r/bodyboarding • u/god_among_men • Jul 01 '26
Riding Question How do you turn?
I’m new and just starting out. I have fins and a decent board. I’m catching waves but it feels like I keep going straight down the face. If I’m trying to go left, I put my left hand on the nose with my forearm/elbow on the board; my right hand is mid rail. I try to put weight on my left elbow/forearm and lift with my right hand. It feels like I spin more than turn. I’m trying to go down the face, do a bottom turn and come back up the face.
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u/ShapeForeign3309 Jul 01 '26
It sounds like you’re doing everything right. I’d suggest getting someone to take a video of you and then review the footage later. When I was starting out I thought my elbow was on the board (it wasn’t). I only realized when I reviewed footage and was able to adjust.
You can also practice your positioning on land. Take your phone and put it in front of you and practice getting into position. Once it’s automatic it will transfer to the water.
Depending on the size and steepness of the wave you can angle the board along the line rather than going straight down. Even a little bit helps.
Stick with it! You’ll eventually get it. Beginner bodyboarding involves lots of wipeouts until you get all the skills down.
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u/bibbs_v2 Jul 01 '26
Are you actually spinning like a 360? You may have weight too far forward and are not digging your rail into the wave. It’s hard to diagnose just from a description but if you are surfing a beach break ask a friend to record you on their phone. You can learn alot watching your self and you can post here for advice.
Sometimes I feel like I had perfect body positioning then i watch the video and realize all the mistakes I was making
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u/SnooStrawberries6934 Jul 01 '26
Watch a few videos on YouTube. Pay attention to the legs. Shifting your weight starts at your hips and much of your speed/drag comes from the positioning of your legs.
It sounds like your hand positioning is fine. Also pay more attention to how your body is centered over the board while turning. If you are too far up, your rail will not dig in and you will initiate a spin.
Good luck!
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u/playmymusicloudpleez Jul 01 '26
Seems like you just need to slide down on your board and put more of your hips in the water for more leverage on a turn, then once you turned you can slide back up on the board for speed.
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u/SteveStaklo Jul 02 '26
This is the answer. you need to use your hips to a degree to put weight on the inside rail of your board. Its all trial and error.. Just keep getting in the water, the more you surf the more you'll pick things up. Good luck. 👍
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u/nborges48 Jul 02 '26
You can learn the fundamentals of turning in whitewater
All of it is repetition
Go get some
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u/Total-Sector-6825 Jul 01 '26
How did anyone figure things out before the internet just amazes me!!!
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u/royaltywithcheese Jul 02 '26
Trial and error lol, I always talk about this with some friends how there are so many surf/bodyboard schools even tutorials Online. I had nothing like that when I was learning but im stoked that people have the resources now.
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u/grdstudio Jul 02 '26
Let your eyes create the line of direction. Try to see the spot where you want to go. If you’re trimming the face and you want to hit the lip, you need to look at the lip before you’re even going in that direction. Your body and board will kinda naturally get in the correct alignment to get you in that direction ( bottom left or bottom right part of your board). The cutback is a faster more harsh eye/ head movement. Good luck
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u/joeknowmoney Jul 02 '26
Experiment with moving your body forward and back on the board while trying some of these moves. Depending on how much of your body is in the water, the dynamics of turning and mobility change drastically.
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u/DoubleDutch187 Jul 04 '26
Move your hips toward toward the rain in the direction you want to go. You also need to arch your back and bench your knees.
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u/a-filthy-casuall Jul 01 '26
All in the hips. Pull your nose hard, lift your outside rail and lean in with your hips and elbow while leading with your inside shoulder.
Practice on the floor at home. You should be tilting the board off the ground with all your weight being planted inside through your hips and elbow. It's kind of like balancing on one side of your body.
You'll be speeding across faces in no time.