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Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 7:23 pm
by astro
[quote="dUg"]Cheers Nick. I will never laugh at how silly a clubbie on a paddle board looks ever again. :lol:

I will :twisted:

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Thu Apr 09, 2009 12:17 pm
by marcus
Nick
I have been practicing on a longboard and have found its totally different to paddling a bodyboard with my arms, not sure why but im getting really tired and never did before.
i think its because on a bb my catch was in front of the nose, now its allong the rail.

so im practicing more, i figure thats the only way to get better. :?

are there any exercises i can do out of water to improve?
raising light weights above my head for example?

Re:

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 5:28 pm
by marcus
Nick Carroll wrote: I'm not gonna do a tutorial here -- if you want one of them you're gonna have to pay for it. But here's some tips:
ok what do i owe ya?
you said for more info we need to pay.
which is fair enough, its your job and i dont do my job for free.
im willing to chuck the hat in the ring and put in a case of beer each or whatever, a few leggies perhaps??

because of you (and my sore shoulders) all im thinking about when surfing is your advice.

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:30 pm
by Nick Carroll
ahhh marcus a coupla tips in any case.

The craft you're paddling will cause you to change your stroke for numerous reasons. Maybe it's lower in the water, maybe it's wider in the beam, maybe its outline is different so it moves differently through the water.

I can't be sure (without the hugely expensive personal tuition thing) but I suspect two things are happening in the transition from bb to longboard:

- There's a board in front of you where there wasn't before, so you're struggling to get your arms around it

- You aren't getting any help from swim fins any more, so your body's posture has changed, and it's causing you discomfort.

Either way you are almost certainly not lifting your elbows in the return. Instead you're lifting your hands, which means you're over-working your upper arms and shoulders -- not (ironically) in the actual stroke, but in the bit where you're trying to get your hands back to the catch.

Relax! Slow the stroke rate. Focus on pulling the elbow up and keeping the hand loose and close in on the return, instead of lifting the hand out and swinging it like a club back to the catch. When I'm coaching people in paddle technique on paddleboards, I get 'em to actually keep their thumb in contact with the board all the way up from the return to the catch. You can't possibly do this unless your elbow is up.

Again: lifting the elbow transfers effort from the arm and shoulder to the muscles of the mid and upper back, which can take a lot more heat than the small and compact upper arm muscles.

You are then free to use the inside upper arm and chest muscles to catch and pull.

I tested this technique on a short board the other day btw, paddling out next to a guy on a longboard. I was rating about 40 strokes a minute, he was going about 80. Guess who got out the back first.

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Fri Apr 10, 2009 7:07 pm
by monkey
I always like to feel "high" above the board when I'm paddling,, with chest raised off the board as much as possible. Naturally, this is all good at the start of a session and gets harder as you get tired. When this happens I try to do fewer spm and concentrate on smooth strokes with less "pull".
I ge the same feeling if I'm swimming laps; the harder I stroke, the more ragged the rest of my body feels in terms of lower back and legs.
I remember some saying that MP was a great surfer but a phenomenal paddler, with arms bent at right angles out wide.

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 8:02 pm
by aaronn

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 8:50 pm
by DV8
Not exactly those high elbows that are all the rage ...................maybe 4/3 doesn't help ??

Smelly skater in"letting go" dvd at J-bay chasing the dolphin back out .......now that looks like high elbows to me !

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Thu May 21, 2009 3:19 pm
by Nick Carroll
Sloppy as all fcuk.

Probably not helped by the wetsuit he so dislikes wearing.

Parko has improved his paddling out of sight in the past six to eight months thanks to iron man set training with Wes Berg on the Goldie. You can't hang with guys like Wes and still paddle badly.

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 10:16 am
by mustkillmulloway
while your being generous 8)

i'm cool with your paddling and all

but how or what should i change and focus on when catching a wave

it's a different thing all together

right :?

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 12:04 pm
by Nick Carroll
I personally think two things count when paddling to catch a wave and the first -- positioning -- has bugger all to do with paddling.

Being in the right spot and angling correctly in relation to the wave is 80% of the wave catching deal.

The more effort you have to put in with your paddling in order to catch the wave, the less you'll be able to focus on -- and control -- the actual takeoff.

But if you put those rather massive factors out of the way, an accelerative paddle stroke will be tilted forward and down, and will concentrate on the front end of the stroke. Get your hands out of the water earlier -- parallel with your shoulders is good -- forget transferring energy to your back, and use the upper arm and shoulder muscles for a quick two-to-six-stroke explosive effort.

Acceleration will be the key here, not overall paddling pace, so leave the effort until the last few moments.

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 4:16 pm
by mustkillmulloway
nick nack,

had a little surf out front last friday (banks are shit :cry: )

and i couldn't help thinkin/feelin

decent swell events b4 your advice

i'd been carryin some serious shoulder injury by now, & on some shitty anti inflame drug

this ( last) swell, having surfed shitloads, all my muscles are bit sore

but my shoulders are fine 8)

lift the elbows :!: get the catch

thanks :arrow: for a natural footer, your not all bad :lol: :wink:

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 7:18 pm
by homebush
Nick,
I wish you had mentioned this technique back in the mid 60's. Would have saved me the surgery on 9/12/08. Doc says with following all therapy course to the letter September may a good time to attempt surfing again. Thanks for the info. Am going to celebrate the event with new board

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:10 pm
by goldguru
hey nick,
whats your take on kicking your legs at the last moment to catch a wave??
Ive seen other surfers do it but it doesnt seem to work for me?

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:42 pm
by Nick Carroll
fongy we exist to serve!

goldguru re kicking your legs to help catch waves:

You might assume people do this in order to displace water with their feet the way a bodyboarder kicks into a wave. But it's not the case.

Kicking while paddling is done by some people quite instinctively in order to achieve the Nipper results mentioned up the top of this page. They get the arm in further up and it can help balance the stroke. Result: a quick burst of paddling speed.

I bust myself regularly doing it but I don't think it's all that great an idea because it tends to throw you off on the actual getting-to-your-feet bit. The leg kicking and straining etc is pretty ragged physical movement, and getting to your feet is all about smoothness and minimal effort. (It always makes me laugh when I read surf instruction manuals telling you to practice for popping up by doing pushups and such like. Successful popping is all about letting the board do the work. But that's another subject.)

So yeah, don't worry if the kicking isn't helping, you're better off without it.

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 7:21 pm
by goldguru
thanks Nick :D

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2009 6:19 pm
by paulcannon
gloves give you about 30 percent more. thats a lot. i paddle my 5 11 along side mals. its a bigger workout but that only makes you stronger. gives way more explosive power. gloves

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:26 pm
by otway1949
paulcannon wrote:gloves give you about 30 percent more. thats a lot. i paddle my 5 11 along side mals. its a bigger workout but that only makes you stronger. gives way more explosive power. gloves
Just wait till you do a hand stall in a barrel. Very interesting :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: correct paddling technique?

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 11:15 am
by Sveta
This stuff is gold right here. How come I never saw this thread before. Probably because I only look at the main screen current topics. My shoulders feel relieved already.

I usually surf for 2-3 hours at a time but seems i'm running on brute strength alone and by the end I'm spent. I always wondered how the Parkos and the Fannings were surfing all day, sometimes without breaks.

I'm curious as to the paddle board technique of running the thumbs along the side of the board. it sounds like the dragging the fingers tip when swimming. I guess the point is to get the elbows up right ?