Here’s an amalgam of technique pointers culled from the Coastalsurvey Water Closet, er, Library of Knowledge:
* Look where you will start the turn; know where you will finish the turn
* Come back to your balance position between turns
* Synchronize the amplitude of your turns with the wave’s speed — you can’t hack big REOs from two-foot chop
* Gravity is your friend, use it to get the board out of the lip and down the face ASAP
* On big drops, chase gravity down the face of the wave
* Don’t hop for speed — roll the board from rail to rail with a heel-to-toe motion to flow into more speed. Keep the action below the hips and the weight on the back half of the rail. Apply a little pressure through the middle of each mini-turn and speed will be generated off fin and bottom pressure.
* The backside top turn should be placed in the upper third of the wave, in the curve of the lip
* Watch the tip of your board through the backhand top turn and drive out of the turn
* Stall paddle when you’re caught inside by a big set. In a headbutting contest, the ocean always wins. Just hold your position through the onslaught with an easy seaward stroke and lots of duckdiving. Save your energy to sprint for the horizon during the lull.
* Duckdiving big waves: get as deep as possible and project back to the surface. Drop your front knee over the rail and let your foot slide up the board as you press the board under the water; the tail should be higher than the tip as the wave hits — it will force you deeper. As the wave passes, push the tail down with your foot and pull the board closer to your chest; that should project you and the board back to the surface fast.
* Learn the reefs and points where you surf — wave knowledge is key. Study a new reef before you jump in: look for the holes, where the water is moving out
* Know where the wave will tube and go there
* Turn into the tube
* Carry speed through the turn
* Think ahead of your body; have an idea what the next section will do and how you will meet it
* Position yourself in the barrel with a little room to pump the board for speed
* Push off the top of the pitching lip to land a floater
* In a cutback, push the hips forward and the shoulders back to avoid bogging the front half of the board; work the legs through the turn.
* Top turns are dictated by wave shape: a vertical section can be met with a straight-up attack; fatter waves need rounder turns
* Try surfing switchfoot — it helps your surfing
* In a backhand tube, turn your head to sight down the line and get it close to the face to avoid being clipped by the lip
