Successful re-entries – How to create consistency
- Posted: Wed, August 5th, 2009
- Post by: Martin
- Posted in: Blog, Learn to Surf
As surfers progress their performance from surfing through the middle of their waves, to attacking their waves, one manoeuvre that is essential is the Re-entry. It’s the move where surfers can display commitment and height as they surf down the line. But many surfers struggle with their consistency and success, because they lack power out of the preceding bottom turn, don’t create enough height, or have limited turning of their upper body, before impact with the lip. And while any or all of these issues are present in a surfer’s re-entry performances, their consistency will remain low. Let me explain:
The bottom turn, whether forehand or backhand, is the power source from a surfer’s body. This power when married to the wave’s power is the total power that a surfer can apply to all top turns. So when a surfer wants to perform a BIG move off the top, a BIG bottom turn needs to be performed off the bottom to create enough speed and height to be successful.
When we look at the re-entry, there are basically 3 different types:
- A compressed bottom turn, creates maximum power
- 1. The basic re-entry
- The vertical re-entry
- The lift re-entry
The basic re-entry can be performed with an inferior bottom turn, as usually the wave’s power has sufficient push to allow the surfer to hit the top and drop back down the wave face successfully. But the other two require low, technically correct bottom turns to generate the power necessary to surf vertically, or climb an already broken lip or foam section. And when I say technically correct, the surfer should lower into a compressed body position, by bending at the knees and waist. From this compressed body position the surfer can then straighten out of the turn to apply maximum power.
- Height is essential to eliminate nosediving of the surf board
The second area to create re-entry consistency, is that surfers should have the intention to hit the lip or foam high enough so that their front foot is above the lip on impact. This position allows the surfer to achieve sufficient height, so they won’t catch or nose-dive as they descend back down the waveface.
Thirdly, before impact, surfers should turn their head and shoulders away from the lip, to create and apply a torque force to their surfboard. You can think of this as the surfer wanting to look where the surfboard should point as the surfer drops back down the waveface.
- Looking away applies a torque force to the surfboard
Too often nowadays, surfers takeoff and race down the wave looking for the boost section, creating a fast but flat surfing style. Learning to utilize the entire waveface by surfing top-to-bottom will create a performance with a strong foundation.
And a big part of this is having a bottom turn re-entry combination, which is technically correct and consistent. With this foundation created, surfers can build their performance towards its ultimate potential.
