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Hello.
I've been giving this a bit of thought of late and being off with a flare-up of sciatica has given me a chance to crack on with it. Mats are the perfect craft for sharing waves being all soft and squidgy. It also helps that they can ride way out on the shoulder meaning you can fit a few surfers on one wave. There is an art to it though and I think it's important to recognise the difference between wave sharing and simply dropping-in! The former is a shared stoke which is difficult to describe to the uninitiated where as the latter results in a spoilt wave for at least one of the surfers.
The exception, I guess, would be those mass party-waves we get into on meets where we're simply trying to chuck as many of us down the thing as we can!!!
That said, I think we're still pretty good at making it a decent ride. We'll beat 5 one of these days...
So then, on to my thoughts on the hows, whys and wherefores. This is based on my own experiences largely with Piskian, although I think we have it pretty tapped. Essentially, the onus of responsibility is on the surfer furthest from the pocket. This is the person who has the potential to be a drop-in. This is also usually me given my propensity to sit inside so I'll write this from the perspective of that surfer.
SETTING UP:
When seeing a wave coming with your mate having priority you need to try to make sure you give your mate room to actually catch it! This doesn't always work out as Piskian's nads will tell you (back-heel)!
TAKING OFF:
This is the make-or-break split second for setting up for the wave so needs some care. You basically have three options.
Option 1 - completely ignore your mate in the pocket and just take off as normal. There is pretty much a 100% chance of interfering with your mate's ride doing this and he/she may well just end up stuck in the soup while you zip off down the line so this isn't really the one to go for as it's basically just dropping-in!
Option 2 - Let your mate go under you. When you're tight to the pocket this is the best option. You may need to stall on the lip before dropping. You can even take off angled towards the pocket (a la cutback) and then turn in behind your compadre.
Option 3 - Stay high and get down the line ahead of your mate. If you're starting a way out on the shoulder from your mate then this is going to be the best option. You have to know it's on though. Trying this when you're close to the pocket may well see you trapped up at the top with drifting off the back or turning down and cutting your mate off being the only options.
I think the first wave on this shows how staying high can work. Gives plenty of room for Piskian to get his turn off the bottom.
RIDING THE WAVE:
OK, so once you're up and riding you're gonna need to keep yourself going, trimming and getting back in the pocket. However, you will have an obstacle in the way when going for cutbacks so blindly cranking a cutback isn't really practical and could result in some nasty face-to-face interaction!
The trick is timing what you're doing with what your mate is up to. Basically, keep a keen eye on him/her. If he's coming out high, you need to cut back low. If he's coming off the top and dropping down (as is usually the case) then go for a high, sharp cutty to let him/her go under you. Keep in mind, the power in the wave is in the pocket so your mate is likely to be going faster than you. As a basic rule, keeping high is a safe bet... but not always and it's your job to give him/her room so watch each other and talk to each other.
Obviously, once you swap over and you're in the pocket then the job of allowing space switches to your mate. The very best waves are the ones where you turn and swap around each other several times picking up a ton of speed as you go. Piskian and I have had several of these and I remember us talking (well... squealing) our way through them from start to finish.
Be sensitive to your partner's needs
The following clip (from 1:30 or so) shows these points perfectly I think.
Notice how PG delays his take-off for George to kick into gear. George then cuts back, stalling high to let PG boost out of the pocket. Also, keep an eye on what PG is up to in the POV shots; constantly checking where George is to ensure he's not cutting him off. Excellent.
Nice bit of jazz from Ramsnake too.
Obviously, it won't go perfectly every time and you wouldn't want it to as you'd miss out on the fun of smashing into each other but it's good to have a bit of a plan I think.
Other people's thoughts very welcome.
Cheers
G
I've been giving this a bit of thought of late and being off with a flare-up of sciatica has given me a chance to crack on with it. Mats are the perfect craft for sharing waves being all soft and squidgy. It also helps that they can ride way out on the shoulder meaning you can fit a few surfers on one wave. There is an art to it though and I think it's important to recognise the difference between wave sharing and simply dropping-in! The former is a shared stoke which is difficult to describe to the uninitiated where as the latter results in a spoilt wave for at least one of the surfers.
The exception, I guess, would be those mass party-waves we get into on meets where we're simply trying to chuck as many of us down the thing as we can!!!
That said, I think we're still pretty good at making it a decent ride. We'll beat 5 one of these days...
So then, on to my thoughts on the hows, whys and wherefores. This is based on my own experiences largely with Piskian, although I think we have it pretty tapped. Essentially, the onus of responsibility is on the surfer furthest from the pocket. This is the person who has the potential to be a drop-in. This is also usually me given my propensity to sit inside so I'll write this from the perspective of that surfer.
SETTING UP:
When seeing a wave coming with your mate having priority you need to try to make sure you give your mate room to actually catch it! This doesn't always work out as Piskian's nads will tell you (back-heel)!
TAKING OFF:
This is the make-or-break split second for setting up for the wave so needs some care. You basically have three options.
Option 1 - completely ignore your mate in the pocket and just take off as normal. There is pretty much a 100% chance of interfering with your mate's ride doing this and he/she may well just end up stuck in the soup while you zip off down the line so this isn't really the one to go for as it's basically just dropping-in!
Option 2 - Let your mate go under you. When you're tight to the pocket this is the best option. You may need to stall on the lip before dropping. You can even take off angled towards the pocket (a la cutback) and then turn in behind your compadre.
Option 3 - Stay high and get down the line ahead of your mate. If you're starting a way out on the shoulder from your mate then this is going to be the best option. You have to know it's on though. Trying this when you're close to the pocket may well see you trapped up at the top with drifting off the back or turning down and cutting your mate off being the only options.
I think the first wave on this shows how staying high can work. Gives plenty of room for Piskian to get his turn off the bottom.
RIDING THE WAVE:
OK, so once you're up and riding you're gonna need to keep yourself going, trimming and getting back in the pocket. However, you will have an obstacle in the way when going for cutbacks so blindly cranking a cutback isn't really practical and could result in some nasty face-to-face interaction!
The trick is timing what you're doing with what your mate is up to. Basically, keep a keen eye on him/her. If he's coming out high, you need to cut back low. If he's coming off the top and dropping down (as is usually the case) then go for a high, sharp cutty to let him/her go under you. Keep in mind, the power in the wave is in the pocket so your mate is likely to be going faster than you. As a basic rule, keeping high is a safe bet... but not always and it's your job to give him/her room so watch each other and talk to each other.
Obviously, once you swap over and you're in the pocket then the job of allowing space switches to your mate. The very best waves are the ones where you turn and swap around each other several times picking up a ton of speed as you go. Piskian and I have had several of these and I remember us talking (well... squealing) our way through them from start to finish.
Be sensitive to your partner's needs
The following clip (from 1:30 or so) shows these points perfectly I think.
Notice how PG delays his take-off for George to kick into gear. George then cuts back, stalling high to let PG boost out of the pocket. Also, keep an eye on what PG is up to in the POV shots; constantly checking where George is to ensure he's not cutting him off. Excellent.
Nice bit of jazz from Ramsnake too.
Obviously, it won't go perfectly every time and you wouldn't want it to as you'd miss out on the fun of smashing into each other but it's good to have a bit of a plan I think.
Other people's thoughts very welcome.
Cheers
G
