We discuss what Flow is, why some surfers get into 'the zone' more often and more easily than others. How do we train, warm-up and think in a way that elicits more flow. How to turn a bad surf into a great surf.
http://www.equalize.com.au/
http://www.stealingfirebook.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1MHyyWsMeE
https://www.bravermantest.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow
Image: Shayne Nienaber
Clayton shares some of his back-stories into how he became a world-class surfer, surf coach, and surfboard shaper. Clayton has a unique take on advanced surfing, he breaks it down very clearly, simplifying what to most surfers seems magical. We clarify the proper surf stance - squat or lunge? Or Squnge? We talk in depth about Kelly Slater, and even break down one of his waves on a very detailed level. This podcast will give you an in-depth look at the worlds best surfers Kelly Slater - his approach, his technique and some never heard before quotes. 35 mins into the interview we break down a vid of Kelly surfing, so make sure you watch the vid posted below.
Show Notes:
Claytons Website:
For more info about the Macaronis trip:
http://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2017/10/11/macaronis-surf-coaching-clinic
https://www.macaronisresort.com/intermediate-surfer-training-clinic/
Clayton's website:
https://ombe.co/12-week-program-asp-sm/
Transcript
Michael:
Which town in South Africa were you born?
Clayton:
I was born in Devon. The same town of Jordy. Smith came from or comes from. Yeah, but I didn't grow up surfing. I grew up playing soccer and then my father job firewall on the north coast. So me from the city, I've been to police and that's what I'm pretty much sorted surfing was about 18 years old.
Michael:
How much time did you spend in the water when you started?
Clayton:
Every weekend my father would take us all down to the beach. My brother was older than me. He is six years older. So he was always kind of going backline and was relegated to the short break and to foam is on the inside. My dad was a body boarder. So I always take his body board out and stand on it and just catch the reforms. And then one year for Christmas, I got bought a new board of all things. So I served the new board which is a really wide quite fun. And then I think also for my following birthday. They actually bought me a surfboard when they saw I was pretty serious about it.
Michael:
Where you living in a sort of a culture of surfing?
Clayton:
No, not at all. Back then there's nothing to do on the north coast. Wasn't that the city with a soccer club and everything so the only thing he could really do was go to the beach? So kids went there and just hung out. So you had 14 hours of sunlight and nothing to do say your body safe the short breaks in the heart heart and goes at the back on the low tide and is being cut to submerse in around the sea.
Michael:
And we use naturally talented surfer to pick it up straightaway and
Clayton:
Harbor clearly the first time I tried to go in the water. I got stuck in a rut and actually saved for my dad is that little girlie between the short break and the sandbank kind of got stuck in that swept out to sea and felt like a bit of a kook at the time. But yeah, when you learn how to play in the ocean, or the fear goes away and then once the fear goes away, your confidence grows and then things get easier.
Michael:
And when did you start competing?
Clayton:
I started competing. I think my third year of second or third year of high school. I actually went on a trip to J Bay and next door just one of the pros was staying over this name was Dell Bamford. And he told me cert form for Mattel, which is one of the biggest states in South Africa. And then because I was on the north coast, I searched for facilitate which is like a lesser known state. So when I went back I joined Zillow and off the job a and kind of got into it and sort of made the team my first year didn't realize how I served with asset well, they're good and they end up being the first seed and continue doing it for like three or four years until I finish school. After I finished school, moved to Devon, I said Tom, I want to become a pro surfer. Well, actually, I'll have to go backwards a little bit. When I finished school, my South Africans, it was compulsory to do military service, but because of my diabetic head that year off, so my parents allowed me to move to Durban back to the city and to try safe and make a career out of it. So I got job in circuit factory started learning how to spray boards and shape and laminate moved in with a surfboard shaper. His name was Baron Stoner, he sought to train me on some shaping skills and surf sort of on a higher level a lot more better surfers in the city, and my surfing improved a fair bit I picked up some sponsorships and in the following year or went on did my first year on tour.
Michael:
So when were you diagnosed with diabetes?
Clayton:
It was right about that by the time we actually moved up to the north coast. So I must have been about 12 or 13 years old.
Michael:
Okay, right around a similar time you started surfing
Clayton:
Yeah, yeah. I started surfing I've been surfing for a bat would have been about a year and then I was diagnosed as diabetic. So I remember clearly because I went out for a surf and I tried it. I was exhausted. I was just super tired and my dad was like, what’s the matter he Cakewalk when you pair last? Two foot and you you scared and it was really give me a high ton of like Dad, I'm just I'm so tired is when I go home and sleep. And the next day, went to the doctors and the diagnosis being diabetic and then he was almost in tears like Oh, I'm so sorry. And then he was when he drove me to the hospital. I was there for about a week. Just getting my sugar levels under control. And also on a drip at the time when the nurse took the drip out and no one had explained to me that you had to do injections for the rest of your life. There are just an impression I couldn't have sweets the rest of my life. So the nurse came out to you and said you're off the drip at night and have to do injections sound like well, either nurse you did. And then she actually broke it down and said to nine times that night. Well, okay, every meal you have you got to inject insulin to break the meal down. And I just burst out crying. I was like I can't do this. So I was pretty, pretty heavy.
Michael:
Did you get stick given some flack at school for that?
Clayton:
So I didn't get given flack at school. But just being a kid and not being normal. I felt different and weird. And what I mean by not being normal is like, every time I ate I'd have to do an injection so the kids go like, Ah, I could never do that which straightaway kind of makes you feel different and weird.
Michael:
Were you the only kid at school? Rather diabetic, insulin dependent diabetic. Where you the only one?
Clayton:
Now so the there were a couple around, but within your group of friends yeah, within my group of friends, I was the only one who was diabetic. So I kind of felt like I missed out on a lot of social skills where all my other friends are going out and partying and maybe sort of having a few beers. And so I took up with chicks. I just wanted to leave that scene where I felt weird and just submerge myself in the ocean where I just felt at home and that's probably why I started doing well, it wasn't all the competition and so on because I was just so focused on surfing.
Michael:
Yeah, well, it freed up. It freed up your time. Because if you if you've you know, you can't join in some into a social situation because of the diabetes then that freed up more time for you to go surfing.
Clayton:
Yeah, because being a diabetic I was on a strict diet and obviously there's like no drinking, no smoking. So were my other friends were going on having late nights and coming home and sleeping in I was doing the Downey and surfing by myself and just pumping waves and getting barrel off my head. So yeah,
Michael:
That’s obviously contributed to why you're such a good surfer. And why you were able to become a pro surfer.
Clayton:
Yeah, I think it's sped up my learning curve. I wasn't say I was a good surf, not a naturally talented surfer. But I put a lot of hours in and I was always keen to learn. I remember subscribing to surfing magazine and each year I mean each issue that have a little article and has served parents so I'd always cut those out and glued together like a little book that not twice Daddy that I could improve my surfing. I was just eager to learn and do better.
Michael:
Did you get coaching done when you're young?
Clayton:
Yeah, I had a couple coaches. Probably the most well-known one in there because Graham hands. He's coached the second team for many many years. So He is always like strict, critical heart of the bottom heart of a top surfing can be very ambiguous and probably took his information the wrong way. Because normally become heart of the bottom you end up losing speed and putting the brakes on and stopping which ended up doing and just end up trying harder and harder and harder at it so Pacific almost got very stopped stylish and still are later on laugh off massive in Korea. Pray Korea started to without stress actually figured out how to serve property with more feeling. And also because of the surfboard shaper. I needed to figure out how to make boards that went well. So it was a long journey, figuring out how to make the boards work. How do you get your body to do what it should be doing? Before I started surfing to a level that I was happy with. I think prior to that I just tried too hard and made too many mistakes along the way.
Michael:
So how many years did you surf at a level you weren't happy with?
Clayton:
Well, I'd sound happy because I wasn't making heats. Like the funny thing I was on tour. I was the one cooking, cleaning stretching waking up early. First night the beach static conditions, tell that trauma absolute hardest and get a third place. My mates are going out partying getting smashed, hooking up with chicks coming up for the heat looks hung over not caring and they would pull out and get through the heat and as cheap as where's that justice and it's like, it's so unfair. So when I say a level that wasn't happy with because I was doing stuff wrong and trying to hide on bear technique, I wasn't able to relax with inside of my surfing and therefore I was unhappy with my surfing. It took me a while to surf and fall in love with surfing rather than surf to boost my ego. And when I searched for a feeling I started getting results. I kind of started entering the audit quality, the essay champs which is what's equivalent over here are the titles and I got sick and the one year one of my team has beat me in the fall let j bay that was pretty good. And then the next year I entered I got a fourth I finally made the finals and almost kicked into my old habits and tried to harden the final and last but I really started to enjoy my surfing more and I started to understand surfing more. And then I actually started to break down all the elements because I got back into coaching. And I wanted to help kids fast track all that the High Times that I'd been through and almost just not have to let them go through the pain and suffering that I went through with all my mistakes and just start kind of where I was leaving. Thought of guys could do that that have a much brighter, easier future ahead of them.
Michael:
So how did you get into surf coaching?
Clayton:
Off my pro career as shaping boards and to try get more board cells I started coaching so I can meet more people and help them out and start being my club coach and from there I was became an Intel coach and from the progress and I became one of the guys to win a CrossFit has never been surfing team. The junior sides. We went to Brazil on one trip into Huntington Beach another trip and to France. And Doris Smith was in all of those teams. And I was able to help Tori with certain things but he was such a phenomenal athlete that I was kind of learning from him as I went along back I was asking him God, how do you how do you do that? Like 180 year of the top and has gone is easy. I just looked down. So I'd go seven I just looked down I'd catch rail screech or is not working and you just laugh me pal off. And I kind of figured that Gods with that much talent don't actually know how they're doing that things that do that it comes natural and easy to them. Where for other people it takes a while. To actually develop the muscle memory and the technique. So I find it interesting and I look at his body and when I can understand what his body was doing and how he's doing it. I'd have to train my body to almost kind of like a copy and paste of his techniques. So copy his technique, steal it, paste it on myself do it a few times, understood it, and then I could get it and then when the technique was right ideas is triggered looked down at the technique and the turn got easier and I could do it. Then once I'd learnt it I could then go and teach pretty much wherever wherever I was coaching to be able to do similar thing. I really started to enjoy coaching after that and I was very observant of people's different techniques and styles. And generally the people with the best styles and the best surfers had the best technique. Those were the guys who flowed the best hit they had the most power they had speed on tap. And the guys with terrible technique often very stop start to look too erratic. The arms are flailing all over the place, serving midrace and the more awareness you get of it, the easier it is to pick up. So I was coaching almost every afternoon after After shaping all day. Yeah, I was just open to seeing it and kind of trying to fix it.
Michael:
And then how did you happen upon Kelly Slater's board?
Clayton:
So I was in J Bay the one year and one of my best friends his name's Craig. He Kelly would always stay with his parents. So I got to meet Kelly who would go out for dinners or Kelly and Taylor Knox because they'd burst out with Craig's folks. Kaylee was a bit intimidating talking to kind of you peers right into your soul and I was a bit scared of him back there. But Taylor Knox was just like a happy go lucky guy. So I'd often go surfing with Craig and Taylor. And Taylor's known for having some of the most powerful rail game and surfing so big them on the beach. One day before we pedaled out, please if there's just one thing you do for me, tell me how do you do your bottom Taylor, like you do? And he looks at me and he just burst out laughing and just pedal off and leave you behind feel like an idiot. And then about three days later, he came back and told me he said the reason I laughed. It was purely because he's a pro surfer and one of the most basic elements of surfing he could not explain it to me. And he said, he thinks it's because it's more of feeling then and then an explanation. And then he kind of proceeded to explain to me what he felt when he bought them turned. And it took me about three months to figure it out. Anyway, the twit live town Kaley lift J Bay and he always leaves a few boards. Beyonce left the board for Craig. Craig said, Look I'm a bit bigger than Katie but he has Kelly's board guys amazing. Could you kind of copy it and make me a bigger version of it? Sounds like sweet. Yeah, great. So I'm trying to Kelly's broad, try to serve as fast as I could because of affordable surfing faster. Surf better and surfing the king of servings board I'd be blitzing, but it felt like the board me kind of ordinary. And then I thought back to her Kaylee served now Taylor served and then I tried to just do barbed feeling where Taylor said, a man as a keyboardist went up five notches and just hit turbo and it just came alive. I was like, Oh my gosh. Faster if this board have the right technique, the thing just absolutely just blows my mind. So it was then I discovered that you kind of got to surf the wave with a hell of a lot more feeling. And you got to read the sections and the wave tells you exactly when to do a turn. And how to do a turn. And yes, just from there another another road of discovery and surfing is like an onion, you peel off one layer and there's another great beautiful layer to scar under that you peel that off and is this something probably maybe a little bit smaller may seem insignificant, but it's it's just as important and I'm still kind of peeling off layers of mind surfing and still enjoying it even at 43 years old.
Michael:
So when you got Kelly's board, and when you first surfaced, it felt like what was your words? It didn't feel right. It didn't feel like a good board. Yes. So did you go back and watch Kelly surfing it?
Clatyon:
Okay, so I based my whole career on making boards that went fast. Because what anyone said they stand up, they're going as fast as they could possibly go. They'll get the biggest criminal face. But our member Dane Reynolds came and got a board with me one year his boards where they didn't make the flight or something and wouldn't have them for like five days. So he came to the factory and I made him a board like within about a day or two and his words to me were I don't want to fast forward. I want a board that can hold the Railton and so I was stumped. I mean, I base my career making false boards because I made all my customers happy. But now I've got one of the best up and coming youngsters and surfing ordering a board for me. And he doesn't want what I make. So he had given me one of his old Simon's to have a look at erode the summon Anderson and it just felt like a push water like I stood on it and I could not go fast. So I was like, oh, nice thing feels crap because I go to my one of my team riders, he came the same feedback but then you watch Dane surfing, and hear to relish in from the top of the wave all the way down to the bottom with speed, power and flair. And he made that board just looked like it was a magic carpet ride. So it dawned on me then Dane was surfing on rail. And I was surfing flat. So it's kind of like a horrible understanding. But then it goes again. Back to what TelaDoc said. If you put your board on rail and you feel yourself leaning and driving through the turn, you're going to hit speed out of the bottom tune. We previously are saving Flatnose probably stepping on the tail and getting a direction change but sacrificing a lot of my speed. So when and as crazy say it but I'd probably shaped boards for 10 years up to that stage and are surfing flat. And I didn't even know what I was doing. I was probably just copying other shapers. But once I had that real revelation, and I started to surf on rail, and I started to lean and I started to Twitter my turns and tricep more top to bottom I start really fall in love. I certainly enjoy my surfing a lot more. And then Hetty kind of educate the sports that I was making for other surfers. I had to educate the surfers and how to ride them because if they surf the boards of lack there wouldn't enjoy them. So I took it upon myself whenever I saw someone writing one of my boards I'd go I try leans to the turn and feel at the bottom turn feels like and that wow, that felt amazing. Okay, that's how you serve. That's that's good surfing, and there was applique on the top turn stop pushing rather try to twist the turn and hold it longer. And they're like oh my gosh, that was the best thing I've ever done. And I'd start them up and show them technique and they'd come back and say the boards were going better. But it was more them utilizing the bodies and utilizing the wave better and utilizing the equipment better or the three things or just mixing into one really nice rod.
Michael:
So the concept of leaning into a bottom turn. When did you first sort of when when did that revelation or that insight occur?
Clayton:
I had a hard time trying to pretty much what Tyler had when he tried to explain to me what a bottom turn feels like. As a surf coach. How do you tell someone who's never really done many turns what what a top 10 should feel like or a floater feels like or a tube ride or a barrel. When you save you gotta get your board to do two things. It has to hold off the bottom turn and I've got a release of the top 10 And those are two different feelings. Yet your boards shaped the same on the left rail as it is on the right hand side rail. So you're getting something as designed the same to do two different things. So if you have a look at when you ride a bicycle, you bicycles design the same the wheels around, but when you ride a bicycle fast if you want to take the corner you have to lean through the chain. You can't just twist the steering wheel. Otherwise you'll you'll go over the handlebars. But when you ride a bicycle slowly, you can't lean through the turn because if you haven't got speed, you've got never mentioned so you'll fall over. So in that instance, you've got to sit up straight and turn the handlebars and your bicycle turn. So if you apply that principle to surfing, when you take off and you go down the wave face and you create speed from the wave, you have to lean on the bottom turn. Now your rails round and it's designed to roll the same way a bicycle tire is designed to roll. So when you leaning, you get weightless which enables your boards accelerates with the water. You engage the rail which enables a board to turn smoother and longer for better. By rolling onto your rail your bottom curve is submersed into the water. And because it's curving your bottom curve, it actually turns you up to the top of the wave because you're leaning into the direction of the way that you want to go to. Your bottle turn is that direction and the fact that you weightless it's easier for your boat to get sucked up the wave face towards the top of the wave. So there's all those elements that are coming together in a simple lien. And there's no better way to explain to someone because everyone's ridden a bicycle and they cannot understand they can they can relate to what a bottom turn should feel like. And then the top 10s simply a twist the way our bodies are made. Using your core you get a lot more power. So if you play tennis if you twist your forehand shot, you get speed and power same in golf. You want a twist through maybe teeing off to give you a lot of power to get the distance or in cricket you want to twist through betting. So it's the twisting that gives you the power. So in surfing, you've got no speed when you come into the top of the wave because you've traveled up the wave and you're burning off speed. But you can twist and then you use the gravity to ride back down the wave again and simply the act of writing down the wave is that dropping back into skateboard ramp where you get the speed given back to you again,
Michael:
And that's certainly evident once you start looking at the grades with with detailed and it's this what you see
Clayton:
100% So they make surfing look easy and they have flow between the turns. Most people that surf flat look like they're trying so hard and you actually get tied as watching them surf whereas the pros there Palin's wave slowly. Looks like they've got tons of time and it always looks like they're burning off speed kind of put themselves into the best part of the wave. Whereas flat surface seems to be like flailing, hopping, bouncing, jumping, exhausted, doing flicky little turns and always losing speed never be ever being able to maintain that flow.
Michael:
When you got when you wrote Kelly's board. And it didn't feel right. But you knew it was a good board. Yeah. How did you what did you what happened? Then? Like how did you figure out how to ride that boat? Did you watch him serve?
Clayton:
For four years Kitty has been my favorite surfer. And the thing that I loved about him is that he would always take off you'd go nose to the beach, and he'd do this long bottom turn and felt like was a minute long and I was always intrigued in that foot. Trying to do it for so long, but my technique wasn't what it should have been. I could never quite do it. So when I got his board I was so excited. I thought it was going to make me serve better. I don't know if it was the placebo effect but I just thought that I was going to save better like some of his little his magic was in that borders and rubbed off on me. So I stood up on the board and I just went healthfully there as fast as I could just kind of down the line. And the board was just average was like eating vanilla. It was just nothing there. So a party tried that and like maybe three or four waves and just going something's not right. Something's not right. Something's not right. And then just thought about and what Well, look, I love Kaylee surfing because of what he could do in the bottom turn ceremony but still to this day. I mean that was like 15 years ago, maybe 10 years ago. I took off, dropped in no straight beach, and then just gently leant over on the rail. And the board just rocker up to the top and I twisted and came out of the turn just feeling like the board had a turbo under it. And straightaway, kind of down the line and slow down again. And I was like oh, okay, there's something in this. I'm going to slow down and I'm going to save top to bottom and then by surfing rail to rail. I was actually able to extract all the speed out of the board that I needed to that moment they probably changed the way I made boards and changed the way I wanted to save and it was a long hard road 20 undo my bad habits and 20 implement the new ones because whenever I got excited, I said here's the bad habits but whenever I was able to be calm and just focus on my surfing and focus on the feeling, man, I love the way I served absence in photos and a lot of photos looked photogenic and yes, I'm still chasing it today.
Michael:
And you had the opportunity to ask Kelly about and we just play a little clip.
Kelly:
Well I always think of surfing is actually three things because you have compression and you have twisting any everything
Clayton:
So straight from the horse's mouth. So that the funny thing about that when I stumbled across that I thought like, I don't know, discover like the Holy Grail or something. But then Kelly threw another curveball at me as like he always does he always has these ways of making you. He doesn't give you the answer. He is a bit cryptic and his explanations. So he threw compressing into the mix. And when I started that further, realize how true and how correct he was. A lot of bad surfers when they served they're actually squat in the bottom 10 and a few squat normally a heavyweight lifter would would squat. So they could have good balance and not injuries back and so on. But squatting doesn't give you any speed and acceleration whereas if you look at a person about 200 meter sprint at the starting line, they all loans into the start. And when the gun goes, they push from the ankle, knee, and waist and then pump the arms and it gets so much speed. Drive and acceleration. So I discovered that compressing through a lunge gives you so much more speed and acceleration. And it also enables you to lean through the turn. Whereas squatting, renders you flat footed. It hinders your movement, and it kind of makes you twist of the bottom turn which tends to make you bored sort of drift and slide out. So thanks, Kelly.
Michael:
Yeah, having had the privilege of just spending some time with you over the past few days and looking at my surfing and my technique and you know, I had already you know, when we spoke was about a year ago we spoke about the lien and the twist.
Clayton:
Yep. And I sort of implemented those cues into my own surfing and notice the difference. But what I was doing was leaning into into and twisting out of my squat. So yep. And this. It's a very subtle but profound difference between a squat and a lunge. Or maybe a better way to put it is that slight difference, because it's not a true lunge. Obviously, you know, you know, your feet aren't pointing in the same direction as your stringer.
Michael:
Correct!
Clayton:
But it's definitely not a true squat either. Whereas I think myself and most people tend to go into a squat.
Michael:
Yeah. 100%
Clayton:
And it's, It’s certainly how beginners start off as a poor man is the most exaggerated form of that.
Michael:
Yep, that's what its truest form.
Clayton:
Yeah, exactly. But then, just having you just experiencing the difference. Last couple of days of what that lunge position and where I'm moving from, in how and mainly just the finer details has made all that all the difference as to how surfing feels. Well, the big thing was surfing is that there's a lot of ambiguity in surfing and people say okay, you got to do a hard bottom to some of my reading today going over push as hard as I can on my tail to get the board to turn. Where probably what it says in essence is that you got to go straight off the bottom as opposed to taking off going diagonally. So if there was maybe better education, so that some of that ambiguity was taken out of the meanings, you probably find people served a lot better. But because it's unsafe coaching is still relatively new in the sport. It does take a good surf coach to actually go and call you up on on a moving guy. Actually, I think you're reading into that a little bit wrong. And this is the way you should do it and for whatever reasons that you can get a better understanding of what you're trying to achieve. And then him show you the muscle memory around the movement. You train that muscle memory and then you take that muscle memory into the water to help you execute it.
Michael:
Yeah, there's I mean, there's you can't be the experience of having someone critique your ceramic a good surf coaching session. You can't, then we can't explain that over audio to someone.
Clayton:
No. The point I want to make is that people make surfing about themselves when the wave needs to be the star because they're not surfing as it's riding a wave people use the body's to motor I think it's got themselves in the way
Michael:
No matter what turn you're doing the wave always kind of determines your approach. You know if you're telling you want to be let go basic speed the way you don't want to go in fashion the wave is going because you're going to get the match the first beat. So a wave it's always trying to match speed for speed. It's always trying to surf to the speed the wave of ours and not you know obviously not go too slow but not try to do us a fast quick turn for the sake of it, you know, is that match the shape of the section in the line you can draw out of it and speed you'll have when you're done with that. If you don't have space below, you want to wait you're never gonna be able to find the speed.
Clayton:
So I think there's a lot of the Qt and people the way the way the judging criteria with speed part flow with Kato talks about doing a turn when he talks about the power he says he always could be on the top of the way and you could drop in to access the weights power. Or if you want speed you have to have space below you to get speed. So he never talks about him generating speed using his body. He always talks about utilizing the wave where many average surfers and poor surfers try to always just love the body. And then that's why they don't get a rock not tapping. Into speed, power and flow.
Michael:
Yeah, I think what they're trying to do and what I try and do so I'm just realizing realizing is you're trying to like drive and wiggle just forward of the power zone because I'm not confident enough to be to hang back in that power zone.
Clayton:
Correct. You're running from it. Yeah, running from it.
Michael:
Whereas I need to be in it. To feel in that's what I got to experience the other day it was just like you've noticing some of the finer details and from lots of aspects of my surfing. But guess what I you have more time than you think. And you can surf closer to the foam ball when you think yes and when you do you have more fun you actually it actually gives you more freedom
Clayton:
100%
Michael:
It's It's counterintuitive, but when you when you watch Kelly Slater where he does his bottom turn and you envision what he's seeing and you realize half of his vision is taken up by the lip in the Whitewater.
Clayton:
Yep
Michael:
So if you're looking up at a wave and you're seeing the wave face, you're in the wrong place. Half your vision should be taken up by the wave and the wave might look like it's going to hit you.
Clayton:
So if you're away breakaway down is to the lips should be weak at speed from and the bottom of the wave is where it draws water upsets the most powerful part of the wave. So what Katie does is he's coming out of the power part of the wave looking up at the lip. And when he hits it is looking back down to the power zone. He rides out of that to where he gets his speed back from. So he's joining those two views, where most people look down the line and all they see is as the shoulder that triforce turns half on the shoulder and to serve flattened force a turn. It's quite difficult and inevitably is going to kill your speed. Yeah, and
Michael:
We can like the informations there. Like those quotes we just heard from Kelly.
Clayton:
Yep.
Michael:
The information is there.
Clayton:
Like every time Kenny talks of the way posting interview. He gives away so much surfing knowledge but if you don't know what to look for, you won't get it.
Michael:
Exactly. So let's see if we can educate people on a on a more detailed level. Okay. So I just let you watch this or you haven't seen this.
Clayton:
No. It will be my first drop the knee lean 1 2 3 Twist. Look down 1 2 3 that was beautiful.
Michael:
So do you think that would be a good one to talk people through?
Clayton:
That’d be insane? Love it.
Michael:
Okay, so let's do this. If you Google Kelly Slater, for k, you come up with a video and we're gonna go we're gonna break down that video right now. But what we're gonna do is if you go into on the in YouTube, they've got that little gear picture and you can change the video is already in slow motion. But let's put it down 2.25 speed gets a super slow super slow. So I've got that video. It's a 22nd video on YouTube. It's at now point two five speed and I'm starting it at four seconds, just as Kelly Slater's sort of popped up, push play now.
Clayton:
Okay, so he's dropping knows the beats straight down the way face to the trough. And you can see he's dropped his knee like a sprinter. You watch the back knee tuck. There is is compressing is leaning over the right hands nearly touching the water and is engaging the turn one, two is a hole hold the turn to see this target and then there's a lift from the shoulders. The hands lift up. Then he started talking twist his body hold the railing 123 is twisting his body to fully extend like a golfer swinging his club all the way around the nose or still facing the beach and he's got his speed back again, right in the last section. So pretty much he did not sacrifice any speed. Of the bottom turn. And he came off the top of the wave and he created more speed. So everything that he does harnesses speed and power. So that was that was amazing.
Michael:
Yeah, it's a good example. And let's let's do it again. So this video, I'm going to it's at point two five speed and I'm starting at four seconds, just as Kelly Slater's sort of popped up. And this is keep it paused here for a second and just describe his posture for us.
Clayton:
Okay, so, at the moment, he is super relaxed, there's no tension whatsoever. Like I said, it's like a sprinter just about to start 100 meter sprint. He is probably exhaling it's kind of your future flight balloon, it's six. So because he's down going down the way it is. Exhaling and make himself a little bit heavier going down, and he'll probably find he'll inhale on the way up, and he'll exhale on effort when he does the twist. So the breathing is a large part of it too, because he's lunched, his center of gravity is centered over the front leg. And you'll probably find that his supporting most of his weight over the front leg, which is making the board accelerate down to the bottom power. Zone.
Michael:
Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing for me. It's just his posture now is it's I could probably convince someone that he's in a squat position right? But this is a one dimensional yet we're only looking at him from one dimension, but with so when you start really looking closely, he is actually in a lunge position where his knee both his knees are sort of that just as much facing towards the nose of his board as they are the rail. So it's almost halfway in between a lunge and a squat. Now if we push play now again and let this video run for a little bit so he's weightless now, right? It's coming down. And if I pause it now at the five second mark.
Clayton:
Okay, so you'll notice how long he went straight down those beats.
Michael:
Yep.
Clayton:
So if you compare that to skateboarders, they don't go directly down the ramp, because I'll take longer to pick up your maximum speed. So the strata he goes down to the beach that quicker he accesses speed of life. Now the nice thing about that is that he did not have to use his body to wiggle to generate speed. Okay, so straight straightaway. He's got speed and he's looking stylish. Now. He's looking to the bottom of the wave to find the part of the wave we waters drawing up to create the hollow pie for the top 10
Michael:
Yeah, and he's looking there now. Like it wasn't it is ?
Clayton:
Yeah. He’s finding focus on
Michael:
He's looking for the power zone at the bottom of the wave
Clayton:
Correct is focusing on weight he's set the set the rail for the turn. So in other words, if you're riding a bicycle down a hill, and at the end of the hill you wanted to turn, you kind of look ahead to figure out where you're going to lean to figure out how long you have to hold the turn for with that amount of speed that you got.
Michael:
And one thing in the first couple of seconds of this video that we've watched so far, the first one second. Throughout it, Kelly Slater could easily be balancing balancing a book on his head. Yeah. That's a big realization because if you squat, then robot goes back and head goes forward, that book falls off your head if you lose your the upper peripheral vision of your upper field, but if you lunge in compress using more of a lunging knee dominant, then you're able to see all around you and remain relaxed and be aware of your situation. So that's really that's really evident.
Clayton:
So before we go on, for most people think that a BB 10 has a hard stop on the backfoot which means that ease and the fins on the back half of the board, but what you'll notice about Katie's Quarantine is the nose does not lift above the tail, which means he's not stomping on the tail. So your surfboard has round rails the same way a bicycle tire flip the front profile is round. And if you lean the board rolls, or the bicycle leaned over the bicycle rolls, so you rolls the front rail, which again sits is that his his lunged into the turn, and his more turning off the front rail?
Michael:
Yeah.
Clayton:
Tails and to maintain the pressure on the rail and the speed throughout the turn.
Michael:
Let's go to the next couple of frames. So now we're at the six second mark. It's still playing, he's just about to lean. Now he's just starting to get that rail in the water now.
Clayton:
Okay. So the best way for me to properly explain a bottom turn was if there was a pole sticking out of the bottom of a wave, and he worked his swing around the pole. You would need to take he would need to take his right hand and grab onto the party but extend the right hand. The lower he holds the pole the moment mentioned your swing around the pole with if he held that pole a lot higher up. You wouldn't be able to get a lot of momentum a lot of swing around to again, you have to actually hold the pole and swing and finish the turn before you let go. If you just touch the pole, you won't get a long drawn out one. And you probably won't hit your target. Yeah, well, if you look here, again, it would be easy for us to convince someone who's in a squat position.
Michael:
But if you look more detailed.
Clayton:
What you actually see is here Later on another second. So now we're sort of halfway through the eight second mark and he's it's looking more like he now he's a net. Again. I'm just trying to convey to people that a difference between a squat and a lunge and it's it's so easy to to watch surfing and think that they're squatting but then when you start looking where his right elbow is so let me let me break down this way. If you were to heavyweight lifter, they put a heavy weight on them. They're in balance. So it would be difficult for that person to jump forward to jump back left or right whereas Kaylee in that position, he could quite comfortably jump forward or jump up or left or right. So he's in a position where his prime is like a spring that's been loaded. And he's going to fire that spring off to wherever he's looking and wherever he throws his hands towards.
Michael:
His right hand. His that is leaning his whole forum down towards the wave. And it's forward. It's like right in line with his front foot, not his back foot.
Clayton:
So a lot of people when they're served, they information has been handed down, you've got to touch the water. If you simply touch you could touch perhaps by your back leg, as a squat as a squat. And but also you'd be loading the board up in the tail the ball might spin out clearly as his head is actually in front of his legs and the elbow and the hand is in front of his body, which means he's engaging the Ford rail and if you ever look at the front of his board, the waters right up to maybe say 12 inches back from the nose.
Michael:
Yeah, has records just rail. Yeah, front foot rail lunging position is leaning. It's kind of gone into that. He certainly didn't like stop. He just gently leaned.
Clayton:
Correct. Now also look how long you hold it turn for
Michael:
Eight seconds or let it play again.
Clayton:
So he's still leaning, still leaning, still leaning.
Michael:
I will stop it at nine seconds and then the hand touches the water and that's that kind of Lucky's hold on to that pose.
Clayton:
Correct.
Michael:
And now he's coming out of that compression a little bit now.
Clayton:
Yep, he's coming out of the compression because he's loaded the Rayleigh. So he wants to ease up on that. But if you look at a skateboarder, when they go up around is a certain amount of lift that comes up. So what kills you today is he'll want to push his hips forward and do a hip thrust. I have a six and I've heard that he wants to thrust towards and along with that hip thrusts he could lift his hands up and probably inhale and make himself larger on the way up.
Michael:
I liked your analogy from the previous podcast about the difference between long jump and high jump.
Clayton:
Yeah, okay, so, let's go back to there. If you want distance, you're going to run as fast as you can. With one trajectory line to cover as much distance as you can. What Kaylee's trying to do wants to go off the bottom and go up. So, a high jumper will approach a high jumper, almost an L shaped the trajectory is different. And there's a lot less speed than the long jumper and that enables you to actually load up your muscles into a spring in effect and to get the height that you look for.
Michael:
Yeah, and the technique kind of kind of similar you know you're I think it's a good analogy to to use to describe the difference between average and great surfaces. Average surface I just racing in long jumping.
Clayton:
Yes
Michael:
And good surfaces just taking the time just finding the flow and the pop and the high jumping. That's it. Yeah. So if we play this, start playing this again. So it's kind of weightless now. And we pause it at 11 seconds.
Clayton:
So you can't get much more critical than where it's going at the moment. One really big thing to notice is that he's back straight. So anybody who's ever done yoga and who's done a twist in yoga, the yoga instructor will always tell you that your back has to be straight when you twist otherwise you're you're injure yourself.
Michael:
Yeah, literally calculus clarify that because I like the analogy. This is paused and again. He could have a book balanced on his head.
Clayton:
100%
Michael:
That's I think that's a bit too because his back is a little bit rounded. He doesn't have military posture, but he's upright so he can see in balance a book on his head. Yeah. What's he about? To do now?
Clayton:
Okay, so, he is seeing a transition from the inside rail important turn to his outside rail for the top 10. And if you look at the distance or the transition there, it was maybe one second. So it is a very, very quick transition where most points surface they would go the top of the way of the go flat and then they're sort of pushed on a tail. So his transition is really smooth and really quick. And if you tip your fingers in, and then just bend to respect arching your hand back, who would actually get you your healing and the simple act of Katie changing his hand positioning is the transferring into his feet.
Michael:
So this way the video is paused now is kind of the only time that a good surfer will have their board flat on the waves. Pretty much it's that moment where they're, they're weightless for half a second, the board's flat and all you're doing is changing from one rail to the
Clayton:
Other. So a better analogy is if you go to this was a skateboard ramp clearly could not have the skateboard. Horizontal because it's locked down the ramp. So you have to have your board sideways, but then you have to have the speed to keep you sideways. Another thing to notice is that his hands are in front of him. So because his hands have forward he's able to push and twist through the turn nicely. If his hand was behind him, he wouldn't be able to twist. So he's loaded up for a twist already.
Michael:
Yeah, and he's also most of his body is is over top of the board like his head is not forward of his toe rail and his bum is not behind his heel rail. So he's still very much in that lunge position. He's not in a squat. Even though the angle of the footage, you could convince someone he's in a squat. So let's go to the
Clayton:
Just the back knee.
Michael:
Let's go next frame. A couple of frames in our 12 seconds.
Clayton:
At 12 seconds. What I want you to notice is that look at hiss cheeks, see how it's playing out.
Michael:
He started to blow out.
Clayton:
So heavyweight blocks or any blocks or blow out on effort. So as you push the air out of your lungs, you're able to do far better, bigger twist. So a lot of people hold the breath when they're safe. And by holding their breath, it's you could never twist a blown up balloon but if you deflate the balloon, it's easy to twist the plastic around. So the breathing again, relaxes you and gives you a four bit a twist
Michael:
To it. 12 seconds just he's just starting to sort of get that twist going. That change of direction.
Clayton:
Something else that you'll notice that he's not standing on his board is weightless and he's buried the rail, which means that his boards not pushing any water and it's free to move and do duration change.
Michael:
Yep. And again, he could he could be balancing a book on his head.
Clayton:
He does not move.
Michael:
There are a couple of frames still on 12 seconds. Let's go. As soon as we hit the 13 second mark would pause the video.
Clayton:
Okay, what's happening here and he's well, what I can tell you what he's not doing is not pushing that hard on the back foot. No, he's he's got most of his weight centered over the front foot. He has held that position the neck twist for as long as he can. Because the longer you twist for the more spray you throw in the bigger the turn looks. If you force it, it's going to be a flicky little wave. So yeah, he's trying to hold that rail in for as long as possible. And if that was just to take off the simple act of writing down the face and holding that position, you will throw back at some spray.
Michael:
We play again. And we're halfway through the 32nd and he's just twisted more really isn't he?
Clayton:
Yep. So what you'll notice that he did not twist on the top of the wave. He went up the waves thoughts write down the wave face. And when he had speed, he started to open up the twist. So he's got that speed and power and he's opening up the twist. Nice. It's got torque through the turn that is absolutely amazing. Yeah.
Michael:
And he's directing. Like everything's facing his right hand, his nose, his knees, they're all facing back. Back to that foam ball.
Clayton:
You could take a pencil and draw a straight line between his front leg his hip, and he sold off the left shoulder. So he's well centered is balanced over the front foot. So a lot of people make a mistake of being balanced in the back foot on the tear. And by doing that they put the brakes on the nose lift the tail slides out, the fins pop out, or something gets where he's working with gravity because gravity always flows down. So he's doing the turn. Following the way water would flow naturally down that way.
Michael:
And his goal now is to get back down to that bottom Power Zone to do it all again.
Clayton:
Correct. His goal is to extract as much speed or that wave face and to set up the next turn.
Michael:
That's the end of the video. Should we do that again? Do you want to have another go?
Clayton:
Yeah, that's one more one more time I'll see if I pick up anything else.
Michael:
Kelly Slater 4k. Starting at four seconds. And a tech point two five speed. Here we go push play.
Clayton:
So Kelly's taken off the top of the way he's gone straight down to the bottom. And we see the steepest part way throwing off the bottom. He starts to lean in and touch it and the longer you hold the turn for the more vertical is going to go. So the weights centered forward for what speed direction you get some lift down the turn. He does a direction change and he twists, rods down the face. Exhaling opening up the shoulders today and so you can see where he wants to go to and heading straight back down to the next power. Zone where you're going to next lead again.
Michael:
Pretty awesome. When he does his bottom turn he's got there's definitely some spray coming off his bottom 200% is but only about 30% of the amount of spray that he sends from his top well. So because one thing I noticed that you pointed out about my surfing is I'm just putting too much too much twisting and too much effort in the bottom turn and there's lots of spray off the bottom term
Clayton:
Here and I forget so I always like using crazy analogies. So if you had to chop a tree down, you'd never swing upwards on the chop because you're going against gravity, you always want to chop down. So you only lightly lift the axe up and have the power to chop down on the movement. So if you bring that analogy into surfing, you never want to push so hard in your bottom 10 because you're never going there's gonna be a lot harder to get to the top. And then because you've spent so much energy on the bottom 10 You're gonna have a really small put top 10 So if you can lightly lift up to the top and then cut down or twist down the way face like you saw clearly do using gravity riding down the wave face again to get your speed back up to circumspectly float beautifully and effortlessly.
Michael:
I like the way just one of your taglines is advanced surfing Made Simple. Yeah. And it's so true. It's it's simple but it's subtle. Because it's subtle as and you've got to be really the way you hold your body has to be has to be spot on doesn't it? Otherwise you just you miss like you have yet yes you want to lean yes you want to do all these things but if you don't have the self-awareness as to whether you're actually doing that, then you're never going to feel it. So
Clayton:
In surfing. You have things that you can't control and things that you can't control that you can't control. It's onshore or offshore but you can control what your body's doing. And it's something that you can train up to be on point and precise. So for example, someone takes off MJ bonus at the commentators Jamie say oh my gosh, that board looks amazing on him. Whereas if you watch someone running a marathon, for example, they never go his shoes look like they're amazing. Those shoes are on fire. What's he wearing? They always go that guy's got an amazing stride. So in other sports, they complement technique but in surfing they go he's got a great style and they kind of go all buddies equipment. It's he's riding these fins and he's got this x flex pattern with such and such a bored surfing is about your body and what it's doing on the bottom and what it's doing on top off or the waves. Yeah,
Michael:
I agree with you. Having the right board is important but it's more important to train your your technique. If you're a surfer that wants to know even just a little bit of what it's like to do a man turn like we just watched then. It doesn't matter doesn't really matter what board you're on. It matters how you move how you control your body and correct
Clayton:
If you look at Rasta he can go body sick and he can eat somersaults and all crazy stuff body surfing, he can jump on a finless piece of wood like in a layer and make it look beautiful. He'll jump on a single phone and he's won the burly contests. Running single fan I think he's won the mildest twin fan event. And he's probably even twice as good on a regular board. The thing is that writing a regular board for him is boring because his technique is so on point that he prefers the challenge. So if you can get your body to fire and respond the way it should do the art of Surfing has made easy.
Michael:
Cool. Thanks for being a lot more fun. Second time around is great.
Clayton:
Thank you.
Michael:
Cool, educating surface and inspiring. Awesome. Thanks, man. Sweet hope you guys got something out of that. Let me know. Give us some feedback. Stay tuned for details. On how to go into the draw to win a surfboard from placing this using the new spine tech technology. But first, Clayton has teamed up with swell net and macaroni’s and there is a surf coaching clinic actually to surf coaching clinics happening in early 2018. There was two one week coaching clinics at macaroni’s with Clayton, the first week being the 21st of January until the 28th of January and the second week being the 28th of January until the fifth of February. There still are a few spots left. There are links to find out more about this and to book etc. in the show notes at surf mastery.com forward slash podcast and just go to this episode and you'll see the show notes underneath the mp3 there and let's hear from Clayton about the trip.
Clayton:
Okay, so what I've been finding is that it's been increasingly harder and harder for surfers to actually go out and practice surfing. And the reason being is that the lineups are getting more filled. There's more people surfing, which means there's actually less and less waves. And not only that have a good surface tend to still have good waves. So the whole idea behind the macaroni strip is to get it at a time of the year where it's not as busy to still get quality waves, which offer more time to relax and to actually try to get the turns done that you want to be able to do and then to video form that analyze it to be given accurate feedback to make those turns then easier. And to do some of the muscle memory training outside of the water stain tape back into the water. So the venue is amazing. Macaroni was in World Class wave. It's such a hot dog wave. It's for me it's one of the best lifts in the world. And it's got a hollow a top section with a beautiful inside section we can do as many times as you want to do. So this setup I think is going to be fantastic.
Michael:
That sounds like a dream. Surfing trip. You surfing one of the best waves in the world. You're getting filled, poached. Okay, the surfboard that's up for grabs. Do you want to go in the draw to win a brand new custom made surfboard from Clayton using the new spine tech technology? That stay tuned to find out how But first, here is Clayton. Just giving us a run a quick rundown on the new technology.
Clayton:
Say the spine Tech is a globally patented technology and is exclusively licensed to Channel Islands and tighten surfboards. Spine tech is precision molded fiber reinforced spine that has been specifically designed and engineered to deliver superior strength, durability and flex to surfboards. Unlike wood that has very little flex. Spotting almost works in the same principles as tennis rackets, fishing rods and golf clubs. And that kinetic energy is transferred into the surfer. Once the board bends and bounces them up for the term. So simply by standing on spine tech the board gets so much more laugh and drive. Because they are Lhasa they're easier to maneuver. It makes it a lot more high performance faster. And stronger.
Michael:
Okay, so to go in the draw to win one of these boards from Clayton custom dimensions. All you need to do is go to surf mastery Facebook page, and go to this episode's post and make a comment and share it on your wall. Simple as that. So two things you need to do to go on the draw is comment and share the Facebook post relative to this podcast and your winners will be contacted through Facebook. And the only catches with this board is the borders covered by us. But you guys have to sort out the postage. So what that means if you live on the Gold Coast, you can just swing around and pick it up. But if you live outside of the Gold Coast, then you're going to have to pay for postage if you live in Australia or New Zealand The postage isn't too bad. Actually same for the cape does have a workshop at South Africa. So the same will apply in South Africa. You can go out and pick it up from the workshop or just get posted within South Africa. But for listeners who are outside of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, paying for the postage is probably not going to be worth it. So for those listeners in America, Europe and the UK, we will have some giveaways coming up in future episodes for you guys. If you enjoyed this show, please rate and review on iTunes. Like us on Facebook, comment on Facebook and Instagram and give Clayton a follow on Instagram as well. And share it with your friends. Spread the word, the more people that listen, the better and more guests we can get. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for tuning in to the surf mastery podcast. Again. I'm your host Michael Frampton. Make sure you subscribe so you can keep up to date with the latest interviews. Please share with your friends. Check us out on Facebook at surf mastery serve and if you're on iTunes, please go and give us a little rating that'd be awesome. Until next time, keep surfing.
The link between health and performance is undeniable, so it makes perfect sense to optimise health in order to optimise surfing performance and enjoyment. Health begins in the gut, and in this episode, we discuss gut health and some simple strategies to optimise yours. For more info check out Kale via the links below.
Kale Brock is an Award-nominated writer, producer and speaker. With a background in TV journalism, Kale has a passion for creative storytelling with a special interest in health & wellbeing. His long-awaited documentary, The Gut Movie, investigates the human microbiome in a scientific, quirky & fun journey in which he travels to Namibia to live with The San tribe. Kale’s books, The Gut Healing Protocol and The Art Of Probiotic Nutrition, have generated international acclaim.
Bud Freitas grew up surfing in Santa Cruz county and has a vast amount of local knowledge in the Santa Cruz area to facilitate your santa cruz surf lessons from Surf School Santa Cruz. Bud spent every waking hour of his young life surfing and exploring the coast of Santa Cruz, and has 20+ years experience in the water surfing his butt off. His credentials on the WQS and other contests speak for itself, and if you want to watch Bud Freitas in action watch the video on the right side of this page, or check out the Photo Gallery and watch Bud ripping with your own eyes! Learn more about Bud Freitas the surfer and teacher
Show Notes:
https://surfschoolsantacruz.com
https://shop.firewiresurfboards.com/products/crossover-addvance
http://www.surfer.com/videos/brainwork-adam-replogle/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzoMcWyarS4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCBDXB9fbXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1XNR8eyPMQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o1aCaDhuKw
https://shop.firewiresurfboards.com/collections/slater-designs/products/omni
Gee Cormack is the founder and head surf coach at Chix Surf School in Sydney Australia. Gee coaches and speaks about surfing on a much deeper level than just technique and wave selection. She helps her clients discover why they surf, and what they want to achieve with their surfing. Helping surfers to find their own rhythm by developing and combining self-awareness with ocean-awareness.
Gee rides - Weapon Surfboards - http://weaponsurfboards.com.au/
Wears - Ion Wetsuits - http://www.ion-products.com/
Skates - Smooth Star - https://smoothstar.com.au
Ben has been the Head forecaster at Coastalwatch for ten years. In this episode, he explains how waves are made, what he looks for when making surf predictions, dispels some common misbeliefs about reading synoptic charts, describes some of the nuances of swells and most importantly educates us on how to find the best waves. We also talk about how secondary and tertiary swells affect the primary swell and your local break. If you have never looked at a synoptic chart, isobar map, satellite image etc, then this episode may be a little confusing (unless you are in front of google & can look up the referenced images). Below are some links to some introductory tutorials that will get you up to speed pretty quickly. Most of the references are based on Australian, and Indonesian surf.
Show Notes:
Surf Forecasting Workshop April 2017 - http://www.coastalwatch.com/surfing/21138/victoria-find-out-when-your-local-will-fire
Surf Forecast Glossary - http://www.coastalwatch.com/surfing/13106/surf-forecast-glossary
Surf Forecasting Tutorial - http://www.coastalwatch.com/surfing/forecasting-tutorials
Great Circles - http://www.coastalwatch.com/surfing/177/forecasting-tutorial-great-circles
Tropical Cyclone Winston
East Coast Low
A long stretch of fetch pointing to Indo
Thundercloud Swell June 2012
NOAA - http://www.noaa.gov/
Coastalwatch Forecast - http://www.coastalwatch.com/surf-forecasts
Michael talks about how your mind affects your surfing, as well as surfing's effect on our minds.
Mindfulness, flow state, being present, living in the now, awareness, in the zone, in the pocket, focus on 'now', meditation, mind-set, surfing philosophy. It's all in here, and it's all relative to surfing.
Show Notes
http://findingmastery.net/
Karl Attkins grew up surfing and competing on Sydney's Northern Beaches, since finishing his competitive career Karl has been chasing big waves.
Karl talks about the importance of being prepared before committing to a big wave surf. Preparation of body, mind, and equipment is essential before you step outside your comfort zone, and stepping outside your comfort zone is the key to progression.
Karl also helps us to identify some of the subtleties around fear, intuition, and instinct, and how awareness of them can help you to face your fears, and avoid injury. How Breath Enhancement Training (B.E.T.) with Nam Baldwin has helped his surfing, both big wave and competitive.
Show Notes:
http://www.bettraining.com/
http://www.aidosurfboards.com/