I have been riding twin keels for a while now aswell as single fins and although i think im probably front footed i really dont know.
Most people say fish and single fins are best surfed off the front foot but what does that really entail?
I know when i take off in a hollow wave, i usually have my back foot toes on the rear rail and dig in through bottom turn some weight forward as you do but imo pretty central as far as body weight…Leaning forward into the drop and pushing backfoot down through bottom turn or land toes on rail to prevent nose dive and pull in.
Then bring the board up the face with front foot, backfoot sort of just following if trying to high line the wall sort of thing, then using hips and legs to pump down like a skater in a bowl…
I think i tend to have my weight on my front foot, although use my backfoot a lot to move around back forth, on either rail…to make rail to rail transitions quicker or back foot further back for snappier carves.
I am recently looking at getting more performance style shapes that are back foot oriented and although i think i am a decent surfer i really dont know much about the difference…For me i think i might even be a neutral footed surfer.
Through carves i tend to bend my kness a lot and get real low to the board, and its pretty even but my back foot is pushing a lot when to make it a sharper carve…Even though a fish should probably be surfed off the front foot, this to me seems like back footed.
I can post pics if needed but i have no carve pics…All i know is it works and feels damn good…But i would like to know if what im doing really is backfooted etc…
What is your front knee doing on a turn? If it’s straighter, your using your back foot more.
Check your widepoint. Forward wide points facilitate facilitate trim and projection, and people who tend to surf more off the front foot say they feel good. Wide point back is more for tighter turns, which requires more back foot pressure.
I for one feel you don’t have to be one or the other. You just have to ride different shapes differently to take advantage of the design. You can turn a fish off the back foot. And you can turn a potato chip off the front foot. It just results in a different type of turn.
hi, i never really gave it much thought as to wether is was a front or back foot surfer but when i did give it some thought i realized i was a front footer,
in general when i bottom turned and went up the wave i would use my front foot to weight at the top of the wave to bring the nose around and down the wave again , this tends to give a more swooping /smooth style and quite difficult to cut back beyond vertical
my son on the other uses his back foot to power around at the top of the wave to turn like a contest surfer, just watch parko or fanning how they turn at the top of a wave to see powerfull back foot surfing, you can only cutback like that by using a heavy back foot ,
unfortunatly i have surfed too long as a front footer but i wish i had gave it more thought years ago and i might have been able to use a more rear footed approach for top turning, pete
For me, there’s no such thing as front-footed surfing. You can weight your front foot, but your back foot–on keels, singles, tris, whatever–will remain your tiller. You can trim with your feet out of position and even gain a lot of necessary speed this way, but if you watch a good surfer for a little while you’ll see that significant turning requires a back foot over the fins. You can’t, for example, initiate a snapping cutback with your front foot. Or, watch a longboarder. They can cruise from way up front by weighting and unweighting, but a radical change of direction requires that they scurry to the back and stomp on the tail.
So perhaps what you’re saying is that you want to make bolder turns and would like to try a board with the widepoint behind center and a tri setup to see if this makes it easier? Does that sound right?
C- slug, Well sort of, i think its time i started more performance surfing as ive been riding fish a lot in the last three years and i love em, even in very hollow waves but realise i dont like them backhand.(its hard to high line and pump backhand)
And performance style shapes with wide point back feel better backhand so its time for me to start riding these shapes more.
I just ordered a stretch F4 and they say its best surfed off the back foot while still being a little fishy.
So it will be a good board in my quiver i think, since it shouldnt be too different to what im riding but getting more performance out of it.
The thing i was not sure about is whether i was already backfoot heavy or front foot, and how to be more backfoot oriented for this new baord, and switch to front foot heavy (which i seem to be) while riding twin keels.But even on keels, when i make bolder sharper carves or bottom turns i seem to be backfoot heavy.Just front footed for highline pumps and while trimming.
“The thing i was not sure about is whether i was already backfoot heavy or front foot, and how to be more backfoot oriented for this new baord, and switch to front foot heavy (which i seem to be) while riding twin keels.But even on keels, when i make bolder sharper carves or bottom turns i seem to be backfoot heavy.Just front footed for highline pumps and while trimming.”
That’s sort of what I was saying. When you’re on a keel fish you don’t have to pump much in the highline. You’re basically cruising (with weight on your front leg primarily to keep it going in one direction as you weight down the most bouyent part of the board). This is not to say your front or back footed. You need to be both if you want to break from the highline and hit a section or cutback sharply. Yout gotta be light on both feet, but the work horse is that back foot.
This might be counterintuitive, but I’d suggest riding a longboard for a few sessions. You can’t be front or back footed on a longboard. You must walk and weight and move all over the board to get it to do what you want. But it will remind you that to really turn–no matter what board your riding–you gotta have the back foot planted over the fin.
Actually you are right there, ive been riding a mini mal lately and it seems to improve my surfing on both shortboards and fish…My 6’6 feels shorter aswell and easier to rip around.
Yeah i see what your saying, its seeems being whats called a front footed surfer is really just see sawing (like a see saw in the park) between front and back foot.
Thanks for the advice.
By the way do you know if superglue can be used on epoxy?
My tail pad is coming off my mini mal and i only have superglue handy.