Best of

You need to knead the rice before you pound the rice or it will not turn into mochi.  Kneading is 80%, pounding is 20%.  But most people only watch/know the 20% 


Same for Noseriding. When you think of noseriding you think of the surfer on the front of the board. Will that is the latter 20%.  Most of the work for a good noseride is in the set-up.  The creating of the "pillow" and "lock" which is 80%


Before you go forward, you need to go back ( or lean back ) to create an area on the wave to ride on that will support you without the nose dropping


See the "pillow" she is riding ? Also notice the the back of the board is locked down by the wave.  Lots of air under the nose of the board while she is still in the middle of the board. 


This is why Go Suzuki is a Pro.  He is actually doing a stall to set-up the noseride.  This type of stall is very uncommon.  Usually you lift up the nose, but he is burying the rail to slow down.  80% first


Then when the wave/time is right, he goes to the nose. You can just see the yellow board in the wave.  Good set-up leads to good noseride.   20% latter


Here is a great set up.  She is lifting the nose to stall the board and create the "pillow".  You can see the water going forward under the board.   Watch DVDs and you will see that forward spray right before the surfer walks to the nose.  


But it is not as easy of lifting the nose and then walking forward.  You need to have patience and timing.  She is now walking which is the latter 20% but she did not create the lock for the tail.  Notice you can clearly see the tail but no water flowing over it.  Plus the nose is too close to the water's surface and she is still in the middle of the board.  If she waited 1/2 a second more, the lock ( red arrow area ) would be there.  


Before you walk forward, you set up by stalling the board to create a "pillow" to ride on


You wait for the "lock" which is the wave curling over the tail before you walk.   If there is no lock, then it doesnt matter how good you walk.   No matter how much you pound, it wont turn into mochi without the kneading first



His head is Way behind his butt. He is doing a Lean or Arch turn. His head is still over the center of the board but his knees ( actually thighs ) are driving the board through the bottom turn.


Same thing here. Her lower body is leading the board to the turn in target point she is looking at. 


Notice Go Suzuki's body is really bowed out like a .......... hmmm ...

Last week we looked at the Japanese correct posture for sitting, standing, etc. And how it might effect your surfing technique


A straight up and down back leads to a sitting posture during surfing. It makes your center of balance behind your heels. Not good.


See here how her legs and back are aligned together. Another good point is she is looking to the future



You can see clearly her head and butt are behind her heels. So to make up for the imbalance she bends her knees out . Her legs and back are not aligned. 


She has great posture for surfing. The legs and back are aligned together. ( notice i used the seam off her right leg to mark the yellow line since that where her pressure is )



notice her knees are slightly bent but she is not crouching down



she picks up her back foot .....



crosses over her front foot. Her toes on her right foot are still at 3 o'clock since they were the back foot. See her front leg's shin can rest on her back legs calf.



now the front foot crosses back over the rear foot. notice she curls her toes over the nose. Perfect noseriding form. Eyes up and forward, soft knees and relaxed upper body.

Here is the Body English.  Her lower body is flowing up with the board but her upper body is still vertical (  she step all the way back to the green area to turn, spray coming off the left rail )

Rail Loading - Dont rock the boat
" loading the rail " is a technique good surfers do unconsciously.



this surfer just got up to her feet, but she positioned both feet on the inside (right) rail. Her eyes are up and looking down the line. Perfect rail loading 

watch some stylish long board surfers and you'll see something interesting.


that they smile yes, but also that their front toes lift up on their back side turns

see how she is focusing her eyes away from the soup to the clear open face of the wave Also she is surfing her " height ' , with her head over her butt. she is standing tall and not bent over

not all bent knees is bad, watch this great noseride set up