After a long blog and surfing hiatus, due to a knotted shoulder muscles (consequences of not stretching and doing yoga post-surf) and a 10 day family vacation that only allowed me a semi-solid week of surfing in July, I’m finally back in the water and surfing.
Although, even as I write this I’m taking a 2 day break from straining an abdominal muscle, which is a consequence of not stretching and eating a full meal before a surf 😀
My surfing has only progressed slightly since my last blog update, but not in terms of riding the wave. You see, my very first surf buddy I met in Bali in 2014, suddenly decided to pop into Indonesia for a short 2 week surf in Bali on very short notice, so I flew over to meet him in the Canggu area.
For logistical reasons, I decided to buy a new Hypto replica surfboard from REDZ, a local Balinese shaper and surf it during my time in Bali. And this is where most of my new progress has been made so far.
I dropped board sizes from my fish hybrid 5’ 9” of about 35 litres to a 5’ 8” Hypto replica of 30.8 litres. It took awhile, but after surfing it at Berawa, Echos and Old Man’s breaks in Canggu, I’ve noticed that it has forced my paddle acceleration technique and commitment to a wave to improve. In addition my ability to duck dive has improved tremendously, as this was pretty much all I was doing while trying to surf bigger breaks like Balangan and Echos. (Too many advanced surfers in these breaks, which meant I caught only a handful of waves in Bali :/)
On my return to Lombok after the family vacation, my Hypto replica got dinged on my board rack (like, seriously?!) and I returned to my hybrid fish for a couple of sessions at Ekas bay. I noted the significant improvement in paddling, confidence and catching waves. It was almost as if I was paddling a lighter, shorter and more mobile longboard, which was excellent for the mushy Insides Ekas.
Getting tired of the inconsistent Insides Ekas, I returned to Kuta in Lombok, and switched back to my Hypto replica and felt a lot less stable while riding the wave on it, but I also felt a stronger tendency to generate sharper turns on the board. And this is one of my next areas of improvement, to feel comfortable on my Hypto replica. Moving forward, I think switching boards back and forth would significantly improve my wave riding, as I alternate between having fun and challenging myself to improve further.
As for my pop-up progress on steeper waves, surfing beach breaks at Canggu has helped me improve my take-off speed on steeper waves. I notice now that I may be able to pop-up fast on a late take-off, but if I don’t set the right line immediately, I won’t be fast enough to move past the lip of the wave. In other words, I’m setting my line too high on late take-offs due to my fear of air dropping, and I should set the line down a happy middle.
