The 2016 100/100 Paddle Challenge

Okay! I’ve accepted the challenge!

Like many of you, over the last two years at various races I’ve posed for photos with the index finger of one hand raised while someone beside me made two zeroes with their index fingers and thumbs. I must confess that at first I had no idea what I was doing, but it seemed to make people happy so it was cool.

This past year I learned a little more about the 100/100 Paddle Challenge and was stoked to endorse it with my fingers and thumbs when asked. I mean, how cool is it that people, many of whom are fairly new to paddling, have set a challenging goal that simply demands they get out on the water and paddle?

This season I’ve decided that if I’m going to be asked to make the 100/100 sign for a photo or two, I might as well actually join the challenge and participate.

They have a really cool challenge within the challenge called the “1%er Challenge”, which basically says for a SUP paddler you have to paddle 500 miles in 100 days. I’m going to run with that, but since I’m Canadian, I’m going to convert it to 805 km in 100 days.

It’s going to be tough and, truthfully, I’m not sure whether I might have bitten off more than I can chew. I certainly wouldn’t have a problem with that distance in normal circumstances, or with any of the other stipulations of the challenge associated with intensity and length of individual paddles. I’ve done it many times before in the regular course of my training. However I’m taking on this challenge in the middle of a Canadian winter, and that adds a massive amount of uncertainty to this undertaking.

Last year, we had one of the coldest winters on record and, in my 52nd year on this planet, for the first time I was introduced to the term “polar vortex”. We had numerous days in Toronto where the mercury hit minus values in Fahrenheit. The entire month of February was well below freezing. And you couldn’t even access Lake Ontario to paddle because of the massive ice banks that had formed along the shore.

So far this winter, a Toronto paddler’s best friend has been El Nino. Pretty much the entire month of December has seen temperatures above normal and while I’ve paddled every day, there’s only been one where I’ve had ice forming on my board or paddle. If I can duplicate the paddling I’ve been able to do in December in January and February, I’m very confident that I can reach my goal. But that might be a little unrealistic, even in a big El Nino year. This is Canada after all. If I do fall behind pace I’ll have some catching up to do in March and April, although the challenge ends on April 9th if I start on January 1st.

Like the other 700 or so paddlers setting personal challenges in the 100/100 Paddle Challenge I’m going to have to take this really seriously. It’s going to take a consistent, day-to-day effort, and I’m going to have to paddle on days when the weather is really crappy and I don’t feel like doing it. It’s going to take commitment, but I like the fact that it allows me a chance to catch up in later months if I do fall behind because of frigid weather in the depths of winter. Yes, this is going to be a three-month plus journey, and my focus is going to have to be as strong at the end as it is when I’m enthused about it at the beginning. I’m actually really excited to have this kind of challenge over the winter, and although I’ve paddled since I was 11 years old and figure I’ve done well over 75,000 km in my lifetime, this will be a unique, brand new experience for me. How cool is it that at 53, I can find an entirely new paddling/training challenge that I haven’t attempted before?

I’m looking forward to being part of group of paddlers, almost 700 strong, each with a similar goal. While our backgrounds and ability may be different, and the distances that we’re attempting to cover may be different as well, our experiences are going to be similar. I’m counting on that. One of the things I’ve realized long ago is that it’s often not the person who is best at something who is most inspiring. Rather it’s often the person who toils away quietly out of the spotlight, who has to overcome large obstacles with little chance for anything other than intrinsic reward, who in every way seems ordinary yet somehow achieves extraordinary things, and who takes on challenges for the purest of reasons. I’m looking forward to sharing my attempt at this challenge with them, and following them in theirs. I’m counting on them to hold me accountable and motivate me. And I’ll take seriously my responsibility to do the same for them. It’s going to be fun to see many of them over the summer and share a sense of satisfaction and camaraderie with people who have achieved their goals. And by the way, whether I’m successful in doing the 800 plus kilometers or not, I’m stoked about how well prepared this will leave me for the Carolina Cup.

Here we go! 805 km in 100 days. I can’t believe how much I love paddling!

Winter Weather Doesn’t Have to Keep You off the Water

If you’re from some place warm and would never need to contemplate paddling in freezing, icy conditions you don’t need to read any further. On the other hand, if you have some morbid curiosity about what it’s like for northern climate paddlers for a good chunk of the year, by all means read on.

Before I start, let me state unequivocally that I hate being cold. Despite being Canadian, I’ve never been a big winter person and would rather hibernate than enjoy the great outdoors for most of December, January and February. I’m a summer guy, and I do summer sports. Maybe it’s because I grew up in southern Ontario, where ski runs are short and lift lines are long that I don’t have much time for skiing or snowboarding. I have to drive at least a couple of hours, stand in lines all day, and freeze in biting cold and wind, just to enjoy a few good runs. It seems so pointless (especially the drive). Were there mountains in my backyard I’m sure I'd feel differently. While I played a lot of pond hockey outdoors as a kid, that’s something you need a bunch of other people to enjoy and I just don’t seem to be available when everyone else is. As such, once the river freezes over I have generally just counted down the days till spring and have limited my outdoor activity to a lot of running.

However since I’ve started stand up paddling that’s changed, and I’ve discovered that there’s no reason to stop paddling just because the river is frozen and the temperature is below freezing. It’s actually possible, with the right gear and some common sense, to paddle safely all winter and enjoy it. In this installment of the Tip of the Week I’ll share a few ideas that can help you extend your paddling season and make winter seem to pass a little more quickly.

It’s only as cold as you think it is

This is perhaps the most important thing to understand about winter paddling.

Most people wouldn’t dream of doing anything on the water when the temperature approaches freezing and water temperatures drop to 5C (40 F) or lower. Throw a wind chill on top of that, where the “feels like” temperature is well below freezing and it seems like an insane idea to go out and do anything on the water. Yet ask yourself, would you go for a run in those conditions? Of course you would.

How is going for a SUP paddle on flat water any different than going for a run? If you’re confident that you’ll stay dry, it’s basically the same thing. All you need is something to keep your feet warm when they get wet and a pair of gloves that still allow you to get a good feel for your paddle and you’re set. You can just wear your running clothes and go enjoy yourself.

If you’re paddling in rough water it’s a little different. If there is any chance you’re going to fall in you’ve got to make some prudent precautionary choices when it comes to your clothing. What you’ll find is that with the right gear you don’t even feel the water when you fall in and that not only is it therefore quite safe to paddle in rougher water (assuming you’re taking all the basic precautions), you can actually be very toasty while you do. Get the idea that it’s insane to paddle when it’s wintry out of your head. It can be warm and comfortable, and might actually be safer than the paddling you do in spring and fall.

So let’s consider the gear you’ll need:

Boots are the one thing you’ll need whether you’re paddling in the flats or on rough water so let’s start here. You’ll wear them every single day that you paddle once the air and water temperatures drop below 10 C (50 F).

If your feet get cold you’ll be miserable and cold feet can totally mess up your balance. You’ll have trouble just standing and walking on dry land with cold feet, let alone moving around on your board and feeling it underneath you. As your feet are going to get wet, even in flat water, you want them protected. The worst thing you can do in cold temperatures is get wet when you’re not wearing clothing designed to still keep you warm after being exposed to water. So what you’re looking for are good quality neoprene booties.

I prefer to use 7mm neoprene boots that are not split toe. Thinner boots probably won’t keep you warm enough in colder conditions and split toed boots separate your big toe from the other four, which means they can’t keep each other company and keep each other warm. I get my boots just big enough to allow me to put a thin pair of wool socks on underneath if needed. Again, that’s not possible in split toed boots. I don’t usually do this unless it gets really cold, but it makes a big difference in maintaining warmth when I do. Another trick that you can try, though I’ve never done it because I hate putting on wet boots, is to pour hot water in your boots before putting them on. You’ll have to experiment a bit to see what works best for you but no doubt about it, you’ll want to get some 7mm booties.

If you’re paddling every day, you’ll probably want to get two pairs of boots so you can rotate them, always ensuring that the boots you put on are dry. You’ll find it’s a lot nicer to slip dry boots on your feet each day. You’ll also find that they end up stinking a lot less.

Most importantly when it comes to boots is to remember to dry them out as soon as possible each day after paddling. This will really minimize the stink, will also help them last longer and will ensure they’re dry when you go to use them next.

A good wetsuit or dry suit is essential for any conditions where you think you might end up in the water. There are pros and cons to each, so let’s take a look at both.

A good dry-lock wetsuit will keep you warm in just about any water if it’s thick enough. The upside of that is that it gives you a huge sense of confidence when you’re paddling in big water. You can paddle completely relaxed and uninhibited and totally go for it, whether you’re downwinding, practicing beach starts or SUP surfing. The downside is that, unless you’re in the water a lot, you’re likely going to overheat. Once that’s happened you’ll find it really difficult to paddle hard.

Lately, I’ve been using a 4/3 Excel dry lock wetsuit when I’m on Lake Ontario in rough water. Air temperatures so far this fall/winter season have been anywhere between -1 C (30 F) and 15 C (59 F), while water temperatures have hovered around 5 C (40 F). I only use it when it’s rough, choppy water or big, chest high or more chop and swell. Most days I actually don’t fall in which might make one ask if I really need to wear the suit, however that’s misleading. First of all, I have such an elevated level of confidence wearing the suit I end up paddling more relaxed and on the edge then I do most of the year, and that’s when I’m most likely to improve. Secondly, when I do fall in I’m really happy I’m wearing it. I barely feel the water, and there’s not even a hint of that uncomfortable trickle of cold water down my back. I certainly don’t experience that dangerous shock that takes your breath away and makes your muscles seize when you fall into icy water without any protection. And this past weekend I actually jumped off my board and swam through a densely packed cluster of ice chunks without even feeling them, which was pretty cool. In addition, these suits make you a little more buoyant so I feel extremely safe while wearing it.

Such a thick wetsuit is a little confining and restricts your movement marginally, but you do get used to it. The big problem is I’m generally overheating after about 8km, especially when the air temperature is a little on the warm side. Without a joke, I get so hot in these suits that if I were a car I’d be on the side of the road with my hood propped up and steam billowing out. I frequently end up jumping off my board and sitting with my arms draped over it, relaxing for as much as 10 minutes to try to cool off before getting back on and paddling again. While I’ve experienced some really pleasant Zen-like moments doing that, I’m waiting for the inevitable 911 call from someone on shore who thinks I’m in trouble.

If you go the wetsuit route, and are planning on paddling everyday, you should really consider having two suits so that you can alternate them. Doing that means you’ll never have to crawl into a damp or soggy wet suit on a cold day, which isn’t much fun.

The other option is a dry suit. I used to use a Kokatat Gore Tex dry suit when I first started paddling SUP. I found that I overheated in that just as much as I currently do in my wetsuit. The idea with a dry suit is that you just put some running clothes underneath the suit and then go paddle. Your under layer provides the insulation and the outer layer keeps you dry when you fall in. In theory you stay completely dry inside. In practice that rarely happened, as I’d usually end up drenched in sweat. There were a few things I didn’t like about this suit.

First off, I found the suit bulky and uncomfortable. The rubber gasket around the neck felt like it was going to strangle me, and the waterproof zipper was extremely hard to zip up and undo. One of the things you’re supposed to do with a dry suit is “burp” it before you go paddling. This involves getting as much of the air out of it as possible so that if you fall in the water inverted, the water pressure won’t push all the air inside the suit into your legs making it difficult to right yourself. This was always a pain. Lastly, when I did fall in with this suit I could feel the cold water really easily through the suit. It certainly wasn’t enough to take my breath away like it would if I were just wearing board shorts, but it never gave me much confidence that I’d last very long if I was forced to stay in the water for a protracted period of time.

There is an entirely new generation of dry suits on the market now however that I can’t wait to try. SUPSKIN markets a range of paddling suits, and Starboard has their All Star suit, which is actually made by SUPSKIN. I’m hearing great things about them in terms of their comfort and weight. They’re apparently really easy to paddle in and the material is much better than what was used on the older suits. I expect to be able to test them out this winter so I’ll report back on them when I do.

The bottom line is this. If you’re wearing the right gear you’re not going to get cold. If anything the opposite will be the problem. You’ll also find that you’ll feel extremely safe. On days when I go winter paddling I consider the most dangerous thing I do is driving to and from the water. Paddling on an icy lake is extremely safe in comparison. Finally, you’ll find that wearing the right gear allows you to paddle on the edge with complete confidence, and I can’t overstate the importance of that when you’re trying to develop new skills.

Like toes, fingers get cold really quickly and are easily frost bitten. Therefore gloves are essential. The problem with gloves is that they interfere with your ability to hold your paddle. So ideally you should have a few pairs, both to ensure you always have dry ones to put on and so that you can paddle with the thinnest pair of gloves that will still keep you warm.

Generally, when it’s over 10 C (50 F) I don’t wear gloves, regardless of what the water temperature is. Between 5 C (40 F) and 10 C, I wear a pair of 2mm neoprene gloves. These still allow me to feel the paddle extremely well. Between 0 C (32 F) and 5 C, I either use the 2mm or a 5mm pair. My choice largely depends on the wind chill. For anything below freezing I’m using the 5mm pair. They make it a little more difficult to feel the paddle, and when I first start using them each season my forearms cramp a bit, but I quickly get used to them and am certainly able to paddle effectively.

Depending on the temperature, you’ll want to wear a hat or a hood. Most of the time when the chop is small, if I do fall in, my head doesn’t get wet so if it’s not too cold a wool toque is fine. When it gets colder and the water is bigger you’ll want to consider some other options.

I have a neoprene toque that I wear most days. It fits me pretty snugly and won’t fall off even if I do a face plant. It’s warm and repels water well so it still keeps my head warm and dry even if it gets soaked.

If it’s really cold (well below freezing) the way to go is a neoprene hood that tucks beneath the neck of your wetsuit or dry suit and leaves only your face exposed. This is my choice of last resort for distance paddling. If I’m surfing in cold weather it’s often my first choice for headwear because I’m in the water a lot more.

You lose a lot of heat through the top of your head, so if it’s cold and staying warm is the priority you’ll definitely need something on your head. I’ve developed an array of choices that I feel are optimal for me in a variety of conditions. You should experiment a little for yourself to see what works best for you at various temperatures.

Safety is priority one. There are no exceptions when it comes to these items:

A leash. No further explanation should be required. If you lose your board you’re screwed. Always wear your leash and check it frequently to make sure it’s in good working order. Don’t leave it outside when you’re not using it. I’ve heard of leashes snapping when they’ve been left out over night in deep sub-zero weather and then are used the next morning.

A PFD. I know people who move to a standard PFD in the winter rather than the inflatable variety. I haven’t done that yet, but I always have my inflatable with me. I tuck a whistle into it as well so that I always have one if I need it.

While we’re talking about safety consider the following:

It’s lonely out there in the winter and there’s nobody around to help you if you get into trouble. You should paddle with other people if you can. If you can’t, double check to make sure you’ve got all the safety gear you’re supposed to have and it’s in good working order. Double check that your suit, whether it is a wetsuit or dry suit, is in good shape and you’re wearing it properly. Double check your paddle, board and fin before you go out so you can be certain you won’t have any equipment failures.

I want to reiterate that you’re all alone on the water in the winter. It’s peaceful and beautiful and you feel like you’re really in tune with nature, but there’s nobody that can help you if you get in trouble like there usually is in the summer. If you’re paddling alone, I strongly suggest carrying a cell phone or radio in a watertight case that you can use in an emergency.

Stay closer to shore than you would in the summer. Without getting caught in the break zone, staying a little closer to shore than you might in the summer means you’ve got less distance to swim if you have to. We all know you should never leave your board, but if something happens and your board gets away, the less time you’re in the water the better. Similarly, it means you’ll have less distance to paddle prone if you happen to lose your paddle.

The bigger the body of water you’re paddling on, the more careful you need to be. While it’s true we can drown in a puddle or the bathtub, the likelihood of experiencing a catastrophic situation increases as the size of the body of water increases. At this time of year, if I fall in on the river, even without appropriate gear I can stand up in most places almost immediately. It’s comparatively safe. Lake Ontario is an entire order of magnitude more dangerous. It’s a 300km long by 60km wide body of water. Crazy shit happens on the Great Lakes. Huge lake freighters have sunk in storms on them. They demand more respect.

Maybe it’s just that I’m not as familiar with it, but I’ve got even more respect for the ocean. It is to Lake Ontario like the lake is to the tiny river I paddle on. The waves are bigger and more powerful, there are tides and currents and all sorts of things that you don’t have to contend with on the lake. With the level of ocean knowledge I have, I wouldn’t consider paddling alone on the ocean in the winter. If I had to go alone I’d stay in the harbor or something. But that’s just me.

Leave a “flight plan”. Tell someone who is staying on shore all the pertinent details about the paddle you’re planning including where you’re going, who you’re going with, when you’re leaving and when you expect to return. I’d even suggest arranging to call them as soon as you’re off the water. If they don’t hear from you when they should, they can start the process of starting the search. That could save your life.

Know when to stay on land. Even though I’m convinced that paddling SAFELY on Lake Ontario in the winter might actually be safer than paddling at any other time of year, I tend to respect conditions even more than usual in the winter.

Whether it’s temperature, wind, or the size of the waves, I’m more likely to take a look at the conditions and decide that “today’s not the day” in the winter than I am in the summer. Part of it has to do with the fact that it’s so lonely out there in the winter and part of it has to do with the harsher winter conditions and fewer hours of daylight.

Basically, if conditions are too harsh to paddle effectively then what’s the point of going out? Paddling is supposed to be enjoyable and training sessions useful for developing fitness and skills. It’s not supposed to be about some misguided effort to conquer nature. I strongly believe that as soon as it becomes that, disaster looms nearby. Anyone arrogant enough to think they can conquer nature is asking for trouble. So make your decision about whether it’s worth going out carefully. I strongly suggest erring on the side of caution. You can always paddle tomorrow if you decide not to paddle today. But if you make an unwise decision, there’s always a chance that there will be no tomorrow.

Make sure you’ve got a place to get out of the water. It seems basic, but if you don’t think you’ll be able to get off the water safely, don’t go out.

On the Great Lakes we often get massive ice shelves and cliffs forming along the shore in the winter. The beaches literally disappear under up to 10 feet of ice. It makes it hard to get on the water, but even harder to get out, especially if it is a rough day and the waves are crashing into the ice. From my perspective, once these ice shelves form it’s pretty much the end of paddling on all but the flattest days until they break up and disappear.

Watch out for icebergs. Seriously. No joke. Once there are ice buildups along the shore and the river is frozen there are always small, random ice chunks floating around on the lake. They break off from the ice pack in the harbor or the ice shelves along the beaches, and then just float around out in the lake. They’re extremely hard to see as they’re basically the color of the water, and most of each chunk is beneath the surface. They’re heavy and they can be quite sharp. If you’re downwinding and you’re catching nice rides, you’ll come to a pretty sudden stop if you hit one and it could cause real damage to your board. Sailors call these mini bergs “Growlers”. Keep an eye open for them.

If you’re paddling on flat water and aren’t dressed to fall in, be careful moving around on your board when the temperature nears freezing. A couple of years ago I was paddling on the river in early January while training for the Orange Bowl in Miami. It was just below freezing and there was ice building up on my paddle and the front of my board. I’d just finished a length of the river and it was time to turn around. Imagine my surprise when I stepped back to do a pivot turn and slid right off the back of my board into the water because there was ice all over the deck pad. That was a cold end to that workout as I wasn’t dressed to fall in.

The lesson here is that if there is ice forming on your board in front of you, it’s forming behind you as well. Anywhere that water splashes on your board is going to ice up. Generally it doesn’t freeze under your feet because they move enough to keep ice from forming around them. But you’ll be in for a slippery surprise if you step onto a spot on your board where you haven’t been standing for a while.

Consider where you’re going to change into your paddling gear

I have no problem changing outside down to about 3 C (37 F) as long as I’m out of the wind. If it’s colder than that I make sure I change at home and drive to paddling in my paddling gear. While there’s nothing unsafe about changing outside in the cold, it’s just not pleasant, and if you do it takes that much longer to warm up once you’re on the water.

When you get off the water, unless it is outrageously cold, you should be warm enough to be able to change quickly outside. You won’t want to drive home in your paddling gear or your car will end up a total mess.

I use a large plastic tub to keep all my winter paddling gear in. Everything I could possibly need is there including all clothing, extra fins and leashes, a small repair and tool kit, tape, a towel, etc. I’m ready for anything. When I come off the water, I use the lid to pile all my wet stuff on, and that keeps the trunk of my car clean and dry.

Each of us needs to establish our own level of comfort with cold weather paddling. I firmly believe it you’re wearing the proper gear and taking common sense precautions there is less to worry about in terms of safety than there is during the rest of the year.

Today’s suits keep you so warm you’ve got a large margin of error before you’ll start to go hypothermic if you fall in. It’s beautiful being on the water at this time of year, and it’s an opportunity to accumulate a lot of extra distance on the water that helps build a sound base for the coming season. It’s not for everybody, but if you love paddling and really miss it during the winter, you’ll be surprised how fun and productive winter paddling can be.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Improve Your Own Paddling by Helping Others Improve Theirs

Standup paddling is an awesome sport for a lot of reasons, but one of the coolest things about it is the very real camaraderie that exists between racers of all ages and abilities. People are generous with their time, expertise and experience, and equipment.

When I first started SUP I knew lots about paddling but nothing about doing it standing up. I knew something about the ocean from paddling outrigger, but had never surfed and found it a real challenge to do on a board what I could do sitting down in a one-man outrigger. I was confident enough to not be afraid of trying to figure stuff out for myself, but smart enough to know that there were a lot of people with more knowledge than me who would be very useful in helping me learn some SUP skills.

The amazing thing is I never really had to ask for help. I’m sure most newcomers to SUP can relate to this this – I was blown away by the willingness of people to share their knowledge freely and eagerly. As a consequence I learned a lot faster than if I’d been left entirely to myself.

I remember my first ocean experience was in Wrightsville Beach. I’d met Chris Hill at the Cold Stroke Classic, a flat-water race held annually in Wrightsville each January. When I came back to Wrightsville Beach in March for a visit, Chris paddled with me every day. He helped me with some strategies for board control in the flats and I was able to help him with some theory on basic paddling from the perspective of sprint canoe while we paddled pretty much stroke-for-stroke together. It was fun and I felt like at least I had something to offer him while I was getting so much from the help he was offering me. When we hit the ocean it was another matter entirely.

My first time in the ocean was a 9-mile downwinder with Chris and his son Brian. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. There was a strong wind from the southeast, and waves in the 3 to 4 foot range. Pretty small time when I think about it now, but at the time it was more than I could handle. Chris patiently helped me get out through the break and get started downwind. I fell a lot. I probably only managed at most a couple of minutes between swims and didn’t catch anything that remotely resembled a ride. When I finished I was banged up and bruised both physically and psychologically. Chris took the time to debrief the experience with me, encourage me and give me lots of advice that I could take with me for next time. I carried his lessons with me that entire summer as I chased waves on Lake Ontario and got more and more competent in rough water.

Chris was just one of many who took the time to help me out, and as my skill level has progressed there have always been paddlers with more experience than me who have been there to offer me sound advice.

I’d like to think that all the paddlers that have helped me have got something out of it for themselves for their effort. It’s always been my experience in sprint canoe that when I’ve talked about paddling with someone else it’s elevated my understanding of what I’m doing in my own canoe. I can remember discussing technique, training and race strategy with the guys I used to race against. It was pretty cool because it was an open, collegial environment as opposed to a secretive one. I’d learn from what my rivals had to say for sure, but I also learned when I tried to explain to them in some kind of meaningful way what I felt when I was paddling, or tried to do in my own stroke. Later, when I started coaching, I realized that the understanding of the stroke that’s required to coach effectively helps enhance your own paddling. The more ways I found to explain in detail what it feels like when you’re connected to the water or when the boat accelerates off the back of the stroke, the more in tune I would be with my own stroke.

It’s not much different today, now that I’m paddling SUP and blogging about technique and doing clinics. The more I think about ways to explain parts of the stroke, the more I become aware of my own paddling and not just what I’m doing, but also what I’m feeling, at each point in my stroke. I’ve had days this fall while working on my blog, where I’ve been paddling with what feels like really excellent connection. The speeds on my GPS are fast, and the flow and rhythm of my stroke feels magical. I know I’m paddling really well. What’s cool is that because I’ve been talking about technique so much and working hard to find ways to describe it, it’s like I have a super-heightened awareness of every element of my stroke. I can feel all the minute changes in my stroke if I change my focus, work on isolating the impact of one muscle group over another, or change, by even the smallest amount, the load on my blade.

I contend that everybody can benefit in this fashion when they take the time to help another paddler out. If, in the process of trying to explain or demonstrate something to someone, it makes you look more closely at what you do yourself, then it is a very positive thing. It might help you identify a weakness in your stroke that you didn’t realize existed. On the other hand, it might just help you consolidate something in your stroke that you already do well.

You don’t have to be helping a high level racer to get this benefit. Teaching a beginner how to steer without changing sides, for example, is pretty basic. Yet revisiting your own steering and board control techniques in the process offers real value to you. Every single time I do this, without fail, I feel like I control my own board better afterwards.

If you’re reading these blog posts it’s probably because you’ve caught the SUP bug and can’t get enough. If you’re like me, you don’t have to think too hard to identify those people who helped you get to this point, who had an impact on you, helped you develop your skills, or in some way helped the sport capture your imagination. You wouldn’t be the paddler you are without them. There are lots of paddlers that are new to the sport that you can have a similar impact on by sharing your knowledge and experience. In a way we all have an obligation to help these paddlers out, as in some way we’re returning the favor that was shown to us. But it’s more than that. We can be confident knowing that we’re never wasting our time helping out someone new to the sport, or someone who isn’t quite as experienced as we are. By helping them we’re helping the sport grow, but we’re also helping ourselves. We’re enhancing our own understanding of what we do to make the board move through the water and that, guaranteed, will make us better paddlers.

So this week’s Tip of the Week is to take the time to help another paddler. Don’t just recite things you’ve heard other people say about technique, training or racing.  Make it personal.  Share what you’ve discovered, what you feel when you step on your board and pull your stroke, or some of your experiences and learning moments. You’ll have a big impact on the person you’re helping, but you’ll also be helping yourself.

“Big Picture” Approach to Technique Part 4 – Staying Relaxed and Maximizing Board Run

Over the last three posts we’ve looked at a number of things you can do to make your board move faster. I’ve shared some tips for establishing connection and pulling your board past your paddle, maintaining positive blade angle, using big muscles preferentially over smaller muscles and using your body weight to your advantage. What I’d like to share here are tips for paddling relaxed and maximizing the run of your board between strokes.

There are a number of reasons you want to be relaxed when you paddle but keeping it simple we can consider two main reasons:

1. The more relaxed you can be while paddling “hard” the faster your maximum speed will be and, 
2. If you can paddle relaxed you’ll be able to maintain a higher percentage of your maximum speed for a longer period of time.

I guess you could also add that paddling relaxed is a lot more enjoyable.

It’s important that you’re familiar and somewhat competent with what’s been discussed in the last three posts before you really concern yourself with what’s going to be presented here, so if you haven’t read them and played around with some of the suggestions then you’d be well served to backtrack now and spend some time experimenting. That said, the whole thing is a little chicken and egg. The more relaxed you can be when you play with those drills the more you’ll get out of them.

When you do feel like you can connect well, pull yourself by your paddle, maintain positive blade angle and use big muscles and body weight it’s time to really focus on the efficiency of each stroke by being as relaxed as possible, paddling fluidly and maximizing the run of the board between strokes.

There is no simple drill you can do to teach yourself how to be relaxed while paddling. Instead you need to paddle fluidly and rhythmically, without focusing on any particular element of technique. Here are some tips that help:

• Clear your head. When you’re doing technical drills and trying to modify or consolidate movement patterns on your board, you tend to be thinking a lot. Your brain and central nervous system are working really hard (actually much harder than your cardiovascular system, for example). If you want to really relax on your board you’re going to have to clear your head. Don’t worry about any of the things related to technique that you normally work so hard on. Trust that all the technique work you’ve done is going to “stick” and you’ll actually paddle well if you just go on autopilot and focus on nothing more than a relaxed, flowing stroke and how your board is responding underneath you.
  
  You’ll also want to clear your head of all the issues and stresses that weigh on you in your day-to-day life, as they will prevent you from being truly relaxed as well. Recognize that your time on the water is an opportunity to find sanctuary from all of life’s stresses. Take advantage of it.



• Mentally prepare for how you want to feel on your board. I cannot overstate the importance of mental preparation for your paddling. This touches upon the whole area of mental training, which in itself could be the topic for a series of blog posts, but I can summarize it here: find some time before you get on the water to visualize and imagine not only what you are going to do when you’re paddling, but also what you want it to feel like.
  
  I used to do this while riding my bike to the canoe club for training. I’d go over in my head what I wanted to work on in my training session, the things I had to do to paddle effectively, and imagined what it would feel like. I got so good at feeling like I was in the boat when I wasn’t, that I could lie down, close my eyes, imagine myself in my boat and actually feel some type of activation in my paddling muscles. They weren’t contracting like they would be when I was paddling, but I had a heightened awareness of them. I’m convinced that that, coupled with my conscious knowledge of what I wanted those muscles to do in the boat, helped me consolidate movement patterns that would be the foundation of my technique. I was actually reinforcing good paddling technique without even taking a stroke.
  
  My experience has been that if I organize my thoughts about how I want to feel on the board before I actually step on it, I feel amazing from the moment I take my first stroke. Conversely, if I’m busy, in a rush or stressed out and don’t take a few minutes to mentally prepare, I get on my board and struggle to find my stroke. Inevitably I get my act together, but I’ve wasted time and I’m never quite sure if the stroke I eventually find is as good as it would be if I got on the water more mentally prepared.
  
  This mental preparation should be something you bring to the water whether you’re working on individual components of your technique or trying to put it all together with a relaxed, flowing stroke. I can guarantee if your mental preparation is focused on a relaxed, rhythmical, flowing stroke it will help you achieve that when you actually get on the board.



• Make sure you are properly warmed up. If there is any stiffness or tension in your muscles it’s going to affect your ability to move easily and rhythmically on your board. You’ll find that you’ll struggle to move fluidly and may even find your balance or overall comfort on the board is off. The easy way around this is to complete a short, effective dry-land warm-up before getting on the water. We’re all different and some of us require longer warm-ups than others. You’ll have to experiment a bit to find what works best for you. You’ll definitely know it when you find what works as you’ll feel relaxed more quickly when you start paddling.
  
  Once you’re a little more experienced and you’ve established a warm-up routine that works, be prepared to modify it a bit day-to-day as you get better and better at recognizing your physical state, level of muscle tension and readiness to paddle relaxed. But remember, a proper warm-up is going to have a big impact on your readiness to paddle freely and fluidly on your board.



• Relax your grip and paddle with “open” hands. An easy place to start focusing on relaxing when you begin paddling is your grip on the paddle itself. If you’re squeezing the paddle too tightly it will negatively affect your ability to feel the water. This in turn can have the effect of making the rest of your muscles tighten as they struggle to find connection. The key to relaxed paddling is to make sure that your grip on the paddle is loose and relaxed.
  
  To facilitate this I like to paddle with “open” hands when I’m warming up. My top hand is entirely open with the handle of the paddle sitting in my palm and held in place by the fleshy heel of my hand at the base of my thumb. I don’t need to wrap my hand around the paddle when I am exerting top hand pressure during the stroke, all I have to do is exert pressure down the paddle shaft and the paddle is held in position in my hand. At the exit and during the recovery I can keep my hand open and my thumb, which is positioned loosely under the handle, is enough to help lift the paddle from the water and maintain my hand’s contact with the handle. This works very well with both a T-grip and palm-grip handle.
  
  While my bottom hand isn’t as open as my top hand, the grip is extremely loose. During the pull it is really only the last two segments of each finger that are wrapped around the paddle shaft. My thumb is barely in contact with the paddle. In the recovery it’s the opposite, with my fingers barely on the paddle and my thumb in loose contact with it, pushing it forward.
  
  Obviously when you’re paddling harder or in rough water, you’re going to need a stronger grip on the paddle so it doesn’t accidently fly out of your hands. That said, it should still be a relaxed grip with no tension in your hands or forearms.



• Once you’ve paddled for a few minutes with open hands and are confident you feel relaxed, focus on the rhythm of loading and unloading body weight onto your paddle. For me, the most important part of a flowing stroke is the rhythmical application and subsequent unloading of body weight on and off the paddle. It’s like I get lost in the rhythm of loading and unloading. I end up feeling even more relaxed, but end up going faster. I also feel like I get more in tune with my board.
  
  
• Coordinate your breathing with your stroke. Just like focusing on loading and unloading helps you establish a flow and rhythm to your stroke, so too does focusing on your breathing. I find that exhaling when I’m pulling and inhaling in the air is the rhythm that feels best, and in fact you really only have to think about the exhaling as the inhaling seems to happen by itself. If you forcefully exhale every pull, you’ll quickly establish a rhythm of breathing that will help you consolidate a rhythm to your paddling.



• Focus on the nose wave of your board. Nothing gives me a better idea of how my board is moving than the information I get from the nose of my board. As I catch, start to load my blade, and accelerate my board, I see my nose wave change. It appears to move further back from the front of the board. It starts to make the sound of a small breaking wave. And it changes from the color of the water I’m paddling in to white, just like the crest of a breaking wave.
  
  When I focus on the nose wave I find that it helps me avoid thinking excessively about other, distracting things. It’s almost hypnotic, and I become more relaxed. At the same time, my nose wave gives me valuable feedback about how my board is responding to the effort I’m putting in. I like to leave my GPS on shore for a workout sometimes and just focus on the nose wave instead of my speed. Then, next workout, I put my GPS back on my board and look at both the nose and the GPS. It’s helped me get an idea of what various speeds feel like and, in terms of the nose wave, what they look like.
  
  I’ve actually learned to expand this to listening to my board as well. Not only the noise of the nose wave, but also the sound of the release helps give me information about how the board is riding and how effectively I’m paddling. Just like watching the nose wave, listening to the board helps me focus on the flow of my stroke, move with my board, and relax.
  
  This feedback that you get from your board is going to be a little different from board to board depending on its shape. If you switch from board to board depending on conditions, it’ll take a little longer to recognize and understand precisely what the feedback you’re getting from your board is telling you, but the principle is unchanged and is independent of the board you are on.
  
  
• Move with your board. Once you’re relaxed and have focused on loading and unloading, and when you are in tune with your board from watching the nose wave and listening to it, try to recognize the relationship between the movements of your board and your body. If your stroke is flowing and relaxed, you’ll be able to recognize a definite rhythm between what you feel in your stroke and what you see and hear from your board. Become familiar with this. As you do, this pattern becomes part of you and who you are when you’re paddling. You’ll be able to notice how subtle differences in load change what you see and feel, and use that information to enhance your stroke. You’ll also be able to more readily detect when something is off with your stroke and correct it before it becomes a bigger issue.
  
  
• While maintaining a flowing stroke, focus on relaxing various muscle groups. I like to start with legs first. I think of my feet for a while and try to relax any tension I can find in them while I am locked into my flowing, rhythmical motion. Then I’ll move up my legs and think of my calves, thighs, and hips, and then on to my abs, back and shoulders. It’s all about the flow of the stroke, and two areas that can inhibit that flow, make you feel tense, unstable and unconnected, and make your paddling less effective are your legs and your shoulders.
  
  If your legs are tight, then you won’t be able to load and unload the paddle effectively and you won’t be able to engage your hips as well. Furthermore, there is nothing that is going to make you feel unstable more than tight legs. This is especially true in rough water but also in the flats. If your legs are relaxed your connection to the board will be good, you’ll move your board through the water well and feel stable on top of it. It will provide an enormous boost to your ability to effectively load and unload your paddle.
  
  If your shoulders are tight it seems to affect your entire upper body and your ability to feel the water with your blade. I like to tell canoe and kayak paddlers to keep their shoulders low and their necks “long”. This visual seems to help them avoid paddling with tight shoulders, which seem to creep up around the level of their ears as they paddle.
  
  The net result of focusing on relaxing various muscle groups when you’re paddling is that it teaches you to identify the muscles you need at any given moment of your stroke and separate them from the ones you don’t. This is extremely important. The best paddlers in the world are able to completely separate muscles they need to propel their board/boat from those they don’t. Moreover, they only contract those muscles the precise amount and at the exact moment in time they need to in order to make their board move maximal distance each stroke.
  
  The more you can become adept at this separation of paddling from non-paddling muscles the better able you’ll be to maintain speed over time. You’ll also notice that this ability has a huge impact on how well you’ll be able to sprint. One of the biggest characteristics of sprint athletes in any sport is their remarkable ability to maximally recruit muscles they need while totally relaxing ones they don’t.
  
  
• Let your board wobble underneath you without affecting your paddling movement. Let’s be clear about it. It’s best if your board doesn’t wobble underneath you. A boat or a board that moves evenly through the water is going to be faster, as wobble can increase wetted surface and interfere with forward movement. While that might be attainable in the perfectly flat water you do your drills and technical paddling on, as you adapt your paddling to rougher, choppier water it isn’t as realistic to think you can totally eliminate any sort of wobble. Certainly you want to try to minimize any movement that isn’t in the forward direction, but not at the expense of good paddling.
  
  Rather than use your legs to try to totally control the side to side roll of your board that might be caused by rough, choppy water, I’d suggest it is better to just accept that there will be some rolling movement of your board and just let it move underneath you.
  
  I still remember the epiphany I had in C1 when I realized that I was a lot faster if I just focused on maintaining a fluid, loaded stroke with consistent, rhythmical hip movement and let the boat wobble freely underneath me in rough, disorganized water. Experience has shown me it is the same on a SUP board.
  
  If you try too hard to hold your board level by tensing your legs (or any other part of your body) you’ll actually end up going slower and a couple of undesirable things start to happen. One is that you get tight, and that tightness prevents you from paddling with the relaxed, rhythmical, fully loaded stroke that makes you fast. Another is that you end up losing your balance a lot more as your body tends to wobble or roll with your board. We’ve all experienced the frustration of trying to paddle effectively when we feel unstable. Well, if you’re tight because you’re trying to keep your board level and control your balance in choppy water, you’re actually making the situation worse.
  
  The key is to just focus on loading and unloading your paddle and moving your body with the same relaxed rhythm that you do in the flats, letting the board roll however it wants underneath you while you stay level on top of it. For me, a life long flat-water paddler, relaxing in the flats comes naturally. In the ocean, I’ve found that all I think about is trying to maintain that relaxed, consistent rhythm that I have in the flats. I work really hard at that to the exclusion of just about everything else related to technique. I find that has allowed me to achieve a level of competence in the ocean that permits to me work maximally, go reasonably fast, and read and make use of what the water is offering reasonably well, despite not having an ocean background.
  
  
• Relax everything in the recovery. At this point it should go without saying that since you’re not doing anything to actively propel your board forward in the recovery, EVERYTHING should be relaxed. Again, this is easier to achieve in flat water so start there and practice totally relaxing in the air work. If you’ve really emphasized the rhythm of loading and unloading in the stroke you should be in the process of relaxing when your blade is exiting the water. Focus on keeping relaxed from your feet up through your entire body as you move forward to the next catch.
  
  You should be able to find a fraction of a second to feel like you’re “standing up straight”, which will help you rest and relax some of the postural muscles you use while on your board. While you won’t actually have time to stand up straight like you would on land, every little bit that you can do to find relief for these muscles will help over a long paddle so focus on finding that feeling.
  
  The air work can feel like the least stable part of the stroke because your blade is not in the water supporting you. On the other hand if you’ve pulled a good stroke and executed your exit well, your board should be moving it’s fastest off the exit and that extra speed should give you a little more stability for the first part of the air work. None the less, the more you can feel comfortable on your board without the blade in the water, the more relaxed you’ll be able to become in your recovery. To that end, I strongly suggest taking time to occasionally play balance games on your board. Learn to walk and jump around on it. If you’ve ever seen Danny Ching playing around on his board after a race you’ll know what I mean. He has clearly spent lots of time doing this. Small wonder he is able to move so cat-like on his board and is so relaxed throughout his stroke.


You’ll find that this approach will allow for maximal board run between strokes by minimizing things you inadvertently do to mess it up. We know it’s the blade-in-the-water part of the stroke that creates your board’s speed. While a really solid push off the water with the paddle at the exit can provide you with one last bit of acceleration that will allow you to carry more speed into the recovery, it is what you do in the recovery itself that determines how well you maintain that speed. No matter what you do, you’re obviously going to slow down. But if you stay relaxed and move like a cat on your board, without inducing any big disturbances to how it’s moving, you’ll be able to maintain your speed optimally as you prepare for the next catch.

Putting it all together

Over the last four posts I’ve offered a lot of suggestions that you can try to enhance various parts of your stroke. By no means is the list of things you can do exclusive to what I’ve shared. Other paddlers and coaches will have their own tips to share. However, it’s important to remember that there are certain things we need to do in paddling technique that really aren’t debatable. Things like securing your paddle and pulling yourself by it are essential to paddling effectively and paddling fast. How we determine to best do those essential things is a puzzle that we each have to solve for ourselves. It takes some experimentation and trail and error but there are a number of drills you can do and tricks you can incorporate that can help. Hopefully, what I’ve shared over this series of posts will provide you at least a few tools that you can use to solve that puzzle effectively, help you improve your performance if you race, and help make your paddling more enjoyable.

“Big Picture” Approach to Technique Part 3 – Using Big Muscles and Body Weight

You’ll recall that when I introduced the concept of a “big picture” approach to looking at technique rather than focusing on isolated details of body positions and joint angles, I mentioned using big muscles preferentially over smaller muscles and using body weight whenever possible as two separate elements of this approach. Most of what I’ve covered already in the last couple of posts, which looked at securing the blade and maintaining blade angle, also helps facilitate the use of big muscles and body weight. However there are still a few tips I haven’t shared yet that are really helpful. Let’s consider using big muscles and using your body weight together as these tips are pretty useful for enhancing your ability to do both.

One thing needs to be understood before moving forward with this discussion: if you can’t secure your blade properly and pull yourself by the paddle while maintaining positive blade angle as long as possible, you’re going to have a really hard time engaging your big muscles effectively and getting your body weight onto your paddle. Everything is sort of interconnected, and the idea of finding connection with your blade against the water is sort of foundational to everything else. If you haven’t already read parts 1 and 2 of this series, please go and read them first before proceeding further here.

Get your weight forward at the catch

One of the things I always thought about in my C1 days was getting everything forward in the stroke. I don’t mean just reaching forward, but instead getting into a position where it felt like a notable amount of my body weight was forward, outside my base of support, and on top of the paddle at the catch. As I pulled the stroke I tried to stay on top of the paddle and never really got into what could be considered a “sitting back” position because I was always springing my hips forward at the exit with my upper body following right behind, quickly getting into a position where I’d feel like I could be on top of the paddle at the next catch.

We should be trying to do something similar on our SUP boards. One of the most common mistakes that people make when they’re stand up paddling is that they reach forward by rotating their hips and shoulders and leaning forward at the waist, while at the same time sticking their bum out behind them to counter balance the weight that is going forward. While their upper body is bending forward, they’re lower body looks like it is getting ready to sit down in a chair. The net result of this is that their weight stays balanced over their base of support (which is their feet) and isn’t available to load onto the blade immediately at the catch. No matter how far they end up reaching, they really don’t load the paddle effectively until the blade is closer to their feet and they can comfortably transfer weight from their base of support onto the paddle. While I suppose some weight on the blade is better than nothing, the reality is they’ve left it too late to provide anything that makes a truly effective contribution to moving their board forward.

What you should try to do instead is keep your hips forward as much as you can while you reach, and at the very least keep them over your feet. You’re not just rotating your paddling side hip forward like we’ve talked about in previous discussions, but you’re actually trying to get your hips as a whole forward of your base of support. If you do this, suddenly you’ll find all the rotation that you’ve got from your hips and shoulders is in front of your feet. And any bending you do at the waist is going to put even more of your upper body in front of your base of support as well. You’ll actually feel a little unstable, like you’re going to topple forward right from your feet. However instead of falling forward into the water or face first onto your board, you’re going to be falling onto your paddle, which is just about to enter the water after all the great rotation and bending at the waist you’ve just done.

One of the easiest ways for me to tell if I am doing this well is to feel how much pressure my heels are exerting on the board as I extend towards the catch. I want them to feel like they are floating above the board as I enter the water. Although they’re probably still touching the board it feels like they are actually coming off the board and my weight is shifting onto my toes.

Remember, we’re interested in using our body weight as much as possible in the stroke and using big muscles preferentially over small muscles. Obviously, if we can get our weight forward and outside of our base of support and onto the blade we’ll be using our body weight right from the moment we catch. But how does this facilitate the use of big muscles?

Consider for a minute all of the joints we move in our paddling motion. The hips are the largest and most heavily muscled of all of them. We’ve already established in the last couple of posts that they are essential for effectively pulling yourself by your secured paddle. In fact they initiate both the pulling and the exit phases of the stroke and drive the entire movement. This important role of the hips isn’t unique to the paddling motion. Consider a golf swing, tennis serve or any just about any other sport motion. The hips are absolutely critical. But if they aren’t in proper position to be effectively used when our blade enters the water, how are they going to be able to drive the motion?

You’ll recall that one of the most common mistakes people make is “sitting in a chair” with their hips instead of keeping them forward at the catch. If your hips are forward when your blade enters the water they’re in position to be used immediately to contribute to the pulling motion by un-rotating or thrusting back. But if they’re already back to start with, behind your feet when your blade enters the water because you’re “sitting in a chair”, how can they be engaged to generate force? They aren’t available in this case because they are already where they should be when you finish your pull.

I strongly suggest practicing the “Tippy Toe Drill”, which is drill number seven in “Some Useful Technique Drills for SUP”, to help you learn to get your weight forward at the catch. Find some calm, very flat water to start with so that balance is not an issue. This will make it easier for you feel that moment of instability just before you catch. It will also allow you to feel how the blade supports your body weight and keeps you from falling over as it enters the water. Like riding a bike this drill is easier to perform when your board has a little speed, as it will make it more stable. So get your board moving first and then start doing the drill. Once you’ve really locked into the feeling in flat water you can try it in progressively rougher conditions.

Keep your weight outside the board during the pull

If you’ve done a good job at the catch of really trying to spear the blade into the water with an appropriate, positive blade angle, you’ll find that your shoulders should be “stacked”. In other words, your bottom arm shoulder should be lower and closer to the water than your top arm shoulder. Just rotating your hips and shoulders alone won’t produce stacked shoulders, it’s the effort you make to continue to stretch forward with your paddling side hip and shoulder until the blade tip enters the water that really makes the difference. It causes you to bend at the waist in such way that your paddling side is closer to the water than your top arm side.

If you’ve effectively got your weight forward at the catch like I’ve described above, a good portion of your body weight will already be loaded onto the blade after the catch. What you want to do now is continue to load even more onto the blade in the pull, and the shoulders stacked position helps make that possible.

If you stand in front of a full length mirror and reach forward like you’re trying to spear the paddle into the water properly, you’ll notice that most of your upper body is sort of over the spot where the paddling side rail of your board would be. It certainly isn’t nicely centered between your feet in what would be the middle of your board. Now pick up your paddle and get into the same position, leaning on your paddle as if it were supported in the water. Notice how much of your body weight you can lean onto your paddle and how much more this allows you to engage your upper body and core muscles than when you just cautiously keep your weight centered between your feet.

In the catch you got into an unstable position just before grabbing the water and found that the blade took your body weight. Now you need to see how much more weight you can load on your blade in the pull when you think about getting your weight outside the paddling side rail and onto the paddle.

When you’re paddling this weight should be loaded on the blade from the catch right through the pull to the point where the blade is vertical and just before you start to unload by bringing your hips forward, straightening up and bringing your weight back onto the board. Remember to keep your top hand pressure down the shaft through the unloading process right to the exit.

You can practice getting weight outside the board and onto the blade in the pull by doing the loading drill in "Some Useful Technique Drills for SUP". Getting body weight outside the board and onto the paddle not only helps you generate force from gravity instead of just muscle, but also takes weight off the board making it sit slightly higher in the water. That makes it easier for you to pull it through the water. If you do a good job of accelerating the board off of the exit, it will stay on top the water through the recovery, making the next catch and pull easier. This will translate into increased speed. However you’ll need to experiment to find the optimal amount of weight that you should load onto the paddle. Too much and the stroke can feel heavy and unsustainable for a long race. I find it far easier to get someone to unload a little weight and make their stroke lighter, than it is to get them to load more when they aren’t familiar with what it feels like to have the paddle take their body weight, so don’t worry if you get the feeling of a really heavy, hard to pull stroke while doing this drill. It’s a good thing, and you can always lighten it up later.

Drive your inside knee towards the nose of the board in the pull

This is a little trick I learned in C1 and have applied to SUP. Basically I’m just focusing on my inside knee to help drive my paddling side hip back during the initial stages of the pull.

There is a definite pattern of bending and straightening of your legs when paddling SUP, not unlike what you see kayak paddlers doing or, in a more extreme case, cyclists. As you rotate forward to catch, your paddling side leg is bent more at the knee and your inside leg is straighter. As you catch and begin to pull, your paddling side hip drives the motion by torqueing back which causes your paddling side leg to straighten and inside leg to bend. This cycle repeats itself stroke after stroke.

I’m not sure that thinking of driving my inside knee towards the nose of the board is adding any force to my pull. It feels like it is, but it may just be my imagination. What I can definitely say is that it helps me ensure that my paddling side hip torques back forcefully against the loaded paddle. Thinking of driving my inside knee towards the nose is a great cue to help me engage my hips properly. I’ve also noticed that because I bend my legs to help get the paddle deeper in the water and find more load, it’s a good cue for that as well. If I can’t feel my knee noticeably driving towards the nose of the board it’s a good bet I’m not loading the blade as much as I want to.

Establish a “circle of power” with your paddle

Using big muscles preferentially over smaller muscles means using the muscles of the hips, core, legs, back, chest and shoulders in preference to the smaller muscles of the arms. However you’re going to have to connect the force generated by those big muscles to the paddle somehow and that’s where your arms come in. You should look at them as connecting rods that link the larger muscle groups to the paddle instead of major contributors themselves.

If your arms are going to be effective connectors they have to remain rigid enough to transfer everything to the paddle. If you try to pull with your arms in any way during the pulling phase or let them go slack, there will be a break in transmission of power from the big muscles to the paddle. This is the last thing you want. One thing I’ve always visualized is a “circle of power” that runs from my top hand up my top arm, across my shoulders to the my bottom arm, down my bottom arm to my bottom hand, and then up the paddle shaft to my top hand. I try to imagine it’s a chain that is stretched tight all the way around rather than slack at any point in the circle. While it is imperative that your shoulders and arms be relaxed as much as possible, you need to contract the stabilizing muscles along that chain just enough to keep it rigid. Of course the paddle shaft, being made of carbon fiber, will stay very rigid on its own.

If you can do this you’ll do a very good job of transferring force generated from your big muscles to the paddle, and there won’t be any force lost. The only exception to not flexing your arms while you’re pulling is the slight bend you add to your bottom arm to help save paddle angle towards the end of the pull. But this bending is done gradually and with keeping an intact circle of power in mind. It should in no way diminish your ability to connect your big muscles to the paddle at that point in the stroke.

In the recovery, of course, everything relaxes and the “circle of power” disappears. However as you’re bringing the paddle forward for the next stroke you’re making all the preparatory movements necessary to reestablish it the moment the blade contacts the water.

Try to link every movement to your paddle

There’s a concept in biomechanics called “summation of forces”. Basically it says that the more joints that are involved in a movement, the more total force will be produced because the force generated by one joint is added to that produced by the next and so on. The trick is that the movements have to be performed in the correct sequence and without pauses or gaps that compromise the flow of the movement. When one joint has contributed most of it’s force to a movement, the next joint has to jump in at the correct time to keep the movement going and add its contribution.

Think of sport movements like a baseball pitch or tennis serve. The athlete’s entire body is involved in the motion. If a pitcher could throw a 95 mph fastball without the big windup don’t you think he would? Instead, the only hope he has of throwing that hard is by putting everything he has into it and using every major joint in his body. We’ve got to do the same on our SUP boards. We need to maximize the contribution to our stroke of every muscle crossing every joint.

We all have to find the way to do that which is optimal, and we’ll all do it slightly differently. The stroke is so complex that I have difficulty describing exactly how I link every movement I make to the paddle. What I can say is that I find it a lot easier to be aware of all the little things my body is doing if I can feel some resistance against which it’s working. Loading weight on the blade and using big muscles preferentially over small muscles is a great way to feel more resistance against your paddle. Searching for a paddling motion that is fluid and rhythmical against that resistance is what is key. Unfortunately, sometimes when you work on technique to excess and do a lot of drills you end up with a motion that is a little disjointed and mechanical. You end up working so hard on separate elements of your stroke that you lose sight of how to fit it all together. I want to emphasize the importance of the whole rather than all the component pieces.

As you become more aware of your feel for the water and the muscles which you engage, you should become better at feeling how everything fits together while you’re paddling and how various muscles connect to the paddle. For this reason I don’t advocate doing drills for more than about twenty minutes a session. You’ve got to spend time paddling with flow and focusing on the whole, not just on a bunch of component pieces of your stroke.

Next…

In the last three posts we’ve pretty much covered the entire “active” part of the stroke that propels your board forward. I’ve given you lots of tips and ideas that should enhance your force producing movements, your ability to connect them to the paddle, and your ability to connect the paddle to the water. In the last part of this series I’ll look at putting it all together and give you some tips and training ideas that can help you learn to relax while paddling, paddle more fluidly and rhythmically, and maintain board run between strokes.

“Big Picture” Approach to Technique Part 2 – Maintaining Positive Blade Angle as Long as Possible

You’ll recall when I introduced the “Big Picture” approach to looking at technique that the second thing I mentioned was maintaining a positive to vertical blade angle as long as possible in the stroke. This builds on what I discussed last week in Part 1 – securing your blade in the water and pulling yourself past the paddle. If you can secure your blade effectively, you’ll pull yourself a lot further past the blade every stroke if you’re able to maintain a positive to vertical blade angle than you will if you quickly lose that positive angle. While it is inevitable that you’ll end up with your blade past vertical and at a negative angle during the late stages of the stroke, the more you can do with a positive angle the better.

Let’s take a look at some things you can do to maximize the positive blade angle in your stroke and some of the common errors that lead to a negative angle occurring too soon. You’ll find that some of the things discussed in the last post that are useful in maintaining connection help with maintaining positive blade angle as well. In actual fact, the more connected you are, the more likely it is that you’ll be doing a good job of paddling with a positive blade angle. Similarly, the better you are at maintaining positive blade angle, the more likely it is that you will be able to find superior connection. The two are that closely related.

The catch

• Make sure you get adequate rotation from your shoulders and hips. If you are reaching far enough it will be because you’ve got good rotation from your shoulders and hips. We discussed this in the last post and used drills 1 through 4 from “Some Useful Technique Drills for SUP”  to help with connection at the catch. The fact of the matter is that if you’re reaching far enough and gathering water behind your blade effectively you are going to have a suitably positive blade angle. One of the biggest errors you can make which negatively affects your ability to maintain blade angle through the stroke is not getting enough of a positive blade angle (in other words not reaching enough) to start with. If you’re lacking rotation, and therefore lacking reach, you’ll have a smaller positive blade angle at the catch that will disappear much more quickly as you begin to pull. The more reach you have to start with, the longer you’ll be able to maintain positive blade angle during the pull.
  
  Having said that, it isn’t simply a case of more is better with reach and rotation. If you attempt to reach too far it encourages a number of errors that diminish your ability to maintain appropriate connection or effectively engage big muscles in your stroke. The trick is to reach the optimal amount. Lets take a look at a couple of things to avoid in your attempt to find reach.
  
  If you bend your top arm too much you’ll increase the positive angle of your blade at the catch and the blade will likely enter the water further forward than otherwise. However once you bend your top arm at the elbow more than about 10 degrees, you’ll find that the pressure you can apply with your top hand down the paddle shaft decreases. This will diminish your ability to maintain connection through the stroke. It also increases the likelihood that you’ll straighten your arm out during the pull, which means that you’ll in effect be punching forward with your top hand rather than exerting downward pressure. Not only does this diminish your ability to maintain connection, it actually decreases the length of time you’ll be able to maintain positive blade angle as the paddle will end up pivoting around your bottom hand, going to a negative angle more quickly, rather than travelling at a positive angle for a longer period of time.
  
  You can easily experiment with this on land. If you have access to a pulley machine at the gym, try doing a one-arm press-down and play with different angles at the elbow as you try it. You’ll quickly find the optimal angle at which you are strongest. It will likely be somewhere around 10 degrees. You can also experiment in front of a full-length mirror. Hold your paddle normally with your bottom hand and experiment with bending your top arm at different angles as you pretend to pull a stroke. You’ll find that you have a greater positive paddle angle the more you bend your top arm. But watch what happens if your top arm straightens during the pull. You’ll see that rather than travelling at a positive blade angle that allows the big muscles of your torso and hips to be involved in applying force on the blade through the stroke, the paddle instead quickly passes through vertical to a negative angle by pivoting around your bottom hand.
  
  The other mistake people often make in their search for more reach is that they over-rotate. Just like with top arm angle, there is an optimal amount of rotation for each of us. Too little and we don’t put ourselves into position to effectively use our hips and torso during the stroke and our stroke will simply be too short. Too much and we put ourselves into a position at the catch where it is difficult to effectively generate sufficient power. Remember we want to get onto our paddle and generate as much power as we can as quickly and dynamically as possible at the catch. What’s the point of trying to reach a little further if it impedes our ability to do that?
  
  You’ll have to experiment a bit to find what is optimal rotation (and therefore reach) for you. Just be aware that one of the most common mistakes is that people don’t rotate enough, and if that is your problem it will definitely be limiting how long you are able to maintain positive blade angle in your stroke.



• When engaging your hips make sure to hold your top shoulder back. This is a bit tricky and is something you shouldn’t take too literally or it can mess you up. Basically, what you don’t want to do is engage your hips and have your shoulders un-rotate with them so that you lose all your rotation immediately. Your hips should lead the motion and your shoulders follow, but you should try to spread the de-rotation of your shoulders out through the stroke. I find the easiest way to do this is to think about holding my top shoulder back and focus instead on pressing down with the top hand. My shoulders end up un-rotating appropriately during the pull and I am able to maintain blade angle well. If I don’t concentrate on this I find it is easy to punch forward with my top shoulder, leading to a very rapid loss of rotation and positive angle before I’ve even really started the pull.

The pull

• Spread your de-rotation out over the stroke. Building on the last point above, you want to think about distributing the de-rotation of your hips and shoulders out over the entire first half of your stroke. Your hips are going to move most dynamically and will lose their rotation more quickly than your shoulders, but for both you don’t want to have done everything in the catch and have nothing left to use during the pull. Remember, positive angle is preferable to a negative angle for moving the board forward, but the optimal angle is when the blade passes through vertical. You want to be passing through vertical when everything – body weight on the blade, force generated from your hips, force generated by your shoulders, and force generated by top hand pressure – is at it’s maximum. It’s going to take some time and experimenting to find out exactly where this point is in the stroke for the way you paddle, but the key is to make sure that your blade is passing through vertical when all these forces are approaching maximum. If you don’t think about spreading your de-rotation out through the stroke you’ll find you have a negative blade angle at this critical point and you’ll be getting less out of it than you should be.



• Try to get everything done early. This may seem counterintuitive if we’ve just talked about spreading your de-rotation out over the entire stroke but basically what I’m suggesting here is that you think about being dynamic and aggressive with the work you do against the water, right from the catch and through the pull. Even though you’re trying to spread your de-rotation out over the entire stroke, the last thing you want to do is do it slowly. If you try to be aggressively dynamic and get the pulling done early you’ll find that you are likely to have more of a positive angle through the pulling phase than if you are less dynamic and committed to an aggressive stroke. You can use reference points on your board (or put some on your board using tape) to help remind you of where you should be entering the water, burying your blade, reaching a vertical angle with your blade, and initiating your exit.



• Use top hand pressure to not only stabilize the blade in the water but to maintain paddle angle. By now I’m sure you are realizing just how important top hand pressure is during the stroke. Remember, this pressure comes from the muscles of your upper back, chest and your entire shoulder girdle as opposed to the relatively small muscles of your deltoids and rotator cuff and is transmitted to the paddle through your top arm, which acts as a connecting rod to the paddle.
  
  
  As you are loading your paddle during the pull you’ll want to think about pressing directly down the paddle shaft with your top hand and using that pressure to help you begin to come up with the stroke as your blade passes through vertical and you begin to unload the paddle. It is almost as if you push off of the stabilized and supported paddle to push yourself into an upright position as you unload, rather than use the small, postural muscles of your low back to stand more upright.
  
  
  While many would consider this unloading to be part of the exit, you need to start thinking about it in the pull. When you’re paddling well you always have to be mentally one step ahead of what you’re doing in your stroke because it is impossible to think of something and then immediately do it when you’re paddling. If you’re paddling properly, and have your muscles and body weight effectively applied to the blade in a dynamic motion, it takes a fraction of a second to get them to start unloading after they’ve been committed to loading the paddle. You actually need to be setting up the exit in the second half of the pulling phase, and top hand pressure is crucial for this.
  
  
  Tommy Buday recently released a video that I am sure you can find on YouTube in which he talks about trying to pull your body to the paddle in the late stages of the pull to initiate your exit. This can also be an effective way to look at this part of the stroke, although I think you’ll find what Tommy suggests easiest to do with really solid top hand pressure.


• Don’t go too deep. Although I’ve talked a lot about increasing connection and load on the blade by going a little deeper into the water, there’s a limit to what is effective. The deeper you go, the more likely it is that your body will get a little behind your blade and you’ll be late coming up and have a bit more of a negative angle relative to your body position. This is a common issue that I have to deal with, and arises because I feel I often have more to gain from the extra connection going a little deeper gives me than I do from maintaining a more positive angle at the end of the stroke.
  
  Like most things in paddling it is a trade off. The gear I’m trying to use and the conditions I’m paddling in are what determine how deep I tend to go. Experimentation with different loads and stroke rates is the only way to determine what is optimal for you, and you really aren’t a complete paddler if you don’t have at least a couple of “gears” that you feel are optimal.
  
  
  

The exit

• You’re going to have a negative blade angle in the exit. Don’t stress about it. Just make sure it doesn’t get too negative. In “More Thoughts on SUP Technique” I demonstrated that pulling the blade past your feet with a negative angle isn’t disastrous with regards to making your board go fast. Your board is still accelerating, even though the blade is at a negative angle and is behind you. In my opinion, trying too hard to get the blade out of the water before your feet and limiting negative blade angle at this stage of the stroke likely means you’ll be limiting the amount of load you get on the paddle in the pulling phase of your stroke. I think that getting appropriate load in the pulling phase should be most important and you really don’t want to limit it in any way, so I’ve always been okay with pulling a little past your feet. If you see any of the top paddlers in the world in action you’ll notice they all pull past their feet to some degree, so let’s get the notion out of our heads that this is wrong.
  
  What is wrong is pulling too far past your feet and letting the blade angle get too negative. Not only are there diminishing returns in terms of the acceleration you can provide to your board at this point of your stroke, if you get too negative a blade angle you’ll end up slowing your board down by increasing the pitch of your board as a result of pulling the tail into the water. So the key here is to just make sure the blade angle doesn’t get too negative.
  
  If you’ve done a good job of trying to get everything done early in the pull, and if you’ve maintained good top hand pressure and have pushed yourself upright by pressing down the paddle shaft as you’ve begun your unloading then you’ll almost automatically be executing your exit in an appropriate spot. Your blade will of course be at a negative angle, but not excessively so. Just maintain top hand pressure till the last possible moment as you reload your hips forward, straighten your legs and pop the blade out of the water.

• Bend your bottom arm a little towards the exit. For good reason, it has been pretty well established that it is best to reach and then pull with a straight bottom or paddling side arm. It ensures that you’re getting maximum reach and that you aren’t pulling with your biceps and instead are using the big muscles of your back and hips. Remember, your arms should be viewed simply as connecting rods through which the big muscles apply force to the paddle.
  
  However as you approach the exit in the late stages of the pull, it makes sense to bend your paddling side arm a little as it will actually help you maintain blade angle through the exit. It doesn’t mean you stop pulling with your big muscles and begin using your biceps exclusively. You can compare it to doing a one-arm row in the gym, where you are using your lats almost exclusively even though you are bending your arm as you do it. It turns out that by bending our bottom arm slightly at this stage in the stroke we can maintain a few more degrees of blade angle than if we can if we continue to have a straight arm. Our big muscles are still engaged; the path of the paddle is just slightly adjusted, delaying its arrival to a big negative position. This is an especially useful trick to use if, like me, you are heavily loaded in the pulling phase and likely to find your body a little late coming up at the end of the stroke because of it.

What’s next?

To this point we’ve looked at securing the blade in the water and pulling yourself past the paddle as well as paddling with a positive blade angle as much as possible. The two are interrelated and it is hard to do one well without doing the other well at the same time. Conversely, it is easy to mess one up if you do the other poorly, so it is really important to work at both.

Next we’ll want to look at tips for using big muscles preferentially over small muscles in the SUP stroke. We’ll be revisiting many of the points made in these last two posts to do that, but there are few extra things we can look at that will help us do this effectively. Stay tuned for more…

“Big Picture” Approach to Technique Part 1 – Securing your Blade in the Water and Pulling Yourself Past the Paddle

I’ve been busy racing the last couple of weeks and so haven’t posted in a while. You’ll remember in the last post I made, I discussed how taking a “big picture” approach to technique is a more preferable first step than getting right into considering body positions, joint angles, etc. While eventually you’ll need to consider this level of detail, it is much more effective to consider technique on a larger scale initially than micromanaging every minute aspect of the stroke. I explained that we’re all different and are all going to take a slightly different approach to moving the board based on our own unique physical characteristics and level of fitness. I introduced seven key elements of technique that you should try to address effectively in a way that best works for you based on those characteristics and your fitness level, and promised to look at each one more closely in future posts. Today I’d like to start with the first and most important one – securing your paddle blade in the water and pulling yourself past the paddle.

If you’re focusing on pulling your blade through the water then you are taking the exact wrong approach to paddling. Instead, you should be thinking of pulling yourself by the paddle. The aim of the first approach is to just pull the paddle towards you. It results in some forward movement by coincidence. The aim of the second approach is to move your board forward maximally each stroke, using the paddle as a tool to do that. To me the difference couldn’t be more obvious.

If you’re going to pull yourself by the paddle effectively you first need to gather water on your blade as it enters the water at the catch and then hold that water on your blade and work against it through the stroke. You need to be able to actually visualize this and be able to distinguish the difference between working with the blade against the water and pulling the blade through the water. You also need to train yourself to “feel” the water you’ve gathered behind your blade. If you reached out and grabbed something with your hand I have no doubt you’d feel it. What you need to learn to do is make the paddle an extension of your body so that as your blade is entering the water you actually feel the water gather against your paddle just like you would if it were your hand. You should feel this in the fingers of your pulling hand and with your entire body as the paddle begins to support your body weight. Then as you start to work against the water to move the board forward you should feel the water on the paddle blade in all the muscles up your paddling side arm and into your shoulders, back and core, and up your top arm into your shoulders, back and core. Your arms should simply act like connecting rods which attach the paddle to your torso and ultimately to your hips and legs, and your entire body can then be engaged in pulling the board past your planted paddle. Sounds easy, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. A lot of one’s ability to feel the water is innate. When you first send kids on the water in kayaks at a canoe club, you’ll see some who try to move the boat past the paddle naturally. They take slow strokes and the boat seems to move a long way every stroke. You can actually see a connection between the paddle blades and the biggest muscles in their little bodies. You’ll see others that just try to move the paddle, with no real sense of connection to anything. Their paddle blades move quickly through the water, splash a lot, and their boat hardly moves anywhere. The kids in the first group are ready to move to learning more about technique. The ones in the second group have to learn how to feel the water first. It is the single most difficult thing to teach, and some paddlers never really master it.

Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do throughout your stroke to increase your feel for the water. We can also take a look at some of the things that prevent you from doing it well and suggest some corrections for the most common mistakes.

The catch

• Make sure the blade is actually moving forward as it enters the water. Think of the way a swimmer’s hands enter the water when they are swimming freestyle. Their hands don’t slap down onto the water, but instead sort of spear forward into the water, gathering water behind them. If you’ve spent any time paddling a prone board you’ll have been doing the same thing. Imagine doing this with your paddle blade instead of your hands and you’re half way there.
  
  One of the analogies I like to use is reaching into a big bucket of movie theatre popcorn with your hand and trying to grab as much as you can each time. Imagine you’re trying to do the same thing with your paddle blade and the water is the popcorn.
  
  In “Some Useful Technique Drills for SUP”, I shared a number of drills I use which help enhance certain elements of the stroke. You should refer to it throughout this post. Drills 1 through 4 are really useful for this aspect of the stroke and you should perform them sequentially to get maximum benefit.
  
  The most common error is pulling the paddle blade back in the process of catching, which means the blade will be doing the exact opposite of “spearing” into the water. This most commonly happens because the paddler reaches too far in the set up and can’t continue to reach forward as their blade lowers to meet the water. I call this “air catching”, and the best way to fix this mistake is to ensure you are not overreaching in the set up and instead are just reaching with a casual rotation during the set up and then continue to rotate shoulders and hips forward as the blade tip lowers to meet the water. As I rotate forward to meet the water, my paddling side leg bends more at the knee and my inside leg straightens a bit, and as my paddling side legs bends I become aware of increasing flexion of my paddling side ankle. My heels also get a little lighter in their contact with the board. I’m actually reaching forward right from my feet and my paddling side foot in particular. Again drills 1 through 4 will be useful in correcting an “air catch” and drill 7 will be useful for helping you get your heels a little lighter and your weight forward onto the paddle.



• As you’re gathering water behind your blade you need to start working against it to move yourself forward. Because it’s all about moving our board forward, we never really have time to “plant” our paddle and then “pull”. You’ll actually be slowing your board down when you plant your paddle if there is a lag before you pull because if the blade doesn’t immediately work against the water it will instead be acting as a brake. It’s okay to start with a definite “plant” and then “pull” while you’re learning, however as you get more advanced you should aim to reduce the lag between the two until the gathering of water behind your blade and the start of work against it happens almost simultaneously. The catch drill and catch paddling really can help with this.



• As soon as you have water gathered on your blade you need good top hand pressure, directed down the paddle shaft to ensure you hold onto that water. This top hand pressure is hugely important. If you’ve planted and secured your blade in the water this pressure will keep the blade secure as you work against the water to pull yourself forward. One of the biggest errors a sprint canoe paddler can make is pulling too much from the bottom shoulder because of a passive top hand.
  
  You shouldn’t be punching forward with the top shoulder/hand, but instead should be directing pressure straight down the middle of the paddle shaft. Be sure to make the top hand pressure come from the big muscles of your back, shoulder and chest, rather than from just the deltoids and rotator cuff muscles of your shoulder. Remember, your arms are just connectors between the paddle and the big muscles of your torso, core and hips.



• Eliminate any tension in your muscles and try to be as relaxed as you can. If you are tense, are gripping your paddle too tightly, or are tight in your shoulders and neck you won’t be able to feel the water properly and won’t be able to tell if you’ve loaded your blade effectively or not. Proprioceptors in your muscles give you feedback about the load you have on your paddle blade. However for them to do their job they need to identify the load placed on your muscles from the paddle blade. If all of your muscles are tense these proprioceptors won’t be able to distinguish that load from the background noise created by those tense muscles.



• Engage your hips to initiate your stroke. A big part of connection comes from the speed at which we work against the water. If we work slowly against the water, our board will accelerate less than if we work really dynamically and explosively against it. Your hips and legs represent the largest, most powerful muscles that we can use to accelerate our board. We need to ensure that the blade is secured in the water first, but once we have secured it our hips and, to a lesser extent, our legs should provide the bulk of the impulse against the secured paddle. It is extremely important that your hips stay forward until the blade has been planted and secured, but once it has they should drive back explosively, connected to your paddle through your torso and arms.
  
  Obviously you’ll have to do some homework before you should try using them explosively. If you rush this process it’s likely you’ll end up pulling the blade through the water rather than the board past the paddle. However once you’re confident you have a good connection with the water and are moving your board past the paddle by using your hips, you should little-by-little work at increasing the speed at which you apply your hips and legs to the stroke. Eventually you’ll have a really connected, explosively dynamic stroke.

The pull

• Maximize connection through the pull by learning how to fully load your paddle during the pull. We’ll talk more about this when we talk about using body weight during the stroke but basically, if you’ve got your paddle well connected to the water you should be able to “climb on top of your paddle” with your body weight during the pull, thus getting weight off of your board. This in turn makes your board a little lighter and allows it to sit slightly higher in the water, which then makes it easier to pull through the water. It also allows you to gain benefit from your body weight and add that to what you’re applying to the paddle with your muscles as you work against the water.
  
  The big benefit of continuing to load your paddle during the pull is that it helps you maintain, and even increase, connection. Imagine that the water is composed of a column of extremely small water molecules stacked on top of each other in a great number of very thin layers. As soon as the tip of your blade enters the water and works against the water column it disturbs the molecules in that layer. They move away from the face of the blade and fill space on the backside of the blade where a little vacuum has been created. This results in a loss of connection similar to your foot losing traction in deep beach sand or snow. Fortunately, all we need to do is go a little deeper into the water column with our paddle and we’ll find a new, undisturbed layer of water. For a moment we reestablish connection until that layer is disturbed and connection is reduced. We can reestablish connection again by sinking the blade deeper into the water and interacting with another new, undisturbed layer. This happens repeatedly as the blade tip sinks deeper into the water. Once we’ve reached the maximum depth of our stroke, the top of the blade repeats the same process as the blade climbs back up through the water column towards the exit.
  
  I suggest you experiment with the “Loading Drill”. Like all drills it is an exaggeration that in this case should help you find maximal connection through the pulling phase of your stroke. The more you load, the more connected your stroke will be through this phase. If you load too much for your strength, you’ll find the stroke too heavy and unsustainable for long periods. It’s like using a gear that is too big for you on your bike. Playing around with this drill should help you find optimal load and therefore connection for the pulling phase of your stroke.



• Use your legs to help load your paddle. Most people bend at the waist in this part of the stroke to keep their blade buried. Of course we’re talking about doing much more than just burying our blade so we’ll have to do more than just bend at the waist. I strongly suggest bending your legs more as you load your blade to help you get the blade to sink deeper into the water. You’ll find this relieves strain on your lower back while also allowing you to continue to engage your hips and legs which you started to do in the catch. If you do this, your legs will end up giving you a huge boost when you “unload”, straightening them as you spring your hips forward at the exit.



• Maintain top hand pressure. A common mistake in the pulling phase is loss of top hand pressure. It is extremely important to remember to maintain consistent top hand pressure down the paddle shaft through the entire stroke. As soon as you release top hand pressure, your paddle blade is no longer as stabilized and secure in the water, making it more difficult to effectively pull yourself by the paddle.



• Stay relaxed. Remember, for the proprioceptors in your paddling muscles to feel water against the paddle blade your muscles need to be relaxed. You can experience this by paddling with relaxed muscles and then feeling the difference when you intentionally tense up all your muscles and grip the paddle too tightly. You’ll notice a drastically diminished ability to feel water against your paddle blade when your muscles are tense.

The exit

Most people get the idea of pulling yourself to the paddle in the catch and pull. Fewer appreciate that you can actually push yourself past the paddle at the exit. An exit that is properly executed gives your board one last burst of acceleration that helps it better maintain its speed between strokes.
 
• Unload your paddle by bringing your hips forward and straightening your legs. If during the pull your focus was on loading the paddle, in the exit it should be on unloading it. As the blade nears your body and blade angle passes through vertical, you want to prepare for your exit by reloading your hips forward and unbending your legs. It is imperative that these two movements occur while the blade is still supported in the water. In fact these movements should initiate the process of the blade exiting the water. If you can execute these movements against a fully supported blade you’ll be pushing yourself forward off the blade at the exit not unlike the way a cross-country skier pushes themselves forward in the last stages of the double polling motion.
  
  You can try doing the loading drill and focusing on the unloading at the end of the stroke to work on connection at the exit. I’d also suggest doing the “exit drill”. You’ll want to do them rather slowly and carefully initially to make sure you’re synchronizing your movements properly, but ultimately you want to be exploding forward with your hips and as you straighten your legs. Like the rest of the stroke this motion needs to be dynamic. If you’re getting an effective push off the exit you’ll feel like the board is really accelerating or surging off the back of the stroke and maintaining speed between strokes.
  
  The biggest and most common mistake made at this point in the stroke is starting your hip and leg motion after the blade has already exited the water. Not only will this not push your board forward, it will actually break the forward run of your board. You’ll want to continually remind yourself as you’re working on your exit that the forward movement of your hips and unbending of your legs is what initiates the action of lifting your blade out of the water.



• Don’t forget to maintain top hand pressure. If top hand pressure sounds like a recurring theme throughout the stroke then it must be important. Remember top hand pressure directed down the paddle shaft keeps the blade stabilized and supported in the water. It is very common to see paddlers relaxing their top hand pressure in the late stages of the pull meaning that their exit, no matter how well they do the rest of the exit movements, will be soft and ineffective.

Where do we go from here?

In this post I’ve discussed things you can do to effectively secure the paddle blade in the water and to maximize your ability to pull yourself by the paddle throughout the stroke. I’ve described strategies you can try and things you can visualize to help you do this, but ultimately you’ll have to find a way that works for you. They way I accomplish this is different than how Travis Grant does it, and Travis does it differently than Connor Baxter. Once you’ve found a way that seems to work for you, you’ll have to remember it for the next post in which we will focus on maintaining positive blade angle as long as possible, because that will build on your ability to find connection with your paddle. It won’t do you any good to have a positive blade angle through most of your stroke if your blade isn’t well connected. Give these tips a try and stay tuned for more…