Holiday season is back and if you’re on social media, you’ve probably noticed that anyone who has gone away has been doing stand-up paddleboarding at some point on their break. The question is “how hard is it?” – it’s not that hard…you’ve just got to get your balance down to a tee!
We’ll be sharing our top tips for teaching yourself how to paddleboard, but also some of the organisations all over the country that are here to help.
Benefits of Paddleboarding
Before we get into all our tips and tricks, here are some of the reasons you should paddleboard, not just as a fun water activity, but for the following health reasons too:
- It’s a full-body workout and particularly works on your core
- Low-impact workout
- Improves your cardiovascular health
- Reduces stress
- Helps with your balance
Top Tips for Learning to Paddle Board
Trying to Stand Up
Getting to a standing position on your board is probably the hardest part; once you’ve mastered this and can stay up, you’re almost good to go!
Try this…
- Stand in shallow water at about knee-depth with the board’s end in front of you, rather than the side of the board
- Grab the edge of your paddle board and take your time to get onto the board on your knees
- Whilst slowly trying to stand, keep your hands on either edge of the board to stabilise yourself
- Move one foot a time and slowly begin to place your feet in the same position your knees were
A good tip for standing on your board is to keep your chest facing as upwards as possible whilst keeping your knees bent to hold your balance and then gradually extend your legs into a standing position, about a hip’s width apart.
Next Step…Stay Standing!
Now’s the tricky part where you need to carefully withhold your balance, so you don’t fall off!
- Your feet should be parallel to each other. Keeping them a hip distance apart and on either side of the centre of the board.
- For the best balance, keep your knees slightly bent and your back straight
It’s Time to Start Paddling…
Believe it or not, there is a right way to hold your paddle and doing this wrong could jeopardise the whole process. So, use these tips when paddling:
- When grabbing your paddle, the blade should be angled towards the front of your paddle board
- To paddle, make sure when paddling on the right-hand side that your left hand is on the grip and your right hand a bit below and vice versa
Have you Fallen Off Yet?
There’s no way that on your first go you won’t fall off at least once, even if you’ve been doing it for a little while – it’s just facts!
If you feel yourself falling, try to direct yourself to fall to the side and into the water, rather than face-planting the board as this could hurt.
Grab the handle in the centre to stay in contact with the board and allow yourself to float. Then, kick your legs and hold onto the handle at the same time to try and slide yourself back onto the board and repeat some of our early steps from this blog to retrieve your balance again.
Different Strokes – What do they Mean?
Once you’ve mastered standing up, you’re probably wondering the best ways to paddle to head in the right direction. There are three main strokes…
- Front stroke – this is exactly how it sounds and will help you manoeuvre forwards. This is done by pushing the water behind you with your paddle, similar to other paddle water sports. Be sure to keep your arms straight and slightly twist with your core. The more vertical the paddle is, the more you will move in a straight line.
- Reverse stroke – pushing the water forward will help you move backwards. Paddling on the right-hand side of the board will push the paddle board in the right-hand direction and so on.
- Sweep stroke – bringing your paddle from the front, outwards into a curve shape round to the rear of the board will help to immediately turn the board to a certain angle, rather than gradually trying to direct the board while moving.
We hope we’ve inspired you to take the plunge and try paddleboarding for the first time. If you’re still unsure, there’s a great organisation called Learn 2 Paddle which is great at helping different levels of expertise and can advise on a great school near you.
Have you seen our dry bags? Why not pick one up along with a FREE complimentary phone case to take with you on your first-ever trip.