im an all time wakeboarder. but recently i have been wanting to surf more often. i can let go of the rope and ride the wake for a solid two minutes. how do you carve and stuff without falling. and i dont mean falling off the board. what i mean is like when you start to slow down and the boat keeps going but you stop. sorry, im new, and terrible with the lingo

Sometimes I surf up on top of the crest of the wake and kind of stall and fall back. Compared to last year I'm a lot better and getting back into the pocket after falling back. Paddling can help but there are at least two other key way to get back in the pocket. First is pumping, basically jumping up and down on the board. The other is walking up toward the nose of the board. A half step can make a big difference. I've gone both feet nearly to the nose of the board and recovered back to the pocket. Good luck!

when u feel like ur starting to escape the pocket just lean a little bit more on ur toes and u'll slide back in but u have to keep it balanced as u lean.. u can't lean back once ur out at all

All good advice. I'll add ballast to the list...which helps your wake/pocket size. I had 7 people in the boat this weekend...best wake and longest pocket that I have had. Plenty of room to carve and play. Most fun I've had surfing!! I could get pretty far back and was able to recover..by leaning forward or pumping.

I haven't totally figured out the whole 'pumping' technique. I've got the weight on the front foot deal to get back to the pocket figured out, but would someone explain how to 'pump' back into the pocket. Thanks.

Pumping is basically 'bouncing' on the board. Think of standing on a trampoline and bouncing by bending at your knees. You want to be trying to push the board down...not just moving your body up and down.

North, I practice by slowing the board down so I fall back a little, then pump to catch up.

UpNorth, there are two ways to pump. The first and, propably most recognizable is, to pump the nose, where you'll lift your front foot up allowing the nose to rise (a little) and then push back down. That motion, repeated, will cause the board to gain speed. The second method of pumping is to combine quick turns, left and right, and that will also cause the board to gain speed, these turns are small and very rapid.