Noseriding is the beautiful and graceful act of standing on the edge of your board while riding a wave.
There are different types of noseriding but they are all super stylish and what makes longboarding such a unique and cool way of surfing.
You can hang five (one foot on the nose), hang ten (both feet on the nose), hang heels (standing backwards with your heels on the nose), and even do all of that with the fin first (a difficult and more advanced trick).
How To Nose Ride: Step by STep
Step 1: Wave selection
When trying to noseride, it is important that you pick a wave that will make it more effortless for you. You want a wave with a good, clean face that’s not too steep and fast-breaking.
When you noseride, you need a little bit of time to set up and a nice peeling wave helps you more.
Step 2: Get In Position
To get to the nose, your board should be locked into the pocket of the wave.
The pocket of the wave is the part that carries the most energy and is the space between a long face of the wave and the white water.
If you stay in the area right before the white water, once you start your process of nose riding, you will be locked into the pocket and your board will be steady and easier to walk.
You can get into the pocket by bottom turning upwards and or getting further back on your board to slow it down.
Step 3: Walk The Board
When walking your longboard, there’s a couple of things to keep in mind.
Your feet should not be facing forward. If your feet are facing too far forward, it will be harder to balance.
Instead, you should walk the board in a cross-cross motion (this is why it is also called cross-stepping).
When cross-stepping across the board, it’s ok to take smaller steps because you want to be light on your feet and keep the board steady.
Do not flare your arms around too much while trying to keep your balance when walking the board.
It may seem like it’s helping, but it adds a lot of extra movement and makes it harder to balance. Instead, you should try to keep minimal arm movement but can hold them out a little.
Step 4: Nose Ride
Once you have cross-stepped all the way to the tip of your board, you can grip the end of the board with your toes or just hang your toes off.
Once you have successfully done that, you are noseriding.
After you get one foot on the end, you can put another and you will be hanging 10.
Step 5: Recover
After you have successfully ridden the nose of your board, you can cross-step backwards.
This is done the same way as cross stepping forwards, but even while you go back you need to keep your body and feet facing the front of your board.
After you are back at your starting point you could turn back into the pocket or just walk right up to the nose again if you still feel steady in the pocket.
It is important to note that when you walk the nose and nose ride, your board will pick up a generous amount of speed and you sometimes need to cross step back and put pressure on the tail of the board to turn your longboard and slow down, and then bottom turn back into the pocket.
3 Surfers To Emulate when Noseriding
Kelis Kaleopa’a
Kelis is a young woman on the championship tour for longboarding, she does a wonderful and graceful job at staying deep in the pocket of the wave and timing her steps to get to the nose.
Joel Tudor
Joel is an extremely well known ripper in the professional surfing community. He has a classic style and is one of the best nose riders.
Tony Silvangi
One of the best high performance longboarders, Tony is a master of maneuvering and turning his board. He can throw spray as if he was short boarding but then nose ride on any kind and size of wave.
Noseriding: FAQS
Is an ankle or calf leash best for longboarding?
You can wear both an ankle or a calf leash when longboarding, but if you want to walk the nose and nose ride more comfortably, you should get a calf leash.
Sometimes when you walk the nose while wearing an ankle leash, you may trip.
Overall though, more advanced longboarders do not even wear a leash because they have been doing it for a while and have very good control over their board.
How big should a board be to be considered a longboard?
Most competition rules consider a longboard to be 9 feet and above.
Most longboarders ride boards between 9 to 10 feet.
How to practice nose riding out of the water?
Take your fin off of your longboard and place it on the carpet or in the grass. You can practice cross stepping your board and find the right rhythm and timing.
It is good to do this because you can really map out how many and how big of steps you need to comfortably reach the nose. Four steps is around what most people will take to get to the nose.
How to Noseride
Noseriding is one of the best feelings when it comes to surfing a longboard- it feels like you are walking on water.
Once you complete your first nose ride, you will be obsessed with chasing that feeling every time you surf. This is one of the oldest tricks in surfing and is a classic meanuever to learn.
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