Tips for the Barrel~ #tiptuesday
Getting barreled is one of the more technical maneuvers in surfing because it requires timing, positioning, and the wave to all come together at once. While these moments are fleeting, it is helpful to have some tools to think about, so you can remind yourself when the moment arises.
A few helpful pointers (these will apply to forehand tuberiding, backhand tuberiding is a completely different technique)
- use your backhand to hold the wall of the wave, especially if it is a smaller wave. The goal is to stay close to the wall of the wave, and not drift down away from the wave. If the barrel is small or almond-shaped, it is easy to get the lip of the wave into the head which happened here.
- pumping is important! It’s not often that barrels have a perfect tempo for us to just stand there, sometimes we need to pump, and sometimes we need to slow down.
To pump, draw your knees into your chest, and then extend them again, almost like your body is a spring. Remember, your inside rail is the main engaging force, so put pressure on the inside rail with your back foot to pump.
- look up to the top of the lip! If we look towards the top of the lip (on smaller barrels) it will help us maintain our line through the barrel. It is common to go too low in the tube, which results in having the wave break on our head.
-use your front hand as your guide through the tube! We can also use our front hand a to double-hand stall if we really need to slow down, otherwise, it’s helpful to keep our front hand in front of us, pointing in the direction we want to go!
Video: @kuhio.oihuk
Surfer: @rosiejaffurs
Words by: @leahloves