Ok, so you are punching out and a waist high water is approaching...... whats your method to get up and over ? :)

Yeh sailhack that's what I do and sometimes scrape over. Now- waist high w/w is prob off a soild 4 foot wave in im my books ,and Im getting up on it ok but then getting pulled back down. I guess practice and bury that paddle eh?

Don't we all just do this..

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That's great advice thanks to all. Yeh DJ I wish we could all do kai lennies duck dive. :)

Hey Colas, Thanks for the advice! Goin to give that a try. Whats your thoughts on C Drive fins for a SB 8'2 quad?

windara said..

Hey Colas, Thanks for the advice! Goin to give that a try. Whats your thoughts on C Drive fins for a SB 8'2 quad?

C-Drive work best in my experience when you push against their grip to generate drive (underpowered conditions), or in challenging conditions (overpowered) as they do not "stiffen" a lot at speed like big-headed fins. For conditions where you are very comfortable but not pushing the board around a lot, they work OK, but I prefer the FCS Nexus H3 that have more natural speed and flow in these "optimal" conditions. Also C-Drives give a better paddling experience for SUPing as they make the row more controllable, especially on takeoff (less squirrelling).

This said, I think they could be a good enhancement to a SB 8'2 quad, but try to get small sizes for the rears, as the C-Drive grip can be a bit much quickly in the rear in quads in 7+ boards. for 8'+ boards, I feel that C-Drivework best as thrusters, you get the pivot and smooth transition of a thruster + the drive of a quad. Note that quite a lot of people enjoy quads with C-Drive in front in standard fins in the rear too.

Great topic.
I recently adopted a combination of the various suggestions.
I start of with bend knees and upper body leaning forward.When the white water almost hits the nose I plant the paddle on push the board forwards using my legs and that way you punch through the wave. It is only a slight movement but I feel it gives a bit of momentum when you need it. That way you sort of do that 'jump" and make the board light. It also brings the weight on your back foot. I keep pushing of the paddle all the way through and push the upper body forward and put pressure on the front foot. I don't adopt a full surf stance though. I agree with Colas on the confidence part. Stay relaxed all the way through. At first that is a conscious decision, then that will become natural. I still have to make it conscious if the waves are bigger than normal. Test drive on the small stuff to boost confidence helps too.

what i do with my 10 footer in big waves

the funny answer is - i get oummeled repeatedly to the point where people on the beach and nearby surfers are thinking I have no place being out there.

first thing is look behind you to see whos there. Other surfers do not realise the danger and make no effort to paddle away sideways a bit to give you a bit of room. Usually I find a space on the beach to myself anyway.

I either punch through over the top with a surf stance, or bail and dive under the wave.
I've seen one with 8 foot of white water and the guy went to ride over it and then jumped off. The lucky thing was he didn't get dragged in too far by his board which looked like a big 9-10 footer, compared to if he had have jumped off before the wave hit.
One option is to turn around and catch the wave in.

Punch through or bail, but most important thing is know what you might have to do early.....to look behind early and if theres a chance you might have to bail then paddle sideways away from other people.