How to Stand Up Paddle Surf

The Best of the Best How-to-SUP Stuff from Around the Globe — Just Add Water & Go!

Get That Foot Back on the Rail!

 Here’s another snippet from Blane’s terrific back-foot-placement post on the Zone.  This is great stuff!

Check out Tom Carroll here driving down the line…  Heels on the rail.    This is where you want your feet for driving your board across any backside section that has any kind of steepness to it or your trying to gain speed or control speed…    

Basic Foot Placements for Performance Surfing by "Feel"

Foot Placement on a SUP

… is different than on a surfboard.  You’ve really got to get your book foot out on the rail, especially if you want to carve.  There’s a series of posts about this right now over on the Zone.  Today, Blane Chambers chimed in with a monster post about how he does it, with lots of great pix like the one below.  Go check it out!

Ikaika again tucked up tight.    All his weight is being distributed from the extreme inside rail…    Like I said, you can steer nicely from here.   Maybe not a big snap turn but a slight forward foot adjustment back to center will allow that when needed…

Basic Foot Placements for Performance Surfing by "Feel"

How to Deal with the Foamball …

Let’s say you’re SUP surfing shorebreak and, while paddling out, you’ve got a giant foam ball headed your way.  What do you do?  At the Seabreeze forum, here’s what Gorgo had to say:

- Look for somewhere to launch where you don’t need to bash through the shore break. A long paddle for a shortboard is a cruise on a SUP so you can launch up to a km away and cruise into the lineup.
- Wait for a lull in the surf and paddle out. Again, SUP paddling is fast so it’s quite easy to get out in breaks in the action.image
- On smaller waves you can stand well back on your board and raise the nose and it will ride up over the broken wave. It’s surprising how big a wave you can do this on. If you’re just starting then kneeling is easier but it doesn’t take too long to be able to do it standing up. Just before the wave hits I like to do a sprint paddle and hit it as fast as possible so the momentum helps carry me over.
- If you are about to be taken out by the white water make sure there’s nobody behind you then dive your body over the wave and hope the dragging from the board is not too extreme. When you’re in the water don’t spread your arms and fight the pull, you’ll only make it worse. Just stay slim and go with it and ride it out. If you’re under water being dragged you can use the paddle to steer your body to the surface. It’s kind of fun in a masochistic sort of way.
- If you’re on the inside and about to be hit by a wave the easiest thing is to point the board towards the beach and lie on the tail with your paddle on the board. The wave will pick you up and take you in. You can leap to your feet and surf the wave in, and angle the board away from the impact zone. You can use the flat of the paddle as a planing surface to lean on and help keep you balance in the white water. Once inside out of danger you can wait for a lull and paddle out in one hit.
- If the waves are not too big you can hug your board with one arm and sink the nose and let the wave wash over you. Some guys hang onto the tail, some use the leash rail saver as a handle and some people are adding handles to the tail. Every time I’ve tried the leash thing it hurts my hand (a lot) so I’m reserving judgement on that.
- You want to avoid getting hit by your board. SUPs are so heavy that having one washed into you (or vice versa) is pretty painful.

Seabreeze Forums! - Stand Up Paddle Beating the shorebreak

What’s the Right SUP for Me?

Here’s some great SUP-buying advice from OG SUP over on Seabreeze.  It’s not board- or brand-specific, but it will help you greatly in general terms.  Have a read!

Will this Board Suit Me? This is a very interesting question that I get asked all the time so I just wanted to post some thoughts.
1) Any review you see on the web only holds true for the person posting the review. Do not take it as gospel, that’s why I always say I am a kook surfer, weigh 105kg and 6ft tall. If the person reviewing the board is 85kg that will make a huge difference to the way it performs. I find the 11ft PSH a pleasure to ride in OH where Casso would find it boat like.
Example: 2 weekends ago a friend of mine who weighs 125kg ish wanted to try out my 10′6 wide AA and I agreed, I was happy to help. I should point out he is coming off a 12 ft laird.
He tried the 10′6WAA out in almost perfect flat water conditions on the river and it went really well. In his opinion it paddled faster than the Laird for him. We then took the board to Main Beach it was 1ft gutless surf but was a good indication of at least whether he could also stand on the board in rougher conditions.
My friend could easily stand on the board but struggled to catch a wave as I believe the gutless wave would not pick up and drive the board with his weight on it.
Change the wave to a 3ft wave with good push and he may have been in the ball park. He did learn that different boards suit different conditions and that he loves the glide of the longer board.
After he left I jump straight on the 10′6 and caught every wave I paddled for, but II am at least 20kgs lighter.
2) Be aware that the conditions you try to ride the board in will have a huge impact on how the board performs! If you demo the board in flat water

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