How can I improve my turns in surfing?

Question

I want to know how to surf better along the wave instead towards the beach. I'm just starting to learn how to twist and turn but I need more help cos I'm quite unsuccessful.

Answer 1

Balance and good hand eye coordination is what you need.

before you go surfing, wax it good so it stays sticky and that way you can balance better on the board.

when you turn, push your weight and force your feet to stay on the board and turn along the board with your body that way you get more control. More practice..the better

Answer 2

Try helping yourself with your body, try putting your weight inside your turn and dont be afraid to push it the harder you can.

You can also buy a traction pad to help yourself to a better grab.

Answer 3

Well, look for a surf guru near the beach but you have to paid them. That's how i get use to surfing and doing twist and turns.

Answer 4

It is very hard to explain how to do it on a message board, however just keep practicing it.  Once you do it, you will know that you did it right.  You can strengthen your hips as well to give you stronger and easier time of moving your fish.

Answer 5

if you want to improve, you have to go surfing alot and each time you go out try to work on something else, that is what my surf coach tells me to do, and i go out before school sometimes

Answer 6

To turn a surfboard, you need to think about a how the dimensons of a surfboard works in the water. A surfboard planes on the water and turns by digging the rails into the water. Because of the skegs or fins, a surfboard pivots on a point slightly in front of the skegs.

You need to be able to situate your feet correctly with your back foot slightly in back of the piviot point (usually over your skegs on a short board and a little more forward on a long board). Your front foot should be well in front of the piviot point, with your feet in a comfortable, shoulder width stance. Make sure that your feet are pointing perpendicular to the direction you are moving.

To turn, you should have your weight slightly on your back foot. Lean slightly into the direction you would like to turn and try to get the rail of your surfboard to dig into the water. Use your back foot to push the tail of board down into the pivot point. Use your front foot to pull or push the front of your board in the direction of your turn. Use your rails to dig into the water and prevent your board from sliding.

If you imagine a snow board, if you just twist your body the board will "slide" in the water. You need to dig the rail into the water/snow to get an effective turn.

As you stated you need to be moving across the wave and not straight to the beach. You would like to maneuver yourself into a part of the wave to create speed: a place high on the face of the wave, to create speed. As you get more comfortable, factors like steepness of the wave face and speed of the wave will determine how sharp a turn you will be able to maneuver.

Answer 7

put your arms out and turn your head and arms and you board will follow. I usually skate ,but I do a little surfing here and there.

Answer 8

Lots of good answers here Joey. Another thing you can do is start by taking off a little sideways so that you are already kind of lined up. Then you can just lean into the wave a little bit and will be going sideways. That way you will start getting longer rides to improve your balance and experience so you have more time on each wave to practice turning. You may get pitched over the falls a couple of times at first, but that is part of the experience.