Bliue Thunder - Backside turns.

In an ideal world, all waves would peel right for hundreds of meters towards the beach where a nice strong rip would take you back to the lineup. However in the world we live in they don’t and most beach breaks provide entertainment in the form of lefts, rights and straight-handers dumping on the beach.

Surfing on your preferred side (facing the wave) or front side is of course the natural side, all surfers in their right mind will want to surf this way, but every beach generally will have some nice backside waves to surf too. So, rather than ignoring them pluck up some courage and learn to ride them, you’ll soon realize that everything is a bit trickier than on your natural side and you’ll need to pick up some new techniques, but stick with it as learning anything new is always more rewarding the more difficult it is. Besides, once you’ve grasped the basics you’ll soon find something even more complicated to do.

“Every beach generally will have some nice backside waves to surf, so rather than ignoring them pluck up some courage and learn to ride them ”

This issue we’re breaking down the backside turn from your first turn to pushing the move harder with more commitment and hitting the section with more speed and connection. Our rider Blue Ewer is riding a 7’2 x 25” board but anything around 9’ or smaller will work, although a heavier person on a 9’5” should be able to achieve good results.

1. Before you initiate the turn, you’ll need to switch your paddle over to the other side of the board by changing your hand position. This will set you up ready to plant the blade into the inside of the turn. You should be looking forward into the turn, weighting your back foot and leaning into it; the further back you have your foot on the board the better the response from the board.