How Improve Your Balance On a Paddleboard

Hi, I'm Bill from SUPboardGuide.com and today we're gonna be talking about balance. Okay, primarily from the point of view of you're new to paddle boarding and you're having a real issue with balance, but a lot of the stuff we're gonna be covering here is actually relevant right up to pro level. A lot of people find balance to be a real issue when they're starting out paddle boarding. So what can we do to make life easier? Okay, as you can see, Michael is having a really hard time on that board and it's simply because it's too narrow. You know, Michael's a fit guy. He does loads of sport, he's got good balance, but the board is too narrow. The physics is always gonna win. So what Michael needs to do is have a wider board and this goes for anyone who's struggling with balance. The first thing you should do is just try and get onto a wider board. So for someone Michael's size, if he comes into my paddle boarding school, I'm gonna put him on a board at least 34 inches wide, possibly wider if I've got it, but let's see how he gets on with a 34 inch wide board. Nice. Well done, Michael. So there you have it. The width of the board is crucial in making sure you can stand up. It's not about the volume, it's not about the weight capacity. Both those numbers are actually pretty meaningless in this context. It's all about the width. If your board isn't wide enough, it's not gonna be easy to stand up. Okay, a 34 inch wide board is a great board for an average paddler who's not too happy with their balance. They should be able to get up on that. If you're heavier or taller, as in Michael's case, you know, the width is gonna matter even more. So that's your first thing. If you're having trouble on the board you've got, check the width, it may well just be too narrow. So one of the most important ways to make your balance better is simply standing with your feet in the right place. You don't want your toes out, what we call duck stance. You want your feet, imagine that you're standing on railway tracks. So your heels and toes are on the center line, longitudinal center line of the board. Let me demonstrate. As you can see, when I stand up like that, I have the maximum stability. If I stand in duck stance with my heels in, instantly the board feels so much more wobbly. Even though my toes are still out, but by bringing my heels in, I've made the whole thing that much more difficult. So that's tip number one. When you stand up, don't even think about standing up until you've got your feet in the right place. The next really, really important tip to make that stand up so much easier is just getting the head up. It's so tempting to look down at the nose of the board when you stand up, but that's like staring at the handlebars on your bike or the steering wheel in your car, you don't do that. So don't be staring at the nose of the board, get that head up. Stand up, that keeps my butt down and it gets my gaze onto the horizon and makes everything so much more stable. It's perfectly fine to put your paddle on the board and use that as an extra point of contact. And from there, once you've got your legs up, your feet up into the right place, climb the paddle, getting yourself up, stabilizing with your paddle on the board, giving you that third point of contact. If that's what you need to do, that's fine. And then whatever happens, as soon as you're stood up, this is the final top tip, just get that paddle into the water, start paddling. That gives you so much extra stability. So many people I see, once they stand up, they go into what we call hula dancing mode. It's not a very stable thing to do. Having your paddle in the water gives you that stability. And all the time you're paddling, just keeping your head up, looking out. Don't look down at the board, that makes your legs go straight. It makes you get wobbly. So with those tips, hopefully you'll find the whole experience a whole lot more stable. So I really hope you found these tips useful. 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. Bye.