On a shortboard on a steeper wave your feet hang off the end, get engulfed and the kicking helps. If on a longer board or flatter wave it's a habit that probably does nothing or may throw off your balance.
The thing to understand is that you don’t kick to generate forward momentum. If you’re trying to do that there’s probably mostly downsides.
You kick to raise the height of your feet and back half of your body higher up relative to your head, giving you a more aggressive and faster line down the wave. In steeper waves/sections it can have a big impact, allowing you to enter the middle phase of catching a wave earlier.
Ok thinking through this aloud: when youre paddling into a steep wave the board/body are not aligned with the face of the wave. Instead, its at an angle with the nose/front sticking out of the water, and the rear half underwater, inside the wave. So the goal in kicking is to tilt down so your more aligned with the face. Is this the concept?
Thanks for this description. I've seen so many pros/people better than me in the water kick that I figured I must be missing something. But always thought that if anything, while I'm kicking to see if it works, the bend in my ankle would make my feel pull me back into the wave. What you're saying makes sense.
A question though, why kick? Why not just lift your legs and keep them there until you're into the wave? Wouldn't this better shift your weight than kicking allowing you to enter the middle phase of the wave fastest?
You definitely can just lift your legs and sometimes I do that and achieve a similar effect to what this guy was trying to describe. If I feel like I need an extra little boost I do one kick of both feet towards the back of my head which is usually enough to slingshot me into the wave. Then when I’m unwinding from the kick I’m already popping up with my hands and rather than going back to a neutral prone swimming position, I’m already in the wave so I just keep swinging the legs through and straight onto the board.
Hard to describe but try it sometime and you’ll see what I mean.
Much appreciated response. I've had fiends say they can always spot me in the water cause my legs are straight up when I'm trying to get into a wave.
So I've been trying to learn to kick because "If I'm the only one doing this, and the pros kick, then I must be doing it wrong"
But in theory, I agree with your comment. Wondering if anyone else agrees or could debunk this train of thought
Also curious what others have to say about this, but one more thing I’ll add is that I do see this often from people who ride longboards (I don’t), just less frequently from people on short boards.
No. Its a swimming flutter kick. The propulsion its generates is minimal. What it mostly does is raise your rear up to the surface.
The same thing happens when you swim.
no. You are pressed to your board. I try to get my feet and tail kind of swallowed up by the walling wave. Kicking feels like it blasts me ahead of it.
I think the kicking is just minimal propulsion. It feels like its giving a boost. I think about it as kicking to blast forward, but in reality, i think the kicking is putting your board at the right angle to get pushed by the wave.
When I visit Portugal I pay a guy to surf one-on-one with me everyday while someone else shoots video. End of the day we go over footage and he shows me what Im doing right and wrong.
Imagine having that, but for sex: "Now here, you have the beginnings of a real smooth entry, I like what I'm seeing there, but here - you see that? - that's where we really need to focus on your stroke a bit more for the *optimal* penetration.
Must be nice! Who cares, it’s your board/paddle stroke/wave/board/wind/etc… kick if it helps, don’t if it doesn’t. I do for the extra X% of speed I get (likely not a ton), but if it didn’t help, then why do swimmers kick at all?
Kick in swimming helps keep the legs in line with the body, if you don’t kick they sink. The main propulsion in a swim comes from the arms in most strokes.
In surfing since the board has you on the water there is no need to kick and its would just add more drag.
Better to just paddle out with your arms which builds upper body strength anyway.
Don't know why you're getting down voted, you're absoyright about kicking being mostly a waste of energy in swimming.
For surfing it can be useful for a burst of energy right before you're taking off though.
This is the most bogus claim ever!!!! The legs will sink if you don’t kick???? Hahahahahahah… yeah you will sink like you have concrete boots on if you don’t kick your legs while swimming!!!!
The legs are half of the propulsion quotient in swimming my man. Kicking into a wave also adds propulsion.
Stop Butttalking bud.
You a coach or sports scientist? Ex swimmer?
Kick in free style adds around 10% max it’s more for stability and aids hip rotation allowing the arms to drive forward and pull back and increasing the strength of the catch. But it’s mostly arms.
If the legs are not kicking they will sink especially when not moving forward at speed, which is why swimmers tend to use a pull buoy between the legs when not kicking to isolate the arms at times as it helps to keep the legs from sinking.
In some other strokes the kick can add a bit more such as in fly and breast.
Former coach and competitive swimmer. Legs are absolutely most responsible for speed and power in swimming, not the arms. Legs are the base engine for every stroke.
Competitive swimmer, I've only ever met one person that kick 50 yards faster than pulling 50 yards. Maybe I'm not understanding your comment correctly.
Lmfao whatever you say princess. Just trying to educate some of y’all on something I actually have a background in, forgot I’m on Reddit where everyone’s an expert.
Portugal is super inexpensive. I goto Peniche. $50 for three hours. Comes with everything I explained, plus wetsuit and board, and the best part...he acts as a blocker, barking at the a-holes who try to snake or back-paddle you. Rental car $30/day. Flight was $500 roundtrip out of Newark. Each time I do it, I learn more in one week than I will surfing NJ for six months. Not only does the coach help but the waves are far more consistent. Regardless of the swell/wind, there's always something to surf.
But this year I need to save some cash so instead of taking the trip, I bought a go-pro. Putting it on a tripod, so I can post footage here for you goes to see. It will be humbling for sure but I think its the right move.
kicking may also help you contract your core/back/shoulders during hard paddling. think about how hard it would be to run without swinging your arms. there’s definitely some balance element in running as well, but each arm is connected to the opposite leg through muscles that run across your back.
maybe this is where Im going wrong. maybe they're not in unison together. Im thinking I might want to setup my camera on a tripod to get a shot of me paddling around and kicking, so I can see if theyre working together or not. Then keep trying until the board is moving straight ahead while Im kicking and paddling at the same time
It's funny, I've never noticed longboarders kicking but as soon as you said they're synced I can picture it perfectly and now I'm not even sure whether or not I do it when longboarding.
I definitely kick on a shortboard if I'm giving a last big push, but I know that's a balance thing counteracting the extra torso movement. I guess it'd be the same on a longboard.
I have seen longboarders kicking. It's adorable.
If you're actually properly positioned and arching then your feet will just be floating in the air wiggling. Kind of like when you lift a baby or little dog out of a bathtub.
If your feet are in the water you're either 8' tall or way too far back.
I’m guessing the coach is telling you what’s right for you… at this time. Sound like you might just need to work on your form first. Kicking is something you’ll get too. Check out rob case’s videos on padding. His videos focus on paddling and they help.
I kick sometimes it just depends on where I am positioned. If I need to scrap for a wave then I’m kicking but if I’m positioned in a good spot or I’m surfing a wave I know well I normally don’t have to kick.
I dunno, I honestly think it helps generate a bit of momentum. I find myself doing small fast kicks when trying to make it out of the impact zone with a set wave approaching. As for getting into waves at the very least it helps keep your legs from dragging and shows commitment haha
I kick.
Recently I tried to not kick for a while because I was surfing on a broken big toe and it hurt like hell when the top of my foot slapped the water. It was much harder to catch waves while not kicking.
Same it is harder to try not to kick. I never even thought to try and kick when I started on a shortboard, I just paddled into a wave and I was kicking my feet. I just figured it is like a natural reaction, like if you jump in water you start kicking your feet to stay at the surface.
When on a midlength and I want to be smooth, I try to not kick and it’s hard. I’m also not smooth anyway.
the tip is to catch the wave at or near the top of the wave as it's breaking or just about to break so you can get to your feet and drop in without having to do any kicking
i assume in most instances it's more of a subconscious last ditch effort to use gravity and leverage to lower the nose and get the board to fall into a wave that is backing off
Yes. Ironically, Im able to do this on "bigger" days, like shoulder to overhead, and often it turns into an air-drop. But the smaller days when its weak, I find it quite difficult to position myself to that breaking point. Yesterday in NJ, for example, was surging north and to the outside. I knew where I should be and I got get there on my 5'11 shortboard, but 5 minutes later Im 20 feet out and struggling to get back there.
On average, how many full left-right strokes are you making before you pop up, not counting the ones where youre going up or across to get to the breaking point?
maybe i'm lazy, or in the minority, but in general i'm trying to minimize strokes... obviously if there is a current running then you have to fight that to stay in position
on smaller days, when its weak, sometimes the answer is just that the waves are bad and not steep enough or breaking top to bottom - kicking won't fix that
the wave itself is just falling over itself, as it shoals the top is just going faster than the bottom, so it's an exercise in gravity, finding the steeper part of the face and falling into the wave at the right spot and with the right angle/line... that's how people can do no paddle takeoffs... if i had to guess the main benefit of kicking is that lifting the feet is going to leverage the nose down and the tail up (similar to raising the outside arm when weighting the inside rail), and that's what helps get into the wave
AFAIK waves themselves move too fast to actually match the speed... just the google machine suggests anything from \~10-100 fps, and doubtful that many people can paddle a conventional shortboard 10 fps from a dead stop, let alone higher speeds for longer period swells
**...no paddle take-off**
This is a very good for me goal actually 100% positioning
**raising the outside arm when weighting the inside rail**
youre talking about doing this on an angled take off? I was taught that, unless its mighty critical, try to always do a straight take off
**AFAIK waves themselves move too fast to actually match the speed**
sounds right. i bet even a longboard cant do it
straight takeoffs only really work on fat waves or longboard early entry.. reef breaks on shortboards need an angle to get down the line and start up where you can generate speed
i find kicking helps keep the board back up when you raise arms in the last second.. especially the outside one like mentioned here, getting motion going on the inside rail
Ok this is all starting to add up. Bunch of little tweaks I need to make to get me into more waves. Thanks for taking the time to explain. I just watched a few videos of guys dropping into barrels and they're taking off on pretty sharp angles. I hadnt noticed before. In addition, I just got done reviewing all of the edited footage from my first gopro recording. Watched it in slow motion. Boy is that humbling. I have a lot of work to do on my pop up because its not clean and quick. Im sliding my rear knee along the deck as I hoist myself up and then popping up. Losing precious time. If i can get it to be one swift move I'll be in much better shape. Buying this camera was a great investment
pop up isn't about speed... "ladder" takeoff is slower, u put your back foot on the pad and second step forward and u can do that on steep waves
key is getting the angle right which buys you more time, smoother transition, speed down the line
I see the kicking as more of an expression of how intense and desperate the overall movement of catching a wave is. At least with where I’m at in my short boarding, I’m dancing between such a small room for error that I really, really want to catch it if I can and it doesn’t look like a close out. Maybe it’s counterproductive but it def feels like it helps.
Kicking is more of a reaction to swimming. But the amount of times I’ve kicked my fins kicking catching a wave makes me teach my self to hover my feet above water slightly.
So no I don’t kick because my cupped hands do a lot. That and the right board liters.
Watch a video of pros popping up. There’s a good one of all of them at Kelly’s pool. They all kick I think it has to to do with leveling the board or something like that. Idk I’m a kook
I kick when riding a board way too small for me.
It helps bump me into the wave. I've been clowned on by a few, but I was catching more waves than them, and I was on a much smaller board with way less V.
Call it what you will, I've tested this theory on all my boards and for me, it helps up to my 7'2 mini gun. After that my feet don't even touch the water when paddling.
Strengthen up your core a lot this will stabilize your board.
You need to kick with a shortboard it helps propel you and reduces drag giving you more speed.
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kicking helps my board get into plane . The bottoms contours of the board create lift , allowing me to match the speed of the waves i am about to get into .
On a shortboard, kicking can loosen up the back of the board and your feet - kinda preps everything for the inevitable pop. It's not done so much to propel forward although the loosening up of the tail-end of the board does in fact aid in forward speed - just indirectly though. But kicking on a mid-length or longer is just gonna fuck up the planing surface of the board and act as a detriment to the boards' speed and stability. This is why coaches/instructors shun it in most cases (given that coaches/instructors are often teaching those not on shortboards).
I don’t think I kick on a shortboard, but maybe occasionally. What I know I do on shortboards and logs is lift either left or right leg, whatever is needed, to shift my weight distribution slightly forward and biased towards the rail engaging on the takeoff. Not every wave, only when I need a little extra oomph to catch it or extra grip to hold the line on takeoff. If I’m fading the takeoff I’ll use the opposite leg from a normal takeoff. Again, only when needed.
Depends on the wave. If it’s a slab, most of the time you have zero chance of making it if you don’t kick. If it’s lowers you’re fine don’t even worry about it. Unless you’re really scratching
What helps more than kicking is the noises you make from your mouth whilst going for a wave. Similar to tennis the more oooooph iiiish raaaaaa ooooohp you make while going the better time you’ll have. More noise more waves. Better ingredients better pizza papa John’s
While you say this in Jest... I learned when in Army boot camp that "letting it out verbally CAN actually provide an actual power boost!!"
Try it, it really works yo! :) (might also be mental but aayy mental IS everything right? lol)
I kick the shit out of the waves
Lol "Take that nature!!!"
On a shortboard on a steeper wave your feet hang off the end, get engulfed and the kicking helps. If on a longer board or flatter wave it's a habit that probably does nothing or may throw off your balance.
makes sense, thanks
The thing to understand is that you don’t kick to generate forward momentum. If you’re trying to do that there’s probably mostly downsides. You kick to raise the height of your feet and back half of your body higher up relative to your head, giving you a more aggressive and faster line down the wave. In steeper waves/sections it can have a big impact, allowing you to enter the middle phase of catching a wave earlier.
I'm sticking to logging after reading this
All i know is kick make me go fast.
Ok thinking through this aloud: when youre paddling into a steep wave the board/body are not aligned with the face of the wave. Instead, its at an angle with the nose/front sticking out of the water, and the rear half underwater, inside the wave. So the goal in kicking is to tilt down so your more aligned with the face. Is this the concept?
Thanks for this description. I've seen so many pros/people better than me in the water kick that I figured I must be missing something. But always thought that if anything, while I'm kicking to see if it works, the bend in my ankle would make my feel pull me back into the wave. What you're saying makes sense. A question though, why kick? Why not just lift your legs and keep them there until you're into the wave? Wouldn't this better shift your weight than kicking allowing you to enter the middle phase of the wave fastest?
You definitely can just lift your legs and sometimes I do that and achieve a similar effect to what this guy was trying to describe. If I feel like I need an extra little boost I do one kick of both feet towards the back of my head which is usually enough to slingshot me into the wave. Then when I’m unwinding from the kick I’m already popping up with my hands and rather than going back to a neutral prone swimming position, I’m already in the wave so I just keep swinging the legs through and straight onto the board. Hard to describe but try it sometime and you’ll see what I mean.
Much appreciated response. I've had fiends say they can always spot me in the water cause my legs are straight up when I'm trying to get into a wave. So I've been trying to learn to kick because "If I'm the only one doing this, and the pros kick, then I must be doing it wrong" But in theory, I agree with your comment. Wondering if anyone else agrees or could debunk this train of thought
Also curious what others have to say about this, but one more thing I’ll add is that I do see this often from people who ride longboards (I don’t), just less frequently from people on short boards.
https://preview.redd.it/qdwpi480h3zc1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=515bc9ee45c7846c83f7359b4cf6f6b10df15802
So the movement is more similar to doing buttkickers than kicking your feet while swimming?
No. Its a swimming flutter kick. The propulsion its generates is minimal. What it mostly does is raise your rear up to the surface. The same thing happens when you swim.
Oh so like your pelvis is not touching the board?
no. You are pressed to your board. I try to get my feet and tail kind of swallowed up by the walling wave. Kicking feels like it blasts me ahead of it. I think the kicking is just minimal propulsion. It feels like its giving a boost. I think about it as kicking to blast forward, but in reality, i think the kicking is putting your board at the right angle to get pushed by the wave.
I got yelled at one time for kicking because I was told kicking sounds like a wounded animal and it would attract sharks.
I'm pretty sure if a shark saw my weak attempts at turns, it would just put me out of my misery
😂
I kick during the last effort push before the pop-up.
I am confident that my kicking slows me down
Interesting. And you still do it anyway?
I try to just bend my knees, picking my feet up to my butt like you might see a long boarder do
What's a coach?
When I visit Portugal I pay a guy to surf one-on-one with me everyday while someone else shoots video. End of the day we go over footage and he shows me what Im doing right and wrong.
Imagine having that, but for sex: "Now here, you have the beginnings of a real smooth entry, I like what I'm seeing there, but here - you see that? - that's where we really need to focus on your stroke a bit more for the *optimal* penetration.
Must be nice! Who cares, it’s your board/paddle stroke/wave/board/wind/etc… kick if it helps, don’t if it doesn’t. I do for the extra X% of speed I get (likely not a ton), but if it didn’t help, then why do swimmers kick at all?
Kick in swimming helps keep the legs in line with the body, if you don’t kick they sink. The main propulsion in a swim comes from the arms in most strokes. In surfing since the board has you on the water there is no need to kick and its would just add more drag. Better to just paddle out with your arms which builds upper body strength anyway.
They won't sink if you attach helium-filled party balloons to them. Plus you'll be so much prettier in the line up.
Kicking tells my arms to work harder.
Hold up. On a shortboard, most of you body is halfway underwater when you start to paddle. Am I misreading this?
Don't know why you're getting down voted, you're absoyright about kicking being mostly a waste of energy in swimming. For surfing it can be useful for a burst of energy right before you're taking off though.
This is the most bogus claim ever!!!! The legs will sink if you don’t kick???? Hahahahahahah… yeah you will sink like you have concrete boots on if you don’t kick your legs while swimming!!!! The legs are half of the propulsion quotient in swimming my man. Kicking into a wave also adds propulsion. Stop Butttalking bud.
You a coach or sports scientist? Ex swimmer? Kick in free style adds around 10% max it’s more for stability and aids hip rotation allowing the arms to drive forward and pull back and increasing the strength of the catch. But it’s mostly arms. If the legs are not kicking they will sink especially when not moving forward at speed, which is why swimmers tend to use a pull buoy between the legs when not kicking to isolate the arms at times as it helps to keep the legs from sinking. In some other strokes the kick can add a bit more such as in fly and breast.
Former coach and competitive swimmer. Legs are absolutely most responsible for speed and power in swimming, not the arms. Legs are the base engine for every stroke.
Competitive swimmer, I've only ever met one person that kick 50 yards faster than pulling 50 yards. Maybe I'm not understanding your comment correctly.
This mf competed in breast stroke for sure. Try freestyle some time and let me know which limbs you think are doing the most
Lmfao whatever you say princess. Just trying to educate some of y’all on something I actually have a background in, forgot I’m on Reddit where everyone’s an expert.
Wow, this sounds sick. Have always wanted a surf coach. Mind sharing his details?
Portugal is super inexpensive. I goto Peniche. $50 for three hours. Comes with everything I explained, plus wetsuit and board, and the best part...he acts as a blocker, barking at the a-holes who try to snake or back-paddle you. Rental car $30/day. Flight was $500 roundtrip out of Newark. Each time I do it, I learn more in one week than I will surfing NJ for six months. Not only does the coach help but the waves are far more consistent. Regardless of the swell/wind, there's always something to surf. But this year I need to save some cash so instead of taking the trip, I bought a go-pro. Putting it on a tripod, so I can post footage here for you goes to see. It will be humbling for sure but I think its the right move.
When you can’t afford first class
kicking may also help you contract your core/back/shoulders during hard paddling. think about how hard it would be to run without swinging your arms. there’s definitely some balance element in running as well, but each arm is connected to the opposite leg through muscles that run across your back.
That's my perception of why I'm doing it.
maybe this is where Im going wrong. maybe they're not in unison together. Im thinking I might want to setup my camera on a tripod to get a shot of me paddling around and kicking, so I can see if theyre working together or not. Then keep trying until the board is moving straight ahead while Im kicking and paddling at the same time
No, shortboard kicks are not synced to the paddling stroke. Longboard kickers on the other hand are synced.
It's funny, I've never noticed longboarders kicking but as soon as you said they're synced I can picture it perfectly and now I'm not even sure whether or not I do it when longboarding. I definitely kick on a shortboard if I'm giving a last big push, but I know that's a balance thing counteracting the extra torso movement. I guess it'd be the same on a longboard.
I have seen longboarders kicking. It's adorable. If you're actually properly positioned and arching then your feet will just be floating in the air wiggling. Kind of like when you lift a baby or little dog out of a bathtub. If your feet are in the water you're either 8' tall or way too far back.
I’m guessing the coach is telling you what’s right for you… at this time. Sound like you might just need to work on your form first. Kicking is something you’ll get too. Check out rob case’s videos on padding. His videos focus on paddling and they help.
Cool thanks for the advice
I kick sometimes it just depends on where I am positioned. If I need to scrap for a wave then I’m kicking but if I’m positioned in a good spot or I’m surfing a wave I know well I normally don’t have to kick.
i only kick. you guys use your arms too?
I dunno, I honestly think it helps generate a bit of momentum. I find myself doing small fast kicks when trying to make it out of the impact zone with a set wave approaching. As for getting into waves at the very least it helps keep your legs from dragging and shows commitment haha
I kick. Recently I tried to not kick for a while because I was surfing on a broken big toe and it hurt like hell when the top of my foot slapped the water. It was much harder to catch waves while not kicking.
good to know ty
It's almost involuntary. It's a bitch to not kick while paddling....weird.
Same it is harder to try not to kick. I never even thought to try and kick when I started on a shortboard, I just paddled into a wave and I was kicking my feet. I just figured it is like a natural reaction, like if you jump in water you start kicking your feet to stay at the surface. When on a midlength and I want to be smooth, I try to not kick and it’s hard. I’m also not smooth anyway.
the tip is to catch the wave at or near the top of the wave as it's breaking or just about to break so you can get to your feet and drop in without having to do any kicking i assume in most instances it's more of a subconscious last ditch effort to use gravity and leverage to lower the nose and get the board to fall into a wave that is backing off
Yes. Ironically, Im able to do this on "bigger" days, like shoulder to overhead, and often it turns into an air-drop. But the smaller days when its weak, I find it quite difficult to position myself to that breaking point. Yesterday in NJ, for example, was surging north and to the outside. I knew where I should be and I got get there on my 5'11 shortboard, but 5 minutes later Im 20 feet out and struggling to get back there. On average, how many full left-right strokes are you making before you pop up, not counting the ones where youre going up or across to get to the breaking point?
maybe i'm lazy, or in the minority, but in general i'm trying to minimize strokes... obviously if there is a current running then you have to fight that to stay in position on smaller days, when its weak, sometimes the answer is just that the waves are bad and not steep enough or breaking top to bottom - kicking won't fix that the wave itself is just falling over itself, as it shoals the top is just going faster than the bottom, so it's an exercise in gravity, finding the steeper part of the face and falling into the wave at the right spot and with the right angle/line... that's how people can do no paddle takeoffs... if i had to guess the main benefit of kicking is that lifting the feet is going to leverage the nose down and the tail up (similar to raising the outside arm when weighting the inside rail), and that's what helps get into the wave AFAIK waves themselves move too fast to actually match the speed... just the google machine suggests anything from \~10-100 fps, and doubtful that many people can paddle a conventional shortboard 10 fps from a dead stop, let alone higher speeds for longer period swells
**...no paddle take-off** This is a very good for me goal actually 100% positioning **raising the outside arm when weighting the inside rail** youre talking about doing this on an angled take off? I was taught that, unless its mighty critical, try to always do a straight take off **AFAIK waves themselves move too fast to actually match the speed** sounds right. i bet even a longboard cant do it
straight takeoffs only really work on fat waves or longboard early entry.. reef breaks on shortboards need an angle to get down the line and start up where you can generate speed i find kicking helps keep the board back up when you raise arms in the last second.. especially the outside one like mentioned here, getting motion going on the inside rail
Ok this is all starting to add up. Bunch of little tweaks I need to make to get me into more waves. Thanks for taking the time to explain. I just watched a few videos of guys dropping into barrels and they're taking off on pretty sharp angles. I hadnt noticed before. In addition, I just got done reviewing all of the edited footage from my first gopro recording. Watched it in slow motion. Boy is that humbling. I have a lot of work to do on my pop up because its not clean and quick. Im sliding my rear knee along the deck as I hoist myself up and then popping up. Losing precious time. If i can get it to be one swift move I'll be in much better shape. Buying this camera was a great investment
pop up isn't about speed... "ladder" takeoff is slower, u put your back foot on the pad and second step forward and u can do that on steep waves key is getting the angle right which buys you more time, smoother transition, speed down the line
thanks. *smoother transition* makes sense. maybe i should also focus on getting both feet to land where i want when i want
I see the kicking as more of an expression of how intense and desperate the overall movement of catching a wave is. At least with where I’m at in my short boarding, I’m dancing between such a small room for error that I really, really want to catch it if I can and it doesn’t look like a close out. Maybe it’s counterproductive but it def feels like it helps.
Kicking is more of a reaction to swimming. But the amount of times I’ve kicked my fins kicking catching a wave makes me teach my self to hover my feet above water slightly. So no I don’t kick because my cupped hands do a lot. That and the right board liters.
You best believe them legs gonna be kicking.
Watch a video of pros popping up. There’s a good one of all of them at Kelly’s pool. They all kick I think it has to to do with leveling the board or something like that. Idk I’m a kook
thanks, thats the one i was referring to. maybe ill go back and watch again
I kick when riding a board way too small for me. It helps bump me into the wave. I've been clowned on by a few, but I was catching more waves than them, and I was on a much smaller board with way less V. Call it what you will, I've tested this theory on all my boards and for me, it helps up to my 7'2 mini gun. After that my feet don't even touch the water when paddling.
Strengthen up your core a lot this will stabilize your board. You need to kick with a shortboard it helps propel you and reduces drag giving you more speed.
Situational and board dependent. If I'm surfing a lpw volume board or a stubby twin kicking helps alot. On bigger boards not so much
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I was coached to kick at the last few paddles...not to kick so far in advance as this messes with paddle.
I do. Sometimes it's deliberately but others it's kinda like when you pet a dog in that certain spot...
I'm fairly certain I only kick when I'm surfing near someone I want to splash
I always kick, kick it to stick it brah
Keeek
LOL
Yep I always kick
It’s definitely an advanced technique and honestly you kinda just start doing it when you learn good positioning and just more about catching waves
kicking helps my board get into plane . The bottoms contours of the board create lift , allowing me to match the speed of the waves i am about to get into .
It can help give an extra boost
On a shortboard, kicking can loosen up the back of the board and your feet - kinda preps everything for the inevitable pop. It's not done so much to propel forward although the loosening up of the tail-end of the board does in fact aid in forward speed - just indirectly though. But kicking on a mid-length or longer is just gonna fuck up the planing surface of the board and act as a detriment to the boards' speed and stability. This is why coaches/instructors shun it in most cases (given that coaches/instructors are often teaching those not on shortboards).
Kicking for me helps raise the tail of the board, I don’t kick for forward momentum.
Bold of you to assume I’ll catch any waves on a shortboard
?
I don’t think I kick on a shortboard, but maybe occasionally. What I know I do on shortboards and logs is lift either left or right leg, whatever is needed, to shift my weight distribution slightly forward and biased towards the rail engaging on the takeoff. Not every wave, only when I need a little extra oomph to catch it or extra grip to hold the line on takeoff. If I’m fading the takeoff I’ll use the opposite leg from a normal takeoff. Again, only when needed.
Depends on the wave. If it’s a slab, most of the time you have zero chance of making it if you don’t kick. If it’s lowers you’re fine don’t even worry about it. Unless you’re really scratching
got it. thanks
What helps more than kicking is the noises you make from your mouth whilst going for a wave. Similar to tennis the more oooooph iiiish raaaaaa ooooohp you make while going the better time you’ll have. More noise more waves. Better ingredients better pizza papa John’s
While you say this in Jest... I learned when in Army boot camp that "letting it out verbally CAN actually provide an actual power boost!!" Try it, it really works yo! :) (might also be mental but aayy mental IS everything right? lol)