Nice, that makes sense and seems similar to Clayton’s feedback to slow down a bit. Thank you Tom Tebbatt !

Graham Marsden thank you for the thoughtful comment and diagram! And I 100% agree. My hypothesis on why this happened (besides the usual caveat that I suck 😇) is:

1. I turn bottom too late which means I’m out in the flats and thus lack some lift on my approach to the top turn

2. This is bc I bogged rail on the drop and lost a second saving that and regaining neutral posture (see 0:03 - 0:04)

3. I’m guessing this is bc I popped up with my front foot off to the heelside of the stringer, so when I pushed on my front foot to drop into the wave it caused the heelside rail to bog momentarily

(My sincere apologies for my backhand 😇)

(PS it was super fast bc too small, but I did did see a great surfer make this section and it was insane. 30 seconds+ ride, multiple long barrels, hands on his head in disbelief when spitting out at the end. Beautiful to watch)

Also have an amazing time at Playgrounds! I’ll be up on Saturday 🙏

Amazing comments, thank you Emily! So glad you’ve found the Oreo helpful too, 4x wave count is 🤌

Some replies to what I think were your main points: 

1. I 100% agree on wave speed math, I can’t paddle at the speed of a wave. especially the head high barrels I’m asking about. Let’s call it 6 feet so that’s 11mph according to the Rob Case video about this, top paddlers on shortboard are only 4mph

2. I 100% agree re your point re “hard paddling” being counter-productive. I found the Rob Case video re smooth form at 60-70% effort very helpful. But this is why I’m asking if I should take MORE strokes (to build momentum), not harder strokes. sorry if my original wording wasn’t clear!

Overall, I’m just trying to figure out if I truly can try get away with 2 paddles or if that’s going to create too big a speed mismatch that the Oreo can’t handle on a sucky head-high barrel. I could imagine taking <5-7?> strokes to get me closer to planing speed so that the Oreo can do its thing lower on the face before I’m sucked up near the top of the wave and the drop gets more critical

In my case (yours may vary!) I mostly focus on:

1. Get to the peak NO SHOULDER HOPPING

2. Smooth easy stroke (with great posture - banana, legs together)

3. Feel the lift from wave bottom and know it’s my friend now that I Oreo

4. Cobra arch upper body with hands down on deck towards belly button. (I’m looking down the line, and am on rail now)

5. Feel those legs press down on the tail as I cobra and board starts accelerating

6. Take your time and Pop (I personally kept a pop not walk up)

The weight distribution seems to take care of itself if I do steps 4&5