Escaping backhand tubes

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot started the topic in Friday, 12 Feb 2016 at 8:51pm

What's makes me a bit nervous is surfing solid hollow waves on your backhand over shallow reef.

On your forehand if you're in a big hollow tube and its shutting down you can, most of the time, quiet easily pull through the back while you're in the pit.

On your backhand I find it much harder to punch through without getting sucked over.

Anyone got any tips?

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Friday, 12 Feb 2016 at 8:51pm

Or tricks?

mk1's picture
mk1's picture
mk1 Friday, 12 Feb 2016 at 9:52pm

My number 1 trick is to sit to low and get drilled into my board by the lip. I do this a lot.

clif's picture
clif's picture
clif Friday, 12 Feb 2016 at 11:08pm

I do what mk1 does. Also, a lot.

This is a topic dear to me at the moment. Lately I have been surfing a lot of hollow lefts (backhand for me). My backhand tube skills are quite limited. I'd also like tips.

I just got advice to get my inside arm into that wall. This helps square the shoulders. And the front foot I know faces forward. But I am still eating it endlessly and bouncing off the reef endlessly. Not sitting high enough on the face and copping the lip to the head. Then sitting too high and getting sucked over. Then setting up perfectly only to look like a goose as no barrel opens up. Sigh.

clif's picture
clif's picture
clif Friday, 12 Feb 2016 at 11:10pm

too many righthand points surfed when growing up. haha

penmister's picture
penmister's picture
penmister Friday, 12 Feb 2016 at 11:50pm

Put a empty ice cream bucket on ya head eat some oats,and go straight to drop knee and save the arm drag just point to were u want it to end..imop...

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Saturday, 13 Feb 2016 at 7:12am
clif wrote:

I do what mk1 does. Also, a lot.

This is a topic dear to me at the moment. Lately I have been surfing a lot of hollow lefts (backhand for me). My backhand tube skills are quite limited. I'd also like tips.

I just got advice to get my inside arm into that wall. This helps square the shoulders. And the front foot I know faces forward. But I am still eating it endlessly and bouncing off the reef endlessly. Not sitting high enough on the face and copping the lip to the head. Then sitting too high and getting sucked over. Then setting up perfectly only to look like a goose as no barrel opens up. Sigh.

Haha the struggles hey!
I'm ok at getting in the tube and cruising along in there, it's just being able to punch through the back if it's shutting down over shallow reef that I can't get sussed. I've seen natural footers do it at solid speedies. Worked a treat

groundswell's picture
groundswell's picture
groundswell Saturday, 13 Feb 2016 at 8:38am

I don't know how to do those pullouts you refer to but I have had trouble sometimes with my head either hitting the lip backhand or try to duck forward and it puts too much weight on my front foot or something, causing me to nosedive. I've been working a lot on my backhand since being over here but I'm still a lot worse than forehand. Especially on ledges I find round tails the easiest to ride backhand in tubes. My mayhem mini driver is the best backhand board I've had. Easy to pump and get tubed.
But got a little heavy for that board recently.
That little right at the end of Jakes point is pretty fun to try out new backhand stuff. I might move there.

penmister's picture
penmister's picture
penmister Saturday, 13 Feb 2016 at 6:27pm

What borat u cant push your head and your right side through a wave...

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Saturday, 13 Feb 2016 at 6:54pm
penmister wrote:

What borat u cant push your head and your right side through a wave...

This a question or a statement?

cycd's picture
cycd's picture
cycd Saturday, 13 Feb 2016 at 8:02pm

Try and kick your board forward and lay back in where the lip hits the water ... the trough.... Sometimes you pop straight out the back of the wave, sometimes you don't and still get worked (I'm ashamed to admit I learnt this trick being a lidder surfing shallow shorebreaks years ago haha) .... if you get rolled a bit and not slammed flipped starfish like a mofo to try and avoid reef

penmister's picture
penmister's picture
penmister Saturday, 13 Feb 2016 at 8:11pm

Question or statement could be both i suppose..this is a statement i think.use your heels on your board...

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Monday, 19 Oct 2020 at 7:04pm
Agitator's picture
Agitator's picture
Agitator Monday, 19 Oct 2020 at 7:16pm

Very good.

Sheepdog's picture
Sheepdog's picture
Sheepdog Monday, 19 Oct 2020 at 7:34pm

Being a big fat bastard, depending on the situation A- hang in there till vapourized - the more wave that throws and detonates while u still hanging in there, the less working u get - hard to keep your cool tho.
B either jump off the front or rear ( parallel with the wave) covering up ya head like a ufc fighter about to get beaten and do the best ever bum first bomb dive.
ffs dont jump in front of your board between the wave and the shore, or back plant yourself in the wave in line with your board and the shore. Sure recipe for clashing with board underwater.. You wanna get further down the line AWAY from the board, or your board further down the line. I have sometimes "pretended" to spear an imaginary surfer further down the barrel, and just gone "PLONK" into the floor of the barrel.
Hope that makes sense bahahahaha

Westofthelake's picture
Westofthelake's picture
Westofthelake Monday, 19 Oct 2020 at 8:45pm

That was unreal udo.

Sheepy, yep.

frog's picture
frog's picture
frog Monday, 19 Oct 2020 at 10:11pm

My backside tube riding is not that great but I can punch through out the back of the tube in waves up to about 5ft pretty well when all hope is lost.

Often I turn hard into the face from low down on the wave and bog my bum and shoulder into the wave face losing all speed and becoming like a stationary object the wave breaks over. I let the tail of my board spin out and at the same time my front hand grabs the nose of my board about 2 foot from the nose and I hold it hard and sort of tuck it under the crook of my arm. The board usually just gets pulled out the back with me nose first. Being nose first it penetrates the wave well.

I pop up out the back board under my arm facing shoreward just on the outer edge of the broken wave and frog kick a bit to avoid getting sucked into the white water. Sometimes I punch out and seem to pull my board into position under me and start paddling in one smooth motion.

Might sound complicated but it is really just bottom turn hard into the face and grab the rail near the nose.

It has worked well in so many hairy situations and on shallow bottoms.

Don't do it in chopes type barrels or if you are too high up to do a turn into the face.

tubeshooter's picture
tubeshooter's picture
tubeshooter Monday, 19 Oct 2020 at 10:01pm

Damn the torpedoes ,, full speed ahead. ;)

udo's picture
udo's picture
udo Friday, 23 Oct 2020 at 11:15am
dandandan's picture
dandandan's picture
dandandan Friday, 23 Oct 2020 at 11:21am

Imagine the state of mind you'd need to be in to be in that position and think "better slow down actually"

Solitude's picture
Solitude's picture
Solitude Friday, 23 Oct 2020 at 12:10pm

A bloke who knows a thing or two about scary barrels. Some good backhand ejection tips here:

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Friday, 23 Oct 2020 at 12:21pm

just watching those Nathan Florence videos makes my heart pound.

goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot's picture
goofyfoot Friday, 23 Oct 2020 at 12:48pm

Danx3 I know right. Just totally different level