Beginner Surfers Don’t Know How to Paddle
Beginner Surfers Don’t Know How to Paddle and it is one of the most important parts of the sport. It is important for catching a wave, getting back to waves, and determines how long are your sessions.
Surfing is about timing and rhythm. Catching a wave to riding the wave is about a sequence smoothly orchestrated. A beginner has a hard time learning this rhythm because their minds are racing with anxiety and they try to explode onto the surfboard.
Paddling Sets Up the Rhythm
Paddling sets up the rhythm. The surfer spots the wave. He starts paddling easy to get momentum or better position. When the wave is close on a foam wave or under the board on a real wave the surfer has to have effective hard paddles to get in front or into the wave.
Most beginners want the swim stroke for paddling. It is too slow and turns the board in foam waves. The paddles should be half a swim stroke. The hands should dive into the elbow and the pull should be with the forearms. This delivers more power.
Many beginner surfers are hand paddlers. The hand paddle won’t move or control the board. The hand paddle might take too long to set up the timing. In catching a foam wave, the surfer wants to hit peak speed after the wave hits before putting his hands on the board. It is easier to pop up at peak speed.
Popping up too soon leaves the tail in the foam and makes it hard to control the level or direction of the board. Paddling too long outpaces the wave and the pop up is executed when the board is barely moving. Paddling sets up the perfect speed and time for the pop up.
Getting the Right Number of Paddles at the Right Strength
Paddling for foam or real waves takes about three hard powerful paddles. Many new surfers, especially women, don’t have the strength to paddle adequately. It might be noted that paddling is the tiring part of surfing, not riding. When the paddling is too tiring, the session is over.
Moving to shorter or lower volume boards is conditional upon the surfer’s ability to paddle a board that sinks lower in the water. It is more demanding. Jumping to lower volume boards before the surfer has the paddling stamina results in shorter sessions. Catching real waves and paddling back out on a short board is exhausting if the stamina has not been built.
Paddling is best build with paddling, but cross training helps. I always liked cables for pulling. Facing the machine the surfer can pull straight out and pull down. Facing away from the machine the surfer can push straight out and down. Push ups and weights for military press and bench press can also improve upper body strength.
Most intermediates surfers that come for lessons don’t know how to paddle. This is a complication that leads to their problems with executing the proper pop up to get into the right stance. The skills of many intermediates have to be restarted building from the ground up. Paddling is the first essential.
More Posts
Oceanside Surf Lessons for Beginners
Beginner Surfers Learn the Pop Up
How to Progress to Surfing the Short Board
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