To “hang ten,” get your toes over the nose.

In order to noseride, the surfer moves to the front of the board and performs one or more maneuvers or positions. Hawaii’s Rabbit Kekai is often identified as the first surfer to ride the nose in the 1940s; others claim it was Manhattan Beach’s Dale Velzy in 1951. Velzy is attributed with the first “hang ten,” where the surfer gets all his toes over the front edge of the board.

One explanation of the hydrodynamics is that the upwelling water on the wave face pushes against the bottom of the nose and forms a supporting cushion. Another theory from a U.C. Irvine physics professor in 1991 concluded the tail end is held down by the falling curl, allowing more weight at the nose. However, an adept noserider can move to the front of the board on an unbroken wave, which supports the cushion theory.

In 1965, 17-year-old Jeff Hakman pulled off a flawless “cheater five” in ten-foot surf at Sunset Beach by squatting on his rear haunch while extending his front foot to the tip and won the first Duke Kahanamoku Invitational. Special noseriding models appeared: the Wing Nose, the Ego Builder, the Nose Specializer, the Cheater, and the Ugly.

Though the shortboard revolution in the late 1960s veered surfing to shredding and carving, the longboard began its return through the ’80s and ’90s. A teenage goofyfooter, Joel Tudor of San Diego, was known as the finest noserider in the sport by the mid-1990s.

This Friday through Sunday, the Oceanside Longboard Club will be hosting their Beach Fest and Surf Contest alongside Oceanside Pier. Friday and Saturday, there will be two surfing competitions; Open Pro and Noserider, each limited to 32 spots.