Big guy learning to surf needs help

[Beach-TJ]

Good advice so far, another trick to get the board under you is have the driver put the boat in gear and idle, giving you slight pull from the rope. Hold on with your front hand and reach between your legs with your other hand and flip the board up, where you feet are flat on it. Now grab the handle with both hands and have the driver slowly pull you up. Following the above advice on being low in a ball.

The Kong should be plenty of surf board for you.

[Gschofield62]

Being big and strong can often be a disadvantage when learning to surf. Too many think that they need to pull themselves up when in fact it is the boat that should be doing ALL of the work. Start by placing your heels near the heel-side edge of the board. Back foot on the rear tail pad, front foot in the middle of the board, but both heels near the edge of the board. This way the board will flip easily when the boat begins to pull you. Once your are up you can slowly maneuver your feet so that your toes are closer to the toe side edge of the board. This will create toe-side pressure on the board causing it to ride up the wave and the wave too push back keeping you in equilibrium on the wave.

It can help with beginners to tie the rope to the surf side tower arch instead of the center of the tower. This will help you stay on the surf side of the boat as you are learning.

To start keep your heels as described above. Then have the boat driver put the boat in gear with no gas. Practice letting the boat pull you WITHOUT you pulling back on the rope. You must get comfortable letting the boat pull you without the urge to pull back on the rope. This is best accomplished if you let your upper body relax and think about stretching your arms to almost reach over the toe-side edge of the board. This will put you in a relaxed, cannon ball position.

Once you feel stable in the water with the boat in gear, and NOT pulling on the rope you are ready to get up. Do this by having the boat driver SLOWLY accelerate the throttle in a continuous movement. Stopping the throttle movement even for a fraction of a second will make it much more difficult for a beginner to get up. Throttling up in a slow continuous movement taking about a 5 1-thousands count to reach full surf speed will ensure the boat driver is doing their part to help you.

When the boat starts pulling KEEP your body relaxed in the cannon ball position for MUCH LONGER THAN YOU THINK. DO NOT STAND UP right away. Focus on keeping our weight over your feet. Here is where it can be difficult for anyone strong to relax. Resist the urge to stand up right away or pull yourself up. As you start to plane off you will still be in the cannon ball position but the board will break free of the water and you should aim to get yourself to the outside of the wave. Do this sooner than later because coming down the fully formed wave can be a challenge by itself. Think of staying in the cannon ball position but leaning your shoulders so that you move to the flat water outside the wave.

Once you are clear of the wave and at surf speed then begin to stand up slowly. VERY SLOWLY. Again here strong people will pull themselves up with the rope. That is the kiss of death. Do not use your arms, rather think of standing up slowly from your waist down. Once you are up you will need to keep your eyes in the boat. Look down, go down.

Slowly maneuver your front foot so that your ankle bone is close to the center of the board putting more weight on your toes. Then slide your rear foot closer to the toe side of the board also putting weight on the balls of your feet. Keeping weight on the toe-side edge of the board is needed to stay on the wave. Improper foot placement and weight distribution is why most beginners have difficulty staying on the wave. Think of distributing your weight evenly on the balls of your feet like you are taking a basketball jump shot. If you accomplish this you should feel the rope go slack as the wave pushes you.

At your size you should think about surfing at a speed of about 11.3 to 11.5. NSS 0, NCRS 4 or 5.
Your board should be at least 4' 8" or larger.

Remember, SURF THE BOARD not THE ROPE!

Here is an old but pretty good video to help you visualize this. https://youtu.be/87wW1FY-mCI

Good luck!

Thank you to everyone who gave me advice, especially greggmck. My wife and I went out tonight without much hope that I'd get up. Low and behold on my second attempt, using exactly the technique several of you described, and i popped right up. And subsequently got up every time after that. I took video but they are too big to upload on here. I will try to take some tomorrow. Now I just need help to get to the point where I can rely less in the rope. Thanks again.

[greggmck]

Congrats. Welcome to the club!

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[mcosub]

Thank you to everyone who gave me advice, especially greggmck. My wife and I went out tonight without much hope that I'd get up. Low and behold on my second attempt, using exactly the technique several of you described, and i popped right up. And subsequently got up every time after that. I took video but they are too big to upload on here. I will try to take some tomorrow. Now I just need help to get to the point where I can rely less in the rope. Thanks again.

Well done. Once you have done it the first time..............it seems so easy every time after that.

Let us know once you get comfortable and are able to lose the rope!

[Gschofield62]

I was able to convert these videos. I can get up now almost every time. And I can stay surfing with the rope pulling me, but I cannot get enough speed to let the rope go. Once again, any help will be appreciated.

[greggmck]

I was able to convert these videos. I can get up now almost every time. And I can stay surfing with the rope pulling me, but I cannot get enough speed to let the rope go. Once again, any help will be appreciated.

Post a video or upload it to YouTube and post a link so we can see what is happening to help you better.

[nohlan_4]

I was able to convert these videos. I can get up now almost every time. And I can stay surfing with the rope pulling me, but I cannot get enough speed to let the rope go. Once again, any help will be appreciated.

I find helping beginners find the push you want to square your body up to the wave point your front hip at the center of the boat. This will put you on edge and you will feel te wave start to push you. Also remember that your front foot is the gas and the back foot is the brake weight transfer wise. But the gas pedal is from a 1970's grain truck and the brakes are from a Ferrari so keep that in mind when finding your balance point. Post a video to YouTube and just link it if that's easier.

[Gschofield62]

Post a video or upload it to YouTube and post a link so we can see what is happening to help you better.

Here is the link to my first time getting up, I will post the other two videos after they are done uploading.

https://youtu.be/6_06YhTrOpY

Here are the next two

https://youtu.be/Ths5FbC_tGk
https://youtu.be/hqVAMtqYlh4

[greggmck]

It looks like you had a lot of fun! Here are a few recommendations:

1. Shorten your rope so that the handle sits right in the sweet spot of the wave. Just throttle up in surf mode. Once the wave sets up, let the rope out. Then shorten it to where the handle bounces right where the sweet spot is.

NEVER coil up the rope. If you fall it is too easy for your arm to get tangled in the rope. And when that happens it can lead to a very bad dislocated shoulder, elbow or worse. You cannot imagine the power that rope has to pull your arm out when you fall.

2. Your weight is mostly on your back foot. By holding the rope it is natural to lean away from the rope as it pulls on your body.

Next time you get up, first slide your front foot so that your toes are inches away from the edge of the board. You want your ankle bone on the center of the board.

Then slide your rear foot so your toes are also an inch or so away from the edge of the board.

This position will help you feel how the board responds with toe side pressure.

Keep your weight even on both feet and on the balls of your feet. Don't put weight on your heels. And don't lean back, just try to stand centered over the board, knees bent.

Once you shift more weight to your front foot you will experience the board slide free and the rope will become slack.

Practice keeping the rope slack as long as you can. Once you can do this for 3-5 minutes you are ready to toss the rope.

But don't toss it, that can throw you off balance. Just drop the rope and let it fall to the other side of the wake. Your observer can pull the rope in.

Then enjoy the ride. Repeat this until you can confidently ride the wave.

In a few weeks we can discus pumping, ollies, chop hops, slash turns, floaters and lots of other fun tricks!

All the Best!

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[ST3]

Now that you are up and surfing with the rope...one more bit of info to expand on from my previous post....first I’d defer to Greggmck’s instructions above. One thing that has helped me with the foot position adjustments is to do it while holding the rope while it is taught with the boat. This gives you some leverage and balance to walk your feet to the right spots. Once you get them there it is like magic and the pocket is easy to find and hold with your weight comfortably controlled over the board. The throttle will be truck like and the brakes like a sports car(as someone else mentioned)

Keep us posted....


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[markj]

1983 called. It wants its music back. Lol. I’ve never seen anyone listen to head banger music while wake surfing. That’s pretty funny.

[markj]

I agree with the foot placement issue. You gotta move those forward a bit.

[Gschofield62]

1983 called. It wants its music back. Lol. I�ve never seen anyone listen to head banger music while wake surfing. That�s pretty funny.

Iron maiden is timeless and appropriate for all sports, weddings, funerals and to put your baby to sleep.

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[markj]

Iron maiden is timeless and appropriate for all sports, weddings, funerals and to put your baby to sleep.

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Lol.

[Gschofield62]

It looks like you had a lot of fun! Here are a few recommendations:

1. Shorten your rope so that the handle sits right in the sweet spot of the wave. Just throttle up in surf mode. Once the wave sets up, let the rope out. Then shorten it to where the handle bounces right where the sweet spot is.

NEVER coil up the rope. If you fall it is too easy for your arm to get tangled in the rope. And when that happens it can lead to a very bad dislocated shoulder, elbow or worse. You cannot imagine the power that rope has to pull your arm out when you fall.

2. Your weight is mostly on your back foot. By holding the rope it is natural to lean away from the rope as it pulls on your body.

Next time you get up, first slide your front foot so that your toes are inches away from the edge of the board. You want your ankle bone on the center of the board.

Then slide your rear foot so your toes are also an inch or so away from the edge of the board.

This position will help you feel how the board responds with toe side pressure.

Keep your weight even on both feet and on the balls of your feet. Don't put weight on your heels. And don't lean back, just try to stand centered over the board, knees bent.

Once you shift more weight to your front foot you will experience the board slide free and the rope will become slack.

Practice keeping the rope slack as long as you can. Once you can do this for 3-5 minutes you are ready to toss the rope.

But don't toss it, that can throw you off balance. Just drop the rope and let it fall to the other side of the wake. Your observer can pull the rope in.

Then enjoy the ride. Repeat this until you can confidently ride the wave.

In a few weeks we can discus pumping, ollies, chop hops, slash turns, floaters and lots of other fun tricks!

All the Best!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I now feel confident that I can get up 90% of the time. Now my issue is maintaining enough speed to be able to let go of the Rope. I can go fast enough to get close to the back of the boat but then I bleed off so much speed that I have to let the boat pull me faster or I will just sink. I have tried moving my toes closer to the edge which has helped but any advice would be appreciated. Also what settings should the boat be at again? I have the ballast set at 100% but what should the other settings be?
https://youtu.be/8rR3iOUA-9Q
https://youtu.be/wC0J_GTz8Ik

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