Learning The 5 Basic Stand Up Paddle Strokes / SUPboarder How To Video 

Hi! Thanks for the comment. So sorry to hear about the SUP situation in Ukraine. We're all thinking of you and hope you can get back on the water soon. 🤙

Thanks for your comment Connor. Really appreciate the kind words. Cheers, Beau

Hello! Thanks for the comment and very kind words about our videos. So great to hear you are loving SUP! Thanks, Beau

​@@SUPboardermag you welcome🙂...yes, at my 53 i still love to paddle all day long on the lake and in vacation at Black Sea 🙂.

Thanks for the comment

Hi Graham. Thanks for the comment. If we are just cruising on a leisurely paddle, you are right, the difference is minimal whether you paddle past your feet or not. It mainly comes into play when surfing, racing or training to have a faster pace. The blade is angled on our paddle for a specific reason. That angle is a positive blade angle and grabs as much water as it can when moving through the water. Once the blade reaches our feet, it becomes a neutral angle (blade straight up and down). Once it passes our feet, it becomes negatively angled in the water. This is where the blade lifts water up and forces the board down into the water - slowing it down. You may notice some beginner padders flicking water up as they exit the paddle stroke - this is prime example of lifting the water. Whilst it's not doing you any harm, we always try to teach good technique. The J-Stroke and C Stroke, certainly, you would get more benefit from taking it past your feet as you are helping realign the board closer to the fin. Thanks, Beau

​@@SUPboardermaggreat question (was thinking that myself) and fantastic answer, thanks guys, happy paddling 👊❤️

Hi Mungo, can you please explain a little more? it's hard to understand your comment without an explanation of the strokes you are referring to and the technique as well. Thanks, Beau

@@SUPboardermag Hi Beau. The strokes that I was referring to are the J stroke and (to a lesser degree) the C stroke. They're traditional canoe steering strokes which are ineffective on a sup (or at least the steering part is). Before I go into why, I should explain the concept of the centre of lateral resistance (CLR). This is the point at which if you were to push a craft sideways it would remain square. Think of it like a pivot point. In a canoe, the steering part of either stroke is executed aft of the CLR, which is approximately where the paddler is sitting. This pivots the stern of the canoe around the CLR like a rudder on a boat with relatively low drag. However, unlike canoes, SUPs have fins. The effect of the fin (or fins) is that the CLR moves further aft (somewhere in front of the fin) but it also provides greater resistance to pivoting around the CLR (like adding a keel). This means that not only does the force of the steer have to overcome the lift generated by the fin but it would have to be executed so far back to be effective that it would make the rest of the stroke ineffective. And if you apply the steer in front of the CLR as you are in this video you're just creating drag to slow you down. So, that's why it's ineffective, here's why you shouldn't do it: when applying a steer on a canoe, the rail is used to apply leverage to the paddle blade. I think the technical term is a pry. On a sup, the rail cannot be used as it's too low and gets in the way of the release so the force of the steer (effectively trying to push the fin sideways) goes entirely onto the arms, which is not only inefficient but likely to cause injury if done repeatedly. To add to the confusion, novice paddlers will often see experienced paddlers twisting the blade as it exits the water and think that what they're doing is a J stroke. It's not; it's simply feathering the blade so that it doesn't catch hard on any chop or to reduce the windage (like rowers do). So, what does work? Well, the first part of the C stroke does. I don't know what you'd call it (a bow draw, maybe?) but it is best described as a normal stroke offset by 15° or so where the top hand remains outboard of the bottom hand. It's not as efficient as a normal stroke but it's better than slogging against the wind all on one side and it's extremely useful in waves and whitewater. Hope this makes sense. Sorry for the essay but i thought a thorough explanation would be better for your viewers.

Hiya Mungo, I think these strokes are still taught on the Bsupa instructor course, not that you see them being used very much, apart from the cross bow. I am however pretty sure Micheal booth teaches the use of the J stroke for his race clinics, as a way of keeping straight. Your explanation does make sense, I guess it’s just down to the paddler on what they feel works or not 😊

@@ccmjonnyh8187 Hi Jonny. Interesting to hear that the J is still in the BSUPA syllabus. I've heard of a few people teaching it but it does surprise me that Boothy is, especially as it's even less effective on a raceboard due to the long waterline. Some teach the bow draw method (not official term) that I explained above and call it a J stroke (which it's not). Perhaps that's the case with him? I would encourage you to try it yourself and see what you think. I've not seen any evidence that it's effective. The steer works to a degree, of course, but at a significant speed cost.

Hi Mungo. Super detailed response and we appreciate that you have taken the time to explain everything. We can definitely see the logic in what you are saying and it brought up some interesting points that we had not thought of prior to making this video. As ccmjonny wrote, instructors around the world do teach these strokes, but we will be looking into this in more detail as it certainly opens up some options for different strokes / technique. Thanks again for clarifying it all. Cheers, Beau

Nothing wrong with using a waist leash in this scenario. You probably shouldn't use one in waves but any fast moving water and you'd definitely want one. They also do a pretty good job of keeping the leash out from under your feet, so if you're moving around the board a lot they're great. Agree on the paddle technique but I'm not sure why you say the cross bow stroke is wrong? Perhaps you could expand?

Hi Kevin, thanks for the comment. Maybe you need to watch our SUP safe videos to understand a little more about the types of leashes there are and when to wear them. We were paddling on a tidal estuary (moving water) and you can see buoys in the water which create a hazard. Wearing a quick release waist belt is the preferred and safest choice in this scenario. You can watch them here: supboardermag.com/supsafe/ Regarding the paddle technique, we show some bad technique in the video to show what a beginner paddler may look like. The stroke is fixed up in the following scene to show what good technique is. If you care to explain what a cross stroke should be, we're open to hearing other techniques and showing different ways to do it as it helps all paddlers. Cheers, Beau

Hi @Benjamin - please contact us via the contact for on the supboarder website and we will setback to you :)