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

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

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

messup said...
ps casso the stuff you shot is so inspiring hope to run into you out there one day and pick your brains ..

Thanks Tom. If you ever see me out there (9'3" yellow Naish or 11'0" tiger stripes Oxbow) please say hello. I'd love to help out in any way I can. What colour is your Laird?

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

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

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

Glass off said...

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

would love to see a vid of this. anyone got one?

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!

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




cheers tom