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Does anything have a greater impact on our overall surfing ability than our handle on turning? Practice poor mechanics and you’re doomed for life. Grasp the intricacies of them and suddenly everything that can be done on a wave makes sense.
And they’re just fun. There’s that, too. They make you feel invincible…assuming you also looked good doing it. Which, in your mind, you always do.
But funny enough, for as simple and basic as turning may be, their mechanics require a great deal of attention to detail. They’re mechanics that are easy to overlook when things just aren’t clicking.
“Once you can turn and redirect yourself on the wave, that’s is the first step to really opening up what’s possible in your wave riding and surfing ability,” agrees Kassia Meador. Turning is actually the first aspect Meador elaborates on when progressing from the beginning stages of surfing into more of an intermediate level in her Definitive Guide to Longboarding. And of course, the beauty of wrapping those smooth, buttery turns with a log under your feet is that you really can’t cheat them. So Meador’s as pro as they come on the matter. From bottom turns to shallow check turns, projecting your position through different sections of a wave, and keeping yourself in (or moving back to) a wave’s source of power, she establishes the turn as the foundational move that it is.
Without getting too deep into the complexities of each of those, she defines three simple thoughts that’ll apply to every turn you collect in your bag throughout the years.
1. Wherever your arms go, you’ll go eventually.
2. Don’t over-compensate with your weight.
3. Embrace the ebb and flow of redirecting your speed from the top of the wave to the bottom. This is the dance!
“Most of all, I just want to help you have fun and be safe,” she says about her course. “I talk to a lot of surfers, both women and men, who understandably have a lot of questions when it comes to logging, and I want to share all the knowledge that I’ve gained over twenty-plus years in the water to make it easier for you and to make the lineup an even better, friendlier place.”
Access Kassia Meador’s Definitive Guide To Longboarding now.
