Learn to Surf | How To Surf

Bottom Turn Surfing

08. Bottom Turn - The Most Important Turn

bottom turnIntroducing the bottom turn - Now that you can get to your feet, take off on green waves and go along them its time to learn one of the most important turns you will learn in surfing…. The bottom turn!
The bottom turn is so important because a good one can set you up for the whole wave whereas a bad one will waste the entire wave.
A good surfing bottom turn is all about timing and positioning, first drop straight down the wave to gain as much speed as possible and look along the section ahead of you. This is where the timing comes into play, If you drop down the face for too long you will end up in the flats outrunning the wave and loose all that speed that you have just gained from the drop in. If you do it too early you wont find the sweet spot in the trof or curl of the wave so your bottom turn isn’t going to catapult you up the face towards the lip or send you flying down the line with all the speed in the world (which is an amazing feeling).

How To Nail A Good Bottom Turn

Like with everything in surfing practice makes perfect so practice bottom turns all the time. The best time to set your rail and do your bottom turn is just as the lip is coming down, when you do a good one you will know about it because you will gain speed as you drive out of the turn to go down the line or hit the lip.
Like I said before do them all the time, even if there is a closeout section coming at you don’t just kick out the wave DO a little bottom turn and hit that lip or rebound off the white water coming at you.

When you first learn bottom turns make sure you crouch low, if you try and stand too tall when you do them you will catch a rail and it will send you flying. So crouch low, if you are going on your frontside or forehand as its otherwise known (body facing the wave) lean into your board with your toes and put pressure on your back foot. As with pretty much every turn in surfing your board will go in the direction that your hips and upper body faces and in particular your shoulders so as you sink your toe side rail into the wave and apply pressure to your back foot, turn your shoulders so that your leading shoulder is pointing to the place that you want to go to on the wave. After doing this you might actually find yourself going towards the lip so just before you get there apply your weight to the heel edge of your board and in particular put pressure on your back foot keeping your knees bent, remember to turn those shoulders and look down the face of the wave. When you fall, and you will, don’t get too stressed about it because the more you try it the sooner you will get the hang of it. If you nose dive it's because you have got too much weight on your front foot so next time try and lean back a little more as you come back down the face.

bottom turn surfing
For backside bottom turns (back facing the wave) do as you have done for your frontside but instead of using your toe edge sink your heel edge rail into the wave, apply pressure on your back foot and twist your shoulders so that you are looking up at the wave and the section you want to hit. Again if you find yourself heading exactly where you want to be going shift the pressure from your heels to your toes, turn your shoulders and head so that you are facing back down the wave and put some pressure on your back foot so that you can make your board turn.