Being able to maneuver your board is an essential SUP skill!
Normally when we talk about SUP technique, we talk about going in a straight line. I talk a lot about how to get your board to go in a straight line, how to stop zigzagging, and how to increase the number of strokes per side and reduce the number of times you change your paddle from side to side.
In a lot of ways, learning to steering your board is exactly the opposite. We are going to take the techniques that you’re working on to go in a straight line, and actually use them to help you steer.
When you don’t know how to paddle in a straight line, you end up unintentionally steering yourself. You don’t even realizing it, but what you are doing is steering yourself from side to side and then having to course correct.
So now, when you DO realize what you need to do to paddle in a straight line, then you can also become aware that intentionally doing the opposite is how to steer your board.
You can become a better all around paddler in different conditions and in different aspects of paddling. So that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Paddling in a Straight Line
Firstly when you’re paddling in a straight line you want to have a vertical paddle shaft. When I’m trying to paddle in a straight line, I want my paddle to be straight up and down and the reason for that is because I’m actually using the angle of my blade to steer my board.
Angle of your Blade
There’s two main ways that I steer my board. I use both of them in a combination constantly when I’m paddling, I’m applying both of these techniques. The first is the angle of your blade, determining the angle of your stroke and therefore the angle that your board is going to be steering towards or away from.
If I have my blade angled away from my board and my paddle shaft is held out at a diagonal, when I take a stroke, I won’t paddle in a straight line. The board will move at an angle away from the paddling side. This is what people do a lot when they first start paddling. They paddle away from their boards and feel like “I’m going to one side all the time and I have to change sides constantly to steer.”
This is actually because you’re steering yourself and you don’t even know it. So when you do know it, you can use that to your advantage. If the wind is coming from my right side, I’m going to paddle on my left side putting a little bit of an angle on my shaft and on my blade and this is going to steer me to the right against the wind. This one most people do without instruction. It’s common sense.
The part that we don’t often realize is that the opposite is also true. If my blade angle is towards my board, then that’s going to pull my board towards my paddling side. If I over rotate and I get my top hand out over my bottom hand, I can actually get my blade angle towards my board and take a stroke that’s pulling me towards my paddling side.
To recap: angling away from your board is going to steer you away from your paddle. Angling towards your board is going to steer you towards your paddle. Straight up and down and you’ll paddle in a nice, straight line. Practice doing all three of these things. Watch this Drill Video on the Seychelle SUP app for video instructions and demonstration on how.
Using Body Weight
Another thing we’re often doing when we’re not conscious of it, especially in the earlier stages of learning to paddle, is leaning more on one side of the board. Most often paddlers put more weight on the paddling side when they take a stroke. If I put more weight on one side than the other, the board is going to tilt a little bit in the water, right? This leaning to one side, especially on racing and touring board with longer, shaper rails, digs that side rail into the water which steers your board.
When standing in the center of the board, putting more weight on one side, digging in that side rail, actually steers in the opposite direction. When I lean on my right rail, the board steers to the left. Note I said “steers” not “turns.” It is subtle but it makes a big difference in how your board tracks through the water. The more aggressively I lean on that side, the more this is going to steer the board. Even just a little bit of leaning on one side does steer your board in the opposite direction.
So, if I’m leaning on my left rail, that’s going to steer my board to the right. So it’s opposite. Lean right to go left, lean left to go right. This, again, just like everything, takes practice and it also takes stability. See the video demonstration on the Seychelle SUP app by clicking here.
The most effective way to steer your board is to combine the angle of the paddle stroke with your body weight or leaning more weight to one side. If I’m leaning way out on my left rail, because the wind’s coming from the right, and I’m trying to steer myself towards the windy side, I’m going to combine that with reaching out and away and pulling myself towards my board when paddling on the right. This was I can paddle on both sides even when there’s wind coming from the side.
Practice this until you become efficient at combining these two things, leaning on the opposite rail that you want to steer your board towards and angling your paddle blade or your stroke angle in the direction that you want to steer your board. You can become really good at paddling in wind from any direction and still going in a straight ish line and still being able to paddle on both sides equally ish. (Depending on how windy it is.) You’ll be a better paddler when it’s windy an choppy. You’ll be better at drafting and staying in that little draft pocket of the board wake in front of you, and your body will thank you for not paddling on one side for 5klm.
When I’m paddling, I am constantly using these skills and micro or major maneuvering so my board stays in a straight line and I can paddle equally on both sides.
Thank you for being here and as always, reach out any time. I love hearing from you.
Stoked & Grateful,
Seychelle
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