When you can balance on your board, paddle into a wave and are happy with the feeling of riding a wave into shore, its time for the really fun bit – standing up.
The first thing to get into your head is that you’re not clambering up onto a bed; you’re leaping up to ride a wave. Your mental attitude will do much of the work for you, if you let it.
Getting going is the same as learning to paddle. You need to be suited up, warmed up, leash attached and standing around chest high in a quiet patch of white water with your board beside you. By now you should feel perfectly at home here, automatically keeping your eyes on the water and competently guiding your board over the breakers as they come through.
When you spot your wave coming, spin your board around and jump on, looking over your shoulder, watching your wave as it approaches. Get paddling, chest held high, smooth and determined – you are going to catch this wave – and make minor adjustments to your positioning if you feel it’s necessary. When you feel the wave pick you up, that’s when your master ‘standing up plan’ needs to spring into action.
You should already have an idea of the motion you are looking to achieve from practicing pop-ups at home or on the beach. As you feel the wave take you, paddle two more strokes to maintain momentum, and then grab the rails, hard. If your weight is right and you have paddled hard enough, you will still be moving forward at the same speed, as your paddling energy will have been replaced by the energy of the wave.
Push your chest up as if about to start a push up, keeping your weight neutral between both arms, and then whip your legs through underneath you in one smooth movement. Aim to plant your feet flat – no tip-toes – slightly wider than shoulder width apart, the leg with the leash attached towards the tail of your board at a 90 degree angle to it, and your front foot toward the middle. Both legs need to stay central lengthwise, or you will overbalance your board and flip off.
Don’t try to get up to straight legs. This is a common mistake. Sometimes you can be concentrating so hard on getting up that you slip into the habit of trying to get right up to straight legs. There’s no need – and you are making it harder for yourself. Tuck into a semi-crouch position, keep your legs bent to absorb bumps and chop and you’ll stay up longer.
Try not to get to one knee first. It won’t help in the long run as it encourages you to clamber up when you need to leap, and it’s an easy bad habit to get into, and a really hard one to break. It’s harsh, but once you get going if you find a knee goes down, you should really jump off and go again.
There’s a lot to think about, and unless you’re a magician its unlikely you’ll be standing straight away. Every time you fall off, try to work out why, and change your technique next time. You’ll probably find that the first time you find yourself upright, it has all just clicked without you knowing why, and it’s the best feeling in the world! You’re riding a wave!
The best thing is that the adrenalin buzzing round your body from your success will power you through the next ten wipe outs! Just keep trying, and when you’ve done it once you know you can do it so keep going!
Win a £25 online voucher - just RT and follow for your chance to win - let's see if we can hit 1700 flws & we'll pick a winner - easy! #win
Standing Up
The first thing to get into your head is that you’re not clambering up onto a bed; you’re leaping up to ride a wave. Your mental attitude will do much of the work for you, if you let it.
Getting going is the same as learning to paddle. You need to be suited up, warmed up, leash attached and standing around chest high in a quiet patch of white water with your board beside you. By now you should feel perfectly at home here, automatically keeping your eyes on the water and competently guiding your board over the breakers as they come through.
When you spot your wave coming, spin your board around and jump on, looking over your shoulder, watching your wave as it approaches. Get paddling, chest held high, smooth and determined – you are going to catch this wave – and make minor adjustments to your positioning if you feel it’s necessary. When you feel the wave pick you up, that’s when your master ‘standing up plan’ needs to spring into action.
You should already have an idea of the motion you are looking to achieve from practicing pop-ups at home or on the beach. As you feel the wave take you, paddle two more strokes to maintain momentum, and then grab the rails, hard. If your weight is right and you have paddled hard enough, you will still be moving forward at the same speed, as your paddling energy will have been replaced by the energy of the wave.
Push your chest up as if about to start a push up, keeping your weight neutral between both arms, and then whip your legs through underneath you in one smooth movement. Aim to plant your feet flat – no tip-toes – slightly wider than shoulder width apart, the leg with the leash attached towards the tail of your board at a 90 degree angle to it, and your front foot toward the middle. Both legs need to stay central lengthwise, or you will overbalance your board and flip off.
Don’t try to get up to straight legs. This is a common mistake. Sometimes you can be concentrating so hard on getting up that you slip into the habit of trying to get right up to straight legs. There’s no need – and you are making it harder for yourself. Tuck into a semi-crouch position, keep your legs bent to absorb bumps and chop and you’ll stay up longer.
Try not to get to one knee first. It won’t help in the long run as it encourages you to clamber up when you need to leap, and it’s an easy bad habit to get into, and a really hard one to break. It’s harsh, but once you get going if you find a knee goes down, you should really jump off and go again.
There’s a lot to think about, and unless you’re a magician its unlikely you’ll be standing straight away. Every time you fall off, try to work out why, and change your technique next time. You’ll probably find that the first time you find yourself upright, it has all just clicked without you knowing why, and it’s the best feeling in the world! You’re riding a wave!
The best thing is that the adrenalin buzzing round your body from your success will power you through the next ten wipe outs! Just keep trying, and when you’ve done it once you know you can do it so keep going!