Question: What is the most important TURN in surfing ?
Answer: The FIRST turn................. Which is the Bottom Turn.
Most people would not consider this a "maneuver", but what she is doing is very critical.
After paddling and popping up, what's the first maneuver a surfer needs to make ?
The first maneuver is the Bottom Turn. Where you go from nose of the board pointed to the beach to the nose then pointed to the side. The essence of surfing is TRIM. If you can't get your board to be pointed across the face of the wave you then can not trim. Then you'll just be "riding" the wave is the white water, not "surfing" on the green face.
Rider is up to his feet. Eyes are down the line, but the back hand is bracing off an invisible railing. Front arm is not open. Stance is in the middle of the deck. Left front foot is rolling overon its side.
So the front inside rail "catches" ........
Board straigthens out flat and he falls over to the side.
There are so many micro movements to perform a good Bottom Turn.
There are also many other factors as Angles, Speed, Pressure,
There are also different wave conditions.
But a good Bottom Turn allows you to do every other maneuver better.
Cutbacks, Noserides, Barrel Riding and even just kicking out of a closeout beach break wave, REQUIRES a good Bottom Turn.
Yeah, I know this isn't a longboarder, but I wanted to show you a clear trailing line left behind by the surfer.
You can clearly see where the surfer went Down before going Up. A strong powerful Bottom Turn always leads to a strong powerful next maneuver/action.
Now compare these next two photos. Can you tell which has a better Bottom Turn ?
#1
#2
#1 Most of the front of the board is out of the water. Spray is coming off the outside rail. Body is Coiled up and ready to release.
#2 Most of the front of the board is under water. Spray is coming of the shin of her foot. Body is stiff and just leaning over. Basically a delayed face plant.
Good size wave. Deep Bottom Turn. Lots of spray coming off the outside Right rail.
Front arm leading, opeing to the wave. Back arm coming across the chest.
Which then leads to a smooth arcing cutback out on the shoulder.
Notice the spray now coming off the inside Left rail.
Notice now the arms switch rotation, back arm moves behind the back and from arm comes across the chest.
If you want to improve your longboard surfing ( or any size / type of board surfing ) you need to work on a good Bottom Turn. First things First.
Please check out Hope Cheng photos, Matsunosuke Kugenuma on FB, and http://starb.on.coocan.jp/daily/daily0.html to see more.