Jerry jealous of the reef access!!
I too had the same question on what “boxy” meant.
I find on thick, hollow, heavy, steep waves I always angle it if I make it, and I too struggle if my board goes straight - Keramas in Bali is my first thought which was amazing, but a challenge for me and I angled every wave I made quite a bit- but I found uluwatu, which was a thinner lip, I could go a little straighter. I was never sure if this was just me, my skill level and my fear with a heavy wave like that, making the shoulder look all the more tempting to me, or whether I had the right approach on the heavy waves I was making.
Usually, these are not the kind of waves I access mind- beach break is closer to me! 🤣
Commented on Man! Feeling really defeated. I wish ...
13 Sep 13:38
John Dennis as someone who formally had this issue for over a decade, I feel you!!
The bigger and stronger the wave, the faster you need to paddle to catch it - I beleive it’s mathematically impossible to paddle fast enough on a shorter board after quite small size (don’t quote me on this!)- hense why the Oreo and wave selection is so important! Not sure what you ride, but on a short board, gravity is my friend. If you’ve caught it, even if you aren’t standing yet, often you should be dropping down the wave! You could try body surfing on your board to test this!
Often, for me, it was less about my pop up, and more about my technique (Oreo) and position (deep enough!) and wave selection (steep enough), so I’m popping up lower down the face and letting gravity and the Oreo do the work, rather than leaning forward while stress paddling and being pulled up the wave over the falls by the time I pop up! Learning this was a game changer for me. Some smooth strokes is often all it needs then! There’s some tutorials on catch more waves and ocean IQ that are super duper helpful!
For me, there was a psychological component too as smaller waves felt easier to take risks but I’d end up over the falls hesitating or sitting out of position as size increased - which the surf psychology course is helpful for!