HEALED, but SO FRUSTRATED!

Picture is not me, but showing it's possible with those lumpy waves!

The good news is that after almost completely stopping surfing from August 2023 to May 2024, I healed my hip and ankle, thanks to great advice from Adam Knox to work with Michael Rintalla. An X-ray and MRI confirmed a bad situation on my right (front) leg hip labrum. With tons of diligent DNS work and some PT, my hip is good. Then, I had ankle surgery to "remove loose bodies" floating around my ankle joint. So, physically, I think I'm better than ever, but...   

I just started surfing a bit, and I'm so frustrated!

My hip is great, but I can't take off. I'm just not committed to catching the waves.

Is there any instructional material here on surfing choppy waves from multiple swells?

Here's the Surfline swells:

Overhead to well overhead, 6-8ft, FAIR

Swells: 5.9ft, 11s, NW, 326º; 0.6ft, 7s, NE, 44º; 3.9ft, 7s, E, 94º

I even tried riding a step up, 7'2, but that was not enough.

I'm completely humiliated!

And here's a video of what it looked like: https://youtu.be/b5r9nYT1JmQ

Am I too far forward on my shortboard when I'm paddling for waves?

Hi folks, I got a new board a few weeks back and I've been out on it a few times in waist to shoulder high waves. It paddles nicely and catches waves without issues. The shadow of my wetsuit has started to form on the wax and you can see the chest and the knee imprints. On take off when I get to my feet, my leading foot is roughly where my chest was and my trailing foot is roughly where my knees were (see the arrows in the pic). The board is 5'9 and I am 5'6, so maybe it is not surprising that my trailing foot ends up in front of the traction pad instead of on the traction pad. After take off I generally try to move my trailing foot back and thus widen my stance. If I try to position myself further back the board while paddling it just feels all wrong and makes me reluctant to experiment with a further back position.

What do people think? Do you change paddling position based on the power of the waves or always keep the same position?

Following the last Live Chat, I'm working on Pushing the Shopping Trolley to give myself a bit more height and speed on the ramp.

Any helpful comments or suggestions would be welcomed 🙂

https://youtu.be/seqb4RGiJRo

Hi! I'll be in Indo in one month approx. I am looking for help selecting the board I should choose. I am a intermediate/lower intermediate surfer, I can do non radical turns in the waves (which I would like to improve/radicalize) and I can get inside of barrels but haven't properly gotten out of one.

I like decently sized waves and I'm looking to get into bigger stuff while there, though I haven't ever been in anything proper big, and probably won't be on this trip.

I am 1m83cm and weigh around 80kg and I am in good(ish) paddling shape.

I was thinking Indo rocket from Jim Banks, around 6'2 6'3 but this is my first time in Indo and first time surfing proper shallow reef so I am totally open to suggestions and recommendations.

I am looking for all rounder that shines when the surf is good and one I can get a proper barrel if the opportunity arises.

If there's any more info needed please let me know, thank you very very much in advance.

Best,

Trufa

Thoughts on adding a tail pad to a mid length?  Just got a 7’ custom mid length that is geared a little more toward the performance side.  So plan on doing more than just trimming down the line.  But if we are mostly weighing to the front foot on our turns, does it make sense to still have a tail pad?