Goofy vs Regular Surfing: Which Stance is Right for You?

Source: Pixabay

Goofy vs Regular Surfing is about which foot you put forward when surfing. Many sources stated that the term “Goofy” comes from a character in Walt Disney’s 1937 Hawaiian Holiday animated short. However, it’s not 100% true as that character can surf with both stances.

The “Goofy” name is used since the majority of surfers tend to place their right foot closer to the board’s tail (Regular-footed) while some put their right feet forward, which seems quite goofy to the rest, hence the name “Goofy-footed”.

Understanding Regular vs Goofy Surfing

What are the differences between Regular vs Goofy surfing, and which one is better?

Regular Surfing

There’s a fact that most people with a right-hand dominant side surf with the right-foot-behind stance, hence the name “Regular”.

Source: Freepik

To describe this position, you place your left foot forward, and the right one is closer to the board's tail when standing on the surfboard, with your weight centered on the left foot, and the right one acts like the steering foot.

Goofy Surfing

The anatomy of surfing Goofy vs Regular is not much different, a Goofy-footed stance is more common for left-handed people.

Source: Freepik

For this position, your right foot is placed in front of your left foot, and your body weight is centered on the right foot, leaving the steering responsibility for your left foot.

Goofy vs Regular Surfing: How to Determine Your Stance

Rest assured, we won’t leave you hanging with just those definitions. We’ve researched and here are some ways you can try to find your position between surfing Regular vs Goofy.

Jump In The Air

“Jumping can help me determine Goofy vs Regular surfing?“ you might ask, this is one of many ways you can try to determine your stance.

1. Run, and try to jump as high as you can off one leg.
2. Remember which leg you just jumped from:

• Right leg: your stance is most likely to be Regular, with the right foot closer to the board tail.
• Left leg: your stance could be Goofy, with the left foot staying behind.

Walk Up Stairs

Quite a simple activity to check your position, isn’t it?

Source: Freepik

Walk up a set of stairs at a normal speed and be aware of which foot you started with. If it’s the left one, your stance is most likely to be Goofy. If you start with your right foot, the stance most likely be Regular.

Try repeating this test a few times to see if you keep starting with the same foot.

Lean Forward

A very simple way to check your preferred stance - Goofy vs Regular surfing:

1. Stand straight with your feet placed together and relaxed arms.
2. Lean forward until you start to fall/ask someone to give you a light push from the back.
3. Note which foots your body reactively stepped forward to catch you from falling => that is your dominant foot.

If your right foot is the dominant one, you most likely are a Regular-footed surfer. Vice versa, the left-dominant foot indicates that you most likely are a Goofy-footed surfer.

Stand On A Surfboard On Land

Another way to check your stance between Goofy and Regular surfing is to try it right on the board, you can use a paddle board if a surfboard is not available.

Source: Freepik

Place the board on a leveled surface, step on it, and try to see which one is more comfortable for you, namely, Regular vs Goofy surfing. This try-out method is quite useful when you get to feel the board.

Only one note, remember to remove all of the board’s fins if you’re not on the sand to avoid damaging them and the board.

How Will Goofy vs Regular Surfing Affect Your Surfing?

In surfing, there are terms about the wave’s “behaviour” and how we could “ride” a wave:

• Left-hand waves: the waves that break to your left side.
• Right-hand waves: the waves that break to your right side.

Surfers can choose to go left or right into those waves, and surf frontside or backside in those directions.

• Frontside: toes and chest are facing the wave.
• Backside: heels and back are facing the wave.

As our bodies are built in a way that gives us more control using our toes than our heels. Most surfers would prefer to surf frontside to maneuver their speed and direction easily, but this is just about preferences, not a strict rule.

Source: Pixabay

Let’s compare how you surf between Goofy vs Regular surfing for different wave breaking points:

Regular vs Goofy Surfing, Which One Is Better?

There’s no better stance between Goofy vs Regular surfing, only the fitter for each surfer and the wave breaking point’s side.

If the chosen beach has a lot of left-handed point breaks, Goofy-footers might find it easier to surf frontside. However, when you’ve already gotten used to surfing, regular footers doing backsides on the left-handed waves would ensure a blast, and vice versa.

No matter whichever stance you choose, remember to be safe, put a leash around the back ankle (not the front one) to avoid tripping on it, and keep the board always close to you.

Surf Stance on a Paddle Board

Surfing is not restricted to only surfboards, surf-lovers can expand their horizon with a stand up paddle board and exploit the advantages of having a paddle with you, no matter the differences between Goofy vs Regular surfing stance.

If you already are a paddler, you can start changing your stance from paddling to surfing style on flat water by shuffling your feet to get more confident on the board, then step back to your preferred surfing stance.

Alongside with Goofy vs Regular surfing comparison, let’s expand your horizon with SUP surfing - surfing with a stand up paddle board. We’ve made this detailed SUP Surfing Guide just for you, from how to do SUP surfing to which type of SUP board you should get.

Surfing Regular vs Goofy: Final Takeaways

To conclude, you just need to keep in mind these 2 points when thinking of Goofy vs Regular surfing:

1. Goofy means right foot forward & Regular means left foot forward.
2. It’s not about what stance is better, it’s about which one you’re more comfortable with.

Let yourself try it out, explore both stances, explore a new board, and get a taste of iROCKER’s Inflatable paddle board!