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duck diving
graham001 - 15-8-2008 at 18:21

i know this old classic again lol.

Im having trouble duck diving, i can get under most waves not to bad by paddling fast towards the wave and then pushing the board under near the nose with my hands but a lot of the time i dont get deap enough, getting sucked back.

I try to put my knee on the tail of the bodyboard when duck diving but the board just pushes into my stomach when i push down with my hands, stopping me from putting my knee on. Can anyone help? what am i doing wrong, thanks.

Am i perhaps pushing down on the board to near to the nose, then cuasing it to dig into my stomach? ive also heard sometimes as you approach the wave lift your board a little then duck dive into the wave as this helps with momentum.

any help apreicated david


justal - 16-8-2008 at 09:39

There are lotys of ways to get it right, and even more to get it wrong, but I find it helps to duck-dive quite a way in front of the wave to give me time to get nice and deep. I also find that keeping my eyes open whilst I do it helps. I'm not sure why but I think it make me look up as the wave passes overhead which then makes me arch my back meaning that the board levels out under the wave. if you don't manage to get the board level under the wave (pushing down on the tail can help with this too) then basically the wave just hits you and drags you backwards.

The idea is to get deep enough to get below the turbulent water, level out under it and then surface head first with some momentum maintained. If you think about created an arc under the wave rather than just concentrating on diving deep it will probably help... Along with lots of practise of course!

it will also depend on your board too as a smaller board which is less buoyant is always going to be easier to duck0dive.

Al.


EarthWindFire - 17-9-2015 at 09:20

Cannot beat a bit of duck diving!