Barrel

We’ve reached the holy of the most holiest. The Holy Grail !

Once you’ve have found the ideal Spot, the ideal Board, the ideal swell, and you’re hot to trot, it’s go time. Clearly you are in Indo, so get Tubed or go home. You will not get Tubed globing straight and slow. Another possibility; drop in sloppy, the wave a bit heavy, you manage the bottom as best you can, it starts to tighten up up front, you squeeze your ass cheeks and you might just pull it off …

Surfer: Maceo, team rider GONG, with a Lethal PU.

It’s all about the timing.

You’d be amazed to see the pros stalling it in real Tubes during sessions where you wouldn’t imagine it possible.

First there is a question of reading it because the Tube is a matter of anticipation. This is the key to have enough self-confidence that you lock yourself deep enough into it and get that unique vision and pounding sound of the barrel.

We are not talking about a little curl but a real Tube. To judge if it is, the lip must fall further than the tip of your board, so that the beach disappears.

In theory, the Tube is a delay in the breaking of the wave that gives you the fastest line within the wave, deep into the curl. So this delay causes an acceleration that will spit you out.

There are two families of Tubes:

The one where you enter by a braking (stall, hand in water, two hands in the water, foot in the water Bourez).
The one where you enter by accelerating because the section tends to close quickly in front of you and the only way to pass is to get inside.

The possibilities of failure are endless but we’ll spell out some mistakes you’ll want to avoid :

Hesitation to get into it : it is the typical mistake that leaves you with the lip on your back each time.
Too far back on the Board: you will accelerate without stopping while you’re trying to brake. Advance you frankly on the Board.
Do not lighten up on the rail: being too far back, you will not be able to put enough rail length in the face of the wave. It will eventually slide out and make you go under the lip.

Conversely, putting too much rail will cause you to climb too high and kick out of the wave.

Being overrun by the foam ball, the white foamy water ball that advances in the tube behind you.

Lose the balance because of the rebounding of the lip. If you are too low, the water that bounces inside the wave when the lip touches the water produces such a force that your board escapes you.

If you have avoided these few errors, it will be necessary to focus on managing speed. An optimal trajectory, which you correct if necessary. Brake or pumping for acceleration according to the waves unfurling.

Surfer : Xavier on his GONG Surf Fatal PU.