025: CLAYTON NIENABER - Surf Coach, Shaper, shredder.
Image: Shayne Nienaber
Show Notes:
Are your bottom turns killing your speed—or unlocking your next-level surfing?
Most surfers think they need more power, a better board, or perfect waves to improve—but what if it’s really about mastering your posture and tuning in to the wave itself? In this episode, pro surfer and coach Clayton Nienaber reveals the subtle body mechanics that separate average surfers from the greats, using detailed breakdowns and firsthand insights.
Learn why leaning, twisting, and compressing—not pushing—are the true foundations of powerful, flowing turns.
See how posture mistakes, like squatting instead of lunging, silently ruin your speed and control.
Discover how to read and respond to the wave instead of forcing maneuvers—leading to smoother, more stylish surfing with less effort.
Tap play now and transform the way you surf by understanding what your body—and the wave—really want from you.
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.
Claytons Website:
https://train.ombe.co/?via=surfmastery
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/
http://claytonsurf.com
Key Points
Clayton discussed his approach to surfing, emphasizing the importance of leaning into turns and twisting the body to generate speed and power.
Michael introduced the podcast and mentioned an upcoming surfboard giveaway from Clayton.
Clayton shared his experience of learning to surf while managing diabetes from a young age.
They discussed the difference between squatting and lunging during turns, and the importance of proper body positioning.
Clayton broke down a slow-motion video of Kelly Slater surfing, analyzing his technique in detail.
They talked about an upcoming surf coaching clinic with Clayton at Macaronis Resort in early 2018.
Clayton explained the new Spinetek technology used in his surfboards, designed for superior strength and flex.
Michael outlined the steps to enter the giveaway for a custom Spinetek surfboard from Clayton.
Outline
Introduction of Clayton Nienaber
Michael introduces Clayton Nienaber, an ex-pro surfer, world-class surf coach, and surfboard shaper.
This episode is the second interview with Clayton, focusing on advanced surfing techniques and analysis.
The interview includes a breakdown of a Kelly Slater wave in Hawaii, with a corresponding slow-motion video available on Michael's Instagram and in the show notes.
A surfboard giveaway is announced, with details provided at the end of the interview.
Clayton is also teaming up with Macaroni's Resort and Swellnet for surfing coaching clinics in January and February 2018.
Clayton’s Early Life and Surfing Beginnings
Clayton was born in Durban, South Africa, the same town as Jordy Smith.
He started surfing at age 13 when their family moved to the north coast.
Initially relegated to the shore break and foamies, Clayton progressed from bodyboarding to kneeboarding before getting their first surfboard.
The beach became the primary activity for kids in the area due to lack of other options.
Clayton's first surfing experience involved getting stuck in a rip and being saved by their father, but as they learned to play in the ocean, their fear dissipated and their confidence grew.
Competitive Surfing Career
Clayton began competing in high school, surfing for Zululand.
After finishing school, they moved to Durban to pursue a professional surfing career.
They worked in a surfboard factory, learning to spray, shape, and laminate boards.
Their surfing improved significantly, leading to sponsorships and their first year on tour.
Clayton's diabetes diagnosis at age 12-13 exempted them from mandatory military service, allowing them to focus on their surfing career.
Impact of Diabetes on Surfing Journey
Clayton's diabetes diagnosis coincided with the start of their surfing journey.
The condition initially caused exhaustion during surfing, leading to a week-long hospital stay to control their sugar levels.
The need for regular insulin injections made Clayton feel different from their peers, causing them to miss out on some social experiences.
However, this isolation led them to focus more intensely on surfing, contributing to their success in competitions.
Transition to Coaching and Shaping Boards
After their pro career, Clayton began shaping boards and coaching to increase board sales.
They progressed from club coach to Natal coach and eventually worked with the South African junior surfing team, including Jordy Smith.
Clayton's coaching style evolved as they learned to break down complex movements and techniques, making them accessible to surfers of varying skill levels.
Key Insights from Riding Kelly Slater’s Board
A significant turning point in Clayton's understanding of surfing came when they rode one of Kelly Slater's boards.
Initially, the board felt ordinary, but when Clayton applied the correct technique - leaning into turns and surfing more top-to-bottom - the board came alive.
This experience led to a deeper understanding of rail-to-rail surfing and the importance of feeling in turns, rather than just trying to generate speed.
Breakdown of Surfing Techniques
Clayton breaks down surfing into three main components: compression, twisting, and leaning.
They emphasize the importance of using a lunging position rather than a squat, which allows for better balance, speed, and turn execution.
The discussion includes detailed analysis of bottom turns, top turns, and the transition between them, using analogies from other sports like cycling, sprinting, and weightlifting to illustrate key concepts.
Analysis of Kelly Slater Wave
The interview includes a detailed breakdown of a Kelly Slater wave, analyzing their technique frame by frame.
Key points include the importance of a straight takeoff to maximize speed.
The use of a lunging position rather than a squat for better balance and power is emphasized.
The technique of leaning into turns rather than stomping on the tail is discussed.
The quick transition from inside rail to outside rail is highlighted.
The role of breathing and body positioning in executing powerful turns is explained.
The importance of working with gravity and the wave's natural flow is noted.
Spinetek Technology and Surfboard Giveaway
Clayton discusses Spinetek, a new surfboard technology that provides superior strength, durability, and flex.
A surfboard giveaway is announced, with listeners able to enter by commenting on and sharing the podcast's Facebook post.
The winner will receive a custom-made board from Clayton, with the caveat that they must cover shipping costs.
Conclusion and Upcoming Events
The podcast concludes with information about Clayton's upcoming surf coaching clinics at Macaroni's Resort.
Listeners are encouraged to rate, review, and share the podcast, as well as follow Clayton on Instagram for more surfing insights.
Transcription:
No matter what turn you're doing, the wave always kind of determines your approach. The point I want to make is that people make surfing about themselves when the wave needs to be the star because that's what surfing is, it's riding a wave. Well, I always think of surfing as actually three things because you have compression and you have twisting and you have leaning.
Welcome to the Surfing Mastery Podcast. We interview the world's best surfers and the people behind them to provide you with education and inspiration to surfers better.
If you can get your body to fire and respond the way it should do, the art of surfing is made easy.
Michael Frampton
Today's interview is round two with Clayton Neanarbha. He is an ex-pro surfers, still a world-class surfer. He is a world-class surf coach and surfboard shaper. In this interview we go pretty deep, we get pretty technical at times. 35 minutes into the interview we break down a wave that Kelly Slater surfers in Hawaii a few years ago. The super slow-motion version is currently on my Instagram, so if you go to my Instagram you can watch it there. I have embedded the video into the show notes for this episode at surfmastery.com. We really wanted to educate surfers on a deeper level and so we added a visual aid to it. That part of the interview does kind of require the visual aspect, so it's a little bit interactive in that way. There is a surfboard giveaway that goes along with this interview. We are giving away a custom surfboard from Clayton. We'll go into details on how to go into the draw to win this surfboard at the end of the interview, so stay tuned at the end for that. Clayton is teaming up with Macaroni's Resort and Swellnet and he will be doing a surfers coaching clinic at Macaroni's at the end of January for one week and at the beginning of February for one week in 2018, so stay tuned for details on that as well. All of the links relative to what I just mentioned and throughout the podcast are posted in the show notes at surfmastery.com. Enjoy.
Michael Frampton
Which town in South Africa were you born?
Clayton Nienaber
I was born in Durban, the same town as Geordie Smith came from or comes from. Yeah, but I didn't grow up surfing there. Grew up playing soccer and then my father got a job at a fire mill on the north coast, so moved from the city up into Belize. And that's when I pretty much started surfing. I was about 13 years old. However, every weekend my father would take us all down to the beach.
Michael Frampton
How much time did you spend in the water when you started?
Clayton Nienaber
My brother was older than me, he was six years older. So he was always kind of going backline and I was relegated to the shore break and to foamies on the inside. My dad was a bodyboarder, so I'd always take his bodyboard out and stand on it and just catch the reforms.
And then one year before Christmas I got bought a kneeboard of all things. So I surfers the kneeboard, which is a really wide quad fin.
And then I think it was for my following birthday, they actually bought me a surfboard when they saw I was pretty serious about it.
Michael Frampton
Were you living in a sort of a culture of surfing?
Clayton Nienaber
No, not at all. Back then there was nothing to do on the north coast. It wasn't like the city where there were soccer clubs and everything.
So the only thing you could really do was go to the beach. So all the kids went there and just hung out.
So you had 14 hours of sunlight and nothing to do. So you'd body surfers the shore breaks on the high tide and go surfers at the back on the low tide and just being kind of just submersed and around the sea.
Michael Frampton
And were you a naturally talented surfers? Did you pick it up straight away?
Clayton Nienaber
I remember clearly the first time I tried to go in the water, I got stuck in a roof and had to be saved by my dad. There's that little gully between the shore 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, all the fear goes away.
And then once the fear goes away, your confidence grows and then things get easier.
Michael Frampton
And when did you start competing?
Clayton Nienaber
I started competing, I think my third year or second or third year of high school. I actually went on a trip to Jay Bay and next door to us, one of the pros was staying over there. His name was Dale Bamford and he told me he surfers for Natal, which is one of the biggest states in South Africa.
And then because I was on the north coast, I surfing for Zululand, which is like a lesser-known state. So when I went back, I joined Zululand after Jay Bay and kind of got into it and sort of made the team my first year. Didn't realise how I surfers, whether I surfing well or good and I ended up being the first seed and continued doing that for like three or four years until I finished school. After I finished school, moved to Durban, I said to my dad I want to become a pro surfers.
Well, actually, I'm gonna have to go backwards a little bit. When I finished school, most Africans, it was compulsory to do military service. But because of my diabetic, I had that year off.
So my parents allowed me to move to Durban, back to the city and to try surfers and make a career out of it. So I got a job in a surfboard factory, started learning how to spray boards and shape and laminate. Moved in with a surfboard shaper, his name was Baron Stonder, he started tutoring me on some shaping skills. And surfed sort of on a higher level with a lot more better surfers in the city. And my surfing improved a fair bit. I picked up some sponsorships and then the following year I went on, did my first year on tour.
Michael Frampton
So when were you diagnosed with diabetes?
Clayton Nienaber
It was right about the time we actually moved up to the north coast. So I must have been about 12 or 13 years old.
Michael Frampton
Okay, right around a similar time you started surfing.
Clayton Nienaber
Yeah. I started surfing, I'd been surfing for about, it would have been about a year.
And then I was diagnosed as diabetic. So I remember clearly like I was, I went out for a surfers and I tried to paddle out and I was exhausted, I was just super tired. And my dad was like, what's the matter with you kook, why can't you paddle out? It's like two foot and you, are you scared? And he was really giving me a hard time. And I was like, Dad, I'm just, I'm so tired, I just want to go home and sleep.
And then the next day we went to the doctors and I was diagnosed as being diabetic and then he was almost in tears, just like, I'm so sorry. And then he drove me to the hospital. I was there for about a week, just getting my sugar levels under control. And I was on a drip at the time and 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. They were... I just had an impression I couldn't have sweets for the rest of my life.
So the nurse came up to me and said, well, you're off the drip, but now you're going to have to do your injections. So I'm like, well, you're the nurse, you do it.
And then she actually broke it down and said, did no one tell you? And I was like, no.
Well, okay, every meal you have, you've got to inject insulin to break the meal down. And I just burst out crying. I was like, I can't do this.
So it was pretty heavy.
Michael Frampton
And did you get stick, or you get given some slack at school for that?
Clayton Nienaber
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, I could never do that, which straightaway kind of makes you feel different and... No, I'm sure there were a couple around, but...
Michael Frampton
Weird. Were you the only kid at school? Diabetic? Insulin-dependent diabetic, were you the only one? Within your group of...
Clayton Nienaber
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 were going out and partying and maybe sort of having a few beers and someone took up with chicks. I just wanted to leave that scene where I felt weird and just submerse myself in the ocean where I just felt at home. And that's probably why I started doing well at all the competitions and so on, because I was just so focused on surfing.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, well, it freed up your time. Because if you can't join into a social situation because of the diabetes, then that freed up more time for you to go surfing.
Clayton Nienaber
Yeah, because being a diabetic, I was on a strict diet and obviously there's like no drinking, no smoking. So my other friends were going out having late nights and coming home and sleeping in. I was doing the dorny and surfing by myself and just pumping waves and getting barrels off my head.
Michael Frampton
That's obviously contributed to why you're such a good surfers and why you were able to become a pro surfers.
Clayton Nienaber
Yeah, I think it sped up my learning curve. I wasn't saying I was a good surfer, 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 issue, they'd have a little article on how to surfers better.
So I'd always cut those out and I glued together like a little booklet and I'd try to study that so I could improve my surfing. I was just eager to learn and do better.
Michael Frampton
Did you get coaching done when you were young?
Clayton Nienaber
Yeah, I had a couple coaches, probably the most well-known one in South Africa is Graham Harns. He's coached the South African team for many years.
So he was always like strict, got to go hard off the bottom, hard off the top. Surfing can be very ambiguous and I probably took his information the wrong way because normally if you come hard off the bottom, you end up losing speed and putting the brakes on and stopping, which I ended up doing and just ended up trying harder and harder at it.
So my surfing almost got very stop-startish until I later on left after my surfing career, pro career. I started to, without stress, actually figure out how to surf properly with more feeling. And because I was a 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 to 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 Frampton
So how many years did you surfers at a level you weren't happy with?
Clayton Nienaber
Well, I'd say I'm 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 at the beach, studied the conditions, paddled out, tried my absolute hardest and get a third place. My mates were going out partying, getting smashed, hooking up with chicks, coming up for the heat, hung over, not caring. And they would paddle out and get through the heat. And I was like, jeepers, where's the justice in this? It's so unfair.
So when I say a level that I wasn't happy with, because I was doing stuff wrong and trying too hard on bad technique, I wasn't able to relax inside of my surfing and therefore I wasn't happy 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 surfers for a feeling, I started getting results. I started entering the SA Champs, which is what's equivalent over here, Aussie titles. And I got second the one year one of my team riders beat me in the final at Jay Bay. That was pretty good.
And then the next year I entered and I got a fourth. I finally made the finals and almost kicked into my old habits and tried too hard in the final and I lost. 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 the hard 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. And I thought if guys could do that, have a much brighter, easier future ahead of them.
Michael Frampton
So how did you get into surfers coaching?
Clayton Nienaber
After my pro career, I was shaping boards and to try to get more board sales, I started coaching so I could meet more people and help them out. And I started being my club coach, and from there I became the Natal coach, and from there it progressed and I became one of the guys who took when I crossed with the South African surfing team. The junior sides, we went to Brazil on one trip, we went to Huntington Beach on another trip, and to France. And Jordy Smith was in all of those teams. And I was able to help Jordy with certain things, but he was such a phenomenal athlete that I was kind of learning from him as I went along. I was asking him, Jordy, how do you do that 180 air off the top? And he was going, it's easy, I just look down.
So I'd go surfing, I'd just look down and I'd catch rail and I'd go, screw you, Jordy, it's not working. And he'd just laugh at me and paddle off. And I kind of figured that guys with that much talent don't actually know how they're doing the things that they do. 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 found it interesting and I'd look at his body, and when I could understand what his body was doing and how he was doing it, I'd have to train my body to almost kind of like a copy and paste of his technique. So copy his technique, paste it on myself, do it a few times until I understood it, and then I could get it.
And then when the technique was right, I'd use his trigger word, look down, add the technique, and the turn got easy and I could do it. Then once I'd learnt it, I could then go and teach pretty much whoever I was coaching to be able to do the 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, they had the most power, they had speed on tap. And the guys with terrible technique were often very stop-start, they looked erratic, their arms were flailing all over the place, surfing mid-face. And the more awareness you get of it, the easier it is to pick up.
So I was coaching almost every afternoon after shaping all day. Yeah, I was just open to seeing it and kind of trying to fix it.
Michael Frampton
And then how did you happen upon Kelly Slater's board?
Clayton Nienaber
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 and we were going out for dinners, or Kelly and Taylor Knox because they'd both stay with Craig's folks. Kelly was a bit intimidating talking to, kind of like he 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 in surfing.
So I begged him on the beach the one day before he paddled out, please, if there's just one thing you do for me, tell me how do you do your bottom turn like you do? And he looked at me and he just burst out laughing and just paddled off and left me behind feeling like an idiot.
And then about three days later he came back and told me. He said the reason he laughed was purely because he's a pro surfers and one of the most basic elements of surfing he could not explain to me. And he said he thinks it's because it's more a feeling than an explanation.
And then he kind of proceeded to explain to me what he felt when he bottom turned. And it took me about three months to figure it out.
Anyway, the tour had left town, Kelly left J-Bay and he always leaves a few boards behind. So he left the board for Craig. Craig said, look, I'm a bit bigger than Kelly, but here's Kelly's board, it goes amazing. Could you kind of copy it and make me a bigger version of it?
So I was like, sweet, yeah, great. Jumped onto Kelly's board, tried to surfers it as fast as I could because I thought if I was surfing fast I'd surf better, and surfing the King of Surfing's board I'd be blitzing. But it felt like the board went kind of crazy. Kind of ordinary.
And then I thought back to how Kelly surfers and how Taylor surfing, and then I tried to just do a bottom turn with feeling like Taylor said. And man, it was like Kelly's board just went up five notches and just hit turbo and it just came alive. I was like, my gosh, if I surfers this board with the right technique, the thing just absolutely just blows my mind.
So it was then I discovered that you kind of got to surfers 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 yeah, it was just from there another road of discovery. And surfing is like an onion. You peel off one layer and there's another great, beautiful layer to discover under that, and you peel that off and there's something probably maybe a little bit smaller and may seem insignificant, but it's just as important. And I'm still kind of peeling off layers of my own surfing and still enjoying it even at 43 years old.
Michael Frampton
So when you got Kelly's board and when you first surfers it felt like, what was your words? It didn't feel right. It didn't feel like a good board.
Clayton Nienaber
Yeah, so...
Michael Frampton
Did you go back and watch Kelly surfing it?
Clayton Nienaber
Okay, so I had based my whole career on making boards that went fast because watch anyone surf. They stand up and they're going as fast as they could possibly go. They've all got the biggest grin on their face. But I remember Dane Reynolds came and got a board from me one year. His boards were... They didn't make the flat or something and wouldn't have them for like five days.
So he came to my factory and I made him a board within about a day or two. And his words to me were, I don't want a fast board. I want a board that can hold the rail turn in.
So I was stumped. I mean, I'd based my career on making fast boards because I made all my customers happy. But now I've got one of the best up-and-coming youngsters in surfing ordering a board from me and he doesn't want what I make.
So he had given me one of his old Salmons to have a look at. So I rode the Salmon Anderson and it just felt like it pushed water. I stood on it and I could not go fast.
So I was like, no, this thing feels crap. So I gave it to one of my team riders. He gave me the same feedback. But then you watch Dane surfing and he had to do a rail turn from the top of the wave all the way down to the bottom with speed, power, and flow. And he made that board just look 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 Taylor Knox said. If you put your board on rail and you feel yourself leaning and driving through the turn, you're going to get speed out of the bottom turn. Where previously I was surfing flat and I was probably stepping on the tail and getting a direction change but sacrificing a lot of my speed.
So I know it's crazy to say it but I'd probably shaped boards for 10 years up to that stage and I was surfing flat and I didn't even know what I was doing. I was probably just copying other shapers. But once I had that revelation and I started to surfers on rail and I started to lean and I started to twist through my turns and try to surfers more top to bottom, I started to really fall in love with surfing and enjoy my surfing a lot more.
And then I had to kind of educate the boards that I was making for other surfers. I had to educate the surfers on how to ride them because if they surfers the boards flat they wouldn't enjoy them.
So I took it upon myself whenever I saw someone riding one of my boards I'd go, okay, try to lean through the turn and feel what the bottom turn feels like, and they'd go, wow, that felt amazing. That's how you surfers, that's good surfing.
And then I was like, okay, on the top turn stop pushing, rather try to twist the turn and hold it longer. And they were like, my gosh, that was the best turn I've ever done. And I'd stoke them up and show them technique and they'd come back and say the boards were going better. But it was more them utilizing their bodies and utilizing the wave better and utilizing the equipment better, and all the three things all just mixing into one really nice ride.
Michael Frampton
So the concept of leaning into a bottom turn, when did you first sort of... when did that revelation or that insight occur?
Clayton Nienaber
I had a hard time trying to pretty much what Taylor had when he tried to explain to me what a bottom turn feels like. As a surfers coach, how do you tell someone who's never really done many turns what a top turn should feel like, or what a floater feels like, or a tube ride, or a barrel? When you surfers, you got to get your board to do two things: it has to hold off the bottom turn and it's got to release off the top turn, and those are two different feelings. Yet your board's shaped the same on the left rail as it is on the right-hand side rail.
So you're getting something that's designed the same to do two different things. So if you have a look at when you ride a bicycle, your bicycle's designed the same, the wheels are round, but when you ride a bicycle fast, if you want to take the corner you have to lean through the turn, you can't just twist the steering wheel otherwise 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 no momentum, so you'll fall over.
So in that instance, you've got to sit up straight and turn the handlebars and your bicycle will 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 rail's round and it's designed to roll the same way a bicycle tire is designed to roll.
So when you're leaning, you get weightless which enables your board to accelerate through the water. You engage a rail which enables your board to turn smoother and longer for better. By rolling onto your rail, your bottom curve is submerged into the water and because there's curve in your bottom curve, it actually turns you up to the top of the wave. Because you're leaning into the direction of the wave that you want to go to, your board will turn in that direction, and the fact that you're weightless, it's easier for your board 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 lean, and there's no better way to explain to someone because everyone's ridden a bicycle and they can understand, they can relate to what a bottom turn should feel like. And then the top turns are 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. The same in golf, you want to twist through maybe teeing off to give you a lot of power to get the distance, or in cricket you only twist through batting.
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 travelled 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 riding down the wave is like dropping back into a skateboard ramp where you get the speed given back to you again.
Michael Frampton
And that's certainly evident once you start looking at the greats with detail, then that's what you see.
Clayton Nienaber
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 tired just watching them surf, whereas the pros, they balance the wave slowly, it looks like they've got tons of time and it always looks like they're burning off speed, trying to put themselves into the best part of the wave.
Whereas flat surfers seem to be like flailing, hopping, bouncing, jumping, exhausted, doing flicky little turns and always losing speed, never being able to maintain that flow.
Michael Frampton
When... but.
Michael Frampton
You rode Kelly's board and it didn't feel right, you knew it was a good board. How did you, what happened then? How did you figure out how to ride that board? Did you watch him surfing?
Clayton Nienaber
For years, Kelly has been my favorite surfers and the thing that I loved about him is that he'd always take off, he'd go nose to the beach, and he'd do this long bottom turn. It felt like it was a minute long and I was always intrigued. And for... I'd tried to do it for so long, but my technique wasn't what it should have been and I could never quite do it.
So when I got his board, I was so excited, I thought it was going to make me surfers better. I don't know if it was the placebo effect, but I just thought that I was going to surfers better, like some of his little magic was in that board and was going to rub off on me.
So I stood up on the board and I just went hell for leather, as fast as I could, just gunned it down the line, and the board was just like average, it was like eating vanilla, it was just nothing there.
So I probably tried that in like maybe three or four waves and just going, no, something's not right. And then just thought about it and went, well, look, I love Kelly surfing because of what he could do on the bottom turn. So I remember still to this day, I mean that was, what, 15 years ago maybe, no, 10 years ago, I took off, dropped in, nose straight to the beach, and then just gently leant over on the rail and the board just rocketed up to the top, and I twisted and came out of the turn just feeling like the board had a turbo under it.
And straight away gunned it down the line and slowed down again and I was like, okay, there's something in this. I gotta slow down and I gotta surfers 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 probably changed the way I made boards and changed the way I wanted to surfers. And it was a long, hard road trying to undo my bad habits and trying to implement the new ones because whenever I got excited, I surfers and used the bad habits, but whenever I was able to be calm and just focus on my surfing and focus on the feeling, man, I loved the way I surfed. I've seen photos and I like the way the photos looked, photogenic, and yeah, I'm still chasing that today.
Michael Frampton
And you had the opportunity to ask Kelly about it, and we'll just play a little clip, so straight from the horse's mouth.
Clayton Nienaber
Well, I always think of surfing as actually three things because you have compression and you have twisting and you have leaning.
Clayton Nienaber
So the funny thing about that, when I stumbled across that, I thought like, I don't know, discovered like the Holy Grail or something. But then Kelly threw another curveball at me, like he always does, he always has his ways of making you... he doesn't give the answer, he's a bit cryptic in his explanations.
So he threw compressing into the mix, and when I studied that further, I realized how true and how correct he was. A lot of bad surfers, when they surf, they actually squat in their bottom turn.
And if you squat, normally a heavyweight lifter would squat so that he could have good balance and not injure his back and so on. But squatting doesn't give you any speed and acceleration, whereas if you look at a person about to do a hundred meter sprint at the starting line, they will lunge into the start. And when the gun goes, they push from the ankle, knee, waist, and then pump the arms, and they get so much speed, drive, and acceleration.
So I discovered that compressing through a lunge gives you so much more speed, drive, and acceleration, and it enables you to lean through the turn.
Whereas squatting renders you flat-footed, it hinders your movement, and it kind of makes you twist off the bottom turn, which tends to make your board sort of drift and slide out. So, sure, thanks Kelly.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, having had the privilege of spending some time with you over the past few days and looking at my surfing and my technique, and you know, I'd already, you know, we spoke, it was about a year ago, we spoke about the lean and the twist, and I sort of implemented those cues into my own surfing and noticed a difference.
But what I was doing was leaning into and twisting out of my squat, and there's... 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, your feet aren't pointing in the same direction as your stringer, but it's definitely not a true squat either.
Whereas I think myself and most people tend to go into a squat, it's certainly how beginners start off as a poo-man, it's the most exaggerated form of that, exactly. But then just having you, just experiencing the difference the last couple of days of what that lunge position and where I'm moving from and how I'm leaning, just the finer details has made all the difference to how surfing feels.
Clayton Nienaber
So.
Michael Frampton
Yep.
Clayton Nienaber
Yeah, 100%, and it's... yep, that's a squat in its truest form, yeah.
Well, the big thing with surfing is that there's a lot of ambiguity in surfing. And people say, okay, you've got to do a hard bottom turn. So someone might read into that, going, I've got to 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've 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'd probably find people surfers a lot better. But because surf coaching is still relatively new in the sport, it does take a good surfers coach to actually call you up on a move and go, 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 Frampton
Yeah, this... I mean, you can't beat the experience of having someone critique your... you know, I mean, a good surfers coaching session, you can't, and we can't explain that over audio to someone.
Clayton Nienaber
No, the point I want to make is that people make surfing about themselves when the wave needs to be the star, because that's what surfing is, it's riding a wave. People use their bodies too much. They think it's about themselves, not the wave. No.
Clayton Nienaber
No matter what turn you're doing, the wave always kind of determines your approach. You know, if you're towing, you want to be let go basically at the speed of the wave. You don't want to go faster than the wave is going because you're gonna... you have to match speed for speed. You know, so with a wave, it's always trying to match speed for speed. It's always trying to surfers to the speed the wave allows and not, you know, obviously not go too slow, but not try to do a fast quick turn for the sake of it. You know, does that match the shape of the section and the line you can draw out of it and the speed you'll have when you're done with that turn? You know, if you don't have space below you on a wave, you're never going to be able to find the speed.
Clayton Nienaber
I think there's a lot of ambiguity in people, the way they read the judging criteria with speed, power, and flow. When Kelly talks about doing a turn, when he talks about the power, he says you always got to be on the top of the wave and you got to drop in to access the wave's 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 rely on their body, and then that's why they don't get it right. They're not tapping into speed, power, and flow.
Michael Frampton
I think what they're trying to do and what I try and do is, which I'm just realizing, is yeah, try and like drive and wiggle, yeah, just forward of the power zone because I'm not confident enough to be... to hang back in that power zone.
Clayton Nienaber
Correct.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, I'm running from it, whereas I should need to be in it to feel. And that's what I got to experience the other day. It was just like, no, you've... noticing some of the finer details and from lots of aspects of my surfing, but I guess what... you have more time than you think and you can surfers closer to the foam ball than you think.
Clayton Nienaber
Yes.
Michael Frampton
And when you do, you actually... it actually gives you more freedom.
Clayton Nienaber
100%. It's counterintuitive, but 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 white water.
Michael Frampton
Yep.
Clayton Nienaber
So if you're looking up at a wave and you're seeing the wave face, you're in the wrong place.
Michael Frampton
Correct.
Clayton Nienaber
Half your vision should be taken up by the wave. It might look like it's going to hit you.
Clayton Nienaber
Yeah, you're running from it.
So if you had to break a wave down, the lip should be where you get speed from, and the bottom of the wave is where it draws water up, so that's the most powerful part of the wave. So what Kelly does is he's coming out of the power part of the wave, looking up at the lip, and when he hits it, he's 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 the shoulder, and they try to force turns halfway on the shoulder. And to surfers flat and force a turn is quite difficult, and inevitably it's going to kill your speed.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, and we can... like, the information's there. Like those quotes we just heard from Kelly.
Clayton Nienaber
Yep.
Michael Frampton
The information is there.
Clayton Nienaber
Every time Kelly talks after a, like a post-heat interview, he gives away so much surfing knowledge. But if you don't know what to look for, you won't get it.
Michael Frampton
Okay, no, it'll be my first time. Drop the knee, lean, one, two, three, twist, look down, one, two, three.
Clayton Nienaber
That was beautiful.
Michael Frampton
So through... that'd be insane. Love it. Okay.
Exactly. So let's see if we can educate people on a more detailed level. So I'll just let you watch this. You haven't seen this.
Do you reckon that would be a good one to talk people... so let's do this. If you Google Kelly Slater 4K, you come up with a video. We're going to break down that video right now, but what we're going to do is, if you go into YouTube and they've got that little gear picture and you can change... the video is already in slow motion, but let's put it down 0.25 speed, super slow.
So I've got that video. It's a 20-second video on YouTube. It's at now 0.25 speed and I'm starting it at four seconds, just as Kelly Slater's sort of popped up. Push play now.
Clayton Nienaber
So he's dropping nose to the beach, straight down the wave face to the trough, and you can see he's dropped his knee like a sprinter. You watch the back knee tuck. There it is. He's compressing, he's leaning over, the right hand's nearly touching the water, and he's engaging the turn, one, two, and he's holding the turn until he sees his target. And then there's a lift from the shoulders, the hands lift up, then he starts to torque and twist his body, holds the one, two, three, and he's twisting his body to the full extent, like a golfer swinging his club all the way around.
The nose is 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 off the bottom turn and he came off the top of the wave and actually created more speed. So everything that he does harnesses speed and power. So that was amazing.
Michael Frampton
It's a good example. And let's do that again.
So this video, you know, it's at 0.25 speed and I'm starting it at four seconds just as Kelly Slater's sort of popped up, and let's just keep it paused here for a second and just describe his posture for us.
Clayton Nienaber
Okay, so at the moment he is super relaxed. There's no tension there whatsoever. Like I said, it's like a sprinter just about to start a 100-meter sprint.
He is probably exhaling. It's kind of if you deflate a balloon, it sinks. So because he's going down the wave, he's exhaling and making 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's a large part of it too. Because he's lunged, his center of gravity is centered over the front leg, and you'll probably find that he's supporting most of his weight over the front leg, which is making the board accelerate down to the bottom power zone.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing for me is just his posture now.
I could probably convince someone that he's in a squat position, right? But this is a one-dimensional... yeah, we're only looking at him from one dimension. But so when you start really looking closely, he is actually in a lunge position where both his knees are sort of... they're 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? He's coming down, and if I pause it now at the five-second mark...
Clayton Nienaber
Okay, so you'll notice how long he went straight down at the nose of the beach.
So if you compare that to skateboarders, they don't go diagonally down the ramp because it'll take longer to pick up your maximum speed. So the straighter he goes down to the beach, the quicker he accesses speed from the wave.
Now, the nice thing about that is that he did not have to use his body to wiggle to generate speed. Okay, so straight away 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 where water's drawing up to create the hollow part for the top turn.
Michael Frampton
Trying to focus on...
Clayton Nienaber
Correct, he's focusing on where to 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 want to do a 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 Frampton
Yeah, and he's looking there now, like isn't he? He's looking for the power zone at the bottom of the wave.
One thing in the first couple of seconds of this video that we've watched so far, the first one second or throughout it, Kelly Slater could easily be balancing a book on his head.
That's a big realization because if you squat, then your bum goes back and your head goes forward. That book falls off your head, you lose your upper peripheral vision, your upper field. But if you lunge and compress using more of a lunging knee-dominant movement, then you're able to see all around you and remain relaxed and be aware of your situation. So that's really evident.
Clayton Nienaber
Yeah.
Before you go on forward, most people think that a bottom turn is a hard stomp on the back foot, which means that you're using the fins and the back half of the board. But what you'll notice about Kelly's bottom turn is that the nose does not lift above the tail, which means he's not stomping on the tail.
Your surfboard has round rails, the same way a bicycle tire, if you look at the front profile, is round. That if you lean, the board rolls, or the bicycle rolls.
So he rolls the front rail, which again says that he's lunged into the turn and he's more turning off the front rail.
That enables him to maintain the pressure on the rail and the speed throughout the turn.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, well, 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, okay.
Clayton Nienaber
So the best way for me to probably explain a bottom turn was, if there was a pole sticking out of the bottom of a wave and he were to swing around the pole, he would need to take his right hand and grab onto the pole.
So he's got to extend the right hand. The lower he holds the pole, the more momentum he'll swing around the pole with.
If he held that pole a lot higher up, he wouldn't be able to get a lot of momentum, a lot of swing around the turn. 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 bottom turn and you probably won't hit your target.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, well if you look here again, it would be easy for us to convince someone he's in a squat position, but if you look more detailed, what you actually see is...
So now we're sort of halfway through the second mark and he's now... he's in that... again, I'm just trying to convey to people the difference between a squat and a lunge, and it's so easy to watch surfing and think that they're squatting, but then when you start looking where his right elbow...
Clayton Nienaber
Here, let it run another second, looking more like a lunge.
Okay, so let me break it down this way. If you were to... a heavyweight lifter, if they put a heavyweight on them, they're in balance, so it would be difficult for that person to jump forward, to jump back, left, or right.
Whereas Kelly, in that position, he could quite comfortably jump forward or jump up or left or right. So he's in a position where he's primed, it's 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.
And so a lot of people, when they surfers, the information's 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, but you'd be loading the board up on the tail, the board might spin out.
Kelly, his head is actually in front of his legs, and the elbow and the hand are in front of his body, which means he's engaging the forward rail. And if you have a look at the front of his board, the water's right up to maybe, say, 12 inches back from the nose.
Michael Frampton
His right hand, he's like... he's leaning his whole forearm down towards the wave. Yeah, it's forward, it's like right in line with his front foot, not his back foot.
Yeah, it's just rail, yeah, front foot rail, lunging position, he's leaning, he's kind of gone into that. He certainly didn't like stomp, he just gently leaned.
Eight seconds, we'll let it play again and we'll stop it at nine seconds. And then that hand touches the water and that's that kind of like he's holding on to that pole, isn't it?
Clayton Nienaber
Correct, and now he's coming out of that compression a little bit now.
Michael Frampton
Yep.
Clayton Nienaber
Correct. Now look how long he holds that turn for if you have to let it play. So he's still leaning.
He's coming out of the compression because he's loaded the rail up, so he wants to ease up on that.
But if you look at a skateboarder, when they go up a ramp, there's a certain amount of lift that comes up. So what Kelly will do there is he'll want to push his hips forward and do a hip thrust, eyeing out the section ahead that he wants to thrust towards.
And along with that hip thrust, he could lift his hands up and probably inhale and make himself lighter on the way up.
Well, yeah, okay. So if I go back to that, 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.
But what Kelly's trying to do, he wants to go off the bottom and go up. So a high jumper will approach a high jump almost in an L shape, so 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 springing effect and to get the height that you look for.
Michael Frampton
I liked your analogy from the previous podcast about the difference between long jump and high jump.
Yeah, and the technique kind of similar, you know.
Yeah, I think it's a good analogy to use to describe the difference between average and great surfers.
Average surfers are just racing and long jumping.
Yes.
And good surfers are just taking their time, just finding the flow and the pop and the high jumping.
Clayton Nienaber
That's it.
Michael Frampton
Yeah. So if we play this, start playing this again. So he's kind of weightless now, and we pause it at 11 seconds.
Clayton Nienaber
You can't get much more critical than where he's going at the moment. One really big thing to notice is that his back is straight.
So anybody who's ever done yoga and he'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'll injure yourself.
Michael Frampton
Let's... can I just clarify that, because I like the analogy.
This is paused, and again, he could have a book balanced.
Clayton Nienaber
100%.
Michael Frampton
I think that's better too, because his back is a little bit rounded. He doesn't have military posture, but he's upright, so he can see and balance a book on his head.
Yep.
What's he about to do now?
Clayton Nienaber
Okay, so he is doing a transition from the inside rail on the bottom turn to his outside rail for the top turn.
And if you look at the distance or the transition there, it was maybe like one second.
So there's a very quick transition, where most poor surfers, they would go at the top of the wave, they go flat, and then they start to push on their tail.
So his transition is really smooth and really quick.
And if you tipped your fingers in and then just bent your wrist back, arching your hand back, you would actually get your heel in. And the simple act of Kelly changing his hand positioning is then transferring into his feet.
Michael Frampton
So this, where the video is paused now, is kind of the only time that a good surfer will have their board flat on the wave, isn't it?
Clayton Nienaber
Pretty much. It's that moment where they're weightless for half a second, the board's flat, and all they're doing is changing from one rail to the other.
Clayton Nienaber
A better analogy is, if you go... if this was a skateboard ramp, Kelly could not have his skateboard horizontal because it would slide 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 are 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 Frampton
Yeah, and most of his body 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 next frame, a couple of frames. So now we're at 12 seconds at the blow out, yeah.
Clayton Nienaber
12 seconds. What I want you to notice is that... look at his cheeks, see how he's blowing out?
He started. A heavyweight boxer or any boxer will blow out on effort.
So as you push the air out of your lungs, you're able to do a far better, bigger twist.
So a lot of people hold their breath when they surfers, 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 then twist the plastic around.
So the breathing again relaxes you and gives you a far better twist.
Yep.
Else that you'll notice that he's not standing on his board, he's weightless, and he's buried the rail, which means that his board's not pushing any water and it's free to move and do direction change.
Yep.
He does not move and...
Michael Frampton
And so at 12 seconds, he's just starting to sort of get that twist going, yeah, that change of direction something.
And again, he could be balancing a book on his head.
Yep.
There are a couple of frames, we're still on 12 seconds.
Let's go... okay, as soon as we hit the 13-second mark, we'll pause the video.
Okay, what's happening here?
Clayton Nienaber
Well, what I can tell you what he's not doing, he's not pushing that hard on the back foot.
No.
He's got most of his weight centered over the front foot.
Okay, he has held that position in that twist for as long as he can, because the longer you twist for, the more spray you throw and the bigger the turn looks.
If you force that, it's going to be a flicky little move.
So, yeah, he's trying to hold that rail in for as long as possible.
And if that was just a takeoff, the simple act of riding down the face and holding that position, he will throw buckets of spray.
And so what you'll notice that he did not twist on the top of the wave.
He went up the wave, started to ride down the wave face, and when he had speed, he started to open up in the twist.
So he's got that speed and he's got the power, and then he's opening up the twist and he's got torque through the turn.
That picture there is absolutely amazing.
Michael Frampton
Play again and we're halfway through the 13th second and he's just twisted more really, isn't he?
Yeah.
And he's directing... like everything's facing: his right hand, his nose, his knees, they're all facing back to that foam ball.
Clayton Nienaber
You could take a pencil and draw a straight line between his front leg, his hip, and his shoulder, or the left shoulder.
So he's well-centered, he's balanced over the front foot.
So a lot of people make the mistake of being balanced on the back foot on the turn, and by doing that, they put the brakes on.
The nose lifts up, the tail slides out, or the fins pop out, or something gives.
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 wave.
Michael Frampton
Correct. His goal is to extract as much speed out of that wave face and to set up the next turn.
That's his goal now, is to get back down to that bottom power zone to do it all again.
The end of the video. Should we do that again?
Do you want to have another go?
Yeah.
Kelly Slater 4K, starting at four seconds, and it's at 0.25 speed. Here we go, push play.
Clayton Nienaber
Let's run it one more time. I'll see if I pick up anything else.
Kelly's taken off the top of the wave, he's gone straight down to the bottom, and where he sees the steepest part of the wave drawing off the bottom, he starts to lean in and touch it.
And the longer he holds the turn for, the more vertical he's going to go.
So the weight's centered forward for more speed and direction.
He gets some lift out of the turn, he does a direction change, and he twists.
He rides down the face, exhaling, opening up the shoulders for the turn so he can see where he wants to go to, and heading straight back down to the next power zone, where he'll go into the next lean again.
Pretty.
Michael Frampton
Awesome. When he does his bottom turn, there's definitely some spray coming off his bottom turn, only about 30% of the amount of spray that he sends from his top.
Because one thing I noticed, what you pointed out about my Surfing, is I'm just putting too much twisting and too much effort in the bottom turn, and there's lots of spray off the bottom turn.
Clayton Nienaber
No, 100%. He's... but well... fair enough.
Okay, 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 turn because it's going to be a lot harder to get to the top.
And then because you've spent so much energy on the bottom turn, you're going to have a really small, poor top turn.
So if you can lightly lift up to the top and then cut down or twist down the wave face like you saw Kelly do, using gravity, riding down the wave face again to get your speed back up, your Surfing is going to flow beautifully and effortlessly.
Michael Frampton
I like the way you... just one of your taglines is "advanced surfing made simple."
Yeah, and it's so true. It's simple, but it's because it's subtle, as in you've got to be really... the way you hold your body has to be spot on, doesn't it?
Otherwise you just... you miss it. Like you have, yeah.
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... then you're never gonna feel it, so.
Michael Frampton
Subtle.
Doing that.
Clayton Nienaber
In Surfing you have things that you can't control and things that you can control.
Like you can't control if 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.
Say, for example, someone takes off at J-Bay on the CT, the commentators generally say, "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, "But his equipment, he's riding these fins and he's got this x-flex pattern with such and such a board."
Surfing is about your body and what it's doing on the bottom and what it's doing on the top half of the waves.
Michael Frampton
Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, having the right board is important, but it's more important to train 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.
It doesn't really matter what board you're on. It matters how you move, how you control your body.
Clayton Nienaber
Correct.
If you look at Rasta, he can go body Surfing, he can do somersaults and all crazy stuff body Surfing.
He can jump on a finless piece of wood like in Alaia and make it look beautiful.
He'll jump on a single fin, and he's won the Burleigh contest riding a single fin.
I think he's won the Maldives twin fin event, and he's probably even twice as good on a regular board.
The thing is that riding 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 is made easy.
Cool. Thanks for being invited back. It's a lot more fun second time around.
It was great. Thank you.
Michael Frampton
Cool, Clayton. Thanks so much for doing the podcast again.
Cool. Educating surfers and inspiring. Awesome. Thanks, man. Cool, done. 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 Clayton, and it's using the new Spine-Tek technology.
But first, Clayton has teamed up with Swellnet and Macaronis, and there is a surfers coaching clinic, actually two surf coaching clinics happening in early 2018.
There are two one-week coaching clinics at Macaronis 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 5th 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 surfmastery.com/podcast.
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 Nienaber
Okay, so what I've been finding is that it's being increasingly harder and harder for surfers to actually go out and practice Surfing.
And the reason being is that the lineups are getting more full, there's more people Surfing, which means there's actually less and less waves.
And not only that, all the good surfers tend to steal all the waves.
So the whole idea behind the Macaronis trip 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 film that, analyze it, to be given accurate feedback to make those turns done easier, and to do some of the muscle memory training outside of the water to then take back into the water.
So the venue is amazing. Macaronis is a world-class wave. It's such a hot dog wave.
For me, it's one of the best lefts in the world, and it's got a hollow top section with a beautiful inside section where you can do as many turns as you want to do.
So this... the setup, I think, is going to be fantastic.
Michael Frampton
That sounds like a dream Surfing trip.
Not only are you Surfing one of the best waves in the world, you're getting filmed and coached.
Okay, the surfboard that's up for grabs, if you want to go in the draw to win a brand new custom-made surfboard from Clayton using the new Spine-Tek technology, stay tuned to find out how.
But first, here is Clayton just giving us a quick rundown on the new technology.
Michael Frampton
Then stay...
Clayton Nienaber
Shaper Spine-Tek is a globally patented technology and is exclusively licensed to Channel Islands and Clayton Surfboards.
Spine-Tek is a 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, Spine-Tek almost works on the same principles as tennis rackets, fishing rods, golf clubs, and that kinetic energy is transferred into the surfers once the board bends and bounces them up through the turn.
So simply by standing on Spine-Tek, the board gets so much more life and drive.
Because they are lighter, they're easier to maneuver, it makes them a lot more high performance, faster, and stronger.
Michael Frampton
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 the Surfers 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 in the draw: comment and share the Facebook post relative to this podcast, and winners will be contacted through Facebook.
And the only catch is with this board is the board is 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, and actually the same for South Africa.
Clayton does have a workshop in South Africa, so the same will apply.
In South Africa, you can go around and pick it up from the workshop or just get postage 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 with your friends, spread the word.
The more people that listen, the better and more guests we can get.
Thanks for tuning in to the Surfers 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 Surfers Mastery Surf.
And if you're on iTunes, please go and give us a little rating. That'd be awesome.
Until next time, keep Surfing.
Michael Frampton
Thanks for tuning in.