HOW TO : surf with your paddle !!!

Your supports :
We recommend, right from the time of Take-Off, that you make good use of your Paddle by gently posing its outside face (extrado) on the waves slope.
This will give you the fundamental base for starting your moves. In fact, the support you will find off the Paddle will help you to engage your body in the turns. It will allow you to push you Board harder. Hence you will have more speed and attain a higher form of radicality.
It’s the secret of SUP. Without this asset, there would be no interest in surfing these huge Boards when you could be surfing a traditional Surf Board.
The Paddle allows you to considerably mount your speed. In fact, the power of a simple Paddle swipe is enough to get through those impossible sections or to store up energy to release it in your next move. Be careful though, because doing this can really come out ugly esthetically. This allows you to double your Boards performance. We know this : the harder we push it in the turns and the support used with it the faster you go. The Paddle must not remain static.
The Paddle will help you to get into a crouch that would otherwise be impossible without it. Our huge Board compared to a regular Surf Board can become a radicalized monster. You will have the feeling that your Board is much smaller than it actually is.
The biggest problem is treating your Paddle as if it were a rudder. There are many who let it ‘drag’ behind them and use it to slow down the Board on the inside of a turn by planting it with force in the water. Zero esthetic. In our opinion it is preferable that the curves of the Board make the turns and that the energy and speed is burned in crazy maneuvers. It is far more modern and real surfing, not canoeing. One indicator for knowing whether or not you’re using your Paddle ‘correctly’ : At almost all times the Blade should be at the level of your torso and not left behind to drag. The Shaft should be perpendicular to the axe of the Board. This way the Blade will be the furthest from your body helping you to engage yourself to a maximum.
To attain this you must have one hand not he Handle and one on the Shaft and pose the Extrado side of the Blade flat on the water. SUPers : l’Ours et Diane en GONG SUP 9’2 Freak SP PRO 2019 et GONG SUP Karmen PRO 2019.