How to Paddle a Paddleboard

Video Transcript

In this clip we're going to talk about the different style of paddling. I used to do a lot of white water canoeing and kayaking when I was a little kid, living up in New England. And, basically we learned about all of the most proper names and styles of paddling. There's everything from a sweep, where you're going to take the paddle out from one side, sweep all the way forward to back, to a skull, where you're actually doing like a sideways paddle like this, where you can move the board laterally. And, then there's a back paddle. So, if you're going to be taking this board out in overhead surf or any type of surf whatsoever, you're going to need to be able to turn it on a dime. So, paddling over here, you do like a sweep paddle on this side, and then you can either do a cross paddle where you go to the other side and do a back paddle, or just switch hands. I like to do the cross paddle because it actually gives me a little bit better of a core workout, and I can turn the board a lot faster if I keep the paddle on one side, and just do this cross motion. So, if you keep paddling on one side, you're eventually just kind of going in one large circle. So, it's pretty much a good thing to get into the groove of doing like five to ten paddles on one side, and then five to ten on the other side, and that's going to keep you going in a pretty decent long straight line. A lot of people also have one dominant side to paddle. If you're a righty, it might be your right side. If you're a lefty, it might be your left, but there's really no way to tell. Once you get out there, just generally feel around for it, you know, if you need to get back down on your knees to try the different styles of paddle, don't be scared to do that, this is a new sport. It's only been around for a couple of years, you know, it's re-come up in a couple of years. They used to have it in Hawaii years, and years, and years ago, but it's having a revolution right now, and more people are getting into it. So, no one's going to judge you, think you're a loser if you're not on your feet the first five seconds.

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