Knee Injury and surfing.

I suffered a knee a little while ago that has me unable to wakeboard for another 8-10 weeks. I have gotten to the point where I can surf, but only laying down because I cannot bend my knee very much. So my questions are:

What kind of belly surfing tricks are there? I can carve the wave but that is about all I have done because I simply can't think of anything else.

How can I get up sitting down? I can go from standing up to sitting down and laying down to sitting down when my knee isn't hurt, but I cannot bend it much so I cannot change positions while surfing. Is there a method any of you use to get up on the board sitting down?

Thanks.

To sit down, I just sit on the board in the water with my feet off the sides, have the boat start to drag you, put your feet up on the nose of the board, and say go.

But if you can't bend your knee much I'm not sure how comfortable it'll be to sit on the board. Especially if the nose starts bouncing up and down on ya.

Good luck. Hopefully you'll get back to fighting form soon.

I feel your pain. I was down for a few months right as the season ended with a knee injury. I was really dreading not being able to surf this season. I just took it easy and did my physical therapy and it got better about 2-3 months after it happened.

Are you able to do a platform start standing up? It may be easier on your knee to start off the platform, that way you wouldn't have all the pressure on it from the drag getting up. It might be worth a try if you feel up to it. Just get the boat going surf speed with one foot on the nose of the board. Put your back foot on and slowly lean back into it. Hang onto the rope (preferably with a section removed) and get yourself in the pocket. It takes some timing and a little balance, but it is more low impact than a deep start.

I'm not sure if there are any belly tricks. I did a belly start the other day and popped up to standing pretty soon. It didn't feel like there was a ton I could do on my belly.