Let’s say you’re SUP surfing shorebreak and, while paddling out, you’ve got a giant foam ball headed your way.  What do you do?  At the Seabreeze forum, here’s what Gorgo had to say:

- Look for somewhere to launch where you don’t need to bash through the shore break. A long paddle for a shortboard is a cruise on a SUP so you can launch up to a km away and cruise into the lineup.
- Wait for a lull in the surf and paddle out. Again, SUP paddling is fast so it’s quite easy to get out in breaks in the action.
- On smaller waves you can stand well back on your board and raise the nose and it will ride up over the broken wave. It’s surprising how big a wave you can do this on. If you’re just starting then kneeling is easier but it doesn’t take too long to be able to do it standing up. Just before the wave hits I like to do a sprint paddle and hit it as fast as possible so the momentum helps carry me over.
- If you are about to be taken out by the white water make sure there’s nobody behind you then dive your body over the wave and hope the dragging from the board is not too extreme. When you’re in the water don’t spread your arms and fight the pull, you’ll only make it worse. Just stay slim and go with it and ride it out. If you’re under water being dragged you can use the paddle to steer your body to the surface. It’s kind of fun in a masochistic sort of way.
- If you’re on the inside and about to be hit by a wave the easiest thing is to point the board towards the beach and lie on the tail with your paddle on the board. The wave will pick you up and take you in. You can leap to your feet and surf the wave in, and angle the board away from the impact zone. You can use the flat of the paddle as a planing surface to lean on and help keep you balance in the white water. Once inside out of danger you can wait for a lull and paddle out in one hit.
- If the waves are not too big you can hug your board with one arm and sink the nose and let the wave wash over you. Some guys hang onto the tail, some use the leash rail saver as a handle and some people are adding handles to the tail. Every time I’ve tried the leash thing it hurts my hand (a lot) so I’m reserving judgement on that.
- You want to avoid getting hit by your board. SUPs are so heavy that having one washed into you (or vice versa) is pretty painful.

Seabreeze Forums! – Stand Up Paddle Beating the shorebreak

A really great guy named Tom emailed me this instructional article about how to paddle so that when a wave arrives you’re lined up properly for the take off.  Simply put, it’s terrific.  If you’re a beginner and you take Tom’s advice, you will up your wave count by a lot.  A LOT!  This is a classic post.  I love it.  Thanks, Tom!

Tom’s wave catching technique.

This is how I do it, it’s not the only way, but it works for me. This technique is designed to get you in the right position to catch your wave while paddling hard and fast down the wave face.

Most SUP’ers have a preferred side to paddle on and it doesn’t always correlate to whether they are a regular or goofie foot surfer. My preferred paddle side is my left side and I am a regular foot surfer. In other words, when I take off on a wave, whether I plan to go right or left on the wave, I want to continuously be paddling on my left side. This is an important point, if you need to switch paddle sides while catching a wave; you lose a stroke, and may miss the wave.

To help explain my technique, I will use points on a clock, with 12:00 pointing out to the horizon where the waves come from, and 6:00 pointing to the beach and down the face of the wave. Since I want to take the wave while paddling on my left, and because paddling on my left will cause me to turn right, I will set up with my board pointing at 12:00 and looking for the waves that will be peaking on my right and in front of me. If they peak on my left, I let them go because I’m in the wrong position.

As a set approaches, I determine which wave I want and estimate where it will peak. I will then paddle towards that spot so that I will be in front of that spot before it breaks and heading between 2:00 to 4:00. As the wave peaks, I can decide to not take the wave, switch paddle sides and paddling hard on my right, go over the back of the wave. If I plan on taking the wave, I will keep paddling on my left and turn my board towards the direction I want to take the wave with either sweeping paddles to turn the board more or straight paddles to turn the board less. The paddling stroke and speed is determined by how the wave develops and whether I want to drop in on the wave heading either at 5, 6 or 7 o’clock.

Every wave breaks differently and hopefully this will set you up to be able to adapt to the differences. This is where wave judgment and paddle skills come into play. If the wave jumps up quick, I make a tight quick turn. If the wave is slow and the wave will break farther inside, I paddle heading at 4 or 5 o’clock to get to where it will break, and then take the wave at 6 o’clock. Also, how fast the wave breaks will determine my stance as I take off on the wave. With a slow wave, I stay in a parallel stance while catching the wave; with a steep wave, I go into an early surf stance while it’s jumping up. If I’m late on a slow wave, I may run to the nose while paddling frantically. With practice and paying attention to where and how the waves break, you should be able to catch all the waves you want. Just be courteous and give more than you take.

Note. This description is for those who would prefer to take a wave while paddling on their left. If you would prefer to paddle on your right, reverse left with right and 3:00 with 9:00.  

Tom on Tom: I live in San Diego, have spent a lot of year windsurfing Baja and surfing in my home town, Ocean Beach. I’ve been SUPing for a bit over a year and current ride a 10′ C4 in the surf and race and tour on a 12′ Stamps custom.