Big turns

[glideandslide]

I have seen alot of the hawaiian guys swap hands on the paddle when turning front hand and back hand - but it feels really unnatural to me (not that I am as good as those guys) how do you guys get into the turns ?

[SUP Matt]

I switch, but get more power on my forehand (I am regular footed). I also find that moving you back foot towards the tail before the turn will help the turn get tighter, and a nice big crank on the paddle as you go for it helps.

[Rory]

swap hands on the paddle when turning front hand and back hand

Do you mean the same hand on the top, but they turn the paddle around so that the face of the blade changes as they paddle forwards and then backwards. ie swap to keep the same face of the paddle so that you use the end kink in the paddle to best effect with your forward AND back stroke ?

[glideandslide]

Hi Rory,

I mean literally swapping hands and the side that the paddle is on - not reversing the blade, i.e. when surfing backhand the paddle is swapped to other side of the board by switching the top and lower hands.

[Kevin B]

I find that as the board are so big, getting over the centre line really helps

[Tonks]

How much of the turn do you think, is about the "surfing" (weight, feet and leaning) and how much is about the paddle.

I recon the paddle plays a major part, as I have taken my SUP board surfing with out the paddle and it is a complete nightmare to turn with out it.

[Neal]

You can get 'big turns' with the paddle either way- the 'Hawaian' preferred treatment for the backside turn seems to lean heavily in favour of laying back against the paddle placed behind your back foot. this definitely allows you to bury the rail and tail and produce the most effective turn, but beware getting too far over the back of your board as you throw a big one of these cos without the Hawaiian power you might find yourself falling off the back! it's possible to completely slide even an SUP board one-eighty like this. This seems to be the easiest way to turn in smaller surf as well i think because you don't have to take the time to swap the paddle over, so you are more likely to get yout turn in what little power section you have available! on the larger waves though, try swapping your hands and leaning on the paddle placed behind your front foot (so if you're surfing regular the paddle is on the left of the board and your left hand is down the paddle shaft) this provides more stability than committing to the tail of the board, whilst still allowing a lot of back foot pressure to turn, but will also put your weight much further forward after the turn which will make the following drop or turn easier to progress into. if you're lucky enough to find a good backside day this is the way to make really powerful bottom turns on your backhand as it lets you really get forward and drive the board, rather than kinda 'crusin' round the backhand turn which is a missed opportunity to smack what comes next!!!

[Neal]

Oh yeah as for the surfing side, the whole point is to use the paddle so these boards are designed to need one to turn 'properly'. this is the beauty of SUP cos you can make pretty decent turns even on a shitty day, and massive ones when it gets good! (i still love getting on my shortboard when it gets heavy, but would never use it anymore if it's sloppy cos the SUPs just let you have all the power even when it's crap!)

[glideandslide]

Thanks Neal, its been a really useful thread this - I tried out afew new techniques yesterday and, although I am still abit sketchy, I have suddenly found the board easier to turn, shifting my weight to the tail really helped !