Heya,

Starting to learn the ropes with a JP 9'9" 32"wide learner board, but am having problems with pearling whenever I get on a wave.

It's gotten to the point where if the nose just touches the water on takeoff then BAM down I go.
I'm OK if I really step back when catching the wave but this slows me down and I really think that the nose should be able to pop back up if it's just under the surface...

Does this board have too flat a rocker? Would a more wave-oriented board be better in this situation?

Eat more pies

Nebs, which beach are u at?
if its a short sucky wave like scabs then more rocker will help and something like the JP surf 9'6x31 might be better or for the late drop at Tombies later in the month!

however it mostly comes to rapid foot movement as you step back to a surf stance and getting the timing right.
Keeping the speed up is also helped by shorter faster strokes, rather than big ones as your trying to pull in.

Also bend the knees more as you take the drop.
Take off on the wave with more angle too, should reduce the nose dip.

more rocker equals slower board. the flatter the bottom the faster the board and greater the glide. ive seen the jp wide body boards and they seem like pretty nice surf shapes. the 9.9 has ample nose kick for taking off on most waves. id be focusing on how far back you're getting at take off as you may be standing slightly too far forward. One of my first sups was a 10 foot naish mana. That board had more rocker than any other board ive seen, it was nick named the banana. Even with all that rocker i still nosedived it heaps till i figured out where to stand. the great advantage of the wider, flatter board design like the jp is that you paddle a lot qicker and should be getting onto waves a lot earlier than boards with more aggressive rocker. There are boards that the nose may pop up if you slightly bury it on take off, the psh hull paddlers, and the new lopez surf music ive got will pop the nose back up if the waves not super steep. On those occasions its because ive stuffed up the take off, its not something you want to be constantly doing. Even then by the time the nose has recovered, ive generally lost my centre of balance and dont make much of the wave anyway. i really wouldnt be swapping your board at this stage, because the jp is by all accounts a pretty good all rounder. Its just a matter of time and practice.

don't listen too any of these guys

imo you need to play with the fin position. try sliding it back a bit first up. and maybe the fin its self. can you post a photo of the fin in use.

i find most 12'6 boards will pearl until you dial in the fin position and type of fin.

i've had boards that have been terrible first up to surf then been beauties.

each board is different

cheers

I was thinking the same about mine today (9'6" fly) until I took it to the shaper to get some dings fixed and asked him about the rocker. He said that I just need to get my weight back....

Same thing with turning - probably you're too far fwd. And it's a SUP lol..

But... I had a few goes on my mates 9'6" starby last weekend and guess what - the grass was a lot greener. Don't think I nose-dived it once and I on;y had to think about turning.

My point: I don't have one. But you're not alone!

Caught one on Friday where the nose went about 1 cm underwater, but managed to step back and get that nose out of the water and rode it to the beach..

Stoked!