3 Things to practice after you can pop up on green waves!
You already catching the unbroken “green waves” without nosediving and popping up in the right moment? If you wonder what comes next, here we are giving you the answer what to add to your skillset.
Make sure you pick the right direction.
In the beginning though surfers start catching unbroken waves , they tend to go straight down. That is already a great feeling but the idea of surfing is to ride the green walls of the waves to left or right directions. For this you must identify the peak of the wave and see to which side it is breaking down. If you struggle with it for the first few times, don’t feel bad about it. We have all been there. This takes lots of practice and time in the water to understand how to read them.
Trim the wave.
Once you get the idea of catching left and right handers, you must try to speed up on them. The highest speedline of the wave is always the top third of it. So try to stay on the high line in order to reach maximum speed. Also the more pressure is applied on your front foot the higher speed you go. Make sure you don’t press down too much otherwise your board’s nose will dip into the water. After pressing down your board , you must rise up with your body in order to free weight from your board. These two movements will make you draw up and down lines on the wave and move you forward faster.
From bottom to top turn.
After you figured out the trimming move it’s time to get vertical! This is the biggest difference between an intermediate and an advanced surfer. It all starts with a
bottom turn. First after you slide down your wave in a slightly angled line you must compress your body nice and low.
Lean forward and place your weight on your toes (do not drag your toes in the water).
Dig your rail and use your leading arm as a pivot, and hold for an extra second. Push all the weight through your legs to your toes to tilt the board.
Turn your shoulders into the wave and look where you want to turn.
Push with your back foot as you come off the bottom to steer the board.
Keep your knees bent and drive up the wave’s face using your speed through the transition.
Rotate your hips and torso to follow the nose of the board.
Extend all the way through your turn.
This move will set you up for the Top turn:
As you move up on the wave on the ¾ you should already look back down to the wave in order to complete the turn. Here again everything starts with the vision and the rotation of the upper body and legs follows up . Make sure you lift your hands up so you can turn more balanced. Once you slide down the wave, compress on your front foot. This will set you up with the right speed to perform your next bottom turn and so on.
