Suspending time is ‘impossible’ according to physicists, but if you’ve ever found yourself in a barrel, that’s as close to the feeling of stopping time as it gets. Riding the tube plunges you deep into the soul of wave, connected by the wrapping an unwrapping of the water. This experience locks into your memory forever. Surfers around the world, love to recall and tell stories about those rare moments of joy, and reminisce on that one you’ll never forget.
What is the secret to tuberiding?
The key to tuberiding is ‘shaping’. Shaping is central to surfing – boards are shaped by shapers and elegant surfing is all about adjusting to the contours of the wave. Shaping in tuberiding is about fitting the body and board to ride just behind the falling curtain. Tube rides never work out if you are slightly ahead of the curl. To the untrained eye, the surfer inside the tube is apparently ‘doing nothing’. But this laconic ‘doing nothing’ is precisely the aim, and despite appearances it is the result of a huge amount of practice, preparation, timing, experience and knowledge.
How to perfect your tuberiding skills
Here are some tips to help perfect the tuberide
- When you spot a tubing section ahead stay looking down the line at the potential exit. Set the correct line and set your course before the lip goes over your head.
- Stay low to the board, and if you need to slow down drag your trailing hand along the wave face or applyweight on your back leg. Most tuberides involve a stalling manoeuvre.
- All tubes have a different entry and exit, so reading the wave shape is key, but most entry doors into a tube require keeping the board trim line high up on the wave face to avoid the plunging lip wiping you out. Remember, as long as you can fit under the lip even by low crouching, tubes can be achieved even in small waves, especially where strong offshore winds prevail, and hold the wave up.
- Apply pressure to your toes andlift the board up the face. Commit to this motion so that the lip does not hit you. Hesitate and the lip will hit you before you enter the tube. Remember to compress your body as you travel up the face.
- Now you are inside the tube. Time will stand still.
- Stay relaxed and breath.
- Bend your knees and stay in a crouched position. Keep your bum tucked in.
- Keep your eyes open, eyeing the exit down the line. Close your eyes and you will drop your head and shoulders and fall.
- As you travel through the tube there will be a constant upward flow of water. This means that in almost all tuberides you need to apply more pressure over your front foot to avoid getting sucked up and around inside of the green room.
- This pushing down with your front foot will stop the board from tracking up the face.
- Use your front foot to control your line of travel, making slight adjustments with your toe and heel to maintain stability.
- Weight and pressure transitions need to coincide with the wave. Feel the wave as you travel through the tube and adjust pressure to maintain your line of travel.
- Move your back foot forward and drop your back knee for tight tubes. Your back knee should drop enough to touch the deck.
- Responding to the speed of the wave, you can drag your trailing hand in the wave face to slow down, or apply more front foot pressure to speed up.
- In bigger tubes you may need to create speed in the barrel by compressing and extending. Extending helps lift the board up the face as you apply pressure to your toes. Compressing helps shift weight forward over the front foot for speed.
- Focus on the top part of the tube's exit. By focusing on this spot, you get a better idea of how tall you are and how much space you have above you. This helps you avoid riding too low to your board. If the lip keeps hitting your head, apply downward pressure to move toward the wave's trough.
- Typically, the higher the line you take, the faster you will travel.
- Keep your shoulders square and open towards the exit. This will help you move in the right direction.
- Point both hands toward the tube exit to direct your weight forward. At the same time, maintain your line with your back foot by keeping pressure on your toes. Anticipate if the barrel is going to hit a shallow section and continue opening up, or hit a channel and make the exit high and tight.
- Emerge on the shoulder, revived, and reignited for more.
- When you spot a tubing section ahead stay looking down the line at the potential exit. Set the correct line and set your course before the lip goes over your head.
- Stay low to the board, and if you need to slow down drag your trailing hand along the wave face or applyweight on your back leg. Most tuberides involve a stalling manoeuvre.
- All tubes have a different entry and exit, so reading the wave shape is key, but most entry doors into a tube require keeping the board trim line high up on the wave face to avoid the plunging lip wiping you out. Remember, as long as you can fit under the lip even by low crouching, tubes can be achieved even in small waves, especially where strong offshore winds prevail, and hold the wave up.
- Apply pressure to your toes andlift the board up the face. Commit to this motion so that the lip does not hit you. Hesitate and the lip will hit you before you enter the tube. Remember to compress your body as you travel up the face.
- Now you are inside the tube. Time will stand still.
- Stay relaxed and breath.
- Bend your knees and stay in a crouched position. Keep your bum tucked in.
- Keep your eyes open, eyeing the exit down the line. Close your eyes and you will drop your head and shoulders and fall.
- As you travel through the tube there will be a constant upward flow of water. This means that in almost all tuberides you need to apply more pressure over your front foot to avoid getting sucked up and around inside of the green room.
- This pushing down with your front foot will stop the board from tracking up the face.
- Use your front foot to control your line of travel, making slight adjustments with your toe and heel to maintain stability.
- Weight and pressure transitions need to coincide with the wave. Feel the wave as you travel through the tube and adjust pressure to maintain your line of travel.
- Move your back foot forward and drop your back knee for tight tubes. Your back knee should drop enough to touch the deck.
- Responding to the speed of the wave, you can drag your trailing hand in the wave face to slow down, or apply more front foot pressure to speed up.
- In bigger tubes you may need to create speed in the barrel by compressing and extending. Extending helps lift the board up the face as you apply pressure to your toes. Compressing helps shift weight forward over the front foot for speed.
- Focus on the top part of the tube's exit. By focusing on this spot, you get a better idea of how tall you are and how much space you have above you. This helps you avoid riding too low to your board. If the lip keeps hitting your head, apply downward pressure to move toward the wave's trough.
- Typically, the higher the line you take, the faster you will travel.
- Keep your shoulders square and open towards the exit. This will help you move in the right direction.
- Point both hands toward the tube exit to direct your weight forward. At the same time, maintain your line with your back foot by keeping pressure on your toes. Anticipate if the barrel is going to hit a shallow section and continue opening up, or hit a channel and make the exit high and tight.
- Emerge on the shoulder, revived, and reignited for more.