Wishing a happy birthday to Clayton Nienaber 🤙

Following my previous post, last Sunday was a "surf social" event that a local group organises and they had someone taking photos, so here's a couple of shots of me.

Unfortunately the conditions were pretty rubbish, there was some ground swell, but it was windy and there was a lot of chop that spoiled the waves.

I'd decided to take my webbing strap to practice the stick surfing drills and try to get more stacked over the front foot, but even though it felt a bit better, it looks like I'm still very much on my back foot.

BTW it also appears I'm looking down, but I was actually trying to read the wave in front of me.

I have been doing the Bosu ball drills, but it's just not translating into the water.

I'm not sure what to do next, should I try to get my elbows higher? Hips forward? Any suggestions would be welcome.

As you may have noticed, I post a lot on here. I've watched all the videos multiple times, I can look at other people's clips and see what they're doing and how they might improve things.

Then I see a video of myself and, despite knowing all this stuff, it looks rubbish ☹️

Here's one from last week, (ignore the crap walk up, I was getting tired), but I'm not getting stacked over the front foot, I'm not well balanced and I'm bending from the waist.

So what should I be doing to fix this?

https://youtu.be/SlpkricFNQQ

PS this is, unfortunately, about the only split screen video I could show, on most rides I was positioned too far over to get on the webcam 🙄

A while back I posted asking if anyone had tried any type of wetsuit dressing aid as I was having trouble with my Dakine 5/4/3 winter suit.

I finally managed to get in touch with Dakine and they recommended Gear Aid Neo Slix.

I've tried it a few times now and it's definitely been helpful. I found it much easier to get the wetsuit on, it helps it slide into place over my arms and shoulders and stopping it binding when I paddle.

The only slight drawbacks are firstly that the spray is a thin stream, rather than a "mist", meaning you really have to squirt it onto your hand, then rub it on your skin and the inside of the suit to get enough coverage and secondly that the bottle then tends to slide out of your hand unless you wipe your palm off first!

But apart from that, it's very helpful and you don't need to use a lot, so the bottle should last quite a while.

Also another surfer advised me of a better way to get the suit on.

What you do is get your feet into each leg, then roll it down to your knees so it's mostly inside out.

This lets you pull it up from the inside in stages, giving less friction than if you're just trying to drag it up from the outside.

Once you've got it to chest level, then use the lube to get it settled on your shoulders and arms.

Hope this helps 👍

Ho hum ☹️

Following my previous account suspension on Facebook, they have now, in their infinite wisdom (or because of an arbitrary and capricious "AI" system, more like), decided that my account was somehow (but they won't tell me how) "in violation of their Community Standards" and disabled it completely with no way to appeal 😡

I'm trying to find a way back on there again, but, until that happens, I won't be able to Admin the Surf Hacks FB Group.

This is a total pain in the proverbials, but I'll get it sorted as soon as I can 🤞

Has anyone ever tried wetsuit dressing aids such as Octacle or Slippy?

My new 5/4/3 winter wetsuit from Dakine is great, but although I can use the plastic bag trick to help get my lower arms and legs in, the thighs, torso and shoulders tend to bind and it's difficult to paddle.

I end up wasting energy fighting the resistance of the suit, no matter how I try to pull it about and get it to sit right.

I've tried messaging Dakine, but got no help there, I just don't want to use anything that could mess it up.

Any suggestions or advice would be welcome.

Today at Bracklesham it was a lovely clear winter's day, glassy smooth, running 3 feet at 18 seconds which is incredibly rare, so, despite having done a couple of hours practise at Aldershot dry ski slope yesterday, which left me feeling pretty tired, I had to get out for a surf!

There were a couple of other drawbacks, firstly, because I was working on my skiing fitness, I hadn't been swimming for ages, and, secondly, I was wearing a brand new 5/4/3 wetsuit which was nice and warm, but a real struggle to get into and these made paddling very difficult 😕

Still, I had some nice rides and, after about 90 minutes, instead of quitting, I had some sandwiches and chocolate and went back out for another 30 minutes.

In the second session, I probably did some of my best surfing ever, but my Gopro had run out of battery and the surf cam wasn't working, so unfortunately I've not got any videos ☹️

Oh well, I had a good time anyway 🤙

Here's hoping the same conditions will happen some time soon...

Good news for Surfers on the Gold Coast 🤙

https://wavepoolmag.com/the-gold-coast-wave-pool-project-with-luke-altschwager/q

Yesterday a local beach surf school which is right next to a cafe/ restaurant organised a social meeting for Surfers and paddle boarders at my nearby break.

Unfortunately conditions were virtually flat, but I got to meet a bunch of people, some of whom I'd seen whilst surfing, but not really talked to.

We started with a group warm up, then people did whatever they wanted, so a few of us got in some paddling practice up and down the beach.

Then I had a go at working on my duck diving technique, although not with much success as the board kept twisting when I couldn't get my rear foot central ☹️

Maybe next time I'll try with my knee and see if that works better.

Anyway, it was a nice get together and they hope to be doing it every couple of weeks 🤙