Ride which ever way feels better for you, there are no rules on how to ride waves.. Which ever stance feels better and gets you more waves is the better one for you

marno said...

I'm not into waves yet, but plan on getting into it this season.

Just wondering from any of the guys that ride surfboards over here in WA - do any of you normally natural stance surfing guys come in to catch waves riding toe-side and then just go left or right in a natural foot stance, or do some come in switchfoot and ride waves goofy ?? Or do you mix it up ???

Not sure if I explained that well, apologies if not. I was just watching down at Brighton on sunday and it appeared that many blokes were riding natural foot on the way out and then goofy when coming back in catching waves, which I would have thought would be pretty hard to get the knack of. Cheers.

As a long time surfer I (natural stance) I never switch-it just seems 'natural' to me to ride natural all the time-and going out through the surf toeside just takes practice....

agree with loco4olas. im a surfer aswell and i find i can get into more waves when i dont have to worry about switching stance. also feels alot better being able to ride the same as i do without a kite. sometimes it is harder getting through the break going toeside but as with everything practise enough and it becomes second nature.
you should just go out there and try out each method then decide which is most comfortable

Hey Marno,

My advice is that you should learn to ride waves on your comfortable stance until you learn to read the wave and figure out the kite and board connection whilst you have your best balance on the wave.

Once you can ride and understand the waves, then determine what makes you happy and feels good.

I ride mostly backhand because I love hitting the lip on my toeside and facing the pit from the top of the wave. I have total confidence in a powerful bottom turn on my heelside which sets me up for another hack.

Having said that, I also ride goofy at times and face the wave, but more for the challenge than anything else as I am so confident and happy on my back hand. I heelside on the way out to point as high as possible to start a new run back upwind.

At the end of the day, you should ride to make yourself happy, not others, so do your own thing.

Good winds,

marno said...

I was just watching down at Brighton on sunday and it appeared that many blokes were riding natural foot on the way out and then goofy when coming back in catching waves, which I would have thought would be pretty hard to get the knack of.

Kelly Slater, 9x World Surfing Champ and well known natural-footer;
was competing this year in a contest in Indo.....
I think the break was Padang Padang.
Anyhow, he took the drop on a big left and cranked a backside bottom-turn.....
only to switch feet at the base of the sucking pit and surf the barrel frontside for the remainder of the ride.
He scored a perfect 10.

waveslave said...


It's way better to ride waves frontside .........
Ride the wave frontside and face it like a man.
Riding waves backside shows your weakness,
and telegraphs a lack of ability, a deficiency in all-round sailing skills.

That's crap.
Yah reckon' that about Ben W?
And I'm a surfer NOT a sailor-farg the 'sailing skills.
Surfers do NOT switch.
You're example of Slater proves the point-the exception proving the rule-and if you've seen him surf goofy-he sucks-the wave at Padang when he switched was a straight line barrel-no turning involved other than the initial bottom turn and pulling off at the end of the wave.
Kitesurfing on my backhand on some waves and forehand on others is GREAT-mixes it up and is far more interesting than just being frontside all the time-blah!
Forget about the bullsh!t frontside v backside debate-just do what works for you-as a long time surfer (part of it as a pro), it's what works for me....

I still say - mix it up. Keeps it all challenging.

I'm looking forward to a "vertical railslide off the lip to fakie" and then continue on with a big cheesey grin.

loco4olas
Take your blinkers off mate
There are more than one way to ride a wave
If you what to follow the crowded and ride unhooked unstrapped that's cool but don't come down on people who see possibilities you can't
Why can't we go our own direction rather than trying to imitate other sports?
The main thing is having fun, just enjoy what your doing

From a surfing perspective, kiting has improved my backhand surfing (natural), funny that !

Wavewanka's quote "It's way better to ride waves frontside .........Ride the wave frontside and face it like a man. Riding waves backside shows your weakness,and telegraphs a lack of ability, a deficiency in all-round sailing skills" shows he obviously has no idea about the power and style of a backhand reo!!

Well gosh,
I guess riding tweak must have its moments at times.......????
but there's nothing like cranking a hardarse, lowdown, frontside bottom-turn.....
and just smashing the cake.
Arrrrrh.

waveslave said...

Well gosh,
I guess riding tweak must have its moments at times.......????
but there's nothing like cranking a hardarse, lowdown, frontside bottom-turn.....
and just smashing the cake.
Arrrrrh.

Not taking the sh$t-but do you surf? Because, your comments make it sound like you don't. The power you get out of a backhand bottom turn and the really crank off the top from heel to toe and back around into the foam is bloody great-think about it.

Also if you're riding frontside all the time-you're doing the same ol' turns, all the time-if you ride frontside and backside you're mixing it up heaps more-makes for an enlarged experience IMHO.

Benny's article quotes: BOARDS - Of coarse boards are another huge factor, you need a board that has refined rails, good concaves and is suited to your style, fins are essential, twin tips don't work backside, you need direction and rails, you're local conditions will determine what size board you need, generally the same as what you would surf, if you don't surf then find out what sort of surfboard would work best for you if you did surf.

Can you see the phrase in there that I disagree with?

DaveSpruce said...

Ride which ever way feels better for you, there are no rules on how to ride waves.. Which ever stance feels better and gets you more waves is the better one for you

I agree with DaveSpruse...I normally ride natural but when tacking upwind mix it up in different conditions for comfort and general laziness.

My 2 cents is It's probably a little harder to go back up wind riding toe-side.

P E A C E

I will back loco4olas 100% as my personal way of riding from a surfing background, unhooked and unstrapped with a natural stance allows you to surf the wave like a surfer.....
I am not really into other kinds of sports but as a rule tennis, cricket javelin and long jumpers for example don't seem to switch their stance up run to run!!
It seems the Euros like to ride one way on the waves. Most of the ones I know don't understand paddle surfing and find backhand difficult so don't do it.

IanR said...

Mate, and I use the term loosely, you're taking this way too personally and seriously-lighten up.

And yeah-you luff the kite and let the strings slack and you can come a long way back around at the lip running towards you-how you go doing that on your twin tip?

Beer Bong said...

Benny's article quotes: BOARDS - Of coarse boards are another huge factor, you need a board that has refined rails, good concaves and is suited to your style, fins are essential, twin tips don't work backside, you need direction and rails, you're local conditions will determine what size board you need, generally the same as what you would surf, if you don't surf then find out what sort of surfboard would work best for you if you did surf.

Can you see the phrase in there that I disagree with?

Yeah, he said "you're local"-which should red 'your local'.