80
Powering Up , using the paddle like the third leg of a tripod , not only adds to stability , but combines this with speed and drive .
The closer your feet are to the centreline , the less initial ‘ planted ’ stability you feel like you have , but this translates to the board having a hard time adversely moving your body around and off the centreline . Your feet do not lift ( or drop ) as far , and as such your body shift off centre is reduced , applying less force to the lower foot , and this force having less power due to a smaller moment arm .
People can walk on slacklines because their core rarely gets off centre ( relative to their feet or the line itself ).
Stance stagger I call this the ‘ Kung Fu ’ stance ( because it sounds cool ). I studied karate for years , and quickly adopted three basic karate stances into my SUP paddling .
Standing with your feet parallel makes it near to impossible to regain balance if the nose or tail of the board is suddenly lifted or lowered ( pitch ), or you suddenly accelerate or decelerate .
Shifting one foot back so the toes of the back foot align with the heel of the front foot , right at about shoulder width , gives you the best ‘ all around ’ standing position ( in karate it ’ s called Sanchin Dachi ).
The advantage of this is that it allows you to shift your crotch forward or back , as needed , to keep your centre of gravity over the centreline , without bending at the waist ( a big no no ). This stance is effectively the same as a flat stance when it comes to comfort over long periods of paddling , while giving you this fine-tune stability adjustment .
It also allows you to step back into a longer more ‘ defensive ’ stance ( in karate called Hangetsu Dachi ), that I use when boofing drops and holes , without that momentary instability that comes from stepping back out of a sideways flat stance .
The lower the volume of my board , and narrower the board , so the closer my feet get . On my tiny 25-inch wide , 88-litre surf SUP , I stand almost on the centreline , toes to heel , shifting the Sanchi Dachi ( kung fu ) to a stance called Neko Ashi Dachi .
As soon as you master these stances , you suddenly realize that excessive board width is not only unnecessary , but a hindrance .
Knees , ankle and waist bend A large part of stability comes from absorbing the board ’ s movement . Think of a motocross rider firing across a series of Whoops ( a series of smaller moguls or hills in succession ), standing on the pegs . The wheels are hammering up and down , but the riders upper body barely moves , absorbing everything with the suspension and legs . Skiers use the same technique in moguls .
In an ideal world , no matter what the board is doing underneath you , no matter how much its bucking and weaving , everything from the waist up should be completely still .
This is accomplished by combining the staggered stances , with a very liberal amount of knee and ankle bending , each leg moving independently , so that it ’ s moving up and down just enough to absorb the boards movement , while keeping your upper body still .
What you don ’ t want to do is attempt to absorb these board movements through waist bending . First of all , it ’ s too slow . You just cannot lower and raise your chest by bending at the waist , moving it about , left and right , up and down , side to side , fast enough , to absorb what the board is doing .
You cannot even begin to tackle multiple drop rapids until you have mastered stability . If you fall on the first drop , you ’ re swimming the second one and that ’ s no fun at all .