure your toes or pressure your heels.
Here the rider is pressuring back on his heels. But he is turning from the middle of the board, way in front of the fins. Notice how the water is wrapping over the rail, way up by the nose.
He is staring at the nose not looking through the turn. His upper body is leaning back, but there is no twist of the torso/waist.
Here the surfer is also on his heels, yes. Spray is coming off the inside rail. Back arm coming around the chest, twist the torso away from the wave's face. Chest opens. Eyes looking through the turn.
"But isn't his bodyline broken ?" No, the board is arcing around the pivot point of the head down to the butt.
So since lastweek, maybe now you are concentrating on keeping your body inline with the deck of the surf board.
But that's not the end all. You can NOT force the turn / pressure too early ( or too late ). You still have to work WITH the wave.
Notice that she was reaching not gauging with her back hand. She was reaching for a invisible rail / wall to brace off of.
Here this surfer is fully on rail, you can see all 3 of the fins on the bottom of the board. He is leaned over but head thru toes is still in line with the deck. He is not bent but compact.
Also notice his back hand is gauging the angle of his turn. Feeling not grabbing.
Again you can not "just lean" or "just put pressure on your toes". Notice he is pushing down so hard on his toes, which did drop the inside right rail down.
Board is running Left when you can tell he wants to go Right.
He is reaching out.
There is no twist of the torso/chest towards the face of the wave.
There's times and places where the wave is too powerful or too steep. Here the rider notices the wave is starting to closeout. You can see his back arm start to twist the shoulder back. But he is too far in the middle of the board to pivot off the fin(s). The edge of the outside Left rail "catches".
Even this big strong guy can't stand up to the power nature and the wave. Board briefly stalls out just for a millisecond, runs straight and bucks him off.
Don't blame the board, blame the rider. If you try to turn a 9 foot board from the middle, you are turning a majority of the length of the board. If you turn with your back foot over the fins, you can virtually shorten the amount of board int he water, making it easier to turn. ( but remember to move up after completing the turn )
Notice both her elbows are behind her back. She is just leaning. Her chin gets block by her Left shoulder. No twist of the torso means no twist of the board on the wave.
Front arm locked down.
Back arm bracing.
Looking at the board not through the turn.
Bodyline breaks at the knee.
Good surfing has Speed , Power and Flow.
Good surfing has big directional changes from inside rail to outside rail and back.
Good surfing has a strong bodyline.
Good surfing is BEING on rail NOT CATCHING a rail.
Please check out Cijin surf club, Eason's surf photography, Hope Cheng photos, Philippines surf report on FB and http://starb.on.coocan.jp/daily/daily0.html to see more.