i was really amazed on Konishi-san’s ability to learn. her goal was to short board in hawaii so that became my goal too.
before i teach someone how to short board, they must be able to long board. if you can’t long board, you can’t short board. long boarding is easier to learn the basics and once you got that, short boarding is very easy.
we went over and over on looking forward and keeping your knees bent. if you don’t do either or both, you will fall. pretty simple to teach, but very hard to follow because it’s a natural habit to look down at your feet. once you overcome that, you will improve very fast.
by that afternoon, it was time to test out Konishi-san on a short board. from her first wave, she did awesome! she just kept on getting better and better after each wave.
then i taught her how to do “ups and downs” and even a cutback. by the end of the day, Konishi-san was surfing super good on a short board.
it feels good to improve. it takes some people years and years to get from a long board to a short board. but Konishi-san did it in 1 day. good girl!
