The surfing bottom turn is the first maneuver to learn once surfers begin riding real waves. It has many uses.
The Surfing Bottom Turn
When I teach Surf Lessons in Oceanside USA we begin by riding foam waves to the beach. The next progression is riding bigger foam waves on the outside and smaller real waves.
Once you can ride a real wave, you can start practicing the bottom turn. Coming off the face, you pressure your toes and heels whichever are on the side of the direction you are going to travel. Then you rotate your upper body as one piece in that direction. The fatter the rails of the board, the less pressure you can put on carving.
The surfing bottom turn takes the board into the pocket of the wave. You should then accelerate by pushing the nose of the board up and down the wave with your front foot. You are ready to begin a rip. You do a bottom turn up the face of the wave. Most surfers like to get a low center of gravity and drag the inside hand as they turn up the face.
At the top, you rotate your upper body back toward the bottom of the wave and pressure the toes or heels to reverse the turn. Most surfers can be seen throwing the arm that is the same as the front foot back down the wave to turn. Joel Parkinson, world champ, makes all his turns by smoothly rotating his upper body.
Use the Surfing Bottom Turn to Escape Close Out Waves
One of the most useful safety aspects of the surfing bottom turn is to get out of the pocket when a wave is closing out or heading toward a surfer coming from the opposite direction. When I was first in 10′ waves, I felt my bottom turn to escape close out waves had to be improved for safety reasons.
Sometimes the wave will close out sooner than expected and the bigger the wave, the more weight crashes on your body.
Use the Surfing Bottom Turn to Rip the Lip
The most popular technique in surfing is riding up the face and throwing the tail of the surf board over the lip and then heading down the face. This trick is initiated by accelerating in the pocket for speed and then doing a surfing bottom turn at the bottom of the face and heading up the face.
At the top, the direction is reversed by doing a cut back maneuver where the upper body is rotated and the torque leads to the feet and the surfboard. Many experts will say to throw the inside hand over the top and let it initiate the rotation. Observe surfers for real or on videos and the throw becomes more evident.
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To take Oceanside Surf Lessons, see the Home Page
This instructor gives a good overall video lesson on learning to surf