hi ,beginner question , laird 11.6 my second hand board i love her
counting my lesson i have been out on my board 5 times,
1st time lesson at balmoral beach beaut flat slight wind day, basics worked out, start to try pivot turns.
2nd time next day at balmoral again (mental comfort mode) lot more chop and wind , worked the legs big time .no pivot turns this time , happy to just stay steady
3rd time collaroy basin ,this time keen try out my sea legs and the odd tiny lump , no way, man that was hard (compared to flat)
AA was right.
4th and 5th day at narrabeen lake ,distance paddles, perfecting pivot turns almost effortlessly ...
ok my question is while i have this precious holiday time to perfect my sup abilities what should i be doing as far as training to get ready for the waves...
tom
Just get out there regardless of conditions some days will be tough but you will improve fast , if you wait for perfect conditions this time of year your board will just collect dust. If conditions are too nasty just hit the river or lake and clock up the miles you can't beat time on your feet. Paddleing in the river is better as you have to deal with currents.
Rob
thanks Rob , i know that nothing beats just getting in there (good or bad conditions) buts lets face it as a beginner my first day in the surf ..if you could call it that, was a nightmare i couldn't even think about doing a turn and just staying up and moving was a priority . dont get me wrong i loved it but it was obvious some serious essentials were needed...pivot turns being one
tom
Don't worry about Collaroy Basin, it's more difficult than it looks, the swell bounces around in there and comes from all directions.
Keep working on the pivot turns they are nice but not essential. Try 360s in both directions. How about trying the Pittwater side of Palm Beach, you should get some boat wakes and a little swell wrapping around Barrenjoey.
If you want to get out in the surf you need to dodge the wind, its the chop that's the killer, try and get out early in the morning.
Steve
Tom I might have been a bit hard on you there only go out if the surf is really small , as far as kick turns go just practice them in the lake and turn with the wind not against it , if you want some tips on kick turns check out my 7 year old daughter Bonnie here:- www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=44733&SearchTerms=my+little+water+girl
Rob
thanks for the advice about the basin Steve ,it was a good lesson learnt i was warned by AA that its 10 times harder in the surf than flat but i was just itchin to go, 360's in both directions i will give them a go today and yes pittwater will be on soon , i used to outrigger paddle for the pittwater club and i liked to potter around the area but they always had us race training so it took the gloss of the whole beautiful scenery thing.
and yes Rob i've noticed that my pivots done with the breeze are far more slower and require a better recovery at the end of the move as the wind catches under your board and can get tippy.
your daughter rocks and buries that tail deep ! all those other shots in the post were great too.
come on everyone i need all the tips i can get , it usually the little things that other seebreeze forum paddlers encounter that are pure pearls of wisdom.
ps casso the stuff you shot is so inspiring hope to run into you out there one day and pick your brains ..
tom
Hey Tom, great to see another 'sad case' - totaly hooked . We all are here!
Dont forget to paddle SWITCH and do your Pivot turns SWITCH. If you are NATURAL that means do it GOOFY and visa versa. Going out in a breeze and some chop is the next big step (avoid backwash- that will always catch you out at the beginning). 8-12 knots is a good start, it refines your balance and strengthens you up.
It really just boils down to time on the water - PADDlE, PADDLE, PADDLE!
Andrew.A
Hey,
Pivots are good but you need to combine power-arc turns too - drop your back knee, engage heelside/tail,,,, start with a little pivot then power out. If you have a reference point in the water practice 90 - 180 - 270- 360deg. Do variations of tight / wide arcing turns - it's the key to catching waves. As AA mentioned, you must also go switch to be adaptable - conditions dont always allow you to stay locked on your favoured stance.
Go out in choppy flat water or unbroken swell and practice this stuff - find some obstacles to negotiate.
good one AA , coming to see u at work soon ,i will try the switchfoot turns today as well .its meant to be a scorcher today so falling off and getting wet will be good.
I'm taking the whole family down to narra lagoon later this morning ,even have the better half up and paddling and excited and bubs and the boy (19mths and almost 4year old)will be next to be baptised into sup.
i will post some photos later ( exciting i know !)
hi casso its a red 11.6 laird with the grey stripes used to be owned by AA you might know it ?
and u wont see me out at collaroy until it goes flat again , its like a curse i live just across the road from collaroy beach (near the karate club not beach side) and when i enjoyed a surf which i cant now due to bla bla bla it was almost ALWAYS flat and smooth NOW when i want it to be flat and smooth all we've had is surf, damn tiki gods.
cheers tom
hi glass off, with the power-arc turns just so i can see this in my mind how big is the turn ? i know that sounds stupid but could this be thought of as a big pivot turn , the pivot part being the foot placement ? and using heaps more power in the paddle am i close?
tom
You on to it bro - it's foot pressure.
Pivot on your back foot, power on your front. steer the board from your tail on the back foot , stabilize it with the front,,,,, low C.O.G, use stabilizing sweeps for any tipping or just drop real low to equalize then power on.
do both tight radius tail sink pivot and more open radius turns with combined front foot/back foot pressure shifting
My favourite SUP style Take-Off has to be the one when, as you're still paddling out you turn onto a lip-line & take the drop. It's just like a lip-line reo except it's the start of the ride instead of what is often the end of a ride - gotta love SUP for that, it's quite a unique feeling.
thank you everyone for your advice and please keep it coming each time you think of something please leave me a post i need every bit of that paddler wisdom out there
had a great day at narra lagoon practicing everyones suggestions it was slightly breezy but hot.
photo of me praticing pivot paddling , something i think i may have come up with unless advised otherwise hahaha, what i was trying was dropping back on my foot as though im doin a pivot turn but then just paddle straight ahead for as long as i could turn into the breeze and the paddle straight ahead again . helped my balance heaps .. and yes it was a sluggos , budgie smuggler kind of day ..
i loved doing the power arc turns suggested by Glass off, you can really bury your paddle and power hard , good upper body workout there alone . and yeah its all foot pressure ,,its amazing how a centimeter or 2 left or right or just leaning the body weight a fraction forward or back more can make .
either you could feel the power in it and i'd nail it or i still did the turn but bogged down and moved like a tug boat .
now AA's suggestion was a beauty as well switchfooting made for a lot of fun , man it is so hard to get your brain to swap over, and then when i had stood switched for a while say 10 mins of goin round trying to do turns etc and around then going back to goofy my normal was wacky again . that is a good one because in the beginning your balance goes off when i first switched but after doing switches for a while i noticed my normal goofy stance balance better , or i was just feeling more confident i'm not sure .
OK more suggestions please ....(not about the budgie smugglers)..
tom
No start trying to paddle in the (half) surfing stance , takes a bit more practise but this will help you when you are eventually paddleing for waves . It's O.K to paddle for waves in the neutral postion but you tend to bury or bog your rail a bit more when you rock from side to side and you end up missing the wave.
Rob
I did this vid a couple of years ago.. I'll try and do another soon once I get my new camera.
I'm on my old NSP mal (25" wide) and alloy home made paddle..Jeez we've come a long way in a short time haven't we..
DJ
i remember that one, dj -- a great blast from the past. but is that a pivot turn or a glass-off "power arc" turn. and what's the difference? i guess i need two vids.
a while ago, i took two of ivan's videos and cut out a couple of his turns. maybe you could take a look and see if they're both pivot turns or power arc turns or what???
thanks!
Yeah that's an oldie (my vid).. ..I'm not sure why I dug that up..
..I'm not sure linter what's what..
..but Ivan's vids sure show some nice quick turns.
It's funny because I've always found pivot turns awkward and slow to get the board around without a bit of back paddle first but last weekend I got to try Rich's 9'6" PSH board and I could spin it around with one or two wide sweeps of my paddle..I was amazed at how easy and quick it came around..so it must be very much a board thing also.
DJ
thanks for the vids DJ and Linter i can see the difference in linters vid of Ivan? he does a 360 pivot turn there is no arc in the turn at all its a straight pivot on the spot but as he goes to catch a wave there is more arc in the turn to get to the clean face of the wave , am i close??????
man i am impressed with the way he gets over 2+ foot of whitewash , how do i practice that in flat water ????dream
here is a quick vid of me trying to do pivot turns (thats the first one you see me do ) and then a power arc turn 360ish , remember i'm a beginner.
second vids just a bit of fun , me getting to sup practice at narrabeen lagoon