The Surfer’s Guide to Frontside Top Turns
How to do a frontside top turn: A Guide for Intermediate Surfers
The top turn is the reward for all the effort you put into riding a wave. It’s one of the most enjoyable manoeuvres in surfing and can be performed on nearly every wave. To execute a frontside top turn effectively, you first need to master the basics: maintaining a functional stance, pumping your board for speed, executing strong bottom turns, and distributing your weight efficiently while navigating the wave face. Once these fundamentals are in place, you’ll be ready to begin to carve open wave faces and perform your first top turns . This guide is designed for intermediate surfers seeking to begin surfing waves with confidence and flow from top to bottom.
What Sets Intermediate Surfers Apart from Advanced Surfers?
Advanced surfers execute powerful, precise manoeuvres with speed, fluidity, and control. Intermediate surfers often struggle with basic skill sets due to inconsistent or improper stance. A functional stance—balanced, flexible, and adaptable—is crucial for success. It allows for quick weight shifts, effective compression and extension, and smooth hip rotation. Without this foundation, it’s difficult to generate the speed, control, and flow needed for the seamless movements that make up a clean top turn.
The Fundamentals of a frontside top turn
Every great top turn begins with a strong bottom turn. The speed you generate from the bottom turn sets the critical foundation for everything that follows. The faster and more controlled your ascent up the wave face, the more power and precision you can bring to your top turn. While there are variations for where you are on the wave and how much speed you have, we’ll focus on the core fundamentals:
- Drive Through the Bottom Turn – Aim to approach the top of the wave as close to the feathering lip as possible. Keep your head pointed toward your target throughout to maintain focus and direction.
- Set Your Weight – As you ride up the wave face, keep your weight on your back foot as you partially decompress. Spot the section of the wave where you’ll initiate the rotation.
- Rotation – Just before reaching the top of the wave or as high as you are able to travel, rotate your body in a heelside carve leading with your trailing arm. Use this movement to guide your head, shoulders, and hips through the rotation.
- Finish Forward – As your rotation loses momentum, compress while shifting your body weight and arms forward, allowing you to slide back down the face with speed and control.
Key Points for precise turns
Where you place your turn and how much speed you have is critical for a smooth top turn. First, the closer you are able to place your turn to the breaking lip, the more lively your turns will become. But you can still develop your top turns even if you cannot get to the crest of the wave yet. Second, adequate speed is crucial. Without it, you risk bogging your rail or falling before completing the turn. Focus on generating speed through a strong bottom turn and efficient travel up the wave face to carry you through the rotation smoothly. Additionally, swinging your trailing arm through the rotation is key. Not only does this action fuel the rotational movement, it helps to keep an arm over each rail (for balance) through the entire process.
Adapting to Each Wave
Wave size and power combined with the speed you are able to generate affect the type of top turn you can perform. Adapting to these factors takes practice, but over time you’ll learn to vary your approach.
As a general rule, the closer you perform your turn to the breaking lip, the more impressive it will be. With sufficient speed and precise placement at the top of the wave, you’ll feel the smooth rotation of a well-executed top turn. Mastering the frontside top turn takes practice and patience, but every attempt brings you closer to unlocking the true flow and freedom of dynamic surfing.