Standing up on your sup surf board can be a unique challenge, especially as you move to increasingly smaller boards. This video breaks down how to most efficiently stand up on your paddle surf board regardless of it’s size. However, if you’re surfing a small sup surf board, you’ll find these techniques extremely valuable.
Check out the video above or read the outline below if you prefer to see things in writing.
- The first thing you need to pay attention to is where you are sitting on your paddle surf board. Position yourself so that you’re on top of, or just behind the center handle.
- Once you are positions correctly one your sup surf board, place your hands flat and in front of your chest toward the nose of the board.
- Hold your paddle on your strong paddling side. For regular foot sup surfers, this is often the right side and vice-versa for goofy footed sup surfers.
- Now hook your feet onto the back of your sup surf board, pressing your big toe down.
- From this position, push off with your feet and hands and bring your feet toward your hands in one smooth motion.
- As you come up to a standing position, be sure to bring your paddle with you and keep it in the water the entire time. This is key to maintaining stability.
- Once standing, use your paddle to ‘brace’ and stagger your feet slightly. A major key to successfully standing and keeping your balance is a slightly staggered stance and keeping your paddle in the water as much as possible. This is especially important the smaller you go in sup surf board size.
Stay tuned for more tutorials on bracing and all things sup surfing. Send us a message to get set up with our all-inclusive sup surf retreat in Nosara, Costa Rica and we’ll get you progressing in paddle surfing with key insights as show in this tutorial. Happy paddling!