Looking at My Feet (Capitola)

After I suggested to my co-worker David that he join me for dawn patrol, he made a dash to buy booties and a hood at lunchtime yesterday, but alas, had to bail last minute for a forgotten early meeting. I was a bit glad after the fact, because this morning I really wanted to sort out my front foot issue: what do I need to do differently, to keep it from sliding forward and putting me in a sting-bug stance?

I consulted by email with coach Barry and my old surfing buddy Dwayne, a good shortboarder who lives in SoCal now. Barry said if my front foot moves forward, I need to move the back one up as well. He also told me to make sure my shoulders and hips are parallel to the stringer, unlike in this picture, and recommended watching some surfing videos (my favorite homework) and trying to emulate on the Bosu. Dwayne said that on his shortboard, he primarily shifts his weight and most of the time his feet don't move. His stance is dictated by his back foot, which is usually in the middle of his pad, with the front foot a constant distance away. He also told me that where his feet end up is dictated by where his body is when he's paddling for a wave.

After messing around on the Bosu last night and with all that commentary mulling about in my head, I found some under-head-high waves at Capitola to try to sort out the problem. Capitola is known as a longboard break, but when the swell is big enough, there are smaller shortboardable waves on the inside. With a cluster of longboarders sitting far out, I had them pretty much to myself. Perfect.

My goal was a high wave-count, so I wasn't being picky on selection. I just wanted to try stuff and see what happened, without ever letting myself go stink-bug. On one wave, I wiggled both feet forward a bit. I paddled into another with my body slightly farther forward and a high back arch, then popped up with my feet closer to the nose. And I tried shifting my weight forward instead of moving my front foot. I found that my back foot seems to be either on the front of my traction pad or just ahead of it on the waxed board. At 6'2", maybe Rocky is still too much board for me.

I rode a bunch of chest-high waves, mostly rights and many whitewatery, but a couple of decent ones with some face. Then I was caught inside during a long set and spent what felt like 10 minutes trying to get back out, waiting for a lull that wouldn't come and ineffectually attempting to duck-dive the punchy whitewash. I think I need to learn how to duck-dive soon, or else buy a Wave Jet (kidding!). I got one more wave and fought my way back out for a last little one in to the beach, all the while still concentrating on positioning. I should've left myself the last half hour or so to just have fun, but instead I'll make Sunday my fun day.

After all that, I have a theory. Thinking like a systems engineer, it came together for me when I stopped looking only at my feet and considered the bigger picture, the whole surfer/surfboard system. To shift my center of gravity forward and keep the board planing, I could move my feet toward the nose, or I could weight my front foot more heavily in situ. So why didn't weighting it seem to have enough effect? I think it was my stance; too upright, with not enough flex in my knees. When I got lower, it was much easier to shift weight forward, bending my right knee over my front foot. I'll test my theory in a few days in more challenging surf. 

Surfline: Clean, long lines with some open corners. Solid Westerly swell (260-300) backs down through the day. For the dawn patrol, most better exposures continue to offer up head high to a few feet overhead surf. Conditions are looking nice and clean with light northerly winds. Buoy 46012: (Wave) SWELL: 9.8 ft at 13.8 s WNW 15 / WIND WAVE: 1.0 ft at 3.4 s WNW / WVHT: 9.8 ft / APD: 9.9 s / MWD: 287° (Met) WSPD: 4 kn / GST: 6 kn / WVHT: 9.8 ft / DPD: 14.0 s / WDIR: 20° / ATMP: 53° F / WTMP: 53° F. Tide: 2.5' rising to 4'.