Center of Gravity~ #tiptimetuesday
It is important to note the difference between a surfers center of gravity on a longboard as opposed to a shortboard.
On longboards and bigger boards, most of our center of gravity is actually centered over our backfoot, rather than in the middle of our body, and not so much forward on the front foot.
Especially for cross walking and noseriding, it is important to keep our body weight centered over our back leg, as seen here. It is a common mistake for people learning to cross step and noseride to take two steps forward and end up leaning forward on their front foot- this pushes down the nose and disengages the rail, making it very difficult to maintain our balance on the board. Instead, shift our bodyweight to our backfoot as we cross step up and back on the board and see how different it feels! You might find that you instantly gain more control over both your steps and your balance on the board.
Also, side tip!! This is a great view of an effective kick out! Learn to finish waves in control with a kick out that gets you back onto your board easily and safely, rather than ending in a wipeout, or jumping off the board. Here we can see that this kick out is an exaggerated turn — by stepping on the tail as if she is going to do a turn, she pushes harder into her backfoot than a normal turn, which lifts the nose and ideally swings the whole board out of the wave. Pay attention to grabbing the board at the end of this maneuver with your hands, it is very important to make this grab, or it can result in face planting your board. A wave is complete with a good kick out!
Video: @simplyserene546
Surfer: @jojowiththeflo
Words by: @leahloves