I found this on YouTube and I think it will get a few wry chuckles (and winces!) from people 🤔

5 Things Surfers Don’t Tell You About Paddling Out...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYSzPF0T7S0

Excuse the length of this, but, for 21 years (yes, twenty one bl**dy years!), I've been surfing and, in all that time, getting to my feet has been an issue.

I could kneel on my back leg and stand up, I recently worked out how to push up on the front knee, get my back foot under me, step the front foot through and stand up and, of course, I can do a completely ungainly "scramble to my feet and hope I can keep my balance and not fall off...!" 😕

But, in all that time, I've only ever done multi-stage moves and, despite watching lots of videos and practising different techniques etc, I've never been able to do that smooth, single movement onto my feet and up. 

Recently, following my surfing holiday at Croyde where (once again) my back started acting up during sessions, I've been doing more back raises, pikes and knee-to-chest tucks on my Swiss Ball etc to try to get a bit more strength in my back and core.

Also, during the recent session at Bracklesham, I kept missing waves when trying to do the "front knee, back foot" walk up, because I ended up pushing down on the back of the board too much, so it was making the nose pitch up meaning I couldn't get the front foot through and the board would stall. 

So I was watching one of the old Zoom Lives today (and fell asleep half way through!) but when I woke up, I was thinking about the Bracklesham session again and wondering how I could get more forward to keep the nose down as I walked up, to let me get my foot through and stop me losing the wave.

I experimented with a few things, then tried just pushing up on my toes and lifting my hips, when something like this happened:

 https://youtu.be/MdRlbwrM8FA 

Ok, that's actually after already having done a few tries, but somehow I finally found out that I could actually Walk Up as a Pop Up, getting the back foot to land first, followed by the front, and get upright!!! 👍 

It's not perfect in the video (I know my head is moving around too much and drops at one point instead of staying looking up and forward) but I was concentrating more on just getting the basic feel of the technique and I'll work on the details later.

I don't know why I've never been able to get that before and I'm only currently doing it off my toes as I can't yet do it from my knees as if I was on a short board, but, hell, after 21 years, I'll take any win I can get!

So, take it from me, if you think you can't do something, just keep doing what you can and, one day, you might just surprise yourself! 🤙

The remains of Hurricane Erin were throwing some big swells towards the UK today, which looked promising.

Unfortunately it was also sending 20mph+ winds across too, meaning the big swells were turning into blown-out, close-out mush :( 

But I decided to go down to Bracklesham to get back on the Ombe Ambassador 6'11 board that Clay shaped for me a year or three ago and which I hadn't ridden for a while.

Firstly, in a fit of enthusiasm when I got there, I decided to try to get out the back, but the conditions were just hectic for me, however I did manage to (sort of) achieve a few duck dives (Yay!) but...

... Important technique note: If you lose control of the board in a duck dive, it's a really good idea not to try to catch it in your teeth!

Ouch :( 

One slightly split lip (but no damaged teeth later), I decided to stay on the inside in the foam.

I was hoping that my recent experience with doing a short-board walk-up on my 8'2 Torq would help, except I was having great difficulties even catching anything.

Despite my best attempts to do the Oreo technique, so often either I was too far back so the wave just didn't push me, or I was too far forward and nose-diving.

Even when I did catch something, I wasn't managing the walk-up because as I was pushing down with my front knee, the nose of the board would pitch up, causing me to either lose the wave or not be able to get the front foot through. 

I did catch a few eventually and was actually in the right position for the webcam, so I could do a video I've wanted to do for a while.

Ok, the walk up wasn't great on this one either, but I was getting stacked on the front foot and being a lot more relaxed and stable. 

https://youtu.be/hZbAJzT-RXk

So it wasn't a great day, but at least there were some positive benefits from it.

Recently I got back from from 10 days holiday at Croyde in North Devon, although I actually spent a fair amount of it surfing at Saunton (the next beach along) because it has a more mellow wave.

I have to say that this was the best surfing I've had in over 20 years, the conditions were generally clean and with easy breaking waves which gave me the opportunity to practice without having to worry about wind chop or close outs.

Not only was I getting my shortboard walk-up working (I was using it for practice even though I mostly rode my 8'2!), but I was getting more stacked on the front foot and managed to compress and extend along the wave face.

Frustratingly, on the day I did my best surfing, I had forgotten to take my GoPro with me and I wasn't in the right place to get footage from the surf camera, but Hadyn Wood was there and witnessed it!

I also got to try out a better skate park than my usual one, which I did get some video of (will follow up with this in a later message), but it was depressing when I watched it back, thinking I was getting up the banking with my head low, only to see that the reality was a lot less impressive... 🙁

Oh well, it's an improvement anyway, so I'll take what wins I can get!

And then there are days why you wonder why you bothered to get out of bed... 🙁

So the forecast for Bracklesham was 2-3 ft at 7 seconds with a reasonable amount of push. Not great, but should have been ok and about the best you can generally expect on the south coast of the UK in summer.

There was also a forecast for cross/ onshore winds, but not blowing a hooley.

I looked at the webcams when I woke up early and decided it seemed worth it and headed down there with my 6'11. 

Two mistakes 🙁

The conditions were really messy, almost no decent sets (when there was one, I got caught inside and missed it!) and the rest of the time any semi-good wave ended up with a lump in front of it, spoiling the take off. 

Also I should have gone for the 7'6 or 8'2 board. I did think of taking one of the others, but didn't bother in the end. 

All in all, a totally frustrating experience as I had wanted to practice my shortboard walk-up, but I barely caught any waves in about 90 minutes.

The ones I did went nowhere, even if I managed to get up on them which most of the time I didn't. 

Not a great day of surfing.

I got down to the Pump Track again and this time, although it was sunny, it was a hell of a lot less humid!

I'd been checking out videos on technique and it took me a few goes to get sorted, but, eventually, I managed to achieve a new record distance 👍

Ok, it's not perfect, I'm still too much on the back foot and not getting my head low in the corners (and it was only on this run that I managed to just get over that last big hump!), but I'll take the win 🙂

https://youtu.be/JcSwEbqkzA4