Surfed at Rock Quarry beach today with all my homies in Kilauea, by all my homies I mean the local guys who don't really say much in the lineup, you guys who's names i don't know, but we exchange awkward glances, partly my fault i admit, but we're all to blame. Found mostly 6-8 ft waves today solid wave, choppy at times. Tons of current sucking you out, pretty much have to lay prone and paddle for your place all day, Some locals just cut the line all day, once they realize how garbage most everyone out there is. 50% of the time it's pure luck if any of the haoles get up on a wave for me it's like 20% of the time, but I only committed to two waves today and road each of them, no wipeouts. Maybe i needed to have more, but there were a lot of people out to navigate.

The waves were big, they would come in at like 8ft-10ft and then bottom out to about 6ft, but still charge ahead all the way to the beach, if you wanted. Some folks were having some fun rides, cutbacks, all that. There were 4 young dudes, 4 my age dudes and eventually 4 older dudes. One haole had this long straight blond hair, but he had a super smooth ride, effortless style, props! I'd never seen the guy before, but I'd say his board was like a 6'3 and really narrow. The local dude with a red board was shredding it up as usual, he just tears it up, all conditions. I see him out at Hanalei on a shitty choppy day and he just carves out his own territory and puts up a shred show for all to see. We're all sitting in a pack 25 yards away hoping for the wave of our dreams or some crap and he's like well, I'll sit inside and pop up in the pocket like clockwork everytime. Love that guy. Hate him too he's a dick. His style is rough, but consistent. He shreds, but they're not pretty lines. I think that's probably his best element. Because watching perfect cutbacks isn't my cup of tea. I prefer watching takeoffs, barrels, and cutbacks only for technique, otherwise no thanks. This bull rides a locally shaped board, it's red with some lime green logo. My guess is his boards a 6'4 x 21 x 2 3/4". It's convex, not to much, but it has that glare, it's a big board, but he's not too skinny either so maybe it suits him. When I get on those big boards it feels like a floatation device. I suck at duck diving with it. Well I'll guess I'll have to take out my old big 6'5 beast and practice duck diving the shit out of that board a la JJF, since i've never seen such a swanky duck dive trick in my life, but holy shit i'm going to do that from now on. Did it a little better today, but probably could have gotten out of one dudes way a little bit better by doing a duck dive, but honestly he could have angled his board in the direction he was going a bit better. Not straight into my face, I rolled left at the last second and showed him my fins :P. SOLVS fins biatch.

it was tough. but i enjoyed the challenge as long as I can come home to report on it, that's good for me. Was definitely wondering if there was a sharky eyeing my legs today after that awful news out of Australia this week. Two bulls got knipped one dead, one on the leg. FKN A! A blokes trying to surf. sheesh.

Talking single-fins with aficionado Rob Machado.

This one's for Surf Salami who is always complaining that i paddle too much like i'm swimming. I think you will appreciate this video.

How to Paddle for Surfing

1) Head position, head forward and up and looking straight ahead.

2) High elbows throughout the power portion of the stroke.

Kauai North Shore Forecast for the week.

Sunday big

Monday Go Surf

SurfCoach.com - Improve your surfing and have way more fun!

outakes:

1.       Positioning: Novice surfers typically try to catch their waves from the shoulder of the peak, primarily because of a lack of confidence or fear of being pitched at takeoff.

Solution: Position yourself next to where you know the wave will begin to break.

p.s. you can't catch a wave if you aren't on the steep part, so if that is your great fear and holding you back then you're fucked...so er basically I'm fucked. cause SurfTeddy always backs off on the steep waves :P. I'm like...."er I'll take the next one guys, you take this one. I'm good...I'll be hear waiting for the baby waves to pull through."

2.       Breaking the ledge. Lots of new surfers struggle with either being two far back on their boards (you pop up and fall off the back of the wave) or too far forward (you pitch and do somersaults over the wave, massive wipeout ensues and you're discouraged from breaking the ledge for life...sound familiar?). 

Solution: Work on your paddling and stroke. Also try to achieve a comfortable position on your board where the board sits flat in the water and you can paddle with speed, usually the nose of your board will stick out about 6" from the water. Try taking 2-3 additional strokes if you find yourself missing the wave in the lip.

The Ledge: "This ledge is really a Lip that will pitch you as the wave begins to break.

Surfing Waves Forum - Surf chat, information and discussion - Bad habits

We should all try and iron out our habits for the new year.  What I've gleaned from this article is "identify, understand, correct".

So, i always rush to the bottom of the wave and try to crank out a bottom turn at a 90 degree angle.  Everything is rushed.  This is because i don't paddle in at an angle.  I should try to paddle in at an angle.  SImple, right?

Not really, because I am SurfSalami, bad surfer extrodinaire.

What do you think, SurfTeddy?  What is your bad habit you want to correct?

Five easy-to-correct mistakes with Brett Simpson.

My favorite part, which we all forget as surfers (at least I do)

It’s All in the Hips: Putting an emphasis on how your hips pivot as you begin a move is crucial to getting the most out of your surfing. This is especially important for your frontside top turn. “A good turn shouldn’t come from your arms, head, or legs, but from the center of your body,” says Brett. If you keep a focus on pivoting off your hips and core, your top turn will thank you.