Roy, when you are surfing one of your long boards in triple overhead conditions, could you please provide details of your duck diving technique when caught inside ?
The correct technique is to roll under, it works as well as duck diving although it sometimes takes a bit more energy.
For successful rolling under longboards need to be reasonably heavy, have rail cross sections which are able to be gripped strongly ( i.e. lowish volume, not like an SUP ) and not too much thickness.
Rolling under must be done from the middle area of the board or behind the middle,not the nose, doing it from the nose is a dangerous method and can lead to cartwheeling.The correct technique is to roll under, it works as well as duck diving although it sometimes takes a bit more energy.
For successful rolling under longboards need to be reasonably heavy, have rail cross sections which are able to be gripped strongly ( i.e. lowish volume, not like an SUP ) and not too much thickness.
In bigger waves when rolling while going up the unroken face it's best to grab the board behind the centre and thrust it forwards as one rolls so that it punches through the lip, the nose drops down the back of the wave and pulls one through the wave.
I have the most trouble rolling on broken waves. Any specific technique to that Roy?
Don't grab on to the board with the legs as the horizontal bodily position will allow the board and rider to be pushed backwards, this can be followed by the tail digging in and the board flipping up vertically, and possibly cartwheeling.
Try to keep the body vertical under the board so that it will act as a sea anchor. Extending the arms high above the head increases the sea anchor effect but reduces grip strength. Extending the arms won't work if the board is too light as the board just gets lifted into the air
If the wave breaks very hard then the board can be pulled down on to the head, this increases the grip on the board a lot, I do this wth a helmet though, so I'm not sure how it works on the unprotected head.
Timing helps, rolling too soon is the main thing to avoid, it's best to roll with some paddling momentum, rather than waiting motionless for the wave. Rolling too early also wastes time which should be spent paddling.
If the problem is that the wave is getting under the nose and ripping the board out of your hands then you are either holding on too close to the nose, or the board is too light. Some nose rocker helps as it keeps the nose down when the board is inverted.
