How To Fall On A Reef

You’re blissfully riding a shoulder, planning your next turn, when suddenly you see coral heads and seaweed just past the nose of your board–ah, that’s why everyone else was cutting out of the wave fifty feet before. As the reef grabs your fin and you sail through the air you contemplate a long session with hydrogen peroxide and Neosporin…

Stand Up Paddlesurfing seems much worse than longboarding for coral cuts. I think it’s because the big floaty boards tempt you deeper into trouble, or just that they don’t turn out the back of a wave very easily. I’ve become an expert at falling on a reef. I do it all the time. I’ve invested in Pfizer to offset my ointment purchases. Most surf spots include a place that can grate a few ounces off your feet knees and elbows. Here’s how to deal with a reef:

1. Stay outta there! Turn out of the wave long before you get to the shallows. Don’t straighten up and run with the foam if the wave closes out, pop out the back if you can. You might not want to get worked by the closeout, but riding the whitewater in can leave you in a much worse condition–paddling over a shallow reef with whitewater bearing down on you. Not fun.

2. Don’t fall! As soon as you see that you are well and truly screwed, step back on the board to raise the nose and brake your speed, and drop down onto your board.

3. Be one with the surface. When you fall, fall flat. Spread your arms and legs, don’t dive, fall onto your back as flat as you can. Think like a sheet of paper. Arch your back as you hit, don’t stick your butt down. Pretend you’re falling onto a bed of pitchforks–because you are. Paddle on your back until you can collect your board, crawl onto it, and beat feet.

4. Don’t stand on the reef. It doesn’t even matter if you think you see a sandy spot, there might be something there waiting to stick you. Sure, you look like a putz flopping around on your back weakly trying to get onto your board, but standing on the reef–even with booties on, it’s a sure recipe for a coral cut. You might get away with it two times out of three, but the third time can be a doozy. Perhaps a nice sea urchin spine between your toes, or a deep slice above your heel when a wave rocks you backwards.

5. Watch how you kick. Most of my cuts are on top of my toes–kicked a rock getting on, ouch! Make your body float up parallel to the surface before you kick, and then kick horizontally. Grab your board by the far edge and pull it under you. The edge of a deck pad helps with this maneuver.

6. Go with the flow. The water is heading off the reef just like you. Unless it’s taking you towards an exposed rock, you are usually best off going with the heaviest flow.

Back to it

Tough week, but I’m back home and getting back into the things I do, including Ke Nalu. I’m working on a new set of instructional articles and some fun stuff. Still looking for any and all contributions of articles, photos, great places to SUP surf or paddle.

All the best to all of you. Don’t forget to have some fun today. This ain’t a rehearsal, this is your life.

Learning From The Masters–In Photos

Laird Hamilton at Peahi

What could you possibly learn from Laird Hamilton? The guy is way beyond the understanding of we mere mortals. That’s not just goofy hero worship. Not only is he an ultimate waterman, but he’s a visionary. He’s helped to birth multiple water sports including tow-in surfing and the renaissance of stand up paddle surfing. He was the first person I ever heard say that nearly anyone could do Stand Up at some level. His first production board was aimed not at the absurd level of expertise that he and his friends are capable of, but at the absolute beginner. He charts his own course, and we all wait to see what he’s going to do next.

But the answer to the first question is: Plenty. As a very simple example, look where his rear foot is in the picture above, and look where his weight is applied. His foot is slightly towards the inside rail, all he needs to do is shift his weight to his toes to press the rail down and turn the board, but his weight is still centered, keeping the board trimmed flat and letting it accelerate.

Now look where his weight is–his foot hasn’t moved, but the board is carving hard. This technique of anticipating a turn with foot placement but not initiating the turn until you are ready seems critical in controlling our big boards at any level. Stepping forward or back on the board, shifting a foot to one rail or the other, all without shifting your weight, is the way to maintain precise control. If you step and shift weight at the same time you’ll probably over control the board which generally means you’ll fall.

Fully committed to the Turn

Observe where his weight is applied, he’s cranking the rails hard and has his weight fully in the center of the turn. Look at where his hand is on the paddle–slid way up the shaft, with the blade skimming the face of the wave, not dragging to slow him, but cutting to act as a stabilizer. Of course he’s done this a thousand times, and it’s as automatic as sneezing, but his actions show us what we need to learn.

Cutting back on the face

Now his weight is back over the center. The board is trimmed flat. You can tell from the slash above his head and the blade angle that he’s been using the paddle to brake a little to hold in the pocket. The paddle is extremely versatile. You can speed up, slow down, stabilize, lift the tail of the board, steer from the nose, any number of things that a prone surfer has to do differently or do without.

Dropping in

Wide stance, centered on the board, staying low.

Bottom turn

Pay no attention to the tons of seawater over your head… Where was I, oh yeah, notice he’s moved his foot to the inner rail to push this turn hard.

Pushing Hard

Look how much force he’s applying to the board, he’s blowing water off the bottom, and his paddle is planted as a pivot point stabilizing him so he can press even harder on the rails. look at the bend in the paddle.

Finishing the turn
Note the foot position, on the inner rail, weight centered over the turning rail, paddle skimming for stability.

A boy and his playground

Here’s an interesting paddle-handling sequence at Ho’okipa:

Skimming the paddle to steer from a forward position

Dragging and skimming

Dragging to stay in the barrel

but sometimes ya just surf

Here’s a move I copied from watching Laird and others and have since perfected to a degree for myself. For me it’s not anything this elegant, and so I call it the “whitewater flail”.

A prone surfer facing a closeout this size would be wise to dive into the face of the wave. If they try to run down the face their speed will slacken just as the lip falls on them. Not a good thing. Generally a ticket for a free ride over the falls.

But Laird uses the power of his paddle to stay ahead, and then presses the paddle back in the whitewater to lighten the tail and simultaneously keep the nose from being pushed under in a power pearl.

Your success in staying on the board in the turbulence may not be as high as Laird’s, but you won’t be going over the falls–that’s already done, finis, pau, over.

Guy must have feet like a gecko

We’ve got a lot more of this coming, courtesy of Darrell Wong, a tremendously talented photographer. You can see more of his work at www.darrellwong.com. In the next installment we’ll look at some astonishing power turns by Robby Naish (yes, he’s a hell of a good surfer, that should come as no surprise) and flatwater strokes perfected by looking at some of the best racing paddlers in the world, including ocean canoe paddlers.

In the meantime, have fun, paddle hard.

How to Paddle Straight

Kind of an old video, but a lot of people have been talking about paddling techniques lately.