Turning and speed · 5 min read · Board: A mini-mal, a hybrid or a shortboard.
Turning back toward the breaking part of the wave. How you stay in the power instead of racing out onto the flat shoulder.
If you only go forward you eventually outrun the wave and end up on the flat shoulder with no speed. The cutback turns you around so you are back in the steep part.
Set it up. Get speed, and stay high on the face, close to where the wave is steepest.
Look back toward the breaking part of the wave. Turn your head and shoulders first.
Rail turn. Drive the board around, pressing on the rail on your outside (back) foot. The back foot steers, the front foot leads.
Come round. Let the board come back across the face, aimed at the foam or the pocket.
Reconnect. Re-enter the wave with speed. Go down the face and trim again.
Mistakes
Not enough speed. If you stall in the turn, go further down the face first.
Turning only the legs, not the shoulders. The shoulders pull the board round.
Stopping in the middle. A cutback is a flowing curve, not a corner.
Over-rotating and falling in the foam. Aim at the foam, not through it.
Drills
On small waves, do two cutbacks per wave. They will not be good, and that is the aim.
Frontside first, then backside, which is harder.
A guide is not a coach. If you can, take a lesson or surf with someone better than you.