MyPaipoBoards Forums

Papa Paepo o wrote: " Even with 48"-52" is sometime hard to duck-dive in shallow surf, so I turn my board width wise and with one hand on the front to push down while the other hand help push and front hand guide the through the water".

I was talking to Global Ernie two days ago and he described the same technique. An old UK bellyboard rider told me about submarining and it was something very similar.

I've been angling my new board but hadn't tried the full perpendicular.

Bob

If the surf is shallow, dont you want to be keeping the board flat and shallow, or am i misunderstanding the term "shallow surf" ?

krusher74 wrote:If the surf is shallow, dont you want to be keeping the board flat and shallow, or am i misunderstanding the term "shallow surf" ?

Shallow surf, surf break on shallow grounds (reef) causing you to either paddle out board above white water or performing a duck-dive on shallow surf (reef). Making a decision on duck diving in shallow surf (area), I just turn my board sideways to cut into the surf breaks for a better duck dive with no damage to your wood board.

So our talking about turning the board sideways and going through the whitewater, if you turn sideways and duckdive your going to hit the shallow bottom arnt you?

krusher74 wrote:So our talking about turning the board sideways and going through the whitewater, if you turn sideways and duckdive your going to hit the shallow bottom arnt you?

Might, but width a lot less than length so you can duck deeper and still have less board "down", yes?

GeoffreyLevens wrote:

krusher74 wrote:So our talking about turning the board sideways and going through the whitewater, if you turn sideways and duckdive your going to hit the shallow bottom arnt you?

Might, but width a lot less than length so you can duck deeper and still have less board "down", yes?

In a country like indonesia where i can actually see the bottom, on a shallow reef I will do a normal duckdive and almost touch the reef with my knuckles/board, i'm not sure how i would do better than this with the board sideways, but i think i am misunderstanding exactly what Papa means

I think he's talking about hanging on to your board while holding it towards your side and trying to push through the foam ball or face while leading with your shoulder. You're not really diving deep towards the bottom. If it's a real heavy situation, you don't really try to push through but you crouch and try to sink down timing it so hopefully you get pushed up and back by the foam ball instead of being driven down to the bottom. Works on shallow reef or sandbar.

When I'm padding out through constant whitewater, I'll keep the board submerged so I don't have to use too much effort to duckdive and I dont have to angle the board too steep to get under the wave and risk bottoming out (if shallow). I'm riding an HPD board, so I cant speak to boards with more volume. Works for me...

I have some great scars on my back from attempting to duck dive my HPD in 6 inches of water when a six foot wave kicked up in front of me. As I got sucked off the bottom and thrown onto dry reef, I wondered if the HPD would suffer as much as I did.

I might try turning the HPD sideways next time I am duck diving in ankle deep water.

Ted,

I'm not sure what would save you in 6"of water besides some luck. I found myself in a similar situation recently but it was a much smaller wave that I just managed to scrape through. A bigger wave would have been not a lot of fun.


Bob