How to Hold Yourself in a Wipeout!

This comes from Nate Burgoyne, via the Zone, who offers up some great advice about what to do during a wipeout. Read it and do it. I know I will … I hope. (P.S. Please see end of post for links to Nate!)

In heavy wipeout, in all seriousness you gotta stay calm. Honestly, the staying calm part begins far before you even wipe out. If you are paddling out to the lineup and while you’re in the channel you see the bombs rolling through and you start paddling like mad for no reason and you’re heart is racing, you probably shouldn’t be out there. You’re already panicking. However, if you’re paddling out in the channel looking at the bombs pitching over and you feel calm, collected, and it all puts a smile on your face, you should be alright.
When I do go down after a closeout, unless I get totally rag-dolled, I personally straighten my body out and let the wave drag me feet first as long as the waves wants to. I feel that if I resist, I spend oxygen that I need.
Also, ever since I’ve decided to just go with the wave, leash breakage hasn’t been an issue. Keep a good grip on the paddle and you can control your direction somewhat underwater. You gotta go with the energy of the wave. If you try to resist or to fight against it, wasted energy.
Also, since paddles float you also always know which way is up. Once things calm down, I get to the surface for another breath to try and avoid the possibility of a 2 wave hold-down. Also, when you come up, don’t race to try and get your board if you don’t have to. It’s wasted energy because the next wave is going to take it from you anyway if it’s a sizeable day.
You also need to be able to hold your breath and stay calm with water in your mouth and nose. For me, free diving in the summer helps a lot as well. Sometimes when you get slammed, if forces water up your nose and in your mouth. Free diving for me, taught me to be comfortable with that. The natural reaction is to blow it out but if you do, you just lost your air.

Here’s a link to the post: Best Breathing (or lack thereof) Practice for Hold Downs?

Here are links to Nate himself:

Editor of Stand Up Paddle Surfing Magazine www.supsurfmag.com
Internet Marketer, Educator, Web Designer www.nateburgoyne.com

SUP-action Filler — woof! woof!

Nothing new that I can find in the how-to SUP world so I thought I’d post this. Nothing instructive about it. But it sure does look fun!

p.s. I’m categorizing it as a Chicks on SUPS post. One of them lil doogies is bound to be a babe, right?

How to Take Off Early on Your SUP!

Here’s a YouTube video of Hawaiian great Leleo Kinemaka, and there’s lots to learn from it. What I want to point out today is where Leleo often stands on his board during his take offs. For most of us, it’s typically in the middle; check out 4min17sec for an example of Leleo doing this.

But sometimes the middle is too far back: there’s not enuf weight far enuf foward to get the board sliding down the face of the wave. In those instances, as Leleo does in this vid a number of times, you’ve got to paddle into the wave almost standing on the nose. And then once you catch it, you’ve got to back pedal fast to keep from pearling. Here are some relevant time spots to watch: 1min40, 2min15, 2min35, and especially 5min30. Great Stuff!

Improve Your Breath-holding Capacity!

Getting held down after a wipe out can be a nasty thing, especially if you run out of breath halfway through. Here’s a tip from Bill, via the Zone, on how to increase your breath-holding time. I’m gonna do it!

I’ve just come across a breathing technique that more than doubled my breath-holding in one day. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I’m headed for three minutes after struggling with one just before I found this. I did 2:43 yesterday.
You fill the bottom of your lungs first, by pressing out forcibly with your stomach as you start to take a breath then expand your lungs. It’s a little hard to describe the full cycle, but you can practice it anywhere and you’ll get the feeling–it’s kind of a rolling breath and you push downwards with your diaphragm.
I’m writing an article on it for Ke Nalu, but the rest is just refinements. If you take four long breaths like that you’re good to go. What it does is use your full lung capacity instead of just the top. Shallow breathing just moves air up and down your trachea, and leaves a lot of stagnant air in your lungs.
How this applies to surfing is that I’m practicing taking these kind of breaths all the time when I surf. And when a big wave is coming that I aim to take, or I’m caught inside, I breathe this way. I can tell you first hand that it works well. the last two days have been rough for hold downs. As I said yesterday, two evenings ago I got caught inside the channel at Kanaha and held down forever. I probably would have made it anyway, but this technique transformed it from a grim battle to an interesting if unpleasant experience.

Best Breathing (or lack thereof) Practice for Hold Downs?

How to Hold Your SUP Paddle!

Over at the Zone, there’s been an interesting discussion about elbow issues some people are having. A Zoner by the handle of River, who is a Werner paddle rep, weighed in with a take on how to hold your paddle to minimize elbow issues and maximize your paddling efficiency. I don’t hold my handle like he suggests — usually I’ve got a two-fisted death grip on it — but I’m going to change my ways next time out. River sez:

The Elbow issues are most likely flaring up because you may be overgripping the shaft with your lower hand trying to stop the flutter. This is why a blade with a dihedral will allow you to maintain a loose grip and keep the elbow issues to a minimum.
The skinny shafts are basically allowing you to grip the paddle better because of the smaller shaft and control the flutter without having to grip as tightly (because you can get your hand and fingers farther around the shaft)and that is why a small shaft will also reduce your elbow issues. A great analogy is trying to do a pull-up on a thick tree branch compared to a broom handle-the broom handle is easier because you don’t have to overgrip it… Either way a loose grip IMO is the most efficient technique that is also the healthiest. Try making the "ok" symbol with your lower hand and paddle holding the shaft with only the thumb and pointer finger around the paddle. Paddling with the loosest grip possible for a session and see how that can extend your reach and reduce elbow, forearm, and forearm fatigue and leave you feeling more stoked about your paddling sessions.

Weasels Wake adds:

River has it dead on with the lower hand grip. And I use my top hand almost exclusively to raise and lower the paddle in and out of the water, by pulling the handle down, to raise the blade, and visa-versa on the versa-visa Thus, the lower hand becomes a pivot point using my thumb and maybe just two fingers, with a very soft grasp.
BTW, I use a Werner carve, and I LOVE it. Light weight, easy pull, slight oval shape on an average size shaft, and it won’t break the bank in getting one. Cool

paddle advice

Chicks on SUPS!

Sometimes there’s nothing new out there in the SUP how-to world, so to fill the gap during some of those times, I’m herewith introducing a new feature: Chicks on SUPS. It’s not about the bods so much as the aesthetics. Right? Right! Anyway, to start things off on the proper footing, from TomTom via the Zone, here’s the first:

Don’t complain about your conditions . . .

One Sweet Inflatable SUP Bargain!

I know this isn’t how-to related at all but what the hey, it’s my wee blog and I can do with it as I want. So, via Ke Nalu, here’s a great big plug for a sale on the travel SUP that most people like the most, the ULI! All I can say is, woo woo, I want one! Price right now is less than a grand, a savings of more than 300 clams. They’re supposed to ride great (if differently) and if they didn’t weigh about 30 lbs (or if I was younger and stronger and, well, had the $), I’d be all over this deal.

If you’ve been considering an ULI, now might be the time to buy one. they’re having a sale that they call the “great Financial Crisis of 2008 Sale”. Pretty outstanding pricing. I’ve tried the ULI both in flatwater and in surf, and I was astonished at how good they are. Not what I expected. Don’t get me wrong–I’m not Steamroller–I’m not about to get rid of my boards and switch full time. But I do plan to buy one of these to travel with. Here’s a link:

Uli Boards - Financial Crisis Sale.

Uli Board Bargains | Ke Nalu

Another Beginner’s SUP Video

Actually, I kind of like this one more than the Starboard one below. Again, it’s very basic. And again, it goes into nice great detail about the basics. If you’re just starting out, do take the time to study it — you’ll learn a lot — then check out the rest of the site for more SUP goodness.

http://www.standuppaddlesurf.co.uk/how2.htm

A Great Basic How-to 2-min SUP Vid

I really like Starboard SUPS (altho I’m currently obsessed with buying an ULI …) and am also a huge fan of the way the company does business. Very professional … as you can see by the video linked to below. It teaches two basic skills: how to paddle in a straight line and how to turn your board. Has some cool diagrams and some good details. Check it out!

Starboard : Learning how to SUP

A Very Different SUP Paddle!

Just found this while going through some late December posts on Ke Nalu. It’s about a new flexy paddle being produced by the great Jimmy Lewis. Never heard of it before. Never heard of the concept behind it before, either. Sounds like it could be great. Or a bust. In any event, after Bill got used to it, sounds like he liked it a whole bunch.

Leave it to Jimmy to do it his own way. While everyone else is making very stiff carbon fibre shafts, Jimmy decided to add flex. Jimmy went through a lot of prototypes and a couple of different manufacturers to get a shaft with smooth flex along its length that is also extremely strong. The result is something you’ll have to try. Especially if you have beaten-up shoulders like mine or you’d like a little help catching waves.

un-flexed blade and then applying pressure to create a smooth curve, with the paddle still digging

The idea is this, to not only add some compliance to reduce the shock of paddling to your shoulders, back and arms, but also to extend the pull time when you’re pushing for a wave. The effect is most noticeable with a big blade, so Jimmy worked with

No J-Stroking Here, Please!

Remember the J stroke you used to keep your canoe going straight while summering at Camp Kookooraruu? You’d think it would have some similar utility in the SUP world. But for most people it really doesn’t. I’ve tried it, to no avail. And so has Gorgo, over on the Seabreeze OZ forum, Seabreeze Forums, who states his opinion on the matter with no ifs, ands, or buts:

The short answer is that it is unnecessary and horribly inefficient.
You can make a J stroke work and force your board to track straight but you will waste a heap of power and feel like a dork doing it.
The reality is some boards track straight and some don’t.
If your basic stroke is solid and your board is still very squirrelly then you have two choices:
- work with it by starting your run for a wave in a side-on position and only digging in hard late with a paddle swap if necessary.
- get a bigger fin (a much better solution for flat water or surfing at trim).
If you watch a heap of videos and do a heap of paddling you will notice that nobody does anything tricky or special when paddling other than keep their arms straight during the power delivery. No "chicken-winging" allowed.

Seabreeze Forums! - Stand Up Paddle J stroke

DW’s Perfect SUP Paddle Search!

As with SUP boards, there’s no one perfect paddle. But that doesn’t keep lots of us from a continuous search and try. It can get expensive, though. Which is why it’s great there’s someone like DW out there, who seems to buy more than most and always reviews his purchases on his blog, NC Paddle Surfer. His financial poverty is our increasing wealth of SUP knowledge. Thanks, DW!!!!! Now, on to his latest paddle report:

My take on paddles is constantly evolving.
Our very first paddles were from C4. At the time, my board was the Laird 12′1. I could not catch a wave worth a crap with that beast. It was my lack of skill, not the boards problem. The fast fix was a new paddle. I switched to the Surftech paddle, with a huge blade compared to the C4. It seemed to help. I became a fan of monster blades.
As my boards became smaller, the monster blade Surftech wasn’t feeling good anymore. I moved on to the Kialoa Shaka Pu’u. The smaller Shaka Pu’u was just what I needed as my boards continued to get smaller.
Next Kialoa released the even smaller Methane, so I cut my Shaka Pu’u blade down to match the Methane. Again this next step in my paddle progression seemed to suit my ever changing smaller boards.
This weekend Jacky demoed a C4 fiberglass paddle with colored blade. She raved about easy it pulled through the water. Easier than her 8" wide modified Kialoa. Yet the C4 she demoed was 8.5" wide. Paddle width doesn’t tell the real story about pull. This C4 had the least pull of any paddle she had ever tried. She loved it.
Next up, I tried the C4 paddle. I was shocked at how light the pull was compared to the Kialoa blade.
With Jacky on the 9′0, and me on the 9′3, these light pulling, smooth, C4 blades are the perfect compliment to shortboard SUPs.

NC Paddle Surfer

Bill’s New Paddle Edging How-to!

Once again, this is from Bill at Ke Nalu, and it’s as awesome a post as yesterday’s installment from him. This one shows a new twist on paddle edging. I like it. And I will do it. As soon as I find some hockey tape.

The Blade: There are three good reasons for guarding the blade. First, people have been badly cut with unguarded blades. Second, the blade can chip up your board. And third, the blade can be damaged by hitting it’s edge on hard stuff.

Door edging or commercial blade guard works nicely, but it’s a bit thick for my taste. Mastic tape is good, but it’s fragile, especially if you stretch it thin. What I do is put on a layer of mastic, stretched very tight to make it thin, and then cover it with hockey tape. Finally I add a layer of wax to protect the tape and rub it with a cloth to smooth it. You’d be surprised at the difference in abrasion resistance between waxed and unwaxed fabric tape. The end result is a thin protective edging that won’t mark your board, lasts a very long time, and looks great.

Prepping a Paddle | Ke Nalu

How to Prep a SUP Paddle!

This is an awesome post from Bill at Ke Nalu, about how to prep the grip area on your paddle. I haven’t done it like this but I’m going to. It sounds perfect.

Few things in SUP cause more controversy than paddle prep. Some folks like their shaft bare, some like padded shafts, some like wax, some like mastic tape. I’ve played with about every combination and I’ve hit on the perfect preparation for me. I suspect you’ll like it too, even if you’re a bare shaft fan.

I say that because I’m a bare shaft guy. I don’t mind a little wax, but I don’t like the shaft to be too sticky, and I don’t like it being larger, or having a soft grip. Nothing saps my hand strength faster than a soft grip.

But I also don’t like my hands to slip, and the least bit of sunblock or oil on my hands or the shaft and my paddling is compromised. Yes, I clean my hands with sand and give the shaft a scrub, but you can transfer goop from other places easily. This approach solves the problem, giving positive traction without softening or thickening the grip. Once it’s done it lasts for many months–you never have to rewax.

Turning in Place & the Bow Draw!

Click the link GONG - All about SUP - Tourner sur place to go to a nifty Gong SUP site video demonstrating how to both turn your SUP in one spot and perform a bow draw stroke. I’ve tried both and suck at both. Hopefully, your balance is better’n mine — I don’t see how it could be worse — and you’ll have better luck out in the line up. Go to it. And here’s to hoping you and yers have a swell 2009!

GONG - All about SUP - Tourner sur place

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