Harry, great video series. Most helpful and very entertaining. A small correction: by paddling at a 45 degree angle to the wave's travel direction, out relative velocity only drops about 30 percent (cosine 45 = 0.71). Paddling at 30 degrees only drops our relative velocity 14 percent (cos 30 = 0.86). Angeled paddling is usually a good trade off, especially if you are 63 years old. Keep up the good work.
I really like this episode. It proves what I feel in my experience in clear way. Let me provide some questions 1. What kind of sea conditions does SurfSimply choose CostaRica as a resort place? 2. When a surfboard has some tail rocker, which kind of surfboard balance would make paddle faster, keep tail to middle of surfboard horizontal in water (tail rocker will add to nose rocker and make tip above sea more) or keep surfboard tip as close to sea as possible(like spoon in water) 😁
Thanks Harry, will try your tip on paddling early for steep waves. But actually I'm a bit suprised since I see a lot of guys doing the exact opposite, sitting close to where wave brakes, doing little to no strokes and just dropping in on the take off since the wave is steep and powerfull enough.
Rail thickness. The difficulty seems to be describing the rail response in two flow states. Laminar flow when slow and turbulent flow when fast. I do not know what the transition speed would be but all boards have to live in both. Hence the difficulty explaining why it works one way in one situation differently in another. I have heard many shapers talk about flow but do not seem to understand the differences, hence mixed messages. Soft rails encourage laminar flow at higher speeds which makes them hold longer as speration is much harder. Hard rails encourage turbulent flow so separation occurs at lower speeds. Cheers
Question that's bothering me for a while: On takeoff, how do you decide going down the face then bottom turn, or angle it right from the beginning and start going down the line immediately? What situations or wave shapes call for which tactic? In general, I want to understand some "principles" for drawing good lines (drawing from the wave's energy) so that I can make these decisions myself. Thank you!
Its the horizontal slope of the wave. A sloping wave will peel slower so you have time to bottom turn. If there's a lot of slope, then you have time to bottom turn and top turn. If there's very little slope, you angle and pump for speed until you see a flatter section, then cutback. See this. ruclips.net/video/73hmhBxJ0eE/видео.html
The wave or break doesn't really matter. You have to determine that in take off. When you take off you can tell when you're haulin ass so use that time to go down and hit your bottom turn. If you take off and you're having to start working the wave, then you need to generate speed first. After you start bottom turning from take off, you'll start to feel when it's right. You'll feel your bottom turn generate speed too when it's right. 🤙😷🇺🇲
Omg…that explanation of wind energy transfer relating to formation of waves and white capping was utterly 🤯!! That was a great question. It’s something I’ve often wondered about myself, and your explanation was perfectly communicated. Thanks as always Sir Harry (you are a Knight after all 😉). 🙏💛🤙🏼🏄♂️
Such a cool video! Thank you for actually diving into the physics behind wind speed and whitecaps, plus all of the discussion in past videos about buoyancy vs. dynamic lift.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and inviting useful discussion Steeper / faster waves is one of my current focus areas, so this has given me a few things to work on practically
Thanks, Coach, for addressing my comment toward discussing rail thickness. Now I see where board width plays a role in rail function as well. Increasing dimension "A" calls for a countering reduction in dimension "B" where both in turn must be balanced against dimensions "C", "D", "E".. ( width, rail thickness, differential rockers, outline curve, etc).. which add up to a few simple conclusions: try different boards, pray for a shaper or salesperson who asks lots of questions, trust their experience and go back for tweaks, 'cuz this stuff is subtle and complex.. and you still have subjective feelings about how you want to surf which explains my overblown quiver 🤪😄! As for wave development, in light of all the science involved, next time i'm asked how waves form, i'm just sayin' " it's the moon, kid" and then beat a hasty retreat. You're a brave and dogged man, Harry, here's to ya.
Thanks for the insightful reply! Will definitely try sitting further outback and paddling early to get my speed up for the quick "goldilocks" zone. Also appreciate the insight into wind contribution to wave generation. Hadn't considered the compressive effects in addition to skin friction. Super helpful.
We've been getting some good swells in NY but the waves jack up quick! I have two boards, 53ltr and 40ltr. Haven't gotten used to the timing for the 40 but I have the "boyant rail" problem with the 53. It's also quite a wide board. The lift explanation makes some sense, it's like I'm planing sideways when I'm going fast and trying to set the rail. When I can get in, the lower volume board is way easier to make a steep drop. It has a finer rail.
Harry, thank you for your videos. I m riding a 7'6 55 liters Superfish. I m watching videos of wsl pro surfers paddling for waves, do I have to see shortboarders or longboarders competitors to learn?
Great vid, thanks Harry. I was checking out Mason Ho, riding a fish on a slab, and I noticed he was putting his leading hand way forward when he popped up. I've heard of doing this before to help bring the front leg through on the pop up. But, is he doing this more to help with weight shifting on the pop up? It looks like his front foot is landing right behind his front hand and I was thinking this looks like a really good way to shift your weight forward on the drop. Am I on the right track thinking this? Thanks!
Thicker rails don’t have to be elyptical as shown. Rail foil varies along the board. A thinner rail can „knife“ into the water easier. It depends on the kind of wave(board Speed) the rail is supposed to work in. In big powerful waves it is harder for the rail to sink in. The resistance to sinking is than matched or has to be overcome by the effort the rider has to put in to put the board on rail which is also dependent on board width , rider foot size and rider height. That’s what makes board design so tricky. Just my 2 cents🏄♂️😎
Hey Harry. I loved the explanation on how onshore wind affects the process of wave breaking. What role offshore and cross-shore wind gusts play on this process? Thx
I have a question! What makes one beach break a better surf spot than one that might be only a couple of miles away? And how can I read breaks in such a way that I might find a less crowded, but still decent break? Thanks for all your videos!!
Don't forget Bernoulli's as the wind passes over the top of the wave creating a low pressure zone and 'sucking' the wave up. This would be true even for an offshore breeze too.
The effect will happen at any windspeed (relative to the wave). At what point it becomes noticeable, I have no idea, water is pretty heavy so you're probably right. I'm just saying it's another mechanism wind would add energy to a wave.
Question regarding angled take off, I seem to struggle with my rail catching in the face of the wave and so i go up the wave and then get tossed or flipped because I can't get down the wave face when i'm angled 30 degrees or more. Am I just not paddling fast enough? What about if i feel myself catch the wave, and i'm still on my belly, my instinct is to pull the rail closest to the beach up and dig the rail into the wave face which seems to slow me down and i go up the face and either back off the back of the wave or get rolled over if the wave is breaking on top of me. How do I approach that situation or feeling or should I just not be in that spot.
I´ve noticed a lot of surfers pumping at the bottom of waves to get past whitewater sections. I know how to pump along an unbroken wave, but struggle to do it at the bottom of the wave with a broken section in front of me. Any tips on how to do that?
Could use some help with this too, how do you pump properly? I rock my shoulders and that seems to work ok, but I've heard people talk about weighting the backfoot and then kinda "jumping" or is it all about rail to rail?
@@tcl12gage pump a piece of cardboard on hardwood floors. If you wiggle, you won't go anywhere. If you bend your knees and thrust upwards with your arms, you will be able to pump the cardboard forwards.
Talking of trough to crest that is how I measure swell and wave size. Unfortunately the Hawaiian Method is unreliable. In the original endless summer when you see Waimea it’s probably like 20-35 feet. But on days in weaky sheltered Cornwall it’s by my measure 10-15 foot waves but in Hawaii they’d probably call it more like overhead or 8 feet
Its great for practicing turns and balance training. But doesn't teach you to shift your weight back to the tail on turns. Also if you wiggle for speed, it can ruin your style. Learn to pump a surfskate correctly by bending the knees and throwing your arms upwards.
@@boltup5566 good advice! I got the skate a couple of weeks ago and definitely find myself wiggling a lot in order to gain speed. Will look up the correct technic. Thank you.
Hi Harry, or anyone in the comments - What’s your advice for surfing with a 7’6 board with a decent bit of front rocker. I find that I lose a lot of speed as soon as I’m riding the wave due to the rocker..?
Hi Karthik, Myra the rocker could contribute to that, as well as the overall amount of surface area along with the straightness of the rail line that is in contact with the wave. Our two Surfing Explained episodes on Speed and Grip go into a bit more detail if you’re curious :) and you might be able to pin point exactly where the speed issue is coming from.
Well you didn't really explain the rail question. So a fuller rail will give you more lift, what is the benefit or what's the negative of having a tucked rail? I get lift in the full rail but what does that really mean for the other? I would think we all want lift in turns do why do they even tuck the rail then? 🤔😷🇺🇲
Related question...when waves are steeper and larger, I find it harder to find corners. Any tips? Check this surfers of Bali example where kelly takes off in the right spot and the guy to the left is too deep. ruclips.net/video/fZCf7lkMe2k/видео.html
Harry, great video series. Most helpful and very entertaining. A small correction: by paddling at a 45 degree angle to the wave's travel direction, out relative velocity only drops about 30 percent (cosine 45 = 0.71). Paddling at 30 degrees only drops our relative velocity 14 percent (cos 30 = 0.86). Angeled paddling is usually a good trade off, especially if you are 63 years old. Keep up the good work.
I really like this episode. It proves what I feel in my experience in clear way.
Let me provide some questions
1. What kind of sea conditions does SurfSimply choose CostaRica as a resort place?
2. When a surfboard has some tail rocker, which kind of surfboard balance would make paddle faster, keep tail to middle of surfboard horizontal in water (tail rocker will add to nose rocker and make tip above sea more) or keep surfboard tip as close to sea as possible(like spoon in water)
😁
Thanks Harry, will try your tip on paddling early for steep waves.
But actually I'm a bit suprised since I see a lot of guys doing the exact opposite, sitting close to where wave brakes, doing little to no strokes and just dropping in on the take off since the wave is steep and powerfull enough.
The irony of the random, steep wave of a hair curl on the back of your head, say, around the 3:35 mark is wonderful!
Rail thickness. The difficulty seems to be describing the rail response in two flow states. Laminar flow when slow and turbulent flow when fast. I do not know what the transition speed would be but all boards have to live in both. Hence the difficulty explaining why it works one way in one situation differently in another. I have heard many shapers talk about flow but do not seem to understand the differences, hence mixed messages.
Soft rails encourage laminar flow at higher speeds which makes them hold longer as speration is much harder.
Hard rails encourage turbulent flow so separation occurs at lower speeds.
Cheers
Question that's bothering me for a while:
On takeoff, how do you decide going down the face then bottom turn, or angle it right from the beginning and start going down the line immediately?
What situations or wave shapes call for which tactic?
In general, I want to understand some "principles" for drawing good lines (drawing from the wave's energy) so that I can make these decisions myself.
Thank you!
Great question, please answer this one Harry!
Its the horizontal slope of the wave. A sloping wave will peel slower so you have time to bottom turn. If there's a lot of slope, then you have time to bottom turn and top turn. If there's very little slope, you angle and pump for speed until you see a flatter section, then cutback. See this. ruclips.net/video/73hmhBxJ0eE/видео.html
deep and steep or late and strait.
The wave or break doesn't really matter. You have to determine that in take off. When you take off you can tell when you're haulin ass so use that time to go down and hit your bottom turn. If you take off and you're having to start working the wave, then you need to generate speed first. After you start bottom turning from take off, you'll start to feel when it's right. You'll feel your bottom turn generate speed too when it's right. 🤙😷🇺🇲
@@boltup5566 the video is private :/
Omg…that explanation of wind energy transfer relating to formation of waves and white capping was utterly 🤯!! That was a great question. It’s something I’ve often wondered about myself, and your explanation was perfectly communicated. Thanks as always Sir Harry (you are a Knight after all 😉).
🙏💛🤙🏼🏄♂️
Such a cool video! Thank you for actually diving into the physics behind wind speed and whitecaps, plus all of the discussion in past videos about buoyancy vs. dynamic lift.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and inviting useful discussion
Steeper / faster waves is one of my current focus areas, so this has given me a few things to work on practically
Came for the surf lesson, stayed for the physics lesson. Absolutely brilliant! 🙏
Thanks, Coach, for addressing my comment toward discussing rail thickness. Now I see where board width plays a role in rail function as well. Increasing dimension "A" calls for a countering reduction in dimension "B" where both in turn must be balanced against dimensions "C", "D", "E".. ( width, rail thickness, differential rockers, outline curve, etc).. which add up to a few simple conclusions: try different boards, pray for a shaper or salesperson who asks lots of questions, trust their experience and go back for tweaks, 'cuz this stuff is subtle and complex.. and you still have subjective feelings about how you want to surf which explains my overblown quiver 🤪😄! As for wave development, in light of all the science involved, next time i'm asked how waves form, i'm just sayin' " it's the moon, kid" and then beat a hasty retreat. You're a brave and dogged man, Harry, here's to ya.
Thanks for the insightful reply! Will definitely try sitting further outback and paddling early to get my speed up for the quick "goldilocks" zone. Also appreciate the insight into wind contribution to wave generation. Hadn't considered the compressive effects in addition to skin friction. Super helpful.
We've been getting some good swells in NY but the waves jack up quick! I have two boards, 53ltr and 40ltr. Haven't gotten used to the timing for the 40 but I have the "boyant rail" problem with the 53. It's also quite a wide board. The lift explanation makes some sense, it's like I'm planing sideways when I'm going fast and trying to set the rail. When I can get in, the lower volume board is way easier to make a steep drop. It has a finer rail.
Thank you Harry for another great and insightful video!!
Hi Harry, you are really a legend ! Would you have any drills for awareness of correct feet position when generating speed/doing turns ? Thanks
Harry, thank you for your videos. I m riding a 7'6 55 liters Superfish. I m watching videos of wsl pro surfers paddling for waves, do I have to see shortboarders or longboarders competitors to learn?
Great vid, thanks Harry. I was checking out Mason Ho, riding a fish on a slab, and I noticed he was putting his leading hand way forward when he popped up. I've heard of doing this before to help bring the front leg through on the pop up. But, is he doing this more to help with weight shifting on the pop up? It looks like his front foot is landing right behind his front hand and I was thinking this looks like a really good way to shift your weight forward on the drop. Am I on the right track thinking this? Thanks!
Thanks so much for the videos. Chapa From San Bernardo beach Town Argentina
Thicker rails don’t have to be elyptical as shown. Rail foil varies along the board. A thinner rail can „knife“ into the water easier. It depends on the kind of wave(board Speed) the rail is supposed to work in. In big powerful waves it is harder for the rail to sink in. The resistance to sinking is than matched or has to be overcome by the effort the rider has to put in to put the board on rail which is also dependent on board width , rider foot size and rider height. That’s what makes board design so tricky. Just my 2 cents🏄♂️😎
Hey Harry. I loved the explanation on how onshore wind affects the process of wave breaking. What role offshore and cross-shore wind gusts play on this process? Thx
add the crowd and double ups in the take off part and reminds me of mission impossible
I have a question! What makes one beach break a better surf spot than one that might be only a couple of miles away? And how can I read breaks in such a way that I might find a less crowded, but still decent break? Thanks for all your videos!!
Hi Harry! Great episode as usual.
One question: Is there a relation between swell size and period, to estimate the time between wave sets?
Don't forget Bernoulli's as the wind passes over the top of the wave creating a low pressure zone and 'sucking' the wave up. This would be true even for an offshore breeze too.
If there is enough wind to 'suck' water upwards I suspect it is too much wind for a surfboard to be out there?
The effect will happen at any windspeed (relative to the wave). At what point it becomes noticeable, I have no idea, water is pretty heavy so you're probably right. I'm just saying it's another mechanism wind would add energy to a wave.
Question regarding angled take off, I seem to struggle with my rail catching in the face of the wave and so i go up the wave and then get tossed or flipped because I can't get down the wave face when i'm angled 30 degrees or more. Am I just not paddling fast enough?
What about if i feel myself catch the wave, and i'm still on my belly, my instinct is to pull the rail closest to the beach up and dig the rail into the wave face which seems to slow me down and i go up the face and either back off the back of the wave or get rolled over if the wave is breaking on top of me. How do I approach that situation or feeling or should I just not be in that spot.
Got yourself a board rubber I see (whiteboard eraser)!!
Aw, Harry, where are your cosine tables? @ 8:01 component of velocity vector perpendicular to the wave at a 45 degree takeoff angle is what again ?
I´ve noticed a lot of surfers pumping at the bottom of waves to get past whitewater sections. I know how to pump along an unbroken wave, but struggle to do it at the bottom of the wave with a broken section in front of me. Any tips on how to do that?
Could use some help with this too, how do you pump properly? I rock my shoulders and that seems to work ok, but I've heard people talk about weighting the backfoot and then kinda "jumping" or is it all about rail to rail?
@@tcl12gage pump a piece of cardboard on hardwood floors. If you wiggle, you won't go anywhere. If you bend your knees and thrust upwards with your arms, you will be able to pump the cardboard forwards.
Talking of trough to crest that is how I measure swell and wave size. Unfortunately the Hawaiian Method is unreliable. In the original endless summer when you see Waimea it’s probably like 20-35 feet. But on days in weaky sheltered Cornwall it’s by my measure 10-15 foot waves but in Hawaii they’d probably call it more like overhead or 8 feet
Hey Harry. Any insight on surfskate as a method to improve our surfing?
I've got one and love it. Can't recommend it enough
Its great for practicing turns and balance training. But doesn't teach you to shift your weight back to the tail on turns. Also if you wiggle for speed, it can ruin your style. Learn to pump a surfskate correctly by bending the knees and throwing your arms upwards.
@@boltup5566 good advice! I got the skate a couple of weeks ago and definitely find myself wiggling a lot in order to gain speed. Will look up the correct technic. Thank you.
@@franciscozumbado ruclips.net/video/qdkvqMwrkCI/видео.html
Another good one: ruclips.net/video/v7VH6X793ho/видео.html
Is it possible to surf too light on your feet? I can elaborate if you need clarification.
Hi Harry, or anyone in the comments - What’s your advice for surfing with a 7’6 board with a decent bit of front rocker. I find that I lose a lot of speed as soon as I’m riding the wave due to the rocker..?
Hi Karthik,
Myra the rocker could contribute to that, as well as the overall amount of surface area along with the straightness of the rail line that is in contact with the wave. Our two Surfing Explained episodes on Speed and Grip go into a bit more detail if you’re curious :) and you might be able to pin point exactly where the speed issue is coming from.
like you 3000 times🥰
Gosh you know a lot
Well you didn't really explain the rail question. So a fuller rail will give you more lift, what is the benefit or what's the negative of having a tucked rail? I get lift in the full rail but what does that really mean for the other? I would think we all want lift in turns do why do they even tuck the rail then? 🤔😷🇺🇲
FRENCH ÉPISODE PLEASE!!!!!
Related question...when waves are steeper and larger, I find it harder to find corners. Any tips? Check this surfers of Bali example where kelly takes off in the right spot and the guy to the left is too deep. ruclips.net/video/fZCf7lkMe2k/видео.html