Graham Marsden

Portsmouth, United Kingdom

Maria Molè I drove home and went back to sleep 😴

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Posted

17 Jul 03:54

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.

9

15 Jul 18:47

Mark Hind A good explanation and it's great to hear you managed to overcome your confidence issues and get some nice waves 👍

Your video looks good, I'd suggest lifting your elbows and extending more as you appear to be staying compressed most of the time 🙂

Scott Wagenblast OK, so I'd suggest holding the board so she can jump on it, but trying to get her to paddle in on her own to start with and just emphasise the straight legs, back arched, Oreo Biscuit technique and see how she gets on with it.

If that's not working, then push her in, but hopefully it won't be necessary.

Don't overcomplicate things, eg when you're on the beach teaching her the walk up, just have her lie down, then stand a few feet in front of her and tell her to get up and walk towards you whilst looking at you and she should pick up the technique easily 👍

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15 Jul 07:23

How old is she? It could make a difference.

15 Jul 03:30

When you're starting to walk up, your back knee is sticking out to the side, instead of coming straight forward.

Also, you end up with your hips up, but your head down, all of which tends to look very ungainly.

Look at the Walk up drills and practice that until it becomes muscle memory.

Still, when you do stand up, you're nicely stacked on your front foot 👍

It's the back hand (your coffee cup arm in OMBE training) that's the important one, bring that forward, then point the coffee cup where you want to go.

The most important thing with the front arm is to get it out of your way when you're trying to turn 🙂

Your feet should be at roughly 45 degrees to the stringer (centreline of the board) to help you balance, but also to let you twist and look back at the foam.

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13 Jul 22:26

1752409615902_Screenshot_20250713_132153_OMBE Surf~2.1752409617.jpg

For a beginner, that's looking pretty good 👍

I'd suggest the next thing to work on would be to square up your hips and shoulders so your hands are over the rails and lift your elbows so you're stacking on the front foot.

You should find this more stable and, when you want to turn, just point your hands where you want to go.

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Commented on Who's this?

11 Jul 20:35

No idea, but a fantastic coffee cup 👍

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Scott Wagenblast Yeah, I've tried various ways of going through the bends, eg coming in on the inside then heading up to the "lip" before dropping down again or staying high on the entry etc, but I've not yet found one that reliably works for me or that I can get the timing right on ☹️