If you can get beyond his delivery, some good tips here.
I kept picturing this dude saying "If you ski out of your league, you're gonna have a baad tiime."
I guess I've been pizzaing when I should be french frying.
Good stuff. Apropos to that:
http://dptsurfer.hubpages.com/hub/Low-Back-Pain-with-Surfing
This is illustrative for thinking about how I surf, but its not instructive.
These relaxed "off" positions he describes are actions in a vacuum. I can't get in position to pop up unless my core and butt are already flexed for control. Nor can I expect to get anywhere paddling if these areas are not flexed.
However the pointed legs thing is helpful. I had trouble with this paddling over the summer. I'd switch flat to flexed feet from time to time. Eventually my feet and calves hurt in both positions. Then again, I have flintstone flat feet.
I've noticed that when I'm doing a lot of paddling the pointed toes thing is really helpful.