From the rocker thread, at least a couple of us front footers in the peanut gallery…so why not start a thread for same…
Beauty of front footing, down the line speed carve surfing, it’s something you can continue to do well (or at least pretend you are as you get older, just need to adjust your equipment.
Now closing in on 50 years of surfing, nowdays mostly riding PNW punchy, shifting inside/outside beachbreaks, so my daily driver for good waves has crept up to compensate for aging and paddling demands. Usual whip is a 7’8 x 21 x 2 7/8 single to double (really like the punch and release of soft diamond tails) with mild V carried forward, tip and tail rocker at 6 (steep drops) and 2 5/8, thruster fin cluster set at 4/12 which helps leverage those mid face speed pumps from the forward cockpit.
Speaking of thursters, have yet to get it together on a quad…have tried a couple with different fin combo’s, just never felt I could tap the mid face carve like with a thruster.
I think my stance came from starting on 1970’s single fins, and then watching Curren at Rincon in the 80’s. NOTHING feels better than driving a high line frontside, and grabbing that rail and fully committing to a cutback. You start high at the lip, and draw an arc down into the trough. Low down stance most of your weight on the front leg and pulling G’s like a racecar on a banked track.
You know when you’re doing a front leg cutback the right way when the nose of your board is pointing down the wave face. Back leg cutback, the nose is pointed at the sky. Front leg, the nose is down the fins are up, and you’ve got a tail like a water skiier.
The back leg guys might come around faster, with the little tail slide, but that’s just a little skid compared with what could be done. Blowing out a spray that is still in the air after after you’ve banked off the whitewater.
The only thing that makes it better is the look on some kid’s face saying “How’d that old guy do that?”
as you get older, just need to adjust your equipment.