i agree that in order to learn, one need to push himself TO THE LIMIT. but going OVER THE LIMIT suckz. i haven't had a nasty wipe-out that i can remember by, but am bracing myself fot it.

i had only logged a couple of surfing days (3 to be exact) but am determined to learn. maybe i could out-rip some of you in the near future but am pretty sure i can in another life.

ei pipol, salamat sa mga priceless tips. mabuhay tayong lahat!

millie, when i say dreaming i meant literally dreaming, dont think i got enough juices to make the pro hehehe... to live a comfy near a good break, thats all i want

yes, a surf camp, a week of surfing,coaching,fitness,blah blah-surf camp kinda thing

all...giveup on your texting, malling...and just spend ur money for surf trips...u'll be happy...  

al,
self belief baby!!!it'll take you a LOOOONG way!

ohhh....surf camp!I get ya now....hmmm,I'm thinking of holding a free surf coaching weekend thingy at the end of the year at LU-see how things pan out.Too many ideas and the 24 usable hours in every day are filled...dammit

zidd,you mean giving up being a mallrat!! no more txting the person sitting beside you!

Tnx!

millie, where do i sign up?

oCean

ocean...i'll throw out more details when its a bit closer,but i'll def. let you guys know first

i wanna sign-up too!!

Hey Sponj I hope you will be surfing before the end of the year. My wife and kids will be in the Phillies around the end of the year so I might send them up there to stay at the Hacienda and you can give the kids a lesson Millie. I am a bit too harsh on them I make them paddle out the back to try to learn. They are not too impressed about the wipeouts.
Sorry to see the poor quality surf you all got for the contest but hey it is the Philippines isnt it. We are now into our 4th month of hardly anything happening so its not too good over here either.
Happy surfing

actually kuya Mark, im practicing my surfing every week-end if my schedule permits me. i think am very good at paddling (this is the only part where i can exercise my S stroke mastery ) its the standing-up part that im lacking. ei, can't wait for the stick to arrive. salamat po

hi sponjah, i used to swim too but i find it hard to do the "S" stroke on a long board. i'm assuming you're using one too. it's just too wide i guess to permit the same freedom for your arms. actually, i don't even know if i'm doing the S stroke when i'm surfing... i'm working on my paddling and trying to analyze... no "imagine" how i can make it more efficient since i can't surf as much as you do.  

i'm seriously considering using training paddles next time i go surfing for the extra boost! (that was a product of my trying to imagine sessions) there's a bit of a problem though... you've probably figured it out... can't grab the board if i have it on right? that's why i'm gonna get neoprene paddles. it's like a glove with webbed fingers (handicapped divers use these) will it work? i don't know... as i said, just imagining.

oCean... not a master of the S stroke  

Ocean, actually there is a such thing. A glove with webbed fingers. My friend used that when he surfed. U might be careful, might add stress to your joints when ur paddling.

hey mark,for sure send your kids to Hacienda!
I get a lot of dad's approaching me to teach their kids.The kids are usually left deeply mortified by the thought of the ocean after a "dad's learn to surf lesson" I got a couple of those big softboards yesterday,so I'll be bringing them over and some friends around the coast have donated me at least 10 2nd hand boards to take over as well,so it'll be fun!The excess baggage people are gonna have a field day!

Millie I just sent Sponj a board and the airfreight to Manila is only $2.50 a kilo which is probably a lot less than the excess baggage cost. I can give you the address of a very trustworthy mate in Manila who can hold onto them for you until you arrive if the baggage cost is too high. I dont know how reliable the company is I sent the board through but Sponj will let me know if he received it. I sent it all the way to La Union but it is more than double the cost of Australia - Manila the trip Manila - La Union. I know they are a good company for money transfers. Just a thought if it is going to be costly for you. The unfortunate thing about dads surf lessons is that dad usually gets p***ed off having to wallow in the shorie so the kids either come out the back or sit on the beach. Call me callous but thats life.

i've been thinking if it would be cheaper to just send them,so thanks for the info!That'd be really good if sponj could tell me if he receives his board....just in case.i dont want to be sending stuff over if it's never going to get there!if i do bring them over as hand luggage it's going to cost me so much.

I've got the 2 softboards,these 10 2nd handers and 3 custom boards that friends in the Phils have ordered plus my own boards,and I got another 2 boards donated to me today from a couple of guys and the guys at the factory are gonna donate 4 new learner boards before i leave...so it's going towards 25 damn boards!

some of mums friends are going back to the phils throughout the year and they've said they can bring a board each over for me-which is going to be a funny sight and i'm trying to make as many friends as possible come over with me so i can offload some boards onto them!hahaha...damn mission and a half!it'll be worth it though

oh!haha...i get all the little girls on their first time surfing lesson telling me their tales about their "evil surfing dads".One little girl told me a story about her Dad who brought her out the back,she was only 6!he took her out when it was 5ft and left her out there bobbing around on a board with floaties on her arms!...because the surf got too good and he couldn't miss catching his waves!hahaha..obviously he got in the shit with his wife!..thats why i've been coaching their daughter for 2 years now!Dad's are evil creatures when it comes to teaching their kids things!,but..we still love em

don't worry guys you'll be the first to know about the shipping fate of kuya Mark's board. can't wait to test drive it.  

ei Ocean, i think there's no difference b/n swimming w/ or w/o board except the following:
(from my own unproven observation)
1. you can't do high elbow recovery since the upper body are to be kept of minimal movement.(i prefer a flat sweeping recovery just like those in butterfly.)

2. you don’t have to rotate your body for every stroke. That would make the board criss-crossing the imaginary bi-lateral axis. I did that on the minimal and I fell off the board.

3.since,boards are wide (am i right Millie?) especially long boards. the pressure of paddling is somewhat directed to the elbows. so, a little bit of additional wrist angling are necessary to feel the "catch" of water. (we were taught that high arm turn-over ratio does not translate to faster swimming that’s why the “catch” phase is very important.)

3. we don't need goggles and swim trunks , We don’t need to breath every other stroke.
(self explanatory)
..i hope we could practis our paddling sometime and share some in-depth stroke analysis

*I have one question though… is it advisable to do a flutter kick when catching waves? someone told me that I just have to bend my knees when im prone to avoid drag. I was thinking that flutter kick adds forward thrust when done correctly.

DISLAIMER: i have no idea if my observations and suggestions are really right. i got some of them from important swimming analysts but they're not so important that i have to memorize their names and you'de care to remember their them.

i'll let you know if i'm going to LU sponj.
sometime in march hopefully.  

i can't imagine the flutter kick you were talking about but bending my knees sure works. i can only guess how it works but it does.

oCean

hey sponj how's it goin?

i start off paddling with my knees bent. when i need more momentum i flutter kick at the last minute plus two more extra paddles for luck.. works for me  

finally, we have one proponent of flutter kick out here! i guess we really need the flutter kicking part for extra propulsion.
mabuhay y'all!

what the heck is a flutter kick if it is what i think it is, can you do it on a longboard? ive seen guys on shortboards doing some kicking motions while paddling for waves but never with a longboard.  

flutter kick applies to shortboard only,can't imagine how could you ever do it on a longboard!!!

I wouldnt be kicking if I was you guys only leads to unstableness.

if flutter kicking does more harm than help then i'll be kicking the habit. thanks!

I watched pipeline masters 2001, almost all the pros were  flutter kickng inluding the champ Kelly Slater. If it works for them, will work for us too!

howzit bros?

it depends on how you time your "kick" or how you use it. i mean starting to kick even before the wave picks u up does look funny on a log for me it's more on getting extra momentum thru rhythm of movement. sounds real technical yeah but it works for me specially when i need that last minute push on mushy waves. but hey i guess it wouldn't apply to everyone.

yeah, to each his own, everyone has a personal style  

The pros do a lot of things us mere mortals are unable to do.

sorry to go on another tangent here..but i did some little interviews with Al,Bryant and also Kage..if you wanna check em out go to:

http://pages.ivillage.com/interviewyou/

cheers,
mi llie

neat page girl..

way to go douglas! yeah he's not into pranks awright cause he's usually the target of the pranks

trick, dont you just miss those days, ah... to be with the boys again soon, maybe we should set up some sort of surf trip cum reunion eh? samar sounds good, or palawan  

millie, nice page! some interesting friends you interviewed there   you should drag em over when you fly into town  

thanks trick

al,i'm afraid all the girls have boyfriends...and a couple have girlfriends even if they did come over,you'd have to watch your arse because I've heard lesbians can get EXTREMELY JEALOUS and lash out on their victims...be careful al...very careful...

Al - you have been warned! haha.

but, but? oh well, i have to admit, im smitten  

anyway, back to the cubicle...  

haha al al al.. ez cowboy..

yeah i miss those roadtrips a lot. i wish the boyz would take up surfing too then we could head off for a surfari in the warm waters of pi. either samar or palawan sounds good to me ahhhhhh i guess they're too bz climbing up the corporate ladder hehe poor bastards they have no idea what they're missing out on.

Hey Al,

Maybe that's why you are always missing out on sex ; you've been chasing to many lesbians!

Cheers
Todd

hahahaha!step out of your cubicle Al and fight for your lesbian chasing rights!