One of the things that can make surfing, paddle boarding or any other activity you choose to do tiresome is constantly falling off your stand up paddle board. This can be quite discouraging whether you are a beginner or an expert. It may even make you lose interest in the activity and put the board in permanent storage. However, that doesn’t have to be the case. Most times, you may be making small mistakes that just need slight correction to improve your skills. Some of the simple changes you can make to improve your skills include;
- Classes
Instead of having a hard time trying to figure out how to maneuver your sup paddles on your own, consider asking an expert. There are a lot of things that you may not be able to figure out right off the bat. Taking a class from a professional can help set you straight and help you identify some mistakes that you may be making. This applies whether you are a beginner or an expert. As a beginner, you will get to also learn about which precautions to take and tricks you didn’t know about. If you haven’t been on your board for long, a refresher course wouldn’t hurt.
- Wind direction
Falling off your stand up paddle board tends to be a combination of factors most of the time. For instance, your ability to balance, the strength of the waves and even wind direction can dictate how often you hit the water. Before going out to the water, most people usually forget to check important weather details such as wind direction and strength. If the wind is extremely strong, your bard will be steered haphazardly as your body acts like a sail. The best thing to do would be to avoid going out in these conditions or lying flat on your board until it passes.
- Core engagement
One of the biggest mistakes made by beginners is using their arm muscle strength to paddle. This may end up leading you off the board for two reasons; stability and fatigue. Arm muscles are not able to provide the balance that you need and tend to tire quite quickly. The best technique to go with for more effective paddle boarding is to engage your core. This activates your body’s center of gravity allowing you to stay up longer. It also helps to strengthen these muscles which increases your endurance over time.
- Keep head up
When you are out on your board, it may feel more natural to look down so as to see where you are going and avoid falling into the water. However, this is wrong and produces the opposite effect. When you look down at your feet, your head faces downwards which distorts your stability on the board. Before you know it, you will have fallen in. An important technique is staying completely upright and looking ahead. This provides more balance and stability which allows you to enjoy more time on the sup paddles.
