for Front footed Surfers

[racer1]

Didn't see this thread before, but I too am a front footer. I think its from growing up street skating for years before I started surfing. Pushing all around my town before ever riding a surfboard. Somebody brought up Dane being front footed, I know he grew up in Bakersfield skating before moving to the coast, so that could explain it.

Boards that have worked for me:
- Stretch Superbuzz
- Stretch Quadfish
- Super Brand Fling
- Pyzel Ghost
- CI Average Joe
- Gallagher Scrapper (Santa Cruz Ozzie Wright Model)
- Any type of retro fish
- Patterson Italo Model
- Lost RNF
- White Diamond Knock Off
- Tomo Evo
- Tomo Sci Phi (OG Chopped nose)
- CI Sampler
- Tokoro Moonfish
- Arakawa SK8
- Arakawa Wombat

All had/have low entry rocker and most had a little kick in the tail.

Boards that haven't worked for me:
- So many.
- Worst board ever ridden: CI Weirdo Ripper.

All had a lot of entry rocker and/or lack of tail rocker.


On the to-order list:
- Pyzel Phantom or Gremlin
- Lost RNF Redux
- Patterson Pool Party (lower rocker Italo model)
- CI Mini

 

[casa_mugrienta]

That's interesting race.

I'm beginning to notice the same thing for myself, but the opposite.

Boards with higher entry lower tail seem to work better for me.
I feel instantly at home with this sort of rocker on any board I've ridden.

The exception would be smaller, top to bottom barrels with heavy offshore wind - low entry makes it so much easier in and the higher tail rocker is so much smoother and less fickle when it's critical. Lower tail rocker can want to track or ride up too high in the face but once it's big enough the lower tail rocker board will work fine and I don't experience that trackiness.

Outside those top to bottom waves I feel the lower entry/high tail is a crapshoot for me...some boards like the Psychedelic Germ left me feeling completely lost and unable to generate speed.

The frustrating thing about lower tail rocker boards is in smaller waves you just can't always get as vertical. They need a bigger canvas.

 

[griffinsurfboard]

The frustrating thing about lower tail rocker boards is in smaller waves you just can't always get as vertical.

Thats a design issue + fin placement.

No one goes vertical off their front foot .

 

[casa_mugrienta]

But isn't a board with more tail rocker going to be able to turn tighter in a smaller pocket?

I agree no one goes vertical of their front foot.

And I think all turns are initiated from the back foot.

 

[sushipop]

The frustrating thing about lower tail rocker boards is in smaller waves you just can't always get as vertical.

Thats a design issue + fin placement.

No one goes vertical off their front foot .

Sorry if this has been discussed before. What changes to fin placement do you make with tail rocker adjustments?

 

[Duffy LaCoronilla]

I surf heavy on the front foot. If the board I’m likes a back footed approach better i just...



.....scoot my feet back a little....

 

[griffinsurfboard]

Extra tail rocker with lower nose rocker was created in 1965 for nose riding = riding forward on the board , not the new set up

Race would gladly support local shapers if the glass shops offered what's been available on the west and east coast of the mainland for sooo long . Hawaii has some of the best conventional glassing , a 2lb eps foam shape glassed 6-6-4 tail patch , 6 bottom with Greenroom epoxy will be very durable and weigh about the same as an all 4oz poly board , I've made many of these in Hawaii .

 

[racer1]

Extra tail rocker with lower nose rocker was created in 1965 for nose riding = riding forward on the board , not the new set up

Race would gladly support local shapers if the glass shops offered what's been available on the west and east coast of the mainland for sooo long . Hawaii has some of the best conventional glassing , a 2lb eps foam shape glassed 6-6-4 tail patch , 6 bottom with Greenroom epoxy will be very durable and weigh about the same as an all 4oz poly board , I've made many of these in Hawaii .

Pfft. The last time I asked for something like that it took nearly 3 months and the cost was over $800. Rather just get a cheaper XTR in 6 weeks.

If I get a Pyzel through XTR, it's a local shaper. If I get a Patterson through XTR, it's a Hawaiian shaper.

 

[griffinsurfboard]

Pretty much what I said , no extra effort allowed

It seems things are way better there now , lots of changes have occurred .

 

[everysurfer]

Can someone please explain to me how they are front footed?

I'd love to know how a person turns a board off their front foot.

That's a front- footed cutback from decades ago. Lean forward into the turn like a Giant Slalom turn snow skiing. Hips lead the turn.

Not only was I a better surfer back then, but I had more hair too.

 

[Havoc]

nice turn everysurfer

 

[racer1]

I definitely don't turn off my front foot but I like to lean forward when I'm driving down the line. When I go into a turn, I lean back on to my back foot, and continue to lean back through the turn.

 

[Chocki]

Most people surf too much off the tail of their boards and don’t bury the rail enough if ever. Then again they also think swinging their arms makes them turn and the Huntington hop will make them go faster. I blame thrusters.

 

[everysurfer]

The start of a front footed cutback. Shoulders and center of mass are over the front leg. Back leg is bent/ flexed, and is about to slide the tail around.

 

[frontsidegrab]

I'm sorry but from a hydrodynamic standpoint, it's all in the back foot. Unless your fins are placed way forward, the natural pivot point is rearward. The front foot obviously gets weighted but more at key times, like driving down the face for speed, or right after you karate kick your top turn with your back foot you throw your weight forward to start going back down the face. There's no way to surf vertically off of your front foot. None.
On a cutback, coming out of an extended bottom turn (which can be pretty neutral footed), as you approach the section you weight the back foot. Why? To lift the nose and start the transition to the opposite rail. As the fins engage, you start the parallel weight shift, sinking more of the rail and you end up in a more neutral position before throwing it on the back foot again to bash the lip/whitewater.
It's like riding a bike: At faster speeds, you lean the whole bike over to make the turn (rail line/rocker). At slower speeds you need to turn the wheel (more rearward pivot).
There are a lot of ways to do a cutback. But you ever try a critical full roundhouse cutback using mainly front foot pressure??

 

[Mr Doof]

Can someone please explain to me how they are front footed?

I'd love to know how a person turns a board off their front foot.

While I kinda think of myself for the most part as someone who tends to 'drop-carve-aim-weight-the-front foot' beach break rider, turns out if I look at some photos, I'm more of a heels-on-the-rails-when-going-left-on-a-wide-board kind of person.

 

[EntropyFletch]

Deep single concave with a wide-point forward outline is my go-to. I like the Pyzel Phantom/Ghost line as they all have that same deep single throughout.

 

[racer1]

Yeah I got a 6'1 ghost and works so well for me from neck high and up. Like it so much I got a 6'6 version as a step up and it's the best step up I've ever had.

Debating Phantom/Gremlin.

 

[EntropyFletch]

I'm sorry but from a hydrodynamic standpoint, it's all in the back foot. Unless your fins are placed way forward, the natural pivot point is rearward. The front foot obviously gets weighted but more at key times, like driving down the face for speed, or right after you karate kick your top turn with your back foot you throw your weight forward to start going back down the face. There's no way to surf vertically off of your front foot. None.
On a cutback, coming out of an extended bottom turn (which can be pretty neutral footed), as you approach the section you weight the back foot. Why? To lift the nose and start the transition to the opposite rail. As the fins engage, you start the parallel weight shift, sinking more of the rail and you end up in a more neutral position before throwing it on the back foot again to bash the lip/whitewater.
It's like riding a bike: At faster speeds, you lean the whole bike over to make the turn (rail line/rocker). At slower speeds you need to turn the wheel (more rearward pivot).
There are a lot of ways to do a cutback. But you ever try a critical full roundhouse cutback using mainly front foot pressure??

No one said they surf exclusively off their front foot. As you stated so eloquently above, that doesnt work. Us front-footed surfers tend to weight their front foot slightly more than their back foot, and/or lean forward putting more pressure on the front foot than a back-footed surfer does.

I also surf pretty well, at times, and wish I was more of a back-footed surfer...but I'm 40 and it is what it is at this point. Just gotta work with it and find designs that go better for me now. I prefer a lower-wider-flatter entry rocker, wide point forward, with a deep single concave to a double within in the second half of the board with some Vee out the tail to help me roll over from rail to rail since I dont have as much pressure on my back foot to drive through the turns.

 

[Aruka]

I think I used to be more back footed but at some point I started riding more lower entry shortboards and kind of adjusted to that to where I feel like I'm fairly neutral/front footed or I at least know how to be. You still have to apply back foot pressure to turn but as far as where you generate speed from I feel like some boards have more of a front or back foot bias. I can still ride a higher nose/lower tail rocker board and they feel great when it comes to surfing them but most of them feel like they plow water and don't paddle or catch waves as well that it's just not worth it to me.