Very very helpful tips, well done

Back foot lands first…BUT, when teaching, you can just show the pop up and say to your student that he/she can put both back and front foot at the same time…If you say “back foot first”, they will put the back foot and wait a bit to put the front foot, causing instabillity and spending energy.

❤

I currently have two issues (1) I look where I want to go on the wave, pop-up, turn with my board but then fall head-first into the side of the wave (2) both my feet are two far in the front, limiting maneuverability of the board or even causing the board to slow down because my front foot causes too much friction in the water. It’s so frustrating and don’t know how to fix it. The waves are breaking too fast for me to fix the issue and with my feet once I’m on the board

Your hands can be offset a bit to help with your rotation. If you’re a regular footer, your left hand goes maybe an inch or so higher than your right hand. The opposite for goofy footers. This initiates the hip twist early. But you’re right, you don’t want that front hand too far forward, or the back hand too far back. That would throw off the balance of the board, which should be level throughout the takeoff and the initial drop. Otherwise you catch a rail and crash.