How To Generate Speed On A Surfboard

If you’ve ever wondered how to create your own acceleration and surf faster but had no idea how and where to start, you’ve come to the right place. Whilst considered almost an “art,”  learning how to generate speed doesn’t have to be as difficult as it seems. Why? Because breaking down the basics, understanding the physics and putting theory into practice goes a long way.

This article is the key to unlocking your full potential and enhancing your ability to accelerate. Keep reading to find out how positioning, gravity, using the rails and different equipment affect your speed generation potential.

More speed equals more possibilities, as most surfing manoeuvers require good momentum. Before you proceed with speed generation techniques, ensure you understand the three key aspects below that significantly affect your acceleration potential.

• Is your surfing equipment helping you generate speed? Do you understand how much a surfboard’s rocker, volume, and dimensions can affect your acceleration?
• Do you know how to position yourself to find better-quality waves? Sometimes the problem is not just your technique but the wave itself that is poor.
• Do you have a proper surfing stance? Speed generation techniques are useless without a proper stance, as you can’t shift your weight correctly.

‍Positioning For Speed

Have you ever thought about how you position yourself for speed at take off? Your starting point and entry into the wave will set you up for what you can (and can’t) do on a wave. Think about it. The aim is to use the gravity from the wave to your advantage to gain speed towards the shoulder. How you set yourself up to begin with is key. Technique isn’t always everything. How you position yourself at take off is the first step towards generating speed.

So what do we mean by “positioning for speed?” See the cartoon above. The idea is to take off at the peak, the steepest part of the wave and the highest point. You will gain speed by dropping down (thank you, gravitational force) and have a longer, more enjoyable ride.

Gravity

So how do surfers create speed? There are mainly two ways: gravity and rail engagement. Let’s start by looking at how surfers use gravity to their advantage.

The bigger and steeper the wave, the more speed you will have. To put it into perspective, we can relate this to riding down a hill on a bicycle. A cyclist will gain speed by dropping it. The bigger and steeper the hill, the more speed you will gain.

By taking off on the steeper parts of the wave, surfers generate speed by transforming gravitational energy into motion energy. This transforms potential gravitational energy into motion energy, helping surfers gain speed during the initial drop.

You might have noticed experienced surfers often ride from top to bottom on the face of the wave when generating speed. By doing so, surfers gain speed each time they go back up and down the face.

Using the rails to redirect water flow

You can generate speed by using your rails to redirect water under your board. Rail engagement is mainly done by carving at the bottom of the wave or by riding on the top part of it, where it is steeper. This is how experienced surfers can drop in on a wave, turn at the bottom, and come back up the wave with loads of speed to do their maneuvers.

Setting your rail to redirect water flow happens when water pressure hits under the surfboard and gets redirected backwards, creating lift and forward drive. This will differentiate based on the equipment you’re using. For example, longboards redirect more water flow as more rail is engaged in the wave. To go as fast as possible on a shortboard, you must surf on your rails as you pump up and down the wave (see the pumping technique below).

On the image above, the “Low surfer” trims at the bottom and his rail is only slightly sunk in the water as the wave’s shape is quite soft here. The “High surfer” focuses on riding higher on the face, where the wave is steep. Because of the wave’s shape towards the top, his board is more engaged, so more water gets channelled under his board, helping him accelerate more.

If you imagine how both of these surfboards sink in the wave and disrupt the water flow, they would be very different from one another. The surfboard riding high on the wave has more engagement, therefore it gets more acceleration from the water getting channelled towards the tail.

Staying Near The Pocket

The pocket! It’s where the magic and most critical maneuvers take place. Also referred to as “the power source,” it is where you can gain the most speed with gravity and rail engagement. Surfers riding smaller boards will rarely go very far from the pocket.

If there is one point to emphasize regarding speed generation, it’s this: “we can only do what the wave allows us to do”. Put simply, you need to use the wave’s power and know where to find it to accelerate. So where is it? You can find the most power in a wave in the steepest part- the top third, closest to the lip (see image above). This area is commonly referred to as the “pocket” or the “curl“. This is where the magic happens! Experienced surfers go to get their acceleration and set up their manoeuvre in this area.

Positioning: Stay Connected To The Wave’s Power

Staying connected to the power and what the wave has to offer is key. This in theory sounds simple, but a lot of understanding what the wave will do and predicting where you need to be positioned comes down to practice and experience.

Avoid surfing too far on the shoulder or too low down the bottom of the wave. These areas are weak and hard to accelerate on. Think about the basic two ways to generate speed we’ve just explored: rail engagement and gravity. You need to be high and on the steep part of the wave (a.k.a. the pocket) if you want to benefit from both gravitational energy and maximal rail engagement.

Common Positioning Mistakes

• Riding too low on the face of the wave. If you surf too low, you don’t benefit from gravity pushing you and you don’t have much water flow hitting the bottom of your board, so your potential to accelerate is very limited.
• Underestimating how fast a wave will peel and getting stuck at the bottom of the white water. Once positioned at the bottom of the wave near the white water, it’s very hard to generate speed with gravity or rail engagement. You want to avoid this by staying high on the wave.
• Riding too far on the shoulder. This is also a widespread mistake we see happen. If you’ve been surfing for a while, you’ve certainly got stuck on the shoulder with no momentum and felt your surfboard starting to sink underwater.

Equipment & Speed Generation

How we gain speed depends on the surfboard we are riding. Your potential to accelerate by using your rails depends on the equipment you use. For example, longboards redirect more water flow as more rail is engaged in the wave. Therefore, longboarders can gain speed by moving forward on the board and applying weight over the heels or toes. Without needing to use gravitational energy, they can “trim” down the wave’s face with momentum. Therefore, longboarders don’t necessarily need to go up and down the wave as much to accelerate.

On the other hand, shorter surfboards don’t have the same amount of rail engagement and surface area. That’s why trimming down the middle of the wave isn’t sufficient to keep up with the wave’s peeling speed. Where you trim on the face of the wave also dramatically affects how much speed you can generate when trimming. To summarise, bigger boards allow for more speed generation to compensate for the lack of pumping technique. Once you progress and downsize, your pumping technique will gradually improve, making it possible for you to move and gain speed easily on a smaller board.

If you are riding a longboard, check out the “How To Cross Step” course, as it would be very relevant for you to learn more about speed generation.

The Pumping Technique

So what exactly is pumping? How does it work? “Pumping” is the act of surfing up and down the face of the wave in a smooth-flowing motion. This technique is for surfers riding smaller boards like shortboards or fishes. Before thinking about focusing on this technique, a surfer must first master everything else seen in this article so far (positioning, use of gravity and the pocket, rail engagement, etc.) Therefore, depending on your surf experience level, it might not be something to focus on yet.

Pumping Line

This surfer in the cartoon above draws the correct line, adequately using the top 2/3rds of the wave. Going from the top of the face of the wave, down the face, and just over the bottom of the wave.

Steer clear of surfing further down the bottom of the wave in the flats. You will quickly lose momentum there. Also, try to avoid wiggling down the middle. You won’t benefit from good propulsion during your bottom turn as you set your rail.

Compress and decompress at specific moments

So how does it work? How do I know when to go from the top to the bottom? What do I do with my body? Timing is key. The art of generating speed is a skill that takes time, practice and patience. It involves moving to specific parts of the wave while shifting your body’s weight at particular times. We aren’t just talking about hitting the precise part of the wave and going down. You need to understand when to be heavy (compress) and when to be light (decompress) to maximize your acceleration.

Decompress

Compress

Quick Tips

• Throw your arms forward when pumping. Throwing your arms in the direction you need to go will help your propulsion towards that area. This is especially important on small waves that don’t offer much power.
• Move your feet forward. This is more of an advanced technique tip. If you need extra speed for barrels or very fast peeling waves, you can try moving your stance by about one foot. Your back foot should land at the end of your traction pad or just over it.
• Don’t “Overwork” the wave. Keep your upper body centred over your surfboard, and turn smoothly with your hips, knees and ankles. Don’t wiggle with quick, firm, small pumps down the middle of the face. This will create extra drag and slow you down. Use the whole face of the wave, pumping up and down in a fluid motion.