Surfing is a difficult discipline to learn, but also to teach. That’s because it’s practiced in a natural environment that’s constantly changing, and what’s more, it’s aquatic. Not everyone is at ease in the water, or wired to accept a fall, which is an essential part of the learning process. So, beyond the physical challenge of the sport, the teacher has to overcome many mental barriers to progress.
If you don’t live by the ocean, you’re in a completely mysterious world, and it’s hard for you to judge the relevance of the advice given by self-proclaimed instructors on the Internet via tutorials, articles in well-known magazines or on the beach via a surf school.
The teaching diploma issued by the French Ministry of Sports (BPJEPS and BEES) is certainly the one in the world that requires the greatest investment of time and has the richest, most relevant content. Then there’s a whole (de)gradation of certifications that put instructors of widely varying qualities on every beach in the world.
The pop-up, take-off or righting is an essential part of the learning process, and each instructor teaches his or her own technique. Nevertheless, there are a few classics, some of which defy the laws of physics and seem destined to widen the gap between the novice and the excellent surfer. I’m going to take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of these techniques, some of which are downright silly, but still manage to create an illusion.
But first, visualize the surfer, lying on his board, hands flat on the board.
1. Knee technique
The knee technique assumes that the pupil does not have the physical qualities to perform a lively, dynamic straightening, as performed by a good surfer.
By bringing the knee to the middle of the board (placed or slid in line with the board’s central batten), the pupil relieves his arms, goes through a reassuring intermediate stage before placing his front foot between his hands. At least, that’s the plan.
A lively, dynamic turnaround, as taughttaught at the Ki Surf Schoolwill, of course, lead to a few errors in foot positioning and subsequent falls. But it creates the conditions for smooth, fluid movement. Because waves don’t wait!
However, straightening with the knee is anything but fluid: first of all, it engages the pelvis from the front, whereas the body needs to position itself quickly to the side. What’s more, by multiplying the intermediate steps (landing the knee, then the front foot, rotating the pelvis to find the side position), it jerks the movement, creating instability where a smooth, dynamic movement would have allowed both feet to land almost simultaneously on the board.
What’s more, unless you want to make the beginner an eternal beginner, this straightening doesn’t allow you to get up quickly in hollow, magnificent waves, which are the off-shore wind waves that every accomplished surfer is looking for.
However, it’s true that many beginners find it hard to “let go” and adopt this technique on their own, intuitively, because this knee support is reassuring. After that, it becomes extremely difficult to get rid of the habit.
2. The front-foot-first technique
Here again, if the beginner puts the back knee down, or is told to do so, the front foot will land first on the board. Unless you’re an Olympic gymnast, the foot will always stop short of the hands, the latter blocking the passage of the foot (which is how some people crush their toes trying to get their foot between their arms).
However, the front foot must rest slightly beyond the hands to bring the front half of the board into contact with the water’s surface, forcing the beginner to move his feet forward once he’s upright. Without this corrective movement, the weight of the body remains on the back of the board, and the latter will quickly sink instead of spinning towards the beach. A light surfer with good physical qualities will manage to reposition his feet before he loses all speed, but this won’t be the case for everyone.
3. The toe technique and buttock lift
Here we enter the third circle of the underworld of take-off technique.
When we watch slow-motion videos of professionals performing the take-off, we can better understand the analogy with the take-off of an airplane: we imagine the pilot pulling back on the stick, the nose of the airplane pointing first to the sky (the surfer’s gaze), followed gradually by the front wheels (the surfer’s chest), then the middle of the airplane (the hips) and finally the rear wheels.
The toe-push technique follows the opposite path, and presupposes that the board is gigantic (indeed, even on an 8′, the standard size of the learning board, most students in the recumbent balance position have their toes sticking out the back of the board): toes resting on the board, the surfer stretches out his legs and lifts his buttocks. From here, two methods are taught: either the feet land on the board in two steps, or the student supports himself on his feet to execute a small jump forward.
On a board with exceptional stability, this technique can enable a light, toned surfer to successfully stand up. For a slower surfer or on a classic learning board, exerting pressure on the rear of the board will push the rear of the board back underwater, pitching up the front and breaking the glide right from the start. The dynamic take-off is more akin to a sliding movement of the pelvis than to a jump, even if, psychologically, the take-off at the top of the wave gives the feeling of jumping into the void.
The dynamic sit-up reproduces the yoga movement of the snake, when the pelvis slides forward as if to pass between the arms. With the toe technique, on the other hand, beginners tense up their lower body. By lifting the buttocks, he carries his weight backwards when his objective would have been to carry it quickly forwards to slide upright to the edge.
And yet, as students experiment in the water, they end up developing their own technique, which often has nothing to do with the absurd technique they’ve been shown. In fact, we sometimes observe that the instructor in a surfing situation never uses the technique he teaches his pupils day after day. It’s as if there were a take-off technique for good surfers and a take-off technique for bad surfers.
4. Hands under shoulders
We still see and hear this advice: “put your hands under your shoulders”. No, if you look at professional surfers, the hands are placed as far back as possible, at rib level, and therefore lower than the chest. Placed close to the body’s center of gravity, this makes it easier and less painful to hoist the body towards the front of the board. A balancing effect lightens the workload on the muscles.
Hands placed too far forward will tend, in the push and depending on the degree of error: to sink the nose of the board, to carry the weight of the body backwards, to cause muscular and joint fatigue (tendonitis) and to reduce the success of the take-off. Placed asymmetrically, they also increase the risk of joint pathologies.
Because, even before getting up, there are a few technical prerequisites: the recumbent surfer must be correctly positioned on his board so that it glides flat, the hands must also be in the right place, as must the gaze stretched forward. And of course, you need to master the technique of catching a foam or soft wave.
5. Doggy-style sit-up
To my knowledge, this technique is not taught by any sports instructor, but it’s almost criminal to allow it to continue. Unscrupulous instructors tell themselves this: as long as the student stands up in a foam, it doesn’t matter how. Nevertheless, this technique, in addition to being extremely unsightly when performed in a hollow wave, will have catastrophic consequences, as the beginner will blow up at the bottom of the wave on every attempt.
This poor technique stems from an uncorrected faulty positioning of the body and hands on the board. Instead of positioning his hands flat against the ribs, the student places his forearms on the board while gripping its edges. Then, in the same movement, he pulls himself forward by lifting his buttocks and bending his knees, then lands his feet as best he can.
It’s in the more technical waves that the beginner will discover the limits of the poor techniques he’s been taught, which are aimed at a single objective: the beginner must manage to get upright as quickly as possible, because that’s his goal, no matter if he gets up like a goat, because a happy customer is a returning customer. What’s more, by keeping him in his novice state, it’s quite certain that he won’t achieve the autonomy necessary for unsupervised surfing.
So what’s the right take-off technique, you ask? Find out at the Ki Surf School!
