Pro surfer Brett Barley breaks down how to ride high and tight (softer) barrels versus heavy, square barrels. The techniques are approached differently, focusing on adjusting shoulder angle, foot placement, and weight distribution to fight gravity and control your line through the tube.
Key Takeaways & Tips
High and Tight (Soft) Barrels
For softer, almond-shaped barrels, you must **stay up the face** of the wave and make your bottom turn mid-face to avoid dropping into the lip. Hug the wall by pointing your shoulders and both arms at the wave face, riding parallel to it [1:36].
Heavy (Square) Barrels
For heavy, square waves, **do not hug the face** with your shoulders. Instead, put a lot of weight on your **back foot** and keep your shoulders squared off towards the exit, or even facing out [10:53]. You need to pump and keep the nose angled up to ride over the exploding foam ball [13:33].
Backside Technique
On the backside, you are grabbing the rail and want to do the same thing: hug the face. The key is pulling on the rail and **leaning forward** to keep your weight over your knee and your front rail. You must duck your head if the lip is coming [6:17].
Exiting High
As you exit, whether frontside or backside, you want to come up high and then start going down the face. When the lip lands on your shoulders, you are already moving with it, preventing you from getting knocked off [4:08].
Pumping
You must extend your body and pull your legs up, then bring your arms back down and go into another pump to hold your line high up the face. Gravity is constantly trying to force you down the face [2:36]. On heavy waves, pumps need to be very small and minute [12:47].
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Dropping Down Early
In a soft, high-and-tight barrel, if you let yourself drop down too soon, you will go into the lip and get caught.
Shoulders Parallel to Face (Heavy Wave)
For a heavy, square barrel, the major mistake is hugging the face with your shoulders parallel to it. You must square off toward the exit to survive the explosion [10:53].
Incorrect Foot Placement
On the frontside, your back foot should be right above your grip pad. Placing it too far back puts too much weight on the tail, making you less effective on the rail [2:14].
Going High on Backside
For a heavy wave backside, you do not want to do a pump up the face because you will not be able to come back down. You must stay low and do your pumps forward instead of up and down [16:59].