Want to bottom turn like Taj? Good luck. Photo: ASP/Cestari
I have received a flood of emails from surfers all looking for me to write about how to improve their surf technique (you can email right here with your question t0 me).This week, I have enlisted Level 2 Surf Coach Nick Tiscoe to help answer a question from a surfer on Twitter who is having trouble holding speed up the face of the wave following a bottom turn.
So here are the basics of a great bottom turn:
1. Poor turns at the top of the wave are often a sign of a weak bottom turn
2. You need to maintain speed through your bottom turn by surfing the full face of the wave.
3. Compress at the bottom of the wave. Drive through your feet and use your arms.
4. Lean into your bottom turn, using the full rail, and look up towards the lip.
5. Extend your full body towards the top of the wave, again using your arms to extend your trunk.
If you don’t maintain speed into your bottom turn because the wave doesn’t give you the right amount of speed, you will probably bog a rail. Like everything else in surfing, what it comes down to is practice, practice, and more practice.
There is very little in a dry land program that will help you with timing. One thing that you can do, however, is get out on your skateboard, build up speed, and practice your turns that way. When it comes to perfecting your form in the water, I highly recommend finding a good surf coach in your area.
