Tutorial: The Layback

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TUTORIAL
The Lay Back

Style

If you look back far enough the layback has been getting thrown down since the 70’s! It has been adding style to a wide variety of turns but it can also be functional. From layback snaps with style and flair to functional layback tube riding in the 80’s. Modern-day surfing still sees the layback variation thrown into the repertoire and for good reason, it looks good!

Let’s Throw It Down

1. Visualisation, as with most things you want to accomplish, will benefit you in the process of achieving any goal. Sticking a layback hack is no different. Perhaps you’ve seen someone at your local break stomp a layback snap on the end section or watched a particular turn over and over on your favorite surf edit. Watching some footage of the turn you want to replicate will help you visualise yourself doing it. Look at all the stages from setting up the turn, eyeing up the part of the wave you going to hit and executing the turn. Watching the body positioning throughout these stages will get you off to a good start.

2. Speed is required to carry you through your turns, and having a lot of it going into your layback will assist you to power through the whole arc of the turn and finally bring you back centered over your board to ride out of it.

3. Setting up for the layback hack starts with a well executed bottom turn while lining up the section your going to rip apart. As you transition up the wave face toward the section you will pick your line to start the turn. The weight transition should be more toward driving the back foot through the tail and less through the front foot as the front leg straightens slightly setting the line for the turn.

4. Body positioning throughout the turn will now set up the layback. As you drive through the turn your back arm should fall behind you and anchor itself in the wave face while pushing hard through your back foot. The trick here is to find that balance of pressure so that your pushing hard but not too hard that you lose control and your centre of gravity. Your front arm will naturally end up somewhere high near your head. You can think of of your lower body moving through the arc of the turn and your torso and upper body rotating the opposite way somewhat.

5. Regaining control and riding out of the turn can vary on how hard you’ve pushed the turn and your speed. If you’ve maintained a lot of speed throughout the turn and you have your board under control then you may find it easy to recentre your body and have your shoulders square over your board and ride out linking another turn. If you’ve pushed a little harder you may find yourself lying more into the back of the waves surface. This is going to require you to work harder physically to re-engage the fins, use some leg & core strength and even the waves in some cases, to to get you back to your feet with you body square over the stringer.

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