Surfing tip: paddle right

Disclaimer: This post contains no pithy observations or photos. It is intended to document and clarify my insights into surfing technique for my own benefit more than for yours.


As I've said before, paddling is hard. But if you're like me, or many of the beginner and intermediate surfers I see out in the water every day, you're probably making it a lot harder than it has to be. In my estimation, poor paddling is the single biggest obstacle to beginners catching waves, bar none. The good news for beginners - especially scrawny ones like me - is that more effective paddling doesn't necessarily require a huge increase in muscle strength.

Position

If you are too far forward or too far back on the board, you are doomed. Find the right spot before you start paddling, every time.

Chest and back

If you're a boy, your nipples should be off the board when you're paddling. If you're a girl... well, the point is, your chest should be tilted up and out, not lying on the board. Don't hyperextend your back to achieve this. Think of it more as a backwards rotation of your ribcage. It takes a while to figure out the exact position that's right for you, and in my experience, the mid-back muscles that will allow you to hold this pose need a few days to build up the requisite strength and stamina. But once you get the hang of this, paddling will magically get twice as easy.

Shoulders

Assume the paddling position as previously described, with your chest up. Now make sure your shoulders are pulled back, and just let your arms dangle. If you're doing this right, you should be able to relax your arms completely and let them hang from your shoulders. Which brings us to...

Arms

In the first half of your paddle stroke, you're pulling yourself through the water. In the second half, you're pushing yourself. People tend to overemphasize the pulling and ignore the pushing. Imagine trying to climb onto a ledge. Is it easier to pull yourself up from a full hanging position, or push yourself up once you've got your hands below your shoulders? Pushing is much easier, because the muscles you use to push (chest and biceps) are much stronger than the muscles you use to pull (shoulders and triceps). So what you want to do when you're paddling is really focus your energy output on the second half of the stroke, when you're pushing water behind you. You can make this even more effective by describing a slight S shape with your hand as you paddle, so that your hand passes underneath your board as you pull and then curves back out as you push.

Hands

It's counterintuitive, but paddling with your fingers together doesn't make you go any faster. What it does do is require the muscles in your forearms to be constantly engaged to hold that flipper hand shape, which consumes energy that you could be using elsewhere and adds unneeded tension to your body. Instead, you want your fingers gently curled and completely relaxed. Shake your hands out in front of you and when you stop, you'll have perfect paddle hands.

Speed

Alex once told me that I only had two paddle speeds - OFF and FULL. The truth is, you usually don't need to be paddling at FULL. But as a beginner, when you're trying so hard to catch waves or paddle back out through them, you can get in the habit of always paddling as if your life depended on it. Relax. Developing your wave reading skills will get you way more waves than busting your lungs for every bump on the horizon.

Power

There are definitely times when you do need to paddle really hard in order to catch the wave (or avoid having the wave catch you). The key in these situations is to make sure you're actually paddling hard and not just fast. Every paddle stroke should make a noticeable difference. It's easy to paddle so fast that your form goes out the window and you don't actually go anywhere.

It took me a couple of weeks before I felt like my paddling finally "clicked," but when it happened it led to a huge leap forward in my surfing ability. All of a sudden I was paddling for more waves and catching more of the ones I paddled for. And catching waves is the prerequisite for everything else.