Photo: @riseupsurfretreats//@salty_see
No surfer sticks to one wave, one location, or even one board their whole life. Experiencing something new is one of the most enjoyable, exciting parts of what we do, which means that we all inevitably come to a point where we progress past that first surfboard. For many, that means making a jump from learning and hammering down the basics on a longboard to something smaller like the mid-length — a board that blends some of the design aspects of shortboards with the size, volume, and overall stability of a longboard.
“A lot of people are like, ‘Man, I’ve been riding a longboard for a while, but I’m surfing some bigger waves.’ Or maybe ‘I want something that’s easier to travel with and I want to get into riding bigger stuff,'” Kassia Meador says in the brand new addition to her online course, The Definitive Guide to Longboarding. And as exciting as this transition will be for any surfer, it can come with a lot of questions and inevitably, a lot of new things to learn (or re-learn). With that in mind, Kassia offers a few thoughts and tips for surfers ready to make that jump from longboard to their first mid-length.
“A Lot of the Same Principles Apply”
This one should ease some anxiety for stepping into the unknown. Surfing on a smaller board doesn’t mean learning to surf all over again, it just means you’ll be acquainting yourself with the same principles, mechanics, and many of the same techniques.
“When you go to pop up, everything you do is going to be exaggerated now. Things like putting that inside rail in the wave face and getting up and pumping are critical now,” Kassia shares, explaining that you’ll start to re-evaluate all the mechanics you put into practice on a longboard and simply start learning to do them in more critical situations. Which also means…
“Looking Down the Line Becomes More Important”
One of the things Kassia stresses — most often when talking about pop-ups but it applies to many different moments on a wave — is that we must look where we’re going. She reminds us that this becomes even more important when paddling into bigger waves on a smaller board because you’ll be paddling into steeper, faster sections.
“A lot of people get a little spooked when they first started getting into riding a shorter board because they’ve been used to paddling into waves a little bit earlier,” she says. “And now they’re even riding bigger waves and they’re not able to catch them with as much power. They find that they’re taking off in a steeper part of the wave and it can get really sketchy.”
Speaking of catching waves on smaller boards…
“Paddling Is So Different”
Kassia says this is the first thing you’ll notice when you get on a smaller board. You’ll not only be working harder to paddle into waves, you’ll also need to refine your wave selection and positioning with a smaller board. And all of this will filter down to polishing your paddling.
“You really want to get engaged in that paddling, almost like you’re swimming. You’re following through,” she says. “Instead of paddling with your arms out wider, you’re paddling really deep down. Maybe you’re even kicking your legs a little bit because more of your body’s hanging off the board now.”
Learn more about mid-lengths and board selection from Kassia, along with other tutorials on parallel stance, turning, fade take offs, and more in the Longboarding Level-Up 3.0. You can also check out Kassia’s 45-video lesson Definitive Guide to Longboarding 3.0 here. The Inertia readers save 10 percent by using code WELCOME10 at checkout.
