Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Baby got Backside Kick-out?

I need help, tips, some boot camp barking, or anything else anyone can spare to help me figure out the backside kick-out.

This past weekend's small waves were happy times for me to go unleashed. I absolutely LURVE surfing sans leash. If I were a guy, I imagine it's kind of like hanging free if you know what I mean.

My frontside kick-out, though not the spectacular arc some of the local stars exhibit, is at least in my control 99% of the time. I feel powerful when I can throw the board over the lip before the dumpy wall hits me.

My problem is the backside kick-out. I rely too much on the rail grab to punch through the dumpy wall. I know I need to stop the crouch, but my instinct is to hold onto the board so I don't have to swim to get it. My addled brain won't let go of this crutch.

Anybody with sage advice on how to get a backside kick-out going? This might just be my next surfing goal.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

What no comments?
I really struggled, and sometimes still do getting a satifying backside kickout. What works for me when going slow or moderatley slow, is to sink the tail in a full wheelie stall, then guide it's return to horizontal in the direction I need to go. Going faster, I just crank it like I'm cranking a bottom turn, crouching as it passes over the back to grab the rails and lay back down. Hope it helps :-)

gracefullee said...

Thanks for the tips, Alan. On the 4th with SurfSister at Bolsa Chica, I actually managed a baby backside kick-out. It wasn't show-stopping or anything, but it felt good!

6ftnperfect said...

maybe it's the "punch through the dumpy wall" - when I think of kicking out it's at the end of the wave when it fizzles out, not closing out. When I'm faced with a long closing wall more often than not I try to throw up a little floater. But definitely, going frontside it's easier to go up and over the wall and head back out.

gracefullee said...

Clayfin - you're right. My instincts have to kick in faster before the closing section or I have to surf better waves! I realized, too, that most of the time my body position is too far forward to do a backside kick-out or even a little floater. Frontside, I'm more relaxed and am able to shift my body weight back and forth so the board feels like an extension of my will. Backside, I'm just a little more tense and "leany," so the board ends up controlling me.