Log Tips #1 - The Fade
The fade is one of the key fundamentals in longboard surfing. It sets the surfer up in the pocket; right in the part of the wave where a manoeuvre is possible. It also allows a surfer to catch smaller waves or waves that are perhaps further away by tapping into the power source of the wave. Longboarding is about remaining in trim in the pocket of the wave where manoeuvres are able to take place.
What is a fade?
A fade is essentially when a surfer paddles for and pops up on a wave in the opposite direction they intend to surf it. Ie, paddling right to go left or vice versa. You might have seen this first hand as it can sometimes be confusing if you are trying to figure out which way a longboarder is going on a beach break, the change in direction happens during the wave catching process.
We are going to try to create a few of these ‘Log Tip’ videos on subjects that we feel are useful. Comment with any suggestions!
Why fade?
There are a number of reasons to perform a fade on a longboard.
Sometimes you are surfing smaller waves and convering a lot of ground as you paddle around trying to locate a peak on the beach to catch waves. A fade is a handy tool when you see a peak pop up but you are a distance away from it. You can paddle towards the peak, paddle into the power source of the wave and hugely increase the chances of catching it.
To set up to noseride or cross-step. The ultimate aim of most longboarders is to surf the noose of their board, to hang five or ten over the front of the longboard. To do this you need the surfboard to be right in the pocket of a wave and not out on the flats or the physics won’t work. A fade sets you up to be deeper in the wave, closer to the power source and ready to start to cross step towards the nose. It allows you to position yourself in the pocket and have control of where you want to be on the wave.
Style. We don’t ride longboards to do big aggressive manoeuvres like short boards. It’s a dance with moves that feel great when performed with style. Emulating the aesthetics and the shapes of surfers over the past 70 or so years of longboarding feels great, if something feels like it looked good, I think it defines the essence of logging. Sometimes a nice deep fade just looks and therefore feels really cool.
How to fade.
Start small, play around first before you get too extreme with it. Taking off dead straight is hard on steeper waves, a 9’6 needs to be angled a bit to prevent pearling (digging the nose) but you don’t have to hack the turn in too tight and early to begin with.
Ride a single fin. Pivoting off a big stable fin will help, and feel amazing. You can experiment with the placement of the fin. Back is stiffer with more hold, forwards is a looser feeling.
Look where you are paddling, keep everything pointing in the direction you are going and as you pop up switch your whole body language to the opposite direction. Eyes, head, shoulders, upper body, hips, feet and the board will follow. With a good fade, the turn happens with the drop in, not after. It’s one fluid move.
Unweight your board, use your fin. You are turning off the hips of your board, your foot over your fin or as close to it as possible. If you have 5ft of rail buried in the wave, you won’t get your nose to turn the 90’ quickly enough. Get the rail to engage by really leaning into the turn.
Pro Tips
The more weight on the tail, the more you can incorporate a stall into the manoeuvre to trim speed off.
Hang in the lip, ride prone until you’re ready and in position
Experiment with fins and fin placement.
Inspiration…
Watch a few of the masters at work on this small selection of longboard edits.
Skip to 1.58 on this one for two of the best fades ever…