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Top turn

Surfing / Popular

Redirect off the lip to complete the bottom-turn combo.

What coaches agree on

  • A powerful top turn is built during the bottom turn that comes before it: compress low, get the board on rail, and start rotating your upper body toward the whitewater on the way up the face.
  • Pressing and pivoting on your back foot is what steers and rotates the board through the top of the turn.
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  • Extending your body and driving your weight onto your front foot as you finish the turn releases your stored speed back down the face.

Common mistakes

  • The turn stalls or the outside rail bogs when a surfer stops rotating partway through, often because their eyes stayed on the board or the base of the wave instead of the exit point.