HELP: AIRS

bboard1
May 2007
Howzit oes. been riding for a while and have finally got a decent board (nomad RV) so i am keen to start getting some air. only problen is i never seem to get enough speed and i always end up tail sliding when i go for a bottom turn. Any advice would be great.

Shot oes

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5 Replies

Elementree
May 2007
Bigger waves=speed.

No speed=no busting.

Sounds to me like you need to work on your bottom turns, but i don't really have much advice for that as i haven't seen you ride & therefore can't really advise you on what you should try.

Oh wait i have one or two tips...

Use your fins to help steer while bottom turning, they help a lot when it comes to turning sharply and setting your line. To get speed move more of your body up onto your board. In that way you'll cause less drag in the water and should get more speed.
Stephan Becker
May 2007
also what you could be doing is bottom turning to hard.this might happen if you're trying to basically go straight up and hitting it with you board flat on the face of the wave. dunno if that made sense. anyway try a more smooth style, like setting up earlier and not jerking it up at the last moment...
this might not even be the problem.so what helps is if you get someone to film you. then you see how k@k you really ride,haha happened to me and like elementree said, bigger waves=speed=bigger airs

hope you come right dude
bboard1
May 2007
shot oes that helps. Will try in in the surf on saturday.
Kelly
May 2007
You may have heard this before --- watch DVDs ... sit with the control and go over it time and time again. Then ask someone at the beach, someone who appears to know what they are doing and can physically show you how to position yourself on your board etc and critique what you are doing ... but be cautious of any advice. I may know what I am doing but explaining it correctly to someone else is never easy.

Also lie on your board on land the way you think you ride in the water and then compare to a pro. Note how they shift their weight around, especially from take off and through the bottom turn.

I am glad to see the guys above have stressed the importance of the bottom turn ... the bottom turn is a huge part of any manouevre and it is shocking to see how many experienced riders don't know how to bottom turn properly.

If you are asking for advice on airs but are sliding out when bottom turning then you are trying to run before you can walk.

Go out for a session with the aim to nail all your bottom turns - early take offs will be easy, late will be tough ... so mix it up. Make sure you're nailing your take offs too --- getting into the wave at the right moment, making sure you are co-ordinating your paddling and transition onto the wave at the right moment which is crucial in some situations.

And try some weaving down the line to generate speed and understand how the flex of your board works and better understand the waves and where the sweet spots are. If you haven't figured already, your speed is generated as you come out of the bottom turn - releasing the flex at the right moment as you come out the bottom turn will almost shoot you out of the turn and this is primarily how a bodyboard works. The weaving down the line may seem a little basic but get it right, work on your style and once you have it nailed you will then start introducing manouevres and the weaving will be more about mini-turns which will place you in the correct spot on the wave for the manouevre.
bboard1
May 2007
shot kelly. went out today and got my bottom turns right 8/10 times. i even landed an invert . shot man

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