WAVE-RIDING – The Long and SUP of it. by Harry Adams

Issue 321 - NOV DEC 2012

WAVE-RIDING the long and SUP of it

PETER HART TECHNIQUE Photo Neil Glover A meaty SUP, a light wind and a small, well-formed wave can teach you more about the tactics and techniques of wave-riding than a hundred breezy days - but here the author is in danger of being over-dramatic.

Words PETER HART / Photos Hart Photography

PETER HART

MASTERCLASS WAVE-RIDING the long and SUP of it Some people take a long time to ‘get’ wave riding. Harty suspects they may be ignoring the best practice days and need to get themselves a big stick.

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THE WAVESAILING CAULDRON

When a strong onshore wind is responsible for the waves you sail in, the result can be a right old mess. Indeed a ‘right old mess’ describes the majority of the ocean conditions we encounter. There is fun to be had. You learn a lot about getting out and dodging white water but you tend to take on a lot of defensive habits, which can permanently stunt your development. Grit and fitness help you survive such conditions but it’s no place to learn the finer points.

Photo Netty Hart A typical south coast cauldron. It’s the strong wind that tends to shape your style. With lots of power, the temptation is just to charge around avoiding trouble.

t’s ‘open mic’ night in our local pub, where musicians of all genres can put their name down and do a slot. Halfway through it’s the turn of this one guy who approaches the keyboard with a confident stride, places his music on the stand and then proceeds to wrestle his way through a ragtime number smacking more bum notes than Les Dawson, on a bad day. It was a generous crowd but even they went strangely silent, writhing with embarrassed discomfort at this aural assault. Then someone recognised the tune and started clapping in time (as much as that was possible). Suddenly the mood changed. Offended grimaces turned to smiles at the realisation we were witnessing a gargantuan effort. Five tortuous minutes later we carried him over the line on a groundswell of underdog admiration. The pianist took a bow to enormous applause, apologised for his imprecision but revealed that he’d only taken-up the piano 4 months ago. He said it had been a lifelong ambition to play in public so he decided to just jump in head-first. When his heart rate had got down below 200, he also revealed that it was the scariest thing he’d ever done. By total contrast another bloke turns up every week, who is brilliant, plays a hundred instruments, sings like a lark but has never played-out, and probably never will. The excuses include, “not happy with the PA/got a bit of a sore throat/ broken a nail etc”. In reality, he fears the pressure of the situation, the risk of it just going wrong and the ensuing humiliation. There’s an unknown quality that frightens him to death and however much he practises in his bedroom, he’ll never be prepared enough. If the two of them were budding wave sailors, you’d have no dilemma deciding which one would prosper. In all fields of endeavour, fast learners tend to be brave. Entrepreneurs, musicians or athletes, they’re prepared to put their houses, reputations or bodies on the line in search of early success. They’re the ones who’ll march boldly into the biggest shoredump with the bare minimum of skill. They’re willing to take a step into the void and just see what happens. They may get royally spanked but because they don’t fear failure, they persevere and get a sense of what it’s all about, the joy as well as the pain, much sooner than someone who nibbles away at it from deep within their comfort zone. But…brave adventurous people also can also end up on a performance plateau (when they’re not in rehab). In truth those two musos could learn something from each other. Coming-up, I hope to show that it’s when you combine courage with improving skills that you become a highly effective unit.

Photo Netty Hart The truth is that finding a wave to ride in these conditions, getting in position and controlling the power as you bury the edge, is pretty advanced stuff. Most apprenticeships are carried out in clean waves and light winds.

which way to go, and end-up just sailing shorewards, in the rough direction of the car park, sort of in front of a wave but not really on it. For others it’s more specific. They rarely catch a wave. There are plenty around when they’re going out but they seem to disappear the moment they head back in. If they do catch one, it’s always too late and/or they’re in the wrong place. They enjoy being out in the waves but are stuck for ideas. Most are victims of their history and environment. The first time we go out in the waves, like the gung ho pianist, we tend to be underskilled for the task in hand. When strength, fitness, grit and belligerence are your main weapons (good weapons mind you), you inevitably develop a raft of defensive habits. For example, flying out of control on the way out and lost battles with white water, teach you to dig in and squat, head up and wash off speed. Despite a healthy gale, you end up slogging-out off the plane and then screeching back in like a blinkered racehorse. It should be the other way round – full tilt on the way out and then moderating your speed on the way in, stopping sometimes, waiting and then edging into position to exploit the slopes. Little technique failings (e.g., dodgy hand positions) become ever more disruptive as the stakes get higher. The problem is that the impact zone is not the best place to be sorting them out. Imagine learning to juggle standing in the fast lane of the M6? You’d become very good at dodging cars. But your juggling wouldn’t come on much. There are too many distractions, too much going on.

Trying to refine basic skills in windy confused waves is like trying learning to juggle standing in the fast land of the M6. There are too many distractions. Windy Wave sailing rut’ syndrome.

The main problem (ironically for a sport with ‘wind’ in its title) is the wind. On most of our popular UK south coast beaches for example, waves arrive as a direct result of, and so are often accompanied by, a lot of onshore wind. We love wind of course but to novice wave-sailors, it can be a corrupting distraction. It gives them a big, fast motor with which to charge about. And that’s what they do. They may encounter a wave every now and then in passing but the wild wind lends too much speed so by The Bad Habit Rut the time they’ve considered what to do with it, they’re grinding up the shingle. On the first evening of wave clinics I get the troupe to divulge their wish list. For a Strong wind gives you a lot to lean against so you tend not to develop those sweet high majority it’s riding. Some just don’t get it. They say they have no idea what to do, trimming skills. WINDSURF MAGAZINE

PETER HART TECHNIQUE When it comes to carving turns on waves, the strong wind drives you naturally into long fast arcs, which take you far away from small slow waves. Strong onshore conditions are the easiest to survive in but the hardest in which to sail well, and especially, rip-up waves. To ride down-the-line, you have to sail switch-foot and clew-first. To keep the turns fast and right, you need cute power control skills – and you need to be an adept tactician. The strong wind that creates the waves also messes them up to the point where juicy moments are hard to find.

“ When you see someone ripping it on an onshore day, you can be sure they’ve done a lot of training elsewhere – and almost certainly, in light winds! “

cracked and where the most amount of people got a sensation of what true wave riding actually involves. It was a day on Tiree’s beautiful Balephuil beach after the big systems had moved away when we were left with waist high clean waves and a 5-knot side-off wind, (with gusts of 6).

Wave sailing… but not as we know it The chosen craft were SUPs (with mastfeet) ranging from 8’ 6” to 11’ 2.” They were all all-rounders with a wave-riding element but the favourite was a 9.0 because it floats easily but has a true surfboard rocker line. The lessons learned were tactical, technical and psychological. And in no particular order – here they are. Let’s start with the technical.

WEAPONS and CHOICES

The common advice to those looking to grasp the tactics, balance and intricacies of wave-sailing, is ‘ learn to surf.’ Great – but unless you inhabit an Atlantic shore, it’s not that practical. Surfing is hard. At least to get to the stage where you’re paddling out, catching and riding the unbroken face, takes a specific fitness, agility and a load of practice. SUPing in the waves is a lot more accessible, although calls on a degree of balance. Why not, as soon as there’s a hint of wind, plug in a rig and develop the skills you already have. With no hint of hyperbole, everyone I’ve taken out on a SUP with a sail in waves and light winds have been shocked and delighted at how much they learn and how much fun they have.

No straps equals mobility Because the SUPs were not fitted with straps, people felt they had choices as to where to stand and were instantly more mobile. On small wave boards people see the straps as a safety zone, dive in them as soon as they can and often stay in too long, especially in the fluffy winds around the impact zone where it’s often safest to be out of them with the front foot firmly butted up against the mastfoot. Talking of which…

The training riding options in order of accessibility. Surfing is great but hard.

Through white water

On the one hand SUPS are easier to get out over the break because they float Busy lives often dictate that windsurfing higher and don’t sink into the foam. On has its specific place in the schedule. the other hand, they’re bigger and wider You head to the beach you know when and give the white water more to aim at. the wind hits a certain strength from If you don’t approach exactly nose on, a certain direction. And lo and behold you get whipped round. you encounter pretty much the same The biggest lesson was in releasing and conditions every time. I’ve just returned powering the nose. Confronted by a big from a 4-week ‘Endless Winter’ wave broken wave on the SUP, you have to clinic tour of Donegal and Tiree. Just step right back and sheet out to get the plonking yourself somewhere different nose up and then step forward and sheet is a benefit in that it shakes you out of in to power over it. You have to do the your Groundhog Day routine. You may same on a small board – just without be sailing a different tack, the wind is making such big steps. more sideshore/offshore than normal, James noted that he got through one and the waves are breaking differently wave that was just about to break by and actually peeling. Conditions force pushing the nose under it. “That’s like you to sail different lines and make tacti- duck diving a surfboard isn’t it?” he said. cal decisions. Exactly.

Go Light. Go Big

Anyway, out of those 30 days, we had pretty much everything from 5 to 55 knots and waves varying from the ankle-tapper to the monstrous. Every day tested some aspect of the wavy challenge. However, there was one day where the greatest number of light bulbs came on, where the most amount of bad habits were shed, essential new skills 84

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SUPing is easier and wonderful for wave knowledge and balance but any kind of wind gets annoying.

Light Wind stance The worst of all the defensive habits in waves, or anywhere for that matter, is that of creeping the front hand forward on the boom. It’s an instinctive way of depowering the sail. It also chokes the power, leaves you too close to the mast; and as you step back, you can’t help but pull the rig back and head up.

SUPing with a sail gets you doing all the right things in slow motion on the wave while honing your rig handling skills.

STAYING in the ZONE

Crazy conditions, fatigue, and lack of a failsafe way of turning round persuade people to commit the most cardinal of wave-sailing sins, which is carrying on way out to sea. Yes sometimes you may do a long run to get back upwind but in fact it’s often best to stay inshore and use the waves as a conveyor belt. On the SUPs people didn’t feel any of the above issues and so stayed within 100m of the shore where they spent all the time getting over, turning or riding waves. Close to shore you can not only spot the sets better but can fall into their rhythm, timing your runs out so you arrive out the back just as the next set is building. Upping the intensity of the sessions by staying within the break zone is the fastest way to improve.

Floating-off miles from shore – there’s nothing there to interest the wavesailor.

Taking white water on a SUP. Here the wave is just breaking and James discovers he can get through by shoving the nose under the lip like the duck-diving surfer.

The key to getting over bigger white water is in releasing the nose to get it to rise on top of the foam, and then sheeting-in to power over it. It’s the same on the SUP, you just have to make bigger fore and aft movement. Rob demonstrates.

In your stance, your feet will automatically match your hands.

1. They were catching the waves earlier thanks to the voluminous board and a bit of active pumping. So if you sail with the front hand for2. The offshore wind was holding the ward, you naturally place the front foot waves up for longer. forward. On the SUPs it was immediately 3. They had little power in the sail and apparent – those who had the front hand so weren’t able to sheet in and blast off habit, sailed with their front foot in front in front. of the mastfoot. That doesn’t work well. On a short board, the nose is liable to The longer people spend on the unbrosink. On the longer board, you engage ken wave, the more time they have to the nose rocker, push water and look up, assess the situation and make grind along. decisions. One guy said it was the first time he’d actually looked along a wave It became a special problem catching both ways without seeing white water. waves. Yes you need to drive the nose He clocked where it was going to break down the face, but if you stand too far and made a conscious decision which forward, you cause a lot of drag and way to go. Before he’d always keep going either nosedive or stop. on the track that felt most comfortable As soon as they moved the front hand to the wind direction, irrespective of back, everything fell into place. They had what the wave was doing. more room and could stand further back on the board and trim it more sweetly. Stay high for speed. The most poignant lesson learned Catching the wave concerned positioning on the wave. With This was the first time some had actually little or no power from the rig, the only had to work a board onto the wave face. way to get speed was to stay at the top There’s an old surfing rule of, if your tim- of the wave. If they spent more than a ing is good, you never need more than second on the flat in front of it, they all three paddles to catch a wave. That’s how but stopped. long it takes to get up to top speed. The Another advantage to catching the really good guys face out to sea astride wave early was that they had time to their boards, then pivot, drop into prone head off diagonally and use the slope to paddle and pop in one movement. It’s the gather speed before trying to turn. Some acceleration that gets you on it. It’s the realised that one of their major mistakes same on a windsurfer. If you see a wave in the past had been trying to turn the in the distance and then head for shore, moment they caught the wave, with little it’ll take ages to catch you up. The trick or no speed. is to wait stationary with the board into wind parallel with the wave; then bear Aware of the rails – using away so your perpendicular to the wave ALL the board just as it arrives. It’s the sudden powering In quieter moments on courses we talk of the sail which loads the mastfoot and about board shapes and I ask people drives the nose down the face. whether they relate the way they carve In very light winds, you learn that if you to the outline of the board and if they’re do nothing, you can only catch a wave aware of engaging different parts of the just as it’s breaking, which involves such rail to shape different turns. The common acceleration that you fall off the back. To reaction is that it all happens a bit too catch a wave before it breaks, you have quick and their mind is occupied with to work. Effectively the ocean is suddenly more important matters – like staying on. changing pitch from flat to near vertical How it works is, if you engage the front and you have to change the pitch of the section of rail where the outline is board to match the slope of the wave. straighter, you lengthen the arc. If you The better you get at trimming, the less use more back foot (but don’t lean back) you have to do to get down the slope. and engage just the back section of rail Easing the hips forward, moving the where there’s more curve, you tighten hands back down the boom, tilting the the arc. The smaller the board, the more rig a little to windward and sheeting in, subtle those pressures have to be. are all subtle ways to drop the nose and But on the long SUP, this notion is really start the ride. obvious (and it happens more slowly). On the SUP, you have the stability and The concept behind a long surfboard the time to experiment with these is that the length gives you lift, speed movements. and acceleration to catch smaller waves, catch waves earlier and stay on weak, Surfing the unbroken face slow waves longer. Three elements combined to give people long rides on an unbroken face. WINDSURF MAGAZINE

PETER HART TECHNIQUE The only curve is right in the tail. The way to turn them, therefore, is to step back, get the nose up and turn off the tail. Then as you redirect down the wave, run forward again to drive the nose down the face. Move forward to accelerate and back to turn.

IRONING OUT THE STANCE

One of the most-common technical faults picked-up from challenging survival conditions is sliding the front hand forward on the boom. It’s a defensive instinct that chokes the power and makes you head-up. The feet tend to match the hands, so you’ll also end-up having to stand too far forward in light winds, which makes for dodgy trimming. The SUP in a light wind gave us a chance to sand-off these rough edges and the improvement was immediate.

Driving the board With no footstraps, the crew naturally took up better surfing positions on the board with the front foot over the centreline and in the middle of the board. And with little pressure in the sail forcing them to lean back, they used their front foot as the platform. They then got the feeling of starting every downwind turn by loading that foot, bending the ankle and then punching the knee forward. With the weight forward they could drive the rail with the back foot without stalling. When it’s breezy the commonest of all errors as people bear off down-theline, is that of hanging back off the rig and sitting on the back foot.

Rig Angles In fast frantic rides where the changes in direction are (should be) so sudden and fast, the hardest element is keeping stock of the wind direction and holding the rig at the right angle. Riding downwind, the common error is getting back-winded instead of sheeting out and pushing the clew above the lip. On the SUP, again with the rig being light and everything happening so slowly, we could focus on the idea that actually the sail stays in the same plane throughout the ride and the board just turns under it. You just have to do what you have to do, sheet in or out, to keep presenting the sail to the wind.

TACTICS The most obvious progression of the team was that by the afternoon they were catching more than twice the number of waves they were in the morning. The first nugget of advice was that they only had to halve the distance they went out, to double their runs and hence the chances of picking something up. Long reaches are just a habit. One bloke had a ‘doh!’ moment when he pointed out that when it’s windy and he has to get through a lot of white water, he carries on out to sea to sit in the harness to have a rest. “But this isn’t tiring!” “I know” So why are you going so far out?” “I’ve no idea!” The biggest change occurs in people’s wave-sailing when they up the intensity and spend more and more of the session right in the hot zone. 86

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Mark naturally places his front hand near the mast. As a result, even on the SUP, he stands with his front foot well in front of the mast, which engages the nose rocker and makes him plough through the water and potentially nose-dive.

He moves the hands back on the boom. With that one adjustment, he now stands further back, trims the board better, frees up the nose, distances himself from the rig and catches and rides more waves.

STAY HIGH, GO FAST

Rob Simpson (the man in the pics) saw the photos and said at once: “It’s obvious isn’t it - you have to stay high on the wave if you want speed. What am I doing?” To be fair he sorted it out as the day went on. In all situations, but especially in small waves and light wind, if you spend more than a second ‘in the flats’ in front of the wave, you’re going to stop.

(Hart Photography) In front of the wave, there’s no slope to work with.

(Hart Photography) Even on the smallest waves, you’ll be amazed how fast you ride if you stay high.

THE FRONT FOOT PLATFORM

A habit many windy ocean sailors bring with them into their wave-riding is that of dropping back to resist the rig and steering entirely off the tail with the back foot. On the SUP they had minimum pressure in the sail as they bore away and so could take up a proper surfing stance, placing the front foot in the middle of the board and using it as the platform. As long as the weight is forward you can use the back foot to bank the rail without losing control of the nose. (Hart Photography) Not a bad gybe but the rig is dominating proceedings and sailor leans back to resist. Many take this style into their waveriding.

(Hart Photography) Take the power away thanks to a light wind and you’ll naturally project forward and balance on the front foot.

PETER HART TECHNIQUE THE OPEN EYES and the POSITIVE LOOK

In all windsurfing we know the head influences posture and how important it is to look where you’re going. Well in wave-sailing the importance is ten fold. Vision is crucial to spot waves on the horizon and when riding to scan the wave left and right to see what it’s going to do and pick your line up or downwind.

Photo Hart Photography Pete, brother of Mark, had the same family habit of standing with feet and hands too far forward and of looking down – a position from which everything is a surprise.

By the afternoon he’d sorted the stance, but most of all he lifted the head, took in the scenery, made plans and as a result, got into some A1 positions on the wave. This is how the SUPs and a light wind helped them onto a new tactical level.

I can turn! People carry on out to sea on small kit to have a rest, or also to delay the inevitable plop waterstart routine. But they could all tack the SUPs. Having a failsafe way of turning round was a novelty in waves. It was the incentive they needed to stay inshore. Soon they were picking out swells and gybing or tacking onto them.

I can stop!

The advantage of riding little waves with a big board is that you really have to work to do anything dynamic. That means getting mobile, moving back to turn and then moving forward again to drive the nose down the face and stay with the wave. If you do nothing, you’ll drop off the back.

It’s what good wave sailors do and less accomplished ones don’t. Even when it’s windy they can stop. And they have the trimming and balance skills to hang around in one spot off the plane and wait for the set. On voluminous SUPs, stopping and waiting was easy especially when there wasn’t the wind to tempt them onto the plane.

I can see them!

The greatest inhibitor to learning in waves is fear. But even with the offshore wind, thanks to the volume of the SUP everyone was 100% relaxed in the knowledge that a gentle rinsing would be followed by an easy uphaul. 88

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The closer you stay to shore, the easier the swells are to pick out. To begin with they’d go out and if they didn’t spot a swell, they’d keep going. But the further you go out the less defined they become and the harder they are to spot. Not that this is always a good way to make friends but I told them the surfers were a good indicator of the outer limit of the break zone. Because the SUP with a sail can catch the waves earlier, hang around about 30m beyond the surfers but don’t try to engage them in conversation.

The Rhythm Staying close in helped the crew become aware of the rhythm of the sets. It was a riding day so when on the way out they had to climb over a perfect set, they learned to realise they’d just missed a great ride and would arrive out the back to be greeted by a flat ocean. By the end they were waiting and adjusting the length of their reaches to fall in time with the arrival of the sets.

SO MANY LESSONS Taking a SUP and a sail out on a light wind, small wave day gives you wavesailing in slow motion. It’s a peaceful environment where you can stop, wait, observe, consider and even discuss the challenge with your neighbours. Perhaps key of all is that volume provides security and psychological freedom. There are no issues about getting stuck or floating away unseen. It’s amazing what athletic wizardry you can perform when your mind is free. Now bring on the wind! In the next issue Harty heads to his home break and advises how to fly and rip when conditions are onshore and less than perfect. In the meantime, check out his 2013 clinic schedule on harty@peterhart.com or email for his monthly newsletter on harty@peter-hart.com And ‘like’ him on Facebook ‘Peter Hart Masterclass’