As your hand enters the water, think of your hand as an anchor and you're trying to pull your board and body past it.
I had not thought of this before reading this, but as both a profesional water skier and water ski coach I have experienced that a simple mental paradigm shift can have a significant change in performace/eficientcy/productivity.
In this case, the thought process of pulling yourself forward/through the water may have a very different effect on doing what I suspect most people think of as paddling.
I am assuming that most people think of paddling as reaching forward and then pulling the water back and past them and the surfboard. At least this is how my 5 years old has been told to swim (reach and pull back instead of what I am suggesting as reach and full yourself forward).
In watersking: the difference between pulling the handle into your waist is very different than thinking of pulling your body towards the handle.
In skateboarding: you will find that you go much faster if you think of pushing your body forward instead of trying to push your foot backwards.
This is a suttle mental shift and does not require a consous mechanical change (as that all happens sub-consously) but will make a significant mechanical change and improve performance.
This is theroretical w.r.t. paddling as I have not thought of it this way until now, but I will try it tomorrow and expect it will make as big of a difference for paddling as it does in all other areas I have applied it.
The point Cantellya made about imagining your hand as an anchor and pulling yourself past it reminds me of something else I read recently, which mentioned imagining pulling yourself along a ladder from one end of the pool to the other.
Ok - I tried paddling this afternoon with what I’ll succinctly call the weird Ian Thorpe-ish bent arm approach and I’m afraid that I will have to report (surprise!) that it was a bust. Although I think I was able to approximate the arm position to an extent that I was able to get both my hand and forearm pushing against the water, it was so awkward feeling that I felt like I was paddling in place. The idea does make sense though - bigger surface area pushing against the water should lead to more paddling speed - kind of like a built in pair of webbed surf gloves. Anyone ever try those? Just kidding, I remember the interesting discussion we had on that bit of surf history a few months ago. Anyway, I did have a good surf today - chunky, shoulder high, ridiculous current, so many walks back up the beach that my legs are more tired than my arms… its just good to be a surfer.
kind of like a built in pair of webbed surf gloves. Anyone ever try those?
Last time I was back home I was at my brother’s house checking out the latest boards he’d bought, and he starts laughing and out of a bucket of old boots and gloves etc he pulls out… an old pair of A.P.E. gloves I bought back in the very early 90’s. Apart from a tear in the wrist seam, they were still in pretty good shape (never really used them much except for some swim training) and I meant to bring them back with me to wear them this summer for a laugh, but I forgot them…
OK here’s the deal. The guys that are into rowing can relate to this. If you row with just your arms you get nowhere. when you row with your body you go far. Same with surfing.
4est I’ with you on the mental approach, it works in my swimming, skateboarding and paddling as well.
so the old timers suggest laying prone chin down for maximum paddling power huh? strange cause more than once I’ve read that slight extending (not hyperextending) the back helps with leverage…but my father is not a surfer.
Amount of arm you dip in depends on your physical strengths. If you’re a muscle bounder, go deep.
If you’re a skinny rep guy, go shallow with higher RPMS.
Everyone is different.
Forget swimmers and kayakers! Look closely at SURFERS! And look only at surfers using the same style of board YOU do. Shortboarders, look at competive pros. Arched back is nice, especially when you’re 20 years old, but look at their paddling form! Stroke is pivoted from the shoulders, arms comfy straight, using the LATS for power, no rocking side to side!
Lee, I think you bring up some good points when you say, “Look closely at SURFERS! And look only at surfers using the same style of board you do”. Maybe it’s my senility, but I don’t remember guys back in the 60s having such a hard time catching waves, and it occurred to me that it’s likely due to the boards we rode then compared to now. Little rocker back then which made for less drag and a smooth paddle glide, more weight, mass, and especially the fact that the thickest part of the board and apex of rocker was usually at or considerably behind center. Therefore, when you leaned your head and chest down and threw your weight into forward momentum as you began to paddle, the board “rolled” forward with a bit more enertia. Just more food for thought.
Some very interesting comments made in this thread, and I’m sure I’ll be paying a bit more attention to my form the next time I’m out.
Hmmm… all the experience in the world helps not one iota unless you’re fit enough to paddle to the peak faster than others and strong enough to catch the wave in the first place… at least on a shortboard.
I’ve a freind who was (not terribly long ago ) a competitive surfer…a nasty case of bitchwifeitis stopped him surfing for nearly 2 years. After bitchwifectomy he resumed surfing - first session back - could barely catch a wave where previously he’d catch 20 in 1/2 hr.
I guess for longboarding however, if you’ve got the strength to pull your arm back with same force needed to open a door, correct positioning is all you need. Yes, if you can take off late enough on a s board, then all you need’s two paddles but it still needs fitness to beat that whippersnapper to the peak.
Interesting — no mention of board design here…can someone tell how Shawn Briley catches waves on a matchstick when he sure looks like he shouldn’t be able to…
I’ve a freind who was (not terribly long ago ) a competitive surfer…a nasty case of bitchwifeitis stopped him surfing for nearly 2 years. After bitchwifectomy he resumed surfing - first session back - could barely catch a wave where previously he’d catch 20 in 1/2 hr… …
glad to hear he had the operation … those growths can be hard to remove sometimes !!
It WILL take a while for him to recover to full strength [daily surfs for the NEXT 2 years , I prescribe ]…
Funny , I was wondering aloud the same thing about Shawn Briley with a friend the other day !!
…I’ll be interested to hear people’s thoughts … ?sheer brute strength and good paddling technique ? are my guesses [is it possible for someone to be a lot fitter than they LOOK ??!!]
Yup…no doubt while I was getting in to surf shape the lats developed, but the real explosive power comes from the triceps and that’s the finish. Oh my poor puny little arms now…
This is the best padling advice I’ve had in years. Tested it this weekend, I guess I’ve used my triceps before because they would get tired, but being conscious about it really helped. I guess the triceps is the only explosive muscle in my body…
Regardless, IMHO the guy in the best position wins, almost regardless of technique, equipment and strength, and gets the wave.
I’m shaped more like a brick which might be the problem…
Seriously, a 1/8th increase in paddlepower is a huge improvement. Secondly, even though the triceps is relativly small and has less range of motion than lats and pecs you can still lift much more than 1/8th of the weight that you can pull/llift with lats/pecs just because of the way it is jointed and the length from the joint to the hand. And for the same reasons, the triceps will give a more explosive push for it’s strength.