Today I want to talk about the importance of dropping your back knee when riding low and turning. Surfing is a very fluid and balanced sport but it is not symmetrical. We all have a stance preference -- either goofy or regular -- and therefore we all surf with only one of our feet forward. This is our front or guiding foot and it helps us go where we want to go but the truth of the matter is that your back foot is your workhorse and is what keeps you stable and directs your energy on the wave. A common error of beginning and intermediate (and some advanced) surfers is to lean too far forward/hard on the front foot (I myself am guilty at times and have worked hard to balance this out). It's natural to want to do this -- surfing is exciting and you want to get to the end of that wave or race towards that next section -- but like most things surf, the better thing to do is not that which is most intuitive (another example is taking off in the most critical part of the wave). I want to stress that it is not altogether bad to be a front footed surfer, but that all self professed "front footed surfers" still know how to drop their back knee and put weight on their back edge (I say edge, because this is true for both finless and finned surf craft) when crouching to get barreled or when sinking into a delicious (frontside or backside) roundhouse cutback. Dropping the back knee allows you to square your shoulders to the wave and opens up your range of movement and vision. And most of all it hides your rear end from the rest of our eyes! When the back knee bows out or when you bend forward at your waist you are exhibiting "poo stance", which beyond being aesthetically unpleasing is highly nonfunctional for everything except hanging on (which is also why it's knowns as "danger stance" or "cockroach stance"). Below I've posted more images sourced from the web of men and women who demonstrate perfect low back knee technique. As I always say at the end of every coaching session or lesson, it's really important to look at examples of great surfers and to try to visualize yourself applying their techniques.
Carissa Moore is famous for her low back knee -- it's what gives her turns so much power and spray.
Joel Parkinson is another master of the low back knee. You can see here in this backside tube that his knee is practically on his surfboard. You can see how this allows him to easily grab his rail to stabilize himself and look towards the exit of the tube.
Another great example by Bianca Buitendag, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite women surfers to watch on the World Tour.
And Tom Curren, the guy whose style everyone ought to take a cue from.