Looks smooth, and I see your coffee cup arm! I’d try straightening the back, but ice improvements!

Matt Lyne I had similar thoughts of land based training- practicing daily to drill the movement as it looks a little side on presently.

Still, you got a good ride and as an OT working in a pain clinic, it’s inspiring to see someone get slipped discs and continue surfing- I’m sure not easy!

Nice Graham Marsden your building momentum from the bottom!

From my understanding/experience, getting the head low depends on the slope angle and speed- from my understanding, if it’s a steep bank and your going really fast, your head need to be low as you lean and literally can’t to stand upright on the board at that angle- if it’s a mellower slope and lower, this doesn’t really work- I’m no expert, but your lean looks appropriate for the slope and speed!

How were other people doing with catching waves that day?

It looks to me like the wave isn’t super steep and is a bit mushy so would be hard to catch there- looks like being deeper might help you!

Graham Marsden oh my! That doesn’t sound fun, but admire your determination (and relate!)

Awesome! This is a great outcome! More fitness and more fun! I always say I’d still rather surf crap waves than not surf at all!

Eng this looks like a big improvement from last time- smoother - esp the 1st and 3rd one with more speed. The slower one’s agreed with Graham, but I’d be happy with this progress 🙂

Not easy getting speed pumping from the bottom! This looks like a great start and nice arm position!

Nice! You are committing and looking fully back towards the wave!

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!