10 angling the take off mistakes
, by PTY LTDCroch AU, 4 min reading time
#1 incorrect positioning
The first one is misreading the situation before angling the take off, resulting in bad positioning. If a surfer misreads how the wave will peel and ends up in the wrong peak position. For example, being way too deep, it won’t matter how or when he angles his take off, he won’t be successful in keeping up with a wave. A good way to avoid this is to keep glancing over your shoulder as you position yourself into a wave to be aware of what it’s doing and how it appeals.
#2 not angling
The second mistake is not angling at all. This frequently happens when surfers look down towards their board’s nose or towards the bottom of the wave. If you look down, you will end up going down the wave. It also happens to surfers who want to stand up too soon instead of choosing to first angle and then get to their feet. Here’s something to practice, think about surfing the wave to the right or to the left for a second or two before standing up.
#3 not angling enough
The third error is not angling enough especially on fast breaking waves, surfers need stronger angle towards the shoulder. If they drop down to the bottom, they will get stuck in the white water. You might want to get some footage of your surfing to make sure you’re actually riding the shoulder as high as you think you are. Many beginner, intermediate surfers don’t angle their take off as much as they think they do and actually ride the shoulder more towards the bottom.
#4 angling too much
Next there’s an opposite mistake: angling too much. This is often a problem on soft slow breaking waves if the shoulder line has a steep drop the wave will peel more slowly, so you will need to angle less. If you angle you take off too much, you will end up going over the shoulder. Make sure to read the shoulder and adjust your angle accordingly.
#5 angling front side instead of back side
When surfers first learn to angle their take offs, they tend to angle themselves to ride the wave front side because it feels easier to surf the wave when they face the wave. The ocean dictates if the wave will peel towards the left or the right. So you need to practice angling toward both sides.
#6 angling too soon
Then there are timing mistakes such as angling too soon. If a surfer is paddling at five kilometers per hour of 45 degrees, it’s the equivalent of paddling only 3.5 kilometers per hour in the wave’s direction. The more and the sooner you angle your take off, the harder it is to catch the wave. When you first start angling your take off, it’s recommended to paddle perpendicular first. Make sure you catch the wave and only start angling during the last few paddle strokes.
#7 angling too late
The opposite time and mistake is to try to angle the take off too late without having done at least a few paddle strokes towards the right or the left. This situation usually happens to long borders on steep fast breaking waves. On fast breaking waves, surfers need to enter the wave with a strong angle, trying to go from being perpendicular to having a strong angle. Just by leaning in the cobra pose won’t be enough on a long board. These boards are too big and take time to turn, you need to paddle with slight angle first to be able to really engage the rail by leaning towards the shoulder in the cobra pose.
#8 issues with the cobra pose lean
Just before popping up, surfers often get in a position that we call the cobra pose lean. In this position, surfers place their hands below their pictorial’s, lift their upper body and lean right or left. We often see technical issues such as not extending the arms or putting the hands a bit further on their surfboards, which doesn’t give surfers much leverage to angle their surfboard efficiently.
#9 not keeping the head & chest pointing towards target
Even amongst intermediates, a very common mistake is to stop looking towards a target or turning the chest back towards the bottom. Even for just a fraction of a second, angling the take off is crucial. It dictates the rest of your ride. If you need a strong angle towards the shoulder, you will need to keep your head and your chest pointing towards where you want to go all the way until you get to your feet.
#10 post take off position issues
Lastly, even though a surfer might angle perfectly, thing can go wrong during the take off. Surfers need to keep the line they wanted to draw when they started to angle their take off.
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