Hi I'm Beau Young 2 x World Champion Longboarder and I'm here to teach you how to cross Step!
Before we begin there are two things I want you to pay particular attention to. The first, keeping your weight cantered as you step, and secondly taking slow wide even and centred steps along the board. With this in mind let's begin, once your body's angled and running along the waves face in trim, take one large shoulder width step placing your back foot in front of your front foot all your weight is now transferred to this front foot and your back foot will have your heel up and a minimal amount of weight upon your toes, I strongly suggest practicing this move on the sand and getting used to this transfer of weight before hand ultimately I would try and hold this manoeuvre for the entire wave until it feels completely comfortable after this getting used to the feeling of crossing the front leg back and forth but still never hurrying the process. The beauty of this is that you are now only one step away from a nose ride, practicing a wide cross will not only increase your balance and stability during the manoeuvre but will also allow you to travel up and down the board with fewer steps, your ultimate goal is to be able to walk all over the board taking as many or as little steps as you wish again after taking your first step you will now have your weight on your new front foot and minimal weight on your back toes from here rather than taking a step back take one shoulder-width step forward returning your feet to a level position with more weight on the back foot the distribution of weight to the back foot is because you are now virtually on the nose if you have reached the nose during this step rotate your foot parallel with the board and curl your toes over the nose to perform a hang five. Alternatively whilst performing a hang five you can go into a very low crouch to what is called the cheater five, this is achieved by placing your backside on your back heel therefore distributing all your weight to this back foot giving the board greater momentum through the pocket and additional stability for the surfer, if you are still having trouble cross stepping remember to keep your weight perfectly centred over your feet with your shoulders parallel to the board so that your board stays straight and stable, keep practicing as this step takes some time to master and the one thing with longboarding is the slower you go the quicker things will come.

Repeat these steps decreasing the distance between each step until you are comfortable with walking your board and remember to tune in to our next episode for more helpful tips and tricks

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