Hey Sean,
That's a great video,I always have the paddle across the board not as a balancing tool.Maybe I should nail my walking frame to the board as well
Gunna try that tomorrow,not sure if I'm that agile,but as Colas and ghostman have said feet in a sorta surf stance,look ahead. Like I said before I'm learning to sup again

Have any of you seen this vid from Makua Lodge? I used it for Pop practice, but his stance quickly after he "pops" is pretty much what I concentrated on when in my early stages of surf-stance and small wave SUP stuff..

colas said..
Whoa, there is no way I can straddle a surfboard anymore, let alone a SUP :-)

Most of the time I go from kneeling to standing, and Chase's video really hammers home the paddle position, final stance and immediately being active on the board with the paddle once you are up on the board. I also can (still) go from straddling the SUP, but I get anxious that a wave is going to come, so often I just stay standing.

paperboy said..
I reckon a couple of paddle strokes to get a bit of forward momentum before you pop ups the go

Yes, if you still can do it, a standard surf pop-up starting from prone or kneeling has the advantage over the above method on the video to allow for some strokes before the pop up.

And to get back to the original subject, note how his front heel is badly positioned on pop up (too close to the rail) and he has to reposition it. So try to also get your front foot close and aligned to the stringer on pop up.

Good topic this, it's very interesting to read how and what you lot do when trying to balance on smaller boards. I say this after a surf session yesterday on my 7'6 Shroom and my mate on his 7'11 Speeed... in a bit of clean 3ft surf where after an hour it got a bit cross-choppy.
My mate and I have different techniques, something I've noticed but never paid much attention too...
He knees' first then hops and parallel stance then surf stance when going out.. I hop directly onto the board and surf stance all the way...
I had a go on his Speeed, such a lovely board... and small for me at 80kgs in winter wetsuit... but I will crack on at it if I can prise it out of his clammy hands..

SunnyBouy said..
Have any of you seen this vid from Makua Lodge? I used it for Pop practice, but his stance quickly after he "pops" is pretty much what I concentrated on when in my early stages of surf-stance and small wave SUP stuff..

I like this technique, and use this technique, but one difference I use is I don't leave the paddle centered on the board, as he does. I typically have my right hand just under the handle, and my left hand between there and the blade. In this way a) the paddle blade is in the water (I place my weight so it is) which provides a lot of extra stability, and b) so that when I am getting to my feet I can keep the paddle in the water (or place it in the water quickly).

(In truth, I probably don't "pop" or "jump" to my feet - I am too crusty for that... I lean forward, hook the rear foot (my right foot as I am natural) on to the board as he does, then push myself up (with two hands and one leg as a tripod) and place my left foot in the correct position.)

Having forward momentum certainly helps when starting from your knees, but if you are out the back sitting resting or waiting for your turn, this is a fast way to get to your feet with adequate stability.

ghost4man said..

Fitzsup said..
Hey Sean,
That's a great video,I always have the paddle across the board not as a balancing tool.Maybe I should nail my walking frame to the board as well
Gunna try that tomorrow,not sure if I'm that agile,but as Colas and ghostman have said feet in a sorta surf stance,look ahead. Like I said before I'm learning to sup again

Mate,

Excellent video with a lot of different pointers.

My only concern is doing this in a pool that size.

I would not as I have seen plenty of people really get thrown off their boards learning to stand and in a small area like that I would hate to see someone land on the concrete edging.

I'm very cautious when it comes to my surroundings on a SUP.

But very very good instructions nonetheless.

agreed. I have a pool but I did't try my first board in it for those reasons. Seen way too many try to 'save it" and end up quite a distance from where the inbalance started. Easy head cracker.

From blackprojectsup.com/2018/12/14/sup-surfing-tips-with-ultimate-waterman-zane-schweitzer/

ghost4man said..

cantSUPenough said..
At the 2:00 minute mark you can see the guy's feet position on a small board. Earlier (1:30) you can see him paddle for the wave and change foot position.

Video unavailable?

I had to go to YouTube for it.

Dear all, I just subscribed to this forum but I read this topic over and over again during traveling (when I wasn't subscribed yet). It helped me a lot and I would thank you all for this!

I started sup surfing on a Fanatic allwave 9'0 @159 liters and really got the hang off it in 2016. Last year in september 2019 I decided my stepdown and seeing Colas ripping on those shortSUPs was I determined to get me a Gong Fatal 7'7 @120 liters. It was crazy how difficult the first experience was on such "thing" but I didn't gave up and after a few hours and sesions later I mastered the stability and it surf like crazy! But later one when it was really charging I always grabbed my Fanatic instead of the Gong.

Then I found this topic and mastered the lateral balance which helped me a lot with the Fatal and catching more wave, but I was never quite happy with the balance of the Fatal while waiting for a wave.

Therefore I decided to chance shape and keep the volume at 120 liters so I change the Fatal for a Naish Hokua 7'10 x 32" this helped but the lengte was longer and the with was also 1" wider. But also on this one you still need to paddle staggered close to the stinger which will work then the best and most stable. For me personally I like this shape beter than the fatal even thought the fatal ripped more radical because it was shorter.

Exactly supsean, such a "big" board is very forgiving in your stance of paddling onces you do down a few sizes is there some technical aspect what you need to master before you are again feeling comfortable in any conditions. Your quote "Back to surf stance, and solid as a rock" is definitely the one that suits the best for this topic with staggered stance, lateral balance or surf stance, etc.

I've went down a size again to my Hokua 7'6 x 29" @109 liters but can't get the hang of it yet so I searched something else with another shape, outline, rocker you name it but I kept the volume the same. It turned out that this was the key, it's a quatro 8'0x28,5" at 109 liters as well. Bottomline is I can only paddle them staggered and catching a wave is in surfstance to paddle parallel stance, no way anymore on those kind of boards (I have to admit I didn't tried it yet in flat water).

I have the newbie status so no pictures yet from me otherwise I could show those 3 boards next to each other.