
During the journey, armed with my favourite motivational fitness track on repeat, I scribbled a few notes. Firstly I thought about how I usually get to my feet and what I was potentially doing wrong. The list was quite long:
- Starting off too far back on the board
- Incorrect feet placement (too close together)
- Going for waves where the power has already gone
- Not leaving enough time to get set up on the board
- Chest flat on the board when paddling
- Feet not together on the board when paddling
- Taking too long to get to my feet
- Right knee (my back foot leg) dragging on the board when I push up into pop up position
- Start further up the board making sure my feet are not hanging over the back of the tail
- Raise chest off the board whilst paddling
- Keep feet together when paddling
- Don’t try and stand up straightaway – try getting into position and working on that for the first few waves
- Give yourself more time to get set up on the board
- Try to get your feet quicker
- Ditch the knees for the whole session…..practise the army crawl technique
Ok, I admit that as soon as I got in the water, the whole ‘ditch the knees’ theory went out of the window. The first wave I went for I went into auto pilot mode and went to knees…but then in the next breath, I was on my feet! I was so stoked that I figured that maybe going to knees wasn’t so bad…it was just the way I was going about it.
It gave me a massive confidence boost and restored my faith. I’m not a useless kook and I know I can do this. It has given me a massive drive to continue on this crazy landlocked surfing journey.
Who knows where it will lead? J