After seeing countless people holding their paddle wrong and saying very little, I almost said something today to two folks. One individual was telling the other to flip the paddle around the right way, she gave the right reason, but the opposite direction of how to hold the paddle.
As we were finishing up the paddle today, I saw another two folks with their paddles the wrong way. I finally said something and the individual said ” I’m doing it this way to get more friction and be against the wind”. My wife asked if that made sense, I said yes if your trying to be macho.. but he was so wrong it was funny. So.. instead of me telling you, check this site out.
Follow these helpful tips for holding the paddle
- Always grip the paddle with one hand on the top of the paddle and the other on the center of the shaft. Hold the paddle in front of you with elbows bent at 90 degrees. This should give you comfortable spacing for paddling.
- The blade will be angled and when paddling remember to keep the blade angle facing away from you.
- Paddles float so if you fall and must let it go – it won’t sink.
2nd one is the key one, it will be angled away from you, which is usually words away from your body. I know we are all at different stages of paddling, but please don’t say the opposite or make up a friction story to sound cool. LOL>
Okay folks, words forward, blades correctly and let’s SUP.