FRONTSIDE HACK
With Marcio Franca Dias
Even as progressive surfing is taking centre stage in our world today and aerial manoeuvres are commonly seen in SUP surfing, everyone knows there’s one sure way to put the exclamation mark on a wave. Like the wailing of a 1960’s Fender Stratocaster, the power of a good turn off the top never gets old!
There is a list of different names for this particular move: front side hack, front side power turn or front side snap…, but the approach is still the same.
Initially I’m coming from a low, compressed bottom turn using my inside rail. I put full body weight on the toes of my back foot, pressing the edge of the rail in the water curving straight up to the top of the wave with my eye fully concentrated on my target – the lip. Going up, my shoulders are aligned with my legs over the stringer leading towards the nose of the board, all flowing in one direction.
Once I’ve got to the part of the wave where I want to execute the turn, I shift my body position rotating my hips and shoulders back to open up, facing completely the opposite direction pushing with my heels this time against the outside rail of the board. To put a real stamp on the turn I’m extending my back leg kicking the tail away from me and at the same time using the blade of my paddle in the water as an extra support to finish the manoeuvre. As always when dropping back down the face spot your ‘landing’ and flex at the hips and knees to control the exit.
So I hope you have made the most of my technical explanation for this manoeuvre and keep on practicing. And remember, your paddle has the potential to take your surfing to places that many prone riders can only dream about! Aloha, Marcio. SUP