Prone Series > The Bottom Turn

Author: Alistair Taylor
22nd May 2008

Courtesy of ATD Bodyboards.

The humble bottom turn is one of the most underrated yet important manoeuvres in a bodyboarder's repertoire. It is the move that sets you up for almost any other you are going to do – and it is the thread that connects the dots on all the moves you do on a wave.

The bottom turn is not a highly complex manoeuvre, so we'll try to keep the tips here simple – but it is something that can be improved on with practice and conscious effort.

Firstly, this tutorial aims at prone bodyboarding, but some of the tips also will pertain to DK bodyboarding. In prone, one key element is good hand placement on your board. Typically your leading hand goes on the corner of the nose – and your back hand about 1/3 to 1/2 way down the outside rail – having your hand down here helps lend leverage to your turns.

So, taking a wave – the type of bottom turn you do will vary from wave type to wave type. Obviously the type of bottom turn you crank at 10ft pipe is going to be impossible in 2ft mush – but both are important in terms of generating speed.

In most waves, you'll gain maximum drive on your bottom turn by turning off the apex of where the wave face meets the flats. If you turn out into the flats too much, you run out your speed, and lose energy going into the bottom turn If you turn mid face or before reaching the bottom of the wave, you have to expend a certain amount of rail pressure into the wave face to keep from sliding out – this equates to adding drag, hence slowing you down. The mid face turn is great for angling into barrels on fast breaking waves, as it gets you into the barrel right away, but it's hard to get the same bottom turn distance coverage.

Another thing you can do to get more speed on your bottom turn is to pull up on the nose of the board when initiating the turn ... at the same time, lean over on your inside arm, and pull up on the rail with your outside arm – the faster you are going and the more power the wave has, the harder you can exert these forces ... on a weak wave, you can't lean into your turn too hard or you'll just tip over – the wave won't have enough power to support your weight leaning into it – so it's a balancing act that you learn through time and practice. In smaller and weaker surf, you tend to get a bit more of your speed from efficient planning, which is another subject.

Lastly, the way your legs drag through the water is also very important. Try to keep your legs relatively stiff to minimize their dragging through the water, but make sure your fins are always in contact with the water, as they help you keep control and stability in your turns, which indirectly increases your speed. Also, keep your eyes on the target you're aiming for in your turn – whether the lip, or a spot down the line where you're going to set up for a barrel – either way it'll help you always be a split second ahead of whatever the wave throws at you.

Like I said, pretty simple stuff really, but the bottom turn really is a crucial manoeuvre, and should be viewed as the foundation of all your big and important manoeuvres. The more speed you come flying off the bottom with, the harder you're going to be able to hit the lip and fly off that section.

Good luck with it and remember practice makes perfect.

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