How to paddle in surf

As the saying goes, you have to walk before you can run! Same thing goes on the water, before you can surf you should learn to paddle. A proper paddling technique is essential to find your place in the line-up and more importantly to catch waves! A bad technique will cost you a lot of energy and generates a fatal delay time to catch waves.

Here is a reminder of the basics:

 

   

To put it simply, it’s a bit like swimming at the pool but not completely ? You have to paddle one arm after the other. Never both at the same time, or only when kneeling on big old school longboards like the Incredible.

First of all, note that your position on the board is decisive.

Too much forward on the nose will make you pearl, too far back and you will just push water with your hull. The board must move “flat”. To find this point of balance, your weight must be generally speaking in the middle of the board, according to the distribution of its volume.

A good clue is that the nose should barely skim above the water surface when paddling. Paddling with the nose of the board way up is a mistake, even if you go for a late take off.

When your hand enters the water, you must puncture the surface and not hit it flat.

The idea is to tuck your arm in with the elbow slightly bent, the hand moving from the nose to the middle and underside of the board. When it approaches your stomach, your hand should come out as naturally as possible. It’s not like swimming the front crawl, because you’re on a board that carries you. You must therefore arch your upper back to force less on the shoulders and use core body strength to limit parasitic movements.

Paddling must be fluid, with the compromise between economy of movement and efficiency of movement! It is counterproductive to increase the pace if your gesture is not fluid. It is better to paddle calmly, focusing on core body strength on the board rather than to destabilize (and therefore slow down) the board with violent and poorly controlled paddling strokes.

Paddle with your legs together.

Your board is guided with your thighs and knees during the take off. You must have your weight rather forward to tilt the board in the wave, and this can be managed with your thighs which will determine how it tilts. To press more: arch your back.

Let’s be honest, paddling is exhausting if you don’t practice regularly, so don’t worry if you are out of breath after 100m ?.