Turning a shortboard is easy ............. but only after you've learned the basics on a long(er) board.
Setting up for a backside bottom turn. Eye focused on the building lip. Arms in neutral. Leg/knees compressed and coiled up.
Leading arm opened to the face of the wave, then slams the door shut. Eyes always looking to the next move. Board on its rail, not on the flat bottom.
Again, compression off the bottom. Eyes looking to the turn down point. Arm assisting the twist of the shoulder and the waist.
Then explosion off the oncoming curl of the wave that helps redirect him back the other way.
Eyes always on the next manuever. Arm open then closed.
Oh wait a minute, that was a longboarder ! Yes, the skills you develope on a longboard translate later on when you move down to a short(er) board.
This is NOT surfing. This is riding. This is just a delayed fall off.
Yes, she is riding a highly manueverable wave riding vehicle, but she is not creating drive. She is running flat, not on rail.
( Look DOWN, go DOWN ).
Leaning in with the front shoulder to speed up. But the wave is already given up its energy. You can not turn a shortboard in the whitewater. Sure, you can WIGGLE, TWIST your arms back and forth and PIVOT, but those are not TURNING.
If you can not get onto the open "Green" face of the wave, you can not Trim. If you can not Trim, then you can not break Trim to turn UP or Down.
Once you missed getting on the face and stuck going straight in the whitewater, it is over. It is too turbulent and too bumpy to do anything but just hold on. ( and that is not surfing ).
And that is a fact about riding a short(er) board. You need to take off AS the wave is breaking, where it is steep and pitching. You need to have quick reflexes and proper technique and form to get up to you feet and on to the green face. ( On a long(er) board, you can take off before the wave breaks where it is not as steep )
It does not matter what Al Merrick, Sharp Eye, Lost, Firewire shortboard you got talked into purchasing by the young highschool ripper kid at the surfshop.
It does not matter the amount of Liters, Fin set up, tail design or if it's EPS or PU.
If you can't get on the clean face, it DOES NOT matter.
So what DOES matter ?
#1 A strong paddle.
#2 A good bottom turn.
#3 A good roll from rail to rail
#4 Movement and positioning on the wave and on the board.
All that you acquire learning the basics on a Long(er) board.
Learning to turn on a longboard FORCES you to stay over the fin(s). It teaches you how to use your eyes, hands, arms, torso, waist, knees, feet and even toes to turn.
So later when you ride bigger steeper more powerful waves on a short(er) board, all that " Muscle Memory " easily transfer down.
"Yeah but I want to look cool like Kanoa Igarashi on a shortboard".
Does this look cool ?
After a couple frustrated sessions trying to catch one wave after waiting 2 hours, and then not being able to turn, you might start reconsidering your decision to purchase that whizz bang shortboard. Here she is contemplating her life choices.
Raise you hand if now you are thinking that "riding" a shortboard was not such a good idea.
Now I am not saying you shouldn't be riding a shortboard. Maybe you have limitation on the size of your car or apartment or what can be brought on a train ( here in Japan, max length is 6"6" ).
But if you're on your knees, looking down at nose, getting up in the whitewater and trying not to fall off in the soup, THEN you do not belong on a short(er) board.
Please check out http://starb.on.coocan.jp/daily/daily0.html to see more.