2,000 Cutbacks and Counting - Focused Repetition at Lakeside Surf

“SurfEye shows I surfed 163 waves between 6 privates and 5 publics LOL!”

This was a text I received from one of the surfers on our rail carving trip to Lakeside Surf in Washington. It got me thinking.

The number of waves is stunning, for sure. No doubt. These are waves he didn’t have to paddle into, nor pop up onto. So, this is pure surfing repetition.

But what this sparked in my mind was a new question – how many cutback repetitions did he get during the 163 waves?

Knowing this surfer, he is in the Phase 3 learning curve on this wave, which essentially means that each time he gets on the wave, he has the ability to doing repetitive cutbacks (rather than still learning the wave in Phase 1; and learning to redirect in Phase 2).

I could easily feel okay attaching at least eight cutbacks per wave on average for this surfer. A majority of his waves he would be on for longer than that, so eight cutbacks would be a decent average estimate.

What that means is that in the 163 waves, with 8 cutbacks per wave, he experienced 1,304 cutbacks in a three-day trip.

Just have a moment to think about that. How many times have you had that focus of practice, on one particular maneuver, with balance and speed going into each repetition? Over 1,300 cutbacks?

“Hope you are still standing after 12 privates!!”

This was another comment he made in the same text because I had surfed twelve privates (six in Group 1 and six in Group 2). As opposed to the previous surfer mentioned, I was performing a slightly higher number of cutbacks on the wave - on average ten cutbacks per wave. Also in each private, each surfer was getting 20-22 waves. Being conservative, using 20 waves per private, 12 private sessions, 10 cutbacks per wave = 2,400 cutbacks in a five-day trip.

And I felt it – both physically and mentally. My movement changed. It became more fluid. I became more confident. The repetition became so standard that my movements became more unconscious, feeling through each turn more and more. And then, I could try new things. I tried a layback, I tried pushing farther into the flats, I tried holding the line longer. In other words, I got the chance to experiment.

Confidently, I can tell you that I don’t usually get to experiment in the ocean when I surf. I’d like to more often, but it's rare. I'm usually so focused on one manuever. I rarely get so many waves, and so many reps that I feel comfortable experimenting.

And this is exactly why I make my annual pilgrimage to Lakeside – for the cutback. For the cutback repetition. As soon as I got back in the ocean, and a cutback opportunity presented itself, I didn’t have to think. My brain (and body) just made the motion happen. It felt smooth, I retained speed, and it made me happy.

Hope to see you on next year’s trip to Lakeside – so we can watch your brain convert that movement to your subconscious – and then you get to feel what I got to when you get back in the ocean.

Until then, I’ll see you in the water.

To learn more about our coaching and non-coaching surf trips, contact me.