How To Stand Up Paddleboard

Hi, I'm Bill from subboardguide.com. Today, we're gonna be looking at how to go stand-up paddleboarding. You've bought your board and you wanna get out there. Ideally, you'd get a lesson, but that's not always possible. So what we're gonna do today is basically give you a free lesson. We're gonna bring in some people, we're gonna teach them how to paddleboard. I've been teaching paddleboarding for 15 years. I've taught many water sports for 30 years before that. I've taught many thousands of people to paddleboard. And in that time, I've learned many of the little tricks that are just gonna make your journey that much easier. So that's what we're gonna be covering off over on the next 20 minutes. So let's make a start. Before you even get on the water, the very best thing you can do is just spend a little bit of time practicing on dry land. Take the fins out of your board, put it out in the garden, put it on the beach, even put it here on the rocks like these. If it's a decent quality board, it really isn't gonna hurt it putting it on some rocks. But then practice on dry land before you even get on the water. Because if you can't do it on dry land, you're certainly not gonna be able to do it on the water. Okay, so now let's introduce our two newbies for the session Michael and Christina, if you wanna come on down. Okay, hi guys. Welcome to paddleboarding. All right, so what I'm gonna start with doing is just giving you a very quick guided tour of the board. There's just a couple of things you need to know about it. We don't need to get carried away with all sorts of terminology. But just a real simple thing, just check out what the front of the board looks like. That might sound obvious, but just if you fall in, you get back on the board, sometimes it's easy to get a bit disorientated, okay? So you wanna be facing the front of the board. Normally there's a nice big logo at the front, okay? Sometimes the front is called the nose, but we don't need to hang up on that. The back of the board, this is where the fins are. So if you're in the water, just remember you don't wanna be kicking your feet back there because you're gonna hit the fin. Okay, what I'd like you both to do now is just pick up your paddle. Okay, really all you need to know about the paddle is that it's facing the right way in the water, okay? Now on some paddles, that's really easy. We've got a change of angle between the shaft and the blade and that blade needs to kick forward when it's in the water. Just, Christina, have a look at your paddle, see if you can identify which way it's gotta go. That's pretty easy, isn't it? We've got a nice change of angle there. Okay, Michael, your paddle's slightly more difficult to see which is the rake, but it has got quite an obvious spoon section in it. You can see that, yeah? So as you can imagine, you want that spoon to be pulling back. So that would be the front of the paddle. Very good, okay. All right, so if you both like to jump onto your boards, just stand one foot either side of the handle. That's great. The balance point of the board is at the handle, so that's where we're gonna stand. Real easy on that. We don't need to worry about any other stance on your paddle board. So just shuffle forward just a little bit, so, Christina, that's perfect. Okay, now how far apart should your feet be? You kind of want your feet underneath your shoulders, your hips, whichever's the widest part of the body. You don't want it too wide. That's actually unstable and you certainly don't want it too close together. So let's have a look at you both. That's pretty nice. Pretty nice, perfect. The only other thing, this is a really important point from a balance point of view. You wanna be imagining that you're standing on railway tracks. So kick those heels out a little bit so your feet are on the longitudinal line, center line of the board. That's perfect. If you stand with your heels in, we call that duck stance in paddle boarding and it's actually a lot less stable. Just kicking those heels out makes a huge difference. This is one of those little tips I was talking about. Tiny details that can make all the difference when you're starting out on your paddle board. Okay, real good. Now let's have a look at how you hold your paddle. So Michael, your paddle is the wrong way around. That's it. Remember, it's always gonna face forward. Perfect. What I'd like you both to do is hold your paddle in your left hand. Okay, that's great. And where you've got your hand instinctively just maybe a little bit less than halfway down the shaft, that's absolutely fine, okay? Now put your other hand on top of the paddle, up on the handle, okay? Now what I want you to do is just reach forward with that paddle, put it on the ground beside the nose of the board. That's it, just lean on it a little bit. Michael, get your paddle a little bit further forward. Okay, you can actually put a little bit of weight on it. This is a really good exercise. This is how paddling should feel. We bring our paddle forward, just lean a little bit on it. Now if you're on grass or sand, you're not gonna hurt your paddle. On the rock, just be a little bit gentle, but just gently drag that paddle back along to round about your heels or your toes. Lift it up and repeat the process, okay? Real simple mantra for this, nose to toes. You're gonna put the paddle up by the nose and you're gonna pull it back to your toes, okay? That's what paddling feels like, all right? It's really simple, okay? We don't wanna pull the paddle past our toes because when you're pulling back here, you're basically just lifting water and that's really not good for your back. If you go out and do too much paddling like that, you're gonna get to know your chiropractor real quick. If you paddle up front, this is the good stuff. Now what do you think's gonna happen if we keep paddling on one side all the time? That's right, we're gonna just turn in a long circle. We're gonna end up back where we started. That's not gonna work. So what we're gonna need to do, every maybe three, four, five strokes, whatever feels comfortable, we're gonna change sides and paddle on the other side. When you're on a paddleboard, you're paddling symmetrically. You're gonna paddle some on one side, some on another. A seagull watching from above is gonna see you going along like that. It doesn't matter, that's absolutely fine. So how do we change sides? Just lift the paddle up into the middle, okay? Take that top hand off, put it there, slide that one back up. Now you see your paddle's kind of already on the other side. Okay, so now just go nose to toes on that side. And again, lovely. Now let's see you change back to change the other side. And over, very good, very good. Remember, don't pull past your toes. Okay, so that's how we paddle. So that's paddling, super simple. What we need to know now is how to turn, okay? Again, nice and simple. So go back into your paddling stance. Put your paddle out by the nose of the board again, just like you're gonna paddle normally. Just to make this easier, Michael, maybe you go to the other side. Perfect, that's good. Put your paddle up there, okay. Now, a real simple turn, just to make the nose of the board turn away from the paddle. Just turn the blade 90 degrees and just push out to the side, okay? That's it. So yeah, you can put your paddle down a bit more into the water, Michael. Yeah, that's it, push it out, push it out, okay. Now again, this is where you'll find a lot of videos on YouTube and stuff saying you've gotta do really big sweep strokes and stuff like that. That's great, but it doesn't need to be that complicated. Just little dabs like this will turn the board just fine, okay? That will turn you when you're moving forward. If you need to turn quicker and tighter, or maybe you're coming up to a rock and you want to get away from it, we do exactly the same at the back of the board. So just put that paddle right back by the tail, put it in the water by the tail, and just push out, little dabs. The important thing is that you're pushing away from the tail, you're not bringing it up the side of the board. That make sense? Okay, simple. Okay, so that's turning. And if we want to stop, you just simply put the paddle in the water and hold it, and that will stop the board dead, okay? So that's turning and stopping. When we start off, we want to just walk that board out into knee-deep water, finding yourself somewhere nice and smooth and safe, and then we're gonna start off on our knees, okay? We like to call this the safe position or the safety position, because that really helps you remember that this is where you go to if ever it gets a bit rough, a bit choppy, a bit windy. Paddling on your knees is absolutely fine. Even though it's called stand-up paddleboarding, it is not compulsory to stand up. Paddling on your knees is okay. So put your knees where your feet were, just step, get yourself onto the board. Perfect, okay. Now you see how you both did that? You just got onto the board on your knees with the paddle at the side. That's exactly right. That's how you'll do it when you get on the water. Now let's just have a go at paddling on your knees, which is always how you should start off, just to get yourself out into deeper water. When we're paddling on our knees, you don't want to hold the top of the paddle. That's just gonna hurt your shoulder. Hold it nice and low. Make sure both thumbs are up. We don't want to get into a kayak grip with thumbs pointing together. So nice and low, that's right. That's perfect, okay. And let's just do exactly the same as we did before. Just practice a bit of paddling. Put the paddle up by the nose, pull it back to your knees. It's gotta be nose to knees this time, not nose to toes, okay. Have a go at changing sides. Can you work it out? Yeah, easy. Don't want to overthink it. It's just, it happens naturally. That's great, okay. Have a go at that turn. Put the paddle in by the nose and just push away. See if you can work it out. Lovely, yeah, just dab it. That's perfect. And then turning from the tail, put it right back by the tail, far back as you can, put it in the water and push out. Perfect, okay. So now we can paddle in safe position. And as I said, just repeating that, can't say it enough. If ever you're out paddling and you don't like the conditions, it gets too windy, too choppy, too bumpy, you're getting tired, just come back down to safe position, okay. When you're starting out in paddle boarding, the first time you stand up is no question the hardest part of your beginner experience. And for sure, it is gonna feel really wobbly. The wobbles are coming from your brain trying to work out how to balance. Doesn't matter how good your balance is, first time you stand up on a paddle board, it's gonna be a wobbly experience. But don't worry, it's just like riding a bike. Once you've done it once, your brain will tell you, okay, I can do this, I've got this. So we've just gotta get you through that first time, okay. Now there's a couple of tricks here that will make that real easy. So what I'd like you to do is pop your hands down on the board, just holding the paddle like when you first got on it in the side, that's absolutely fine, okay. So you kind of, you can lean on your hands, okay. Now, what we're gonna try and do is get one foot up into the right position. So whichever foot leads naturally, just take your time, get that foot up. Remember how it should look. So Michael, you see your foot's too far forward there. So you might just wanna shuffle back generally, just get yourself back a little bit on the board, whatever's comfortable. That's better, yeah, okay. Christina, I would suggest maybe just get that foot a little bit further out. Spending a couple of seconds here and making sure your feet are in the right place is critical. If you rush to stand up, you're gonna fall in, it's gonna be too wobbly. Okay, so we've got our first foot in the right position, okay, again, that's why it's so good to practise it in the garden, so you know where your feet are supposed to go. All right, now have a go at getting the other foot up. So you lean on your hands, bring that other foot up. Perfect, perfect, okay, all right. Is it in the right position? Looks pretty good. Remember, we don't want those heels in duck stance, we want them to kick out. Okay, now the most important thing when you stand up is to stand up with your head up, looking at something on the horizon. Pick a point way out there, focus on it, and then stand up, bringing your paddle with you. Have a go at that. Just stand up like you're doing a, driving up like a squat, okay, get your other hand onto your paddle straight away and get that paddle into the water. Okay, that's it, well done, Christine. That's a really easy thing to do, to end up with your paddle the wrong way around, but you recognised it. Okay, so just recapping the really important points here that will make the difference between success and failure in your first stand up. When you try and stand up, but even before you stand up, you wanna make sure your feet are right. Look up. If you look down, your butt comes up, your legs go straight. It's really bad from a physiological and balanced point of view. If your head's up, your butt's down. When you stand up, it should actually kind of feel like you're doing a squat. You're driving up through your thighs and glutes, yep. You don't want doing a dodgy deadlift. Do you understand? Yeah, okay, cool. Okay, so just have another go at that. Get back down to your knees, and in your own time, think about all those things. Have a go at doing a good stand up. Yeah, for a lot of people, just shuffling back a bit like you just did there, Michael, that's a really, that works really well. So get that foot, check. Next foot, check. Head, head up, stand up, and get that paddle straight into the water because that's your kind of third point of contact, okay? I don't wanna see any kind of hula dancing. It really doesn't help, okay? So you've got the paddle in the water. Keep your head up, and you're good to go. Okay. The last thing you need to know, okay, is what to do if you fall in, okay? Now, if you do fall in, your board has two emergency exits, here and here, okay? Just gently flop into the side. Try and hold onto your paddle if you can, but don't worry too much about it. Try not to throw your paddle away because you're just gonna have to swim after it. You're wearing your leash, so you're never gonna lose your board, but just gently flop into the side, and then to get back on, you grab the handle and pull yourself on over the side, okay? Great. Okay, you're ready to do this on the water? Cool, let's do it. So, time to get on the water. Now, normally in a regular paddleboard lesson, by instructor, I would be going on the water with my clients, but let's just see how these guys get on. We've given them the information they need. Let's see how they fare. Before we actually get on the water, a couple of things we need to sort out. Now, you've both got your PFDs on. I know in advance that both these guys are good swimmers, so they're wearing belt pack PFDs. There's a whole lot of other information about what sort of PFD to wear. We don't wanna get into that right now, but they've both got belt packs on. Belt packs are really good if you're a competent swimmer. Michael, you might just wanna push yours around behind you so it's just not interfering with you. That's great. Either of you, if you did need to use your PFD, just remember to slide it around in front before you pull the toggle, okay? Next thing, both the boards are configured with a leash. Really, really important to wear a leash. Your leash is your number one item of paddleboard safety equipment. Don't go out without one under any circumstances. Which leg do you put your leash on? If you're already a surfer or a snowboarder or a skateboarder you'll know which is your front foot. That's fine, you put it on your back leg. If you don't do any of those sports, don't worry about it. It just goes on either ankle. So have a go at putting your leash on. Undo the Velcro, wrap it tightly around your ankle. I said either your back ankle, if you know which is your back leg, but otherwise it really doesn't matter because you're standing square on the board so you don't have a favoured foot. Just give your leash a little tug from behind and make sure it's on nice and tight, but not so tight that it's gonna cut off the circulation. We good with that? Brilliant, okay. So carrying your board, grab your paddle in your left hand, both of you. And then you just position yourself by the side of the handle and then just lift up the rail with your right hand away from you. So sorry, lift up the side of the board. That's it. And just reach down and grab the handle. That's how you carry your board. Okay, easy. So remember what we're gonna do. You're gonna get on the water. You're gonna paddle around in safe position. You're gonna try paddling, turning. And then when you're ready, have a go at standing up. Remember, keep that head up. Make sure your stance is right. Get your head up, get your paddle in the water. Let's see how you get on. So from here on, we're just gonna concentrate on Michael because Michael's a pretty tall guy, as you can see. And if you're tall, that affects your balance, makes it harder. Likewise, if you're carrying a few extra kilos, heavier people, they've got more issues with balance. So let's just concentrate on Michael and see how he gets on here. Okay, Michael, when you're ready. So he's gonna start off just paddling around in safe position. Try and paddle over here, Michael. So good thing we're seeing he's not holding the paddle at the top when he's paddling in this position. Try getting that paddle a lot deeper into the water, Michael. That's a real common error at this point. Beautiful, beautiful. Can you feel the difference? You can see how the board is surging forward off each stroke, isn't it? If you're not putting the full paddle in the water, you're not getting the benefit of it. You paid for the whole paddle, so you might as well use the whole paddle. That's great. Okay, now have a go at turning now. Put the paddle blade up by the nose of the board and just push away. Again, get that paddle fully into the water. Nice. If you're coming from a kayaking background and you know how to do sweep strokes, then great. You can do a full 180 sweep stroke. That's fine. But if you don't have that background, then just doing the smaller short strokes like that is absolutely fine. Have a go at paddling doing the back stroke, the back turn. So put your paddle at the back of the board. Again, yeah, push out from there. Again, get that paddle deep in the water and as close to the tail as you can. Round she comes. Really just push away from the board. 90 degrees to the board. That's it. Now you're getting it. Nice. Okay. Get that paddle in deeper. You ready to have a go at standing up? See if you can remember the process. Okay. She's in nice deep water there. Now you don't wanna try standing up before you're in, well, deep water. Good. He's moved back a bit on the board. Okay, feet position's not too bad. Don't worry. What you were doing wrong there, Michael, you didn't get your head up. Because your head was down, your butt was high, your legs were straight, super wobbly. Have another go. But just remember this time, get that head up. Your foot position was great. Nice. Okay, now, butt down, head up. Great. Now drive up through the legs. Get that paddle in the water. Head up, head up, head up. Keep looking up. That's great. Okay. All right. Okay, keep that head up. Keep looking forward. Okay. How's that feel? Head up. Lot better. Well done, mate, well done. And that's normal. Many of the people I teach to paddleboard take three or four goes before they get to stand up. And the first time they try, they feel like they're never gonna do it. Putting the head up is one of the most fundamental tricks in getting your first stand up. And now he's got it, he'll always be able to do it, just like riding a bike. So let's get Christina on the water and see how she gets on with all that information. Christina, when you're ready. So walking out to just over knee deep. Okay, so starting off in safe position, safety position. Okay, first thing. Christina, just remember we don't hold the top of the paddle when we're paddling in safe position. That's it, bring your hands down even a bit lower than that. Perfect, okay. All right. And now try and get that paddle in a bit deeper. Really push the paddle blade. That's perfect. You can't actually push the paddle too deep. You genuinely can't. Don't be afraid to push that paddle right down. Okay, so have a go at turning, Christina. Push away, right away from the nose. Push out to the side. That's good. Nice. Great, yeah, have a go at the backstroke. Push right away from the tail. Put the paddle a bit deeper. Remember, yeah, you always want that paddle fully in the water. Push, push out rather than forward. That's the one, that's the one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see that, how it made the board turn? Nice. Okay, so paddle over towards me. Great. See how she's already instinctively changing sides without even thinking about it. This sort of stuff, actually, you get real quick. Okay, Christina, why not have a go at standing up now? Some instructors will say that it's worth trying to get a bit of speed up because it makes the board more stable. I kind of feel it's a neutral point. Doesn't necessarily matter. That didn't feel too good, no? Okay, all right. So, what wasn't working for you there was you didn't have your feet in the right position. You had duck stance and also you're a little bit asymmetric. One foot was behind the other, okay? So, have another go, but this time spend a little bit longer trying to get your feet in the right position. You remember what that right position was? So, when you're ready, don't rush it. You can take as long as you like over this. Standing on railway tracks, that's great. Now, head up, stand up. Get that paddle in the water. Look up, look up. Great. Well done. Keep that head up. Nice. For lots more good paddle boarding information, check out SUPboardGuide.com, follow our YouTube channel. And if there's anything you'd like to know about paddle boarding, anything at all, please don't hesitate to contact us or leave your question in the comments below. Happy paddling.