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~Pro Surfing Tips From Devries~

Backside Air Backside airs are great to have in your repertoire of tricks. They’re perfect for finishing off a wave, and they feel really smooth when you do them correctly. In my opinion they are easier to do than frontside airs because it’s easier to launch off the lip on your backhand, but the landings can be a little tricky. Start by catching a steep backside wave with a bowling end section. Steep beach breaks are an ideal place to learn this trick. While you’re paddling into the wave, angle your board down the line towards the open face of the wave in order to get lots of speed off the take-off. Pop to your feet as fast as you can, and drive up the wave with a powerful pump. Remember speed is going to be the key to getting your board over the lip so try to put as much effort into pumping as you can. When you reach the top of the wave push down on your front foot to drive down the wave to gain more speed. Watch the wave carefully because the end section that you want to launch off will be coming at you very quickly. Start your bottom turn from in between the bottom and the middle of the wave at a 20 to 30 degree angle so that when you reach the top of the wave your board will connect with the close out. If you do too much of a bottom turn your momentum will carry you out the back of the wave when you launch off the lip so you have to be very precise. While doing your bottom turn watch the lip you are about to launch off. Your arms should be balanced on either side of you and your head and upper body should be slightly turn towards the lip. Center your weight and bend your knees before you launch off the lip. Project your momentum off the lip by riding off the steepest part of the wave, right where the whitewater meets the open face. Bend your knees and suck your board up towards your body while turning your body towards the beach, and pushing on your back leg. This will cause your board to rotate slightly so the tail of your board will be higher than the nose of your board(style purposes). Try and stay balanced over the top of your board by staying low, and try not to kick your back foot off your board like I did here. Once you reach your high point and start to decsend, look for a place to land. You either want to land on the top of the wave(if it has closed out), or in the transition, not in the flats in front of of the wave. As you are coming down your body will extend. Keep your knees bent and try to keep your style together. Don’t land airs with straight legs, unless you want to wreck your knees and ankles. Stomp your landing, and bend your knees to absorb the shock. Ride it out, and claim it for everyone on the beach. Once you get straight backside airs down try to do rotations or to add grabs in for variation. I think it’s actually easier to do rotation airs rather than straight airs on your backhand because your momentum carries you off the lip when you spin so you might want to try those if your finding straight airs too difficult. Check out Taj, and Andy for these ones. Keys: Get all the speed you can on a wedgey little close out. Bottom turn at a 20 to 30 degree angle towards the steepest part of the close out. Launch off the lip and suck your knees up to your chest while slightly extending your back leg. Spot your landing. Stomp it, and ride away clean. Frontside Air The frontside Air is considered a basic maneuver in today’s new school era of surfing, and although, in my opinion, it is the easiest air to complete, it is still very challenging. Before attempting this maneuver you should have your cutbacks, floaters, and re-entry’s down, and your surfing should be stylish and solid. Once you have these manuevers wired catch a wave that is between two and five feet with some power and wall. You are going to need a lot of speed so pump down the line, staying between the middle and the top of the wave, generating all the speed you can. Look for a section that is about to close out, and bottom turn from the middle of the wave toward the section that is just about to break. Carry as much speed as you can toward the curling lip by bending your knees and powering through the bottom turn. At this point your eyes should be focused on the part of the lip where you are planning to launch off, and your board should be aimed off the lip into the air above. Now, you just have to carry your momentum off the lip into the air. Make sure your board is flat on the lip when you take off, and don’t try to go too high at first because you will end up flailing. To enter into the air you need to drive your momentum off the top of the wave by pushing off the tail of your board. When entering the air turn the nose of your board towards the beach by straightening out your back leg slightly. Pull your knees up to your chest to stay in control and to stay stylish in the air. Make sure you are over top of your board, and not leaning back too far. You can add different variations to the air at this point by doing double grabs, mute grabs, frontside grabs etc. Look down in front of you to spot your landing, let go of your grab (if you chose to do one), and extend your legs slightly so your knees can absorb the impact. It is best to land in the foam because it is the softest spot. Try to land with your board flat on the wave. As soon as your board hits the water bend your knees, and stay centered over your front foot. This part can be a little bumpy so stay low and centered. Ride out of the foam and be stoked because you just landed a tricky maneuver. Frontside airs can be preformed in many different ways, but in my opinion look the best when you use the wave as a ramp to guide you in to the air, not when you ollie off the wave. Get a video of Taj Burrow, and study it, because nobody does frontside airs better than him. KEYS: Carry speed by driving through your bottom turn, and launching off the lip cleanly. Push out your back leg, and pull your knees to your chest to stay in control. Stay over top of your board. Stomp it, and ride away clean. Frontside Floaters Basic manauvers, such as front side floaters, are often overlooked in modern surfing, but they can be very useful for a variety of situations. Floaters can be used to make sections, or to finish off a wave, and they are always a good way of generating speed for your next manauver. There are three important things to notice when learning to successfully complete a floater: getting on to the lip, riding the lip, and re-entering back into the wave. The first thing you need is speed so stay high in the wave, and generate as much speed as you can. Next, look for a section that is just about to break, and start your bottom turn from the middle of the wave face. Bottom turn at 20 or 30 degrees, and carry your speed up and along the wave. You don?t want to go straight up (90 degrees) because then you won?t go anywhere when you get on to the lip. At this point you want to watch the lip carefully. Place your board on the curling lip while staying low with your centre of gravity over your back foot. Once on the lip shift your weight from your toe edge to your heel edge. This allows you to stay on top of the lip without getting left behind the moving wave. Shift your weight to your front foot in order to get as much distance out of the floater as you can. Your eyes should be focused on the lip line ahead of you as you move along the top of the wave. When you feel yourself slowing down, or the wave is about to close out, turn your head over your shoulder to spot the landing. When you are coming off of the lip you can either ride off with the falling lip, or you can ollie off to the bottom of the wave. An ollie should be used when the lip is heavy, or when the wave is sizeable. Coming off the lip will cause your body to extend so try to keep your style together as much as possible, and brace yourself for the landing. Place your board flat on the wave face, bend your knees to absorb the shock of landing, and use the speed you have gained for your next bottom turn. When you first learn this manouver start on small crumbly waves, preferably a beach break. Once you get it down move up to bigger heavier waves, adding your own style and tweaks. Have fun! KEYS: Get on to the lip with as much speed as possible. Ride the lip cleanly with your momentum pushing forward. When the wave begins to slow down, come off the lip with style, and drive through your next bottom turn. The Backside Floater The backside floater is a great move that allows you to make sections, finish off a wave, or gain speed for your next trick. If you surf beach breaks points or reefs, it is essential to have a good backside floater in your repertoire of tricks. Start by catching a backside wave, and pumping down the line. It is important to stay high while pumping in-order to gain as much speed as possible. Watch the shape of the wave as your pumping. You should be looking for a section that is going to break just in front of you. When you find a section, start your bottom turn from the middle of the wave at a 20 to 30 degree angle. This will keep your momentum going forward enabling you to gain distance while doing your floater. When you?re bottom turning up the wave face watch where you are going to place your board on the lip. Stay low and try to place your board on top of the lip as clean as possible to conserve speed. When you?ve got your board onto the lip change the pressure of your feet from your heel side edge to your toe side edge, and apply pressure to your front foot. This will make sure you continue moving forward, and don?t get left out the back. Ride along on top of the breaking lip until you begin to loose your speed, or you see that the wave is closing out. Watch the line of the breaking lip while staying low and balanced. You have two options at this point. You can ride off the top of the wave with the lip, or you can ollie out in front of the lip, landing at the bottom of the transition. Your choice will depend on the wave. If the wave is mushy and not breaking very hard you should just ride off with the lip, but if it?s hollow or big you need to ollie off the top. Be sure to spot your landing before you plan to get off the lip. Look for the softest spot to land. When riding off the lip you can usually just turn your board towards shore by putting weight on your toes. Stay low, and start your next bottom turn when you reach the green using the speed from the floater. When ollieing off the lip push down on your toes, and pop off the lip using your back foot to ollie out in front of the barrelling lip. Watch the landing and try to keep your board flat in the air. Your body will want to extend in the air so try to keep your style together. Land at the bottom of the wave with your board flat on the water. Bend your knees to absorb the landing, and ride out the white water bounce. Floaters are a great move to know because of their versatility. Start out doing floaters on smaller mushy waves using them to gain speed and finish off waves. As you get more comfortable step up to heavier, bigger waves that force you to ollie off the lip. Grip it and rip it. KEYS: Carry speed onto the lip. Ride the lip with pressure on your front foot to get distance out of the floater. Spot your landing and ride or ollie off the lip as the wave slows down or closes out. Stomp it! The Backside Air Reverse The backside air reverse is a trick that I had a really hard time with. The spin in the air feels natural so it?s easy to come off the lip and spin in the air, but landing backwards and continuing the spin into a 360 is very difficult. Catch a wedgy backside wave that?s waist to chest high and has a steep close out section at the end. Pump down the line to get enough speed so you can launch into the air. You want a lot of speed, but you need to be in control to make an air. Bottom turn at a 20-30 degree angle to project yourself off the wave where the lip meets the whitewash. Stay low and centered with your eyes focused on the lip. Angle your board down the line, or even a little bit in front of the wave to adjust for the movement of the wave while you are in the air. If your board is pointed out the back when you start the spin you will end up out the back when you land. Bend your knees and use your body like a spring to pop into the air. When the top half of your board is out of the water (when your front foot is leaving the water) you want to turn your shoulders into the spin, push your back foot into the spin, and spring off the lip. You don?t want to kick your foot out; you want to push it to initiate the spin. Once in the air your body will want to extend so suck your legs and board up for style and height. You?ll be spinning blind so it will be hard to see where you are going. Repetition will make this feel comfortable. Try to keep your board level in the air while staying low and centered (this is probably something to work on once you get these down). Your front knee should be bent and your back leg should be extended pushing the tail around. Your stance should be a bit wider than usual for better balance so stay low for style points. Ideally your arms should be bent at a 90 degree angle by your sides for balance; but just do whatever comes naturally until you?ve got these wired, then you can make minor adjustments. Look down between your legs on your toe-side rail so you can time your landing. You won?t be able to see exactly where you?re going to land, but at least you can see the landing come and get ready for the impact. Bend your knees and absorb the landing. Be strong on the landing so you don?t fall back into a layback (I used to do that a lot. It looks really bad!). Stay low with a wide stance, and most of your weight on your back foot. The weight on your back foot will help you continue with the momentum of the wave, and help you finish your spin by re-connecting your fins to the water. Be careful not to tail dive at this stage because you?re backwards. Once you start spinning transfer your weight to your front foot while staying low. You?re done; look for the next section and bust out a big combo for good measure. Check out Taj on these ones because he?s the master. It took me almost 2 years to get this trick down, but all those kook-outs are worth it now. Be persistent, keep trying to stick them and you?ll get it one day. KEYS: Speed with control! Stay low, use your body as a spring and use your shoulders to initiate the spin. Stay low and centered while spinning. Stomp it tail first, and don?t tail dive. Frontside Air Reverse Once you have learned to consistently complete basic maneuvers in surfing you can expand your horizons by learning new maneuvers, such as the frontside air reverse. Air reverses are my favourite move in surfing, and are also one of the hardest to learn. They involve a 270-degree rotation in the air to a backwards landing where your fins will catch and spin you into a full 360. When dropping into the wave, you need to stay between the middle and the top of the wave to gain as much speed as possible. Speed and timing are the most important things for this trick. Look ahead for a steep section that is just about to break. It is easiest to do this trick on a closeout, but you can do them on steep open-faced waves too. When you find the section approach it the same way you would a frontside straight air. From the middle of the wave bottom turn up the face gradually, projecting your board at a 30 to 45 degree angle off of the curling lip. Make sure to conserve your speed through the bottom turn. Keep your eyes focused on the part of the lip you are about to launch off. Stay low through your bottom turn, and aim for the steepest part of the lip. Just before you leave the lip your shoulders and upper body should be twisting into the spin. This will initiate your spin, and put you in a good position while in the air. Follow your back foot, through the air as you push the tail of your board towards the beach. While pushing on your tail be sure that your body is centred over your board, and your centre of gravity is low. As you’re spinning look down over your toe side rail to spot your landing. Focus on where you are going to land for the rest of the spin. Bend your knees and keep your tail a bit higher than your nose so you don?t tail dive. Stomp the landing. Try to land with your tail pointing straight into shore, and your weight centred over your front foot. Your feet will most likely be a little farther forward than usual so look over your shoulder (the one farthest from the beach) to finish the trick and get your nose pointed back towards the beach. If you land over your fins your board will want to keep spinning so just let it spin while keeping low and centered. Once the spin is complete look for the next section and try to hit the lip. Frontside air reverses are a great trick that can lead you away from basic maneuvers into the future of surfing. Get a video of Taj Burrow and put it in slow motion if you want to learn this trick properly. He?s got these wired. KEYS: Get speed down the line while looking for a section. Turn your shoulders and upper body into the spin as you leave the lip. Watch for the landing over your toe side rail when you are in the air. Stomp it, while low and centered. Look over your shoulder and hold on when your fins catch The Layback Snap Laybacks are one of my favourite moves because they are so unpredictable. You never know what will happen. You could kick your tail out the back and fall right away; or you could hang on with one foot and pull the best move of your life. There are a few keys, but you just have to go with the flow, and trust yourself and the wave on your recovery. Approach the section on your forehand with speed. You can either do laybacks on steep sections or ..outs that aren?t bowling too much. You want about as much speed as you would for a little frontside air. Start your bottom turn earlier than you would if you were going to hit the lip to get to the lip before it breaks. A 50 to 70 degree angle is what you want. Stay low, focus on the section, and get ready to push your back leg out. You want to start laybacks early so you don?t kick your fins out the back, and loose control. Half way up the wave is a good place to initiate the turn. Initialize the layback by leaning back, sticking your back arm in the water and pushing as hard as you can on your back leg. You want this to be a smooth motion. Your arm will serve as a pivot point and give you stability through the turn. Don?t just kick you tail out of the water with all the power you can because you will loose control. Push hard through the turn with your back foot to throw buckets out the back while still in control. You won?t be able to see to much once your tail has kicked out and you?re laying back in the wash so you just have to go on feeling. Hold on! Don?t give up at this point because sometimes miracles can happen. Even if you?re hanging on with one toe try to make it. Once your board has turned as far as possible try to pull it back towards you and under your body. If you choose the right section to do a layback on the wave will help you get back up, but having a strong core and stomach muscles will help. The longer you wait to get up the harder it will be. Getting your board close to you by pulling with your feet and bending your knees combined with using the wave against your back will get you to your feet. Ride out of the wash with style and look for the next section. Layback snaps are a tricky move. A lot of trial and error goes into learning them, but when you finally get lucky and land one it will all be worth it. Slater and AI are the best in the game at laybacks, so watch them for inspiration. Do your sit-ups too. KEYS: Start your bottom turn early to get to the section before it breaks. Start the turn by leaning back, sticking your trailing arm in the water, and pushing hard on your back leg. Hold on once you’re laying back in the wash. Pull your board towards you with your feet and use the wave against your back to get to your feet. Ride away clean.

~Localism~

Localism When you paddle out into a new lineup for the first many times, chances are good that you are paddling out into a group of people that have known each other for years. They will generally not be particularly happy to see a new face. They will have no idea if you have any manners or not, if you will be a wave hog, or just bring down the vibe in the lineup. Wether you will go out of turn, or just clog up the lineup without having the skill level to make use of the precious few waves available at the spot. If you show up full of attitude, you can expect to be received as poorly as if you had just burst into a stranger’s living room uninvited. Of course all people, citizens and visitors alike are guaranteed unrestricted access to foreshores and waterways in Canada, but the trick is to reject any denial of access to any public lands or waterways in Canada without getting so serious about it that you invite pecking from the other roosters & chickens in the yard. The advice is simple; Watch a surfing break for a long time, even over several visits, before you paddle out. Even after you are surfed out [or before] check spots that you would like to surf in the future. Learn to surf on small waves that proficient surfers aren’t into. You find them near where better surfers are surfing. Do not pick a spot straight in from where surfers are sitting. They’ll be surfing there. As you progress and want to move into better formed breaks, make the move when the break doesn’t have a packed lineup. Real good surfers show up at their favorite breaks and move on, because it’s overcrowded, all the time. Go explore a bit and find a quiet little break to hone your skills. You’ll also learn faster with the better wave count a quiet break will provide you with. Be friendly with others, regardless of their demeanor. Do not expect confrontation and don’t be quick to recognize a standoffish demeanor as confrontational. If you surf with courtesy, you will become accepted. If you are confronted with a threat of violence at a surfing break, call 911 or at least post the experience on our discussion forums. The only way surfers can continue to expect a peaceful surfing experience is to reject and confront any other alternative. Surfing related aggression and violence is more of an urban myth on Vancouver Island, than an ongoing phenomenon. As far as we can figure, a very few incidence have taken on legendary status. There are a few unfriendly characters as can be expected in any surfing population these days, but by and large BC surfers are hospitable to each other and visitors alike.