Land an air, poke a turn, get released from the tube's claw!
Every day brings a deeper enchainment with the nineties surf pro Shane Beschen.
Born and shaped in San Clemente’s gilded surf ghetto, Shane scored the highest-ever heat total in 1996 with a perfect 30 (three 10s) at Kirra and, for a time, was the arch rival of Kelly Slater (In 1994, Beschen beat Slater at the US Open while surfing without a leash). After retiring, prematurely, from the tour in 2005, Shane has used his tour knowledge to improve the game of surfers Carissa Moore, Conner Coffin and Kolohe Andino. His two sons, Noah, sixteen, and Koda, who is twelve, carry his superior genetic code in their surf jams.
And if you, or me, want an instant fix to our surf woes, well, Beschen has answers.
1. How to land airs: Most of us have never really conquered the mechanics of airs. We race along a wave, bottom turn, throw ourselves into the lip and fall on our backs. Beschen says if you want to get better, if you want to improve today, the first thing you have to do is buy a board that’s fast and wide. And instead of bottom turning at the bottom of the wave, do your turn mid-face. “Honestly, the mid-face bottom turn is the most important thing,” says Beschen. “And, then, when you hit the lip, really pull up with your knees and throw back your shoulder to make sure you’re centred. And you want to land on the lip so you crush it down. It’s a cushion for your landings. A lot of the super gnarly guys land on the flats or in the trough, where the lip hits the bottom of the wave, but that’s the worst place you want to be. Injuries? You don’t want ’em.”
2. Shorten your board to improve your tube riding: This is a frontside trick to get you out of your tubes. “Move both feet forward, plain and simple,” he says. You want your back foot above the Astrodeck (tail pad) and the front foot somewhere between six and 12 inches where you normally have it. That really shortens your board and it makes it easier to speed up and slow down.”
Backside is different, says Beschen. “You want to drop your back knee almost as if you were surfing drop-knee. And square your front shoulder. Look at John John, Slater or Bruce Irons for perfection of this art.
“You’re trying to create an imbalance. Your back leg bends while the front leg remains straight. Those beautiful arcs like Mick? He’s really compressing the back leg and straightening the front leg.
3. Poke your turns: You want to carve like Mick Fanning? “I’ve been explaining this lately as ‘poking’ turns,” says Beschen. “You’re trying to create an imbalance. Your back leg bends while the front leg remains straight. Those beautiful arcs like Mick? He’s really compressing the back leg and straightening the front leg. You see a lot of kids with an even stance, both legs are bent. This is creates a block and so they’re not able to wrap their turns.”
Now go get ’em!
Ahhh ha the old reef booties at Kirra spread.. Yep, guilty. I had come from mid winter in NZ wearing fruit-boots, my first surf with hard, warm water wax with no rubber on my feet I wasn’t used to it at all and slipped off real bad on a late drop and broke my board. I was over it so I ran to where I was staying, grabbed some cash, ran to the surf shop, found some reef boots, went home, grabbed another board, paddled out and snagged this one off Big Groyne with my feet firmly planted in Taiwanese rubber – and somehow it was immortalized on film and in print.. Terrible faux pas but I’ll take it!
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
The envy in the ether is palpable of some. Despicable.
Incredibly so!
You can take the man out of NZ but not NZ out the man . Great shot and lovely looking barrel .
Thanks! The best part is that I burned Slater for this wave. Long story but he deserved it!
ALL BLACKS 1 Goat 🐐 0 . Burn smelly skater burn . Good things come to those who wait .I think he is an absolute surfing genius but he is not god and Kirra is definitely not in Florida .
Shit yes
Aw thanks man. I seldom do airs these days though. The old ankles and knees fear is creeping in…
Video video video. Until you see yourself on film you got no idea of your ability. Many an ego has been crushed by the camera. If you can handle the visual truth, and difference of “perception” vs reality, you will become remarkably better. Those HPC camps if you can lose the too cool to improve stigma, really can help remarkably.
done one?
Yep truth hurts….but only way to get any better.
True; it’s very hard to get better if you can’t see what you need to improve. What is a HPC camp?
High performance surf camp. One near Goldy and one Manly. http://www.surfingaustralia…
Wow; very cool! Next time I go AU I’ll definitely try the “recreational surfer” camp.
My pop up is improving
I’m imbalanced
Question for Chas. Do you think Stabmag will start posting stories questioning why Chas never posted a story on Dusty Paynes horrible wipe-out at Backdoor…..surely the second biggest story in surfing this year????
What’s the biggest?
A proper floater drawn out over appreciable distance isn’t easy.
Don’t let Shearer get you down. Not everyone can be blessed with a retarded meerkat looking air game.
shit, I got no air game.
I got no game
Floaters are worthless, limp.
Totally dependent on the section,the speed at which it is done and the risk involved. What may be limp at Lowers becomes courageous at Cloudbreak or Cascais .There a floaters and FLOATERS.
High speed tail drop floaters are sick
Nicky Wood, Shea Lopez, and Andy (not career ending, just never scared of the shallows)
yeah, but really, the only way to really improve is to surf better waves. EOS.
Or different waves than your used to at your own breaks . On the subject of airs the spot seen on the Former vid is a great place to practice airs . Sidewinding A frame lefts which magically turn any lip hit into an air . Unfortunately I forgot where it is but surfed it a lot in the 80s .
Depends on the waves. Good beach breaks hit most buttons. Point waves clean up a style but slow your reaction times.
“Good” being the operative factor.
beachbreaks teach you how to get completely unweighted and be heavy at exactly the right moments to build speed, and how to do lippers where you need to figure out a way to dig that nose out to avoid pearling. point waves build rail managers like Parko and Mick who seem to know exactly where the spin out point is going to be and they can bury it to exactly that point where they aren’t bogging, they’re maintaining that original arc but also not surrendering an inch.
The ceiling of improvement becomes drastically lowered for a guy or gal who has no access to good surf as they crest 30. Thats just cold hard physiological reality.
It’s logarithmic curve once past 40.
We’re all doomed! Well, I am.
The first time I was in Fiji, I mentioned that I used to surf El Porto to someone who was also from California. They laughed and said “That wave will make you an amateur for life”. #truth
no air game for the Mullet?
Can anyone who posts here successfully and consistently pull a functional air? I’m out!
Nope. Not I.
if I wasnt so into the rail I’d be up there?
Drugs are never the answer…
That’s my excuse too.
In an effort to protect ageing knees an ankles I stopped somewhere around 40 about a decade ago
I remember seeing KS In Black and White and wanting to quit surfing. I can still Ollie and get air on a vert ramp but never took to the skies surfing. Like, fucking never.
Speed ( not rails of it ) and youth are the kindred spirits of airs .I still enjoy hitting the lip and carving more . Your much braver than me if you go anywhere near a skateboard . Stopped at 12 forever
Vert surely way gnarlier? Skating is fuckin fiddly
Oh yeah, but I just can’t launch from water! I hate the shit.
Punt tech 101 as K.S explained.”Get speed. See your ramp, bottom turn half way up the wave. Imagine the lip is 3+feet above the actual lip.” Flow, have a low centre of gravity whilst in flight. Pinch rail if necessary. Beunas Notchess. P.s. Forgot to read column b4 comments.
I have about a 2% strike rate, and of that 2% landed probably 80% of them result in me destroying my board somehow. Of the 98% I don’t land, 100% of them result in me destroying my board. Man I go through some boards
Your shaper loves you!
I’ve singlehandedly put his kids through university
Turts you are a new age Gough Whitlam
Well may we say god save the queen, because nothing is going to save me from surfing induced financial hardship
Enjoy the ride .
Not me. I’d like to, but have a suss ankle from youthful skating indiscretions.
Add me to the out list. Just never worked it out partially because I grew up with shitty waves and tried not to waste too many. Now I’m old and surf points and can go fast and take in the scenery, but it would still be nice to fly.
I’m fucking determined to do one before I hit 48 ( July).
If your a goofy go left into the southerly and if your a natural go right into the Nor’easter assuming your living on the east coast of Oz .Onshore winds must become your friend . Super light weight boards 4” glass or epoxy will see you flying in no time .But , if you not privately insured,disregard all of the above .
I’d be lying if I said yes, but have garnered more than one compliment over the years while paddling back out.
Thank God Derek, now we can move on from discussing other men’s cocks bumping into my beloved’s cervix.
Oh that we can continue. Do you have night thoughts of a gorgeous, thick, veiny cock filling your beloved to the hilt, she unable to contain her waterfall of orgasm?
50 Shades of Grit
See my other comment about SEO.
:Dirty and rough yet gentle and all consuming..
Yes! Yes! Yes! Fuck!!!! Not an entirely unpleasant experience. Phew.
4th Way to Improve Your Surfing:
Surf by yourself, without witnesses, so you can take the truth and keep it straight in the front but bent to all hell in the back creating imbalance that enhances believability.
Well fuck, Beachgrit huh? For a second I thought I was reading an article on the Inertia.
Beach Grit does The Inertia better than The Inertia can do The Inertia.
We’re nothing if not adaptable.
Si mallèable!
Et enchaînement!
I will admit, this story did have an earlier incarnation as a story for a poisonous energy drink company.
Beschen is the only connection to Grit. The rest and maybe him is foreshadow possibly. Or we’re reading SEO?