SUP riding technique: Frontside surfing

Frontside, i.e. riding the wave with your belly to the crest, is the biggest test of maturity after the take-off for surfing beginners. World champions Robby Naish and Kai Lenny are the best teachers.

"Make friends with the wave first and then increase your radius to the wave" Robby Naish.

An artist carves his wood into magnificent shapes. Good surfers are true artists who cut precise patterns into a wave. Transient art - performed with the whole body. And just as the art novice needs his master to reach perfection, the wave climber also needs his teacher. The first step that points the way forward is the progression from simply riding straight out in front of the wave to using the edge of the board in the turn. Frontside wave riding involves two tricks: the turn into the bottom turn (loading the toes or the belly open side) and the cutback (loading the heels or the back open side). At the beginning, this can also be a wiggle in front of the wave until you dare to steepen the line in a hearty turn to the crest of the wave.

Surfing is art - carved in a wave

Robby Naish is still one of the most radical and stylish surfers on the planet. He shows you the first important wave moves with the frontside bottom turn and cutback. The body is still placed sensitively in the turn. The turn radius is relatively large and the wave crest is ridden in its non-breaking phase (ideally, the breaking section follows the rider). Young star Kai Lenny will show you how to improve a frontside ride. The body is used considerably more for the change of direction, the radii are tighter, the cutback becomes an off-the-lip (ideally you use the breaking section of the wave to celebrate the move).

frontside bottom turn/cutback

Robby Naish - multiple windsurfing world champion and SUP pro.

The prerequisite for riding waves on the front is the take-off and the associated timing (correctly estimating where and when the wave will develop its thrust optimally). Tip: If there are no surfers or stand-up paddlers in the break, paddle out and keep a safe distance from the first breaking section (impact zone) to observe where and at what rhythm the wave breaks. Reading waves is a surfer's basic tool. If you catch the wave too far in front of the impact zone, you risk being rolled over; too far back and you won't have enough thrust or paddling power. Robby does it right, of course:

Picture 1: At exactly the right spot and at the right moment, he paddles into the wave at an angle in surf stance (asymmetrical foot position, Robby is goofy foot, i.e. right foot in front).

Figure 2: Diagonal travel in larger waves is important. If it were to go straight down, i.e. at a 90-degree angle to the wave, it would immediately push it into the wave trough, where there is no more thrust.

Image 3: The wave breaks behind him. He discreetly puts weight on the edge of the board (frontside rail) with the tips of his toes.

Image 4: The board can become quite fast in this phase as the wave is very steep. The paddle can be used to balance it out, as Robby is doing here with the paddle blade over the white water. This is called feathering.

Image 5: Now it's time for the bottom turn: bend your knees, put some weight on the frontside edge and use the paddle to support the turn towards the crest of the wave.

11 Images

2) frontside bottom turn off-the-lip

Kai Lenny, two-time SUP wave world champion.

Text: Steve Chismar

Home

SUP riding technique: Frontside surfing

Most read in category SUP