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16
Managing speed & timing your steps to the nose
If youâve followed along with the last 2 posts, by now you know where to be & how to get there & so the next thing to focus on is managing speed & timing your steps.
Whatever your approach, you want to land yourself on the nose just as youâre getting into the right spot on the wave. To do this, itâs important to know that standing on the front part of your board is sort of like stepping on a gentle accelerator as it helps create speed.
To illustrate this, letâs break down this clip of @shinji_dog making 3 attempts on 1 wave to get to the nose:
attempt 1:
Shinjiâs wave starts with a fade takeoff (not shown) to try & get himself in the correct position right from takeoff, but as he moves forward on his board he speeds up & falls out of position.
attempt 2:
Next he does a little check-turn stall thingy (thatâs the proper name for it đ) & gets much closer this time, but still just slightly in front of it.
This one is so interesting to analyze because Shinji is actually in the right spot, the only issue is that he still has 2 more steps to take! If he continues with those steps, he would walk out of position & most likely nosedive.
attempt 3:
The final attempt is a more exaggerated version of the last as heâs now realised he needs to make more of an effort to slow down. Shinji goes into the flats for a bottom turn with a little stall thrown in at the end. At this point the wave is travelling faster than he is. This is what allows him to walk to the nose without outrunning the pocket. As he walks forward, he picks up speed & is able to stand on the nose while positioned in the pocket.
If he didnât move forward on his board after the stall (or waited too long), he most likely wouldâve floated up & over the wave or been caught in the whitewash.
If he moved forward too soon, he wouldnât have given the wave a chance to catch up to him & probably wouldâve outran the pocket again.
Make sense?
Check out this clip for more examples:
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