Edition 2

Copyright
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All rights reserved. © 2011, Ocean Feather Pty Ltd ABN 17 111 136 237.

Disclaimer
This book was written in March 2010 and was undertaken in good faith, based on the author’s and Ocean Feather Pty Ltd’s
experience and understanding of the sport of Surf Skiing at the time. Ocean Feather Pty Ltd and the author of this material
make no aspersions or claims regarding the relevance of this material in the future.

Ocean Feather Pty Ltd and the author of this material cannot accept any responsibility for any loss, damage or injury, whether
direct or indirect, arising from participation in the sport of surf skiing, based on the concepts discussed in this document.
Neither does this document attempt to be or intend on being a replacement for professional and competent coaching.

Regardless of whether you ride a surf ski for training, competition or recreational activities, you do so at your own risk. Like all
water and in particular, surf related sports, there are inherent risks with riding a surf ski or similar craft. If you decide to ride a
surf ski using the concepts discussed in this book, you do so on the basis that you understand these inherent risks and have
assumed personal responsibility for these risks.

Acknowledgements
The athlete in the cover image of this eBook is Ky Hurst, competing in 2009/2010 Kellogg’s Nutrigrain Australian Ironman Series
event at Alexandra Heads. The photo is copyright to and courtesy of Harvie Allison at www.harvpix.com. Thanks Harv.

This eBook would not have been possible without the attention to my own surf ski skills, showed by my coaches Stuart Keay
and Trudy Holt from www.surfcoach.net.au. Most of the corrections to my technique have come from their vast experience and
knowledge of this sport. They are highly recommended to anyone looking for a surf sports coach on the Gold Coast, I continue
to use them to this day.

Thanks also to Rob Stewart from www.GoldCoastPersonalTraining.com.au for both the hardcore fitness sessions he gets me to
do, keeping me strong; and for the article on Surf Ski fitness he provided for you, in this book. Rob is a professional personal
trainer on the Gold Coast, a great person to contact if you need help achieving your fitness goals.
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 5
Coach’s Tips................................................................................................................................................... 6
Skills .............................................................................................................................................................. 7
Basic Skills ................................................................................................................................................. 8
Setting Up – Your Ski and Appropriate Leg Length ............................................................................... 9
Setting Up – How To Hold Your Paddle............................................................................................... 10
Setting Up – Wax Your Ski ................................................................................................................... 11
Setting Up – Appropriate Swimwear .................................................................................................. 12
Balance – Relax ................................................................................................................................... 13
Balance – Sit Up Straight ..................................................................................................................... 14
Balance – Wedge Yourself In and Stick ............................................................................................... 15
Balance – Start With Your Feet Out .................................................................................................... 15
Balance – A Great Drill Anywhere ....................................................................................................... 16
Technique – Rotation, Let Your Core And Back Muscles Do The Work .............................................. 17
Technique – High Hand In Front Of Face ............................................................................................ 19
Technique – High Hand Close To Face – Relaxed................................................................................ 20
Technique – Reach .............................................................................................................................. 21
Technique – Leg Drive ......................................................................................................................... 22
Technique – A Vertical Paddle Blade .................................................................................................. 23
Technique – A Tip To Add Speed ........................................................................................................ 24
Technique – Putting It All Together .................................................................................................... 25
Surf Skills ................................................................................................................................................. 27
Starts ................................................................................................................................................... 27
White Water – 3 Strokes ..................................................................................................................... 33
Wipeouts and Remounting ................................................................................................................. 33
Extremely Choppy Conditions ............................................................................................................. 35
Extreme Conditions, Strong Winds, Leashes and Safety .................................................................... 36
Popping Through Breaking Waves ...................................................................................................... 37
Aggression ........................................................................................................................................... 39
Catching Waves ................................................................................................................................... 39
Catching Runners ................................................................................................................................ 41
Training ....................................................................................................................................................... 43
Surf Ski Fitness ........................................................................................................................................ 43
Surf Ski Coaching ..................................................................................................................................... 45
Other Issues ............................................................................................................................................ 47
Coach’s Tip - Surf Ski Damage and Long Distance Carrying On The Beach ......................................... 47
Issue – Tight Hip Flexors...................................................................................................................... 47
Issue – Numb Bum .............................................................................................................................. 48
Issue - Tight Thighs (This One A Coach’s Tip) ...................................................................................... 48
Buying Surf Skis ........................................................................................................................................... 49
Buying a New Ski ..................................................................................................................................... 49
Buying a Second Hand Ski ....................................................................................................................... 49
Introduction
Hello and welcome to Surf Ski Supremacy. Firstly congratulations on your choice to get involved in this
amazing sport and welcome to our small community. We really are a small niche in the world of water
and surf sports, enjoying things that few others do.

We all have different reasons why we fall in love with paddling surf skis, or ocean kayaks as some people
call them. Personally, I have found that while I enjoy the fitness, training and competition, these are not
the aspects of paddling that I love the most. Personally, my love is the internal drive to find perfection.
Riding a surf ski is so technical that there is always some part of my balance and drive through the water
that I can improve. Tomorrow I can be better than today and, I have the satisfaction of seeing how much
better I am today, than I was yesterday.

It is this evolution that keeps me reaching for my paddle and heading out into the water. Combine this
though with factors such as:

hours at the beach

the exhilaration of catching bigger waves
spending time with great friends
occasionally sharing time with marine wildlife such as dolphins, stingrays and the like
open water fishing expeditions
the feeling of flying

and you can start to see why riding a surf ski is an activity that really is hard to beat.

I am not sure what is driving you in this sport but if you are anything like me I’m sure you will still be
intoxicated with surf skiing 10, 20 and 30 years from now. It will become more than a leisure activity or
past time, it will become a lifestyle for you.

When I started surf skiing back in 2008, I found it very difficult to find information about anything to do
with the sport. The surf ski manufacturers typically had very poor websites, they were hard to find and
had little practical information about the sport. There was little around in the form of useful blogs or
forums either. So to learn, I was basically dependant on the people using the skis around me, picking up
snippets and tips as I went along. This dependence created many issues in my development, not least of
all that I could only learn as fast as the information arrived.

As I received information about riding surf skis from the experts at the time, I noted it down. I treated it
similarly to the way the ancient cultures passed down their stories from one generation to the next.
That is, as if the tips were priceless pieces of wisdom that needed to be passed onto future generations.
With this intent, I have painstakingly soaked up all information about riding surf skis that has come to
my attention, applied it to the challenges I was facing and recorded the changes. I encourage you to do
the same with your progress.

That is what this book is about and where it came from. It is a presentation of the issues I faced when
learning how to ride a surf ski and the techniques and knowledge which helped me overcome those
challenges. The idea is that all beginners and intermediate ski riders face similar challenges. By
presenting the challenges I faced and the solutions I found for those challenges, the chances are that I
am also giving you solutions to the challenges you are facing.

To that end, this book is the culmination of years of collecting, testing and recording all the information
that I've come across regarding surf skis and the art or surf skiing. It covers everything from riding in the
surf to buying a second-hand ski. It includes information about sizing up a craft for your use, to
conditioning your body to be as effective as possible when paddling in the craft. It also has many
observations from me and my experiences. Things I found easy, hard, things which helped me improve
and things which didn’t.

This book is intended to be the most comprehensive document about learning to ride surf skis that is
available today. That being said, it is not intended to replace competent coaching. Obviously I cannot
watch you and correct your technique, even if I was qualified. Only a coach can do that. So on that basis,
I hope you enjoy it, but remember also to listen to your coaches and training partners. They can give you
invaluable insights by observing you and your style.

Most of all though, have fun. Heaven knows I have enjoyed my journey in acquiring the knowledge
about this fantastic, strenuous and rewarding sport.

Coach’s Tips
With version 2 of this eBook, we were really lucky to have professional surf ski coach and Gold Coast life
guard Stuart Keay, review the contents of the book and offer his thoughts in many of the sections. You
can find Stuart’s additions in the “Coach’s Tips” sections in the eBook. These sections will be inset in
italics so you can find them easily.
Skills
If you are just starting with surf skiing, you have quite a
journey ahead of you. These skis are a lot of fun, they
literally fly over the water no matter if you use them in
waves or on flat water. They are great for fitness and
health, taxing you both physically and mentally. If you
enjoy the water; be it rivers, lakes, the ocean, or even
just the outdoor way of life, riding a surf ski is just the
thing.

Despite the basic look they have, these craft are quite
sophisticated. Riding them and riding them well are two
entirely different things. That is why paddling a surf ski
can be as intellectually stimulating as it can be physically
challenging. You really need to strive for perfection with
your balance and technique if you are to improve and
therefore, paddle faster, for longer distances. If you are
starting in this sport, you really do need to learn how to
crawl first, then walk and run, before you can learn how
to fly.

So I guess you have a decision to make. Do you just want to jump on a ski and go for a bit of a paddle or
do you want to do these majestic craft justice and really learn how to ride them? If you really want to
learn to ride them, the satisfaction is well worth the work. You will be able to travel long distances, you
will be able to fly through the breakers at ocean beaches and you will be able to catch waves back into
the beach. This is more than most people you will ever meet will be capable of, quite a bragging point in
itself.

If this is you, then this book is also for you. I have written it outlining the fundamentals which will get
you crawling. Then there are skill refinements which will see you walking and running. Finally there are
suggestions which will have you flying over the water, like you never imagined you could.

I hope you enjoy the journey, now let’s get into it.
Basic Skills

It was an early Saturday morning, I woke up quite excited. Today I was going to show
everyone just how good I was, that I was a natural on a surf ski. We were heading to a
lake, which was a little bit of a downer for me. Why couldn’t we just go to the ocean,
where all the good surf skiers were already catching waves. We have to make allowances
for the other beginners I grumbled impatiently to myself.

We got to Lake Hugh Muntz and I was assigned the club’s old blue surf ski. They told me
this one was good to learn on as it had a flat bottom and therefore was easier to balance
on. Ha! They obviously did not know about my skills in the water. I would show them in
no time I deserved the fastest, most finely tuned ski in their arsenal, not some sluggish,
flat bottomed craft.

They handed me my paddle, I climbed into the ski, brimming with confidence and ready
to fly. Then the ski rocked, tipped and proceeded to dump me off the other side into the
lake. As I stood up, coughing, spluttering and choking on my misplaced confidence, it
slowly dawned on me that this surf craft may take more commitment to master than I
originally thought.

Like so many water sports, balance for surf skiing is crucial. Ensuring you have good balance will then
help you master proper technique. Correct technique is ultimately what will result in you using your
craft as efficiently as possible. This simply means you will learn how to maximize the power that goes
into every forward stroke, while minimizing all the little movements and forces which do not propel your
ski forward. In doing this, you will achieve maximum effect and output while using the minimum effort
or input you can.

Maximum output for minimum input is not about taking it easy. It says absolutely nothing about the
effort and work you are putting in. It just says when you do put in effort, as you are doing so efficiently,
you will get maximum output for that effort. This is a good principle to have with anything in life as it
means you are not wasting time and energy while achieving half-baked results. It also means that a
100% effort or expenditure of energy will result in the maximum output possible.

In business, there is the phrase “Work smarter, not harder”. Getting good balance and technique is this
part of the equation. It also means that when you do work harder, you will actually be working harder
and smarter and therefore you will get maximum rewards.
Setting Up – Your Ski and Appropriate Leg Length
Leg length is very important when surf skiing, both for your balance and for your power and drive
through the water. You want your legs reasonably straight, but not so much so that you cannot
straighten them to help with your balance and power.

The ideal leg length for your foot wells is when you are sitting as far back in your seat as possible, your
heals are pushed as far forward as they can go and you can snugly fit your fist between your knees and
the surf ski.

Illustrating Correct Ski Size

Backside Back In Seat Fists Snuggly Under Knees Feet Firmly Pushed Into Foot Wells
If you can fit more than your fist under your knees, the leg length of this ski is too short. Lengthen the
legs if the ski allows or use a different ski if the foot wells cannot be adjusted.

If you can’t fit your fist under your knees, the leg length of this ski is too long. Shorten the legs if the ski
allows or use a different ski if the foot wells cannot be adjusted.

Coach’s Tip - Leg Length and the Depth Of Bevel

If you are not being custom fit for a ski by a manufacturer, the fist measurement
is a good guide.

The area between seat and foot wells is usually level with the rails of the ski. On
some makes though this section is beveled out in the mould, therefore the deck
is lower than the rails.

When using the fist measurement technique for leg height take into account
how far the rail is above this area between seat and foot wells and add that to
your fist size because it could make a difference to comfort and balance.

Setting Up – How To Hold Your Paddle

Where and how you hold your paddle will impact the way you stroke. So it is important to get paddle
length right and to hold your paddle in the correct manner.

Arms, Shoulders and Paddle Forming a Rectangle

Refer to the image on the prior page, this shows the correct way to hold a paddle. You will notice the
rectangle shape the paddler’s arms are making with the paddle. His elbows create a right angle with his
arms forming 3 of the rectangle’s edges, and the paddle the fourth.

Hold your paddle this way and check out your hold in a mirror. Have a look at the angle your forearms
are making. Is it a straight rectangle or are you creating some form of trapezoid? If so, try adjusting your
grip until your arms make the correct shape. Mark where your hands are now and try to ensure this is
where you put your hands when paddling. Many people find it worthwhile taping their paddle with
markers so they know where to put their little fingers. This may be something worth considering to help
you remember correct positioning of your hands.

Is the shaft of your paddle too long or short to form a straight rectangle? If so, you may want to consider
trading your paddle in for something of a more appropriate length.

Setting Up – Wax Your Ski

I was having so much fun in the small waves I was catching, I just had to get my own surf
ski. So I searched and searched, finally finding one that looked right. It was not too
expensive being second hand, the owner assured me it was ocean worthy, so I bought it. I
had my first ski.

I remember the next time I took it to the beach, I was so proud of it I didn’t want to get it
dirty. I showed it off to everyone, pumping the chest out, it was so clean and shiny. We
jumped in the water and started paddling. Just as everyone took off, I started having
problems. The first wave came and knocked me clean out of my seat. Then I fell off
again… and again… and again. I just could not keep my balance in the surf on my “shiny
new toy”.

Fortunately there was a very easy explanation for my issues on this day. As I was trying to keep my surf
ski clean, I had not put any wax on the seat. To balance properly on your surf ski, you need to become
“one with it”. I.e. The surf ski needs to feel like it is an extension to your body. The only way you can be
one with your ski is by holding it with your backside and feet (Refer chapter on Balance – Wedge
Yourself In and Stick). As I had no wax on my seat, I could not hold the seat with my backside. Every
time the ski was moved by a wave, the adjustments I made to balance were useless as I was holding
onto nothing. I would slip right out of the seat, tip the ski and take a plunge.

So check your seat before you head out into the waves, does it have enough wax to hold your posterior
in the seat? If it does not, wax it up and you will find balance so much easier.
 Coach’s Tip - Your Take Everywhere Maintenance Kit
Be prepared with your maintenance kit. Having no wax on your ski is one of the
most common issues with falling off your ski. You need to carry this with you at
all times as part of your take everywhere surf ski kit. You need to keep this kit
available at all times in your car or bag. It should include:

2 screw drivers: flat head and star head;

wax;
grey tape for minor immediate repairs;
spare cork (bung);
pair of pliers or shifting spanner

Setting Up – Appropriate Swimwear

Prior to riding surf skis, I’d been a surfer all my life. I’d always worn either boardshorts in warmer
conditions or a wetsuit in colder conditions. The thought of wearing Speedos, briefs, or “budgie
smugglers” as we call them down here in Australia, was abhorrent to me. As far as I was concerned,
people wearing these swimmers ought to be mocked.

I tried to stick to my guns, wearing boardshorts while riding my ski. The bad news is that it just does not
work. Wearing boardshorts is similar to not waxing your surf ski. Your shorts stick to the seat of your ski,
but you move within your shorts, losing your hold of your seat. This is especially the case if you are
wearing underwear or “budgie smugglers” underneath.

So I definitely suggest appropriate swimwear for these craft are a pair of Speedos. If this is unacceptable
to you, I have found that compression shorts like the Skins or Body Science brands work quite well too.
They are a fair bit more expensive than the trusty pair of Speedos though.
Balance – Relax

I was out with Tony, on the back, being the power behind the double ski we were
paddling. Tony, in the front seat and much more experienced than me, could feel every
adjustment I was making. Having tipped him out for the umpteenth time on this day,
Tony fell into a small pod of blue bottle jelly fish. The blisters were already forming on his
ankle by the time he climbed back on the ski.

Fortunately these sea jellies only sting (albeit badly) and have no lingering or dangerous
effects. Tony had had enough though. Having held his tongue for half an hour, it was
time for some specific and direct advice. “You are trying too hard Damo” he said. “…this
time, I want you to relax and stay relaxed all the way in. Do not think of anything other
than being relaxed”.

Mortified by the welts on his leg, I had no choice but to bite back my retort and obey. So I
concentrated on loosening my clenched jaw, dropping my shoulders, relaxing my seat
and hips and just riding. We caught the biggest wave of the day and rode it all the way to
the beach… at which point we left the water in search for treatment for blue bottle stings

I have a big issue with most sports I try. I work so hard at doing the technical things correctly, that I
tense up and become robotic. This is a big problem. Basically every sport I know of requires fluidity and
natural motion. When you tense you lose this. When balance is a factor, it is a bigger problem. A tense
body cannot make the immediate, minute adjustments required for balance. This is the problem I had
with Tony. I was forcing balance, rather than being balanced. You may be able to get away with this
when paddling on your own in benign conditions. Throw another person into the mix though, or
challenging conditions and it will never work.

I know sometimes it is difficult, you are concentrating on so many things that relaxation is nigh on
impossible. If you give it a little bit of attention each time you go out, I promise you it will make a world
of difference.

Coach’s Tip - How To Relax

We had a testing surf session recently and Damian was tensing up as he was
determined to stay with the group. I called out “Relax”. He shot back “how do I
relax when I am trying so hard?” A good question.

The answer is to breath out. On an exhalation the nervous system relaxes.

Breath in deeply and then breath out slowly with a sigh, for a count of 4 to 6…
try it now.
Balance – Sit Up Straight
When sitting on your ski, you want to move as efficiently as possible. You also want to save energy, this
will enable you to be on the water for hours. One of the prerequisites for this is posture; you need to sit
up straight with relaxed, dropped shoulders.

In many sports that require the straight back, people always talk about imagining there was a
broomstick running up the middle of your spine. The analogy is perfect here. So use it. Imagine there is a
broomstick running from the crown of your head, through the middle of your spine and out through the
seat of your ski. This should be your posture on a surf ski.

Personally, I find this quite difficult. I spend my life at a PC, writing and working on websites. As such, I
have your standard “computer geek” hunched up posture. I find remembering to sit up straight quite
challenging in itself, how did such a simple task become so difficult?

This is just one of the areas though, that I have found my quality of life away from the water has
improved because of my time in the water. I have forced myself to improve my posture, this has led to
less aches and pains in my lower back, improved
circulation and as a result, higher levels of energy.
Troubleshooting Tip – If when
While you are sitting down reading this book, I want you
paddling, you find your arms
to feel why this posture is important. So sit in a chair, feet
quickly tiring, you are using too
flat to the floor, spine straight as described above and
much of your arms and not
head facing forward. Now, maintaining this posture,
enough of your core and back
pretend you are holding your paddle and reach forward to
muscles. Simply sitting up
make a stroke.
straight may be all it takes to
Make sure you maintain this posture. correct this issue.

Do you see how to reach forward while maintaining this

posture, you are forced to rotate your core and entire body on your spine axis. Then, when you dip your
imaginary paddle into the imaginary water and pull the paddle back, you are forced to use your whole
core and back to pull your paddle. Your core and back muscles are so much stronger than your arm
muscles are. You get so much extra power in your stroke by using these massive muscle groups than you
ever would by using your arms. On top of that, these muscles have better endurance. They will last
much longer without tiring. So by sitting up straight you will get a more powerful stroke, maintained for
longer. There is a whole lot to like about that.

Once you have your straight posture worked out, it is ok to lean forward slightly towards your toes. The
point with this is to give you greater reach and therefore a longer stroke in the water, which means
more propulsion from each stroke. If you do this though, it is important that you maintain your straight
spine all the way out through your crown. So to lean forward, you are hinging at the hips, maintaining
your core balance.
Balance – Wedge Yourself In and Stick
When starting to ride a ski, balance is always difficult. I think I spent a whole year working on balance. I
was working on all the other skills too mind you, but poor balance constantly got in my way. No matter
what drills or training you do, it is always undermined if you are regularly missing strokes due to the
struggle for balance.

Balance primarily comes from core fitness. You use your core muscles (I.e. Everything between your
knees and your rib cage) to hold your body steady, your ski steady and absorb any bumps, rolls, wake or
waves that pass underneath you.

That being said, when training one day, one of my training partners suggested I really push with my
heels, moving my bum back hard into the back of my seat, wedging myself in. I tried this and it proved to
be an invaluable tip. Wedging yourself into your seat really makes the ski “sticky” to your body. It is this
stickiness which enables your core to control your balance as it basically attaches your body to your ski.
Without this stickiness, the only things really holding onto your ski are your feet, which makes control
difficult. So if you want to make your ski an extension to your own body, practise wedging yourself into
your seat in this manner.

An additional benefit of this technique is when you are paddling fast out into waves and your ski
launches over the top of them. Early in the piece, I found that when my ski launched over the top of the
wave, it would launch me higher. Sometimes I found myself more than a metre higher than my ski,
before of course I came crashing down either beside my ski (right in the wave impact zone) or onto my
ski (OUCH!). The only way to avoid this is to stick to your seat with the technique described above.

Balance – Start With Your Feet Out

If you are just beginning and are having tremendous trouble maintaining balance while slipping your
feet into the foot wells, try baby steps. Many of the people who learned with me used this method to
start and are now catching waves in challenging conditions along with the best of us.

The first step is to sit on the ski with your legs hanging over the side. Find your balance and just sit there.
Maybe rock your ski a bit and let it adjust back into a balanced position. Work out how to use your legs
best in this position to hold you in place.

Once you are comfortable with this, paddle around. Spend some time moving while balanced, with your
legs hanging over the edge. Remember this position and how it feels later too. Quite often as you
improve, you will find yourself in more challenging situations, particularly when you throw waves and
wind chop into the mix. You can always throw your legs over the side to regain your balance and save
yourself a dunking.

When you have mastered balance in this position, you can progress. Move one foot up the side of the
ski, so it is holding the ski next to the adjacent foot well, without putting it into the foot well. Use your
other leg as a pendulum, maintaining your balance while you get used to this position. Once again,
paddle around like this, rock in your seat and recover your stability. Just play for a while until you are
happy you mastered balance in this position.
The third step it to bring your other foot up, holding the outside of the ski also, next door to the foot
well. One great thing about this position is you can get used to the balancing requirements similar to
having your feet in their proper position, while adding some stability to the ski with your feet. Another
benefit of this position is you can quickly drop your legs into a position you have already mastered if you
start losing your balance, until you regain your composure and lift your legs back up into position again
when balance has been restored.

Go on, paddle around like this for a while, enjoying the additional speed you will get as your legs are not
dragging anymore.

Practising With Your Feet Out Can Help Early On

Once you have mastered this position, it is not much of an additional step to get your feet into the foot
wells where they should be. You also now have a bunch of “alternate” foot placements you can use
when you take your ski into more challenging situations, making the transition into these conditions a
little easier.

Balance – A Great Drill Anywhere

Balancing on a surf ski can be difficult. It can take years to really settle into a ski and ride it like it is an
extension to your body. You have a problem though if you are not at that point and that problem is that
every moment you spend being unstable, or fighting for balance, is a moment you are slowing down
and/or not paddling efficiently. Towards the end of my first year paddling, I was still losing one stroke
out of five to fighting for balance. So you need to train your body to relax, settle in your seat and feel
real balance 100% of the time you are paddling.
A great drill Stu my coach gave me to help with this is the “Waddle Drill”. You can do this basically
anywhere, other than where the waves are breaking. Here is the drill:

1. Sit in your surf ski and relax, have your feet in the foot wells but do not apply any foot pressure.
Be completely relaxed. Use the flat of the blade of your paddle on the water (as if it is a
pontoon) to stabilize yourself. Try and completely relax in your seat.
2. Now slap the water with the blade of your paddle – this is going to be your balancing beam.
Spend a small amount of time slapping the water on both sides of your ski and feel how solid
this feels, how much stability it actually gives you.
3. Now, keeping your relaxation as per point 1 above, try and rock your ski to the left and right, by
gyrating your hips. Rock rapidly from left to right. Keep yourself upright by using your paddle as
a stabilizer, as per point 2 above. Make your rocking fast and far, try to rock as far as you can.
You should be able to get the water to pour into your seat as the sides dip under the water line.

There are two points to this drill. The first is to get your body to relax in your seat. If your body can relax,
it will be able to absorb the bumps and movements in the water better. The second is to teach your
body that the ski can actually dip a long way without you losing your balance. The more and more your
body gets used to this, the better and better it will be at handling unexpected tilts when you are
paddling.

Try and do it every time you go out, at least until you feel balance is no longer an issue for you.

Technique – Rotation, Let Your Core And Back Muscles Do The Work
It’s funny how everyone associates big muscles with biceps. I wonder what it is about the arms which
makes muscles so impressive there, when in fact, those muscles are so small and relatively weak.

There are a number of massive muscle groups in your body. These are your legs, your back and your
chest. These muscle groups are the biggest and strongest in your body. By and large, they are
harmonized and coordinated by your abdominals and obliques. Working harmoniously together they
form your core. This large group of muscles working in harmony is what people mean when they talk
about core strength or core co-ordination.

The biggest mistake novice paddlers make when picking up a paddle, is using their arms as the sole
driver of their ski. If you find your hands, your forearms, your biceps or shoulders are getting tired when
paddling, you are making this mistake also. For maximum performance, you need to use your core
muscles. The best way to do this is to practise and perfect the rotation of your trunk when paddling.

In the balance section, we talked about sitting up straight with your shoulders forward a fraction from
your hips. Sit up straight like this while reading this paragraph. Now, pretend you are holding your
paddle and while maintaining your straight posture, reach forward and pretend to paddle. Do you see
how to put your paddle in, your trunk must twist in the opposite direction?

Then, keeping your upper hand still and your spine straight, using your spine as an axis for rotation,
continue your mock stroke. The only way you can do this is by rotating through your core. When you do
this, the major muscles in your back will be the ones which are carrying the burden of your stroke, not
your arms. This muscle group is so much bigger and stronger than your arms that you will paddle
stronger and with more endurance than you ever would be able to, when paddling with your arms.

This trunk rotation is one of the aspects of my paddling that I have found hardest to master. I spend all
my time at a computer to start with, so I naturally struggle even with the straight spine part. Then the
rotating trunk adds an element of complexity to my movement, because when I rotate my trunk, I am
supposed to be watching where I am going also. My coach has told me that your trunk should rotate so
far as to be perpendicular (90°) to your ski at the end of each stroke. So if you are paddling up a creek
and there is a photographer on the bank, he should be able to take a photo of your entire body at the
end of each stroke.

Troubleshooting Tip – Thinking you are paddling with your core and paddling with your
core can often be two, very different things. It is difficult to know what correct stroke
feels like, until you are doing it correctly. I know for a long time, I thought I was doing it
well, only to find out later I was using my arms way too much.

One indicator of “too much arms” is stroke rating. If you are paddling with your arms
too much, you will find it difficult to paddle fast. Here I am not talking about ski speed,
but paddle speed - about getting your paddle whirring through the air. Marathon
paddlers tend to rate at just under 110 strokes per minute – if you cannot match this
rating, it is possibly because you are trying to “muscle” your way through the water –
inadvertently using your arms. Lightening your stroke (less grunt) and concentrating on
core rotation will really help you improve here. You will find you move faster AND
maintain energy and strength longer. Your stroke should not feel like an effort, it
should feel like a glide.

One of the things that helped me realize this myself was an Ergo surf ski rowing
machine. In one training session, my coach pointed out he had a stroke rate of about
105 strokes per minute – in comparison I could only manage 80. On the flip side, these
ergo machines also measure the wattage of each stroke. In this session, my coach was
producing about 135 watts, I was around the 170 mark – clearly highlighting my “arm
power” at work. If you have access to an ergo machine – 105 stroke rating and 135
watts are a good measurement to guide your stroke balance (between arms and core)
– try to keep your rating high and your watts low.
One thing I have found in practising this rotation in the water is that you can hold a lot more water with
the second half of each stroke, meaning you get more power out of each stroke. If you are not rotating
enough, you will find that your paddle will lift early and you will lose the forward momentum in the
stroke. If you rotate more, your paddle will maintain more of an angle in the water, thereby holding
more water and increasing the push of every single stroke you make. This is on top of the additional
power you will get by using your back muscles, rather than your arms.

This part of technique is so important; you should spend time concentrating on it every time you get in
the water.

Coaches Tip - The Even Pull

An even pull through the water at the same depth is the optimal stroke. Here is
a drill to help you achieve this.

Bury your paddle blade until your little finger touches the water, then pull the
stroke to your hips at this depth. Let the paddle exit the water at the hips with a
90 degree vertical lift width of the arm.

This drill will get you used to an even depth during the stroke and burying the
blade in the water. Doing this for long slow distance will make you realize how
much stronger you need to be. A good exit will improve catch.

Technique – High Hand In Front Of Face

All these technique tips are aimed at ensuring your use of the paddle is as efficient as possible, so it
holds the maximum amount of water during the stroke, for the maximum amount of time. So as you
read through these tips, ask yourself what impact the tip is having on your paddle while it is in the
water.

When you are paddling, we will call the hand next to the blade in the water your “low” hand (as it
should be low) and the hand closest to the blade in the air the “high” hand. When you are stroking, you
high hand should be kept high, at about eye level. Too often you see paddlers who drop their high hand
to about waist or navel level. This is terribly inefficient, losing a lot of pull out of the stroke.

Next time you are in flat water, sit still and hold your paddle in the water on one side with your high
hand held at eye level. When your high hand is maintained at eye level, you will see the shaft of your
paddle will almost be vertical. The blade which is in the water will also almost be vertical, you will have
sunk it deep, thereby holding maximum water.

Now, keeping the blade in the water, start to drop your upper hand towards your navel. You will see in
doing this, the paddle moves towards the horizontal plane, lifting the blade out of the water. As the
blade lifts, it is also wider, further from your ski. So not only will your blade hold less water as it has
lifted, but your stroke will be shorter as it is played through a wider arc.
 Recovery Hand Kept High

When you drop your upper hand you lose power in your stroke on two fronts, you hold less water and
you shorten your stroke. With every single stroke, you will lose time and ground against a fellow paddler
who gets this right. It is definitely worth working on.

Technique – High Hand Close To Face – Relaxed

Once you have mastered the ability to keep your high hand high, you also want to concentrate on
relaxing it, keeping it close to your face. Most people have the tendency to push this hand as part of the
stroke out past 30cm away from your face, until your high arm is almost straight. This is incorrect. An
efficient and technically correct paddler will keep his high hand about 10 – 15cms away from his face,
really relaxing that arm during the recovery part of the stroke.

Think about the paddle blade that is in the water if you push your high arm out. When you keep your
high hand close to your face, once again, it maintains a vertical paddle shaft and therefore helps ensure
your paddle is holding maximum water and power. When you push your high arm though, straightening
it forward, you actually move the paddle shaft towards the horizontal plane again, this time though out
the back. By pushing your high arm forward, you also push your low arm back, lifting the paddle blade so
it faces up towards the ski, rather than facing back behind you. If your blade is facing up, it is pushing
your ski down, rather than forward. This may impact your stability. Further, if you paddle down rather
than forward, you lose power in your stroke, losing time and distance with every single stoke. Once
again, this part of your stroke is well worth drilling to improve and perfect.
 Recovery (High) Arm Is Relaxed

Technique – Reach
The power of your stroke is in the way you pull the paddle through the water. It is in the way you put
your paddle in the water and then push water backwards, propelling your surf ski forward. One way you
can improve the power of this pull is by increasing the length of your paddling stroke. To do this, you
need to get the blade of your paddle further forward, putting it in the water as far forward as is sensible.

Some tips to help you with this include:

When sitting, ensure your shoulders are in front of your hips. If your body is 90° to your ski, you
can definitely improve your stroke with some forward bend. Obviously you do not want your
head down at your knees; however, a 10 - 15° bend would help.
Make sure the arm dipping the paddle into the water is fully straight prior to the blade entering
the water. If your catch arm is bent in any way, it will shorten your stroke, thereby reducing the
power out of the stroke.
Technique – Leg Drive

I couldn’t believe it. I had been paddling for months now and no matter how hard I pulled
that blade through the water, the guys left me for dead right from the first stroke.
Nothing I could do would help me keep up. Talk about frustrating. Even the teenage girls
were killing me in the water.

Voicing my frustration to our coach Stu, he referred me to an image of Olympic gold

medalist paddler Ken Wallace which was pulled from the newspaper this week. In it his
right leg was almost straight, his left considerably bent. “Stop paddling with your arms”
Stu told me “and start driving with your legs”.

One of the points I have been trying to make with you through this book, is that you do not get any
paddling power from your arms, you get it from your core muscles. This means that most of your stroke
comes from your back muscles, your abs and obliques and your leg muscles.

I want you to think about your car. Imagine the battery went dead because you left the lights on. You
just need to give it a push start to get it going again and once it is going, the alternator will kick in,
recharging your battery. The only thing is, your car is at the bottom of the hill, so you need to push it up
the hill.

How would you go about pushing your car up the hill so you can roll it down the other side and get the
jump start going? Would you stand still behind the car and try and push with your arms? Or would you
brace your shoulder into the car and push with your legs? Of course you would use your legs, you can
drive with your whole body that way. Imagine also now there were blocks of wood bolted into the road
that you could stand behind, holding your feet in place so they did not slide. How much easier would the
task be then?

If you think about this problem, no matter if you were pushing or pulling the car up the hill, you would
be using your legs and your arms would be doing little more than holding on. Paddling your surfski is no
different. The foot wells in your ski already give you a brace to jam your feet up against, all you need to
do from here is to start pushing.

So how does this work on a ski? It is simple really, you push the foot on the same side and when your
paddle enters the water, right through the stroke. When your right hand blade enters the water, you
push with your right leg, driving through the stroke. When your left paddle blade enters the water, you
push with your left foot, driving through the stroke.

As an exercise, next time you are on the water, find a marker that can be your starting point, apply
absolutely no foot pressure when you stroke and then see how far you go with 20 strokes. Try and mark
off your start and finish points with a fixed object on the banks, a tree or post or interesting bush. Now
paddle back to the starting point and redo your twenty strokes, but this time push as hard as you can
with your adjacent foot, have a look at where you finished up this time, how much further you have
paddled.

In a race, to get a real kick, the pros do not try to paddle harder, the first thing they do is increase their
leg drive. By applying more pressure with their legs, they dramatically increase the power in each stroke
and therefore their speed in the water. Working the paddle will come after the leg drive.

Coach’s Tip - The Timing of Your Leg Drive (Advanced Technique)

You may be using leg drive and good trunk rotation but not timing the leg drive
as your paddle catches on the next stroke.

The leg drive may be beginning after the stroke is half way through. You need
to get your timing right with leg drive too. The proper timing is to hit the leg
drive as soon as catch is buried in the water.

In your next paddle session, pay attention to when you are hitting leg drive on
your stroke and work on it to be exactly timed with each catch.

Technique – A Vertical Paddle Blade

I am always trying to improve my balance and stroke technique. As I have mentioned before, striving for
perfection is one of the things that stimulates me intellectually, so it really keeps me interested in
getting back into the water. One thing I find though, is sometimes I get into a rut where I am working on
so many aspects of my technique that I am doing none well. Or I get to a stage where if I concentrate on
improving one aspect of my technique, I lose the correct application of (an)other aspect(s).

This tip was given to me by one of the paddlers at my club and he believes it is the one thing that really
started to pull everything together for him. In trying it, I have to agree. Concentrating on this exercise
actually pulls a number of key technical skills
together. The exercise is to try and keep
your paddle, particularly the blade, vertical
for as long as you can while it is in the
water. The shaft of your blade will need to
stick up towards the sky for as long as
possible.

The point of this is that while your paddling

blade is vertical, 100% of your energy and
stroke effort will be moving your surf ski
forward, while maintaining maximum
stability in the water.
When you start your stroke at the catch, often the paddle points forward. When the paddle blade in the
water is pointing forward, as you apply pressure in your stroke, you are actually lifting your ski UP, as
well as moving it forward. Every ounce of energy lifting your ski is wasted effort and energy. It is an
inefficiency.

When you finish your stroke, quite often the blade in the water is angling backwards. When it is angling
backwards, the power in your stroke is actually pushing your ski DOWN as well as forwards. Every ounce
of energy sinking your ski is wasted effort and energy. It is an inefficiency.

So you see, by not keeping a vertical ski paddle while it is in the water, to begin with you waste energy.
Also, you are losing the streamline of your ski in the water by creating a bobbing motion. The up and
down pressure you apply causes your ski to sink and lift. This will not only cause a loss of speed, it will
also cause a loss of balance.

When you concentrate on keeping the blade of your paddle vertical, you will find to do so well, you
must:

Keep your top hand high

Rotate more at your core
Use your arms less

So this exercise is a great one to do to tie a number of critical technique aspects together.

Coaches Tip - Vertical Blade

When you have a basic understanding of correct stroke, you will start to realize
that the paddler who pulls the highest amount of water for the longest time, is
the paddler who keeps the blade vertical in the water for the longest time.

This is achieved by using more trunk rotation and less high hand push.
(Advanced Technique).

Technique – A Tip To Add Speed

One of the big break-throughs Stu gave me regarding paddling speed still has my mind boggling with its
simplicity. It makes such logical sense that I’m astounded I missed this one myself. Knowing I missed it
though, I am guessing it is missed by many, so here it is.

To add speed to your surf ski paddling, you need to accelerate the blade of your paddle through the
water.

For goodness knows how long, I seemed to accelerate at the start of a session, reach a maintainable
speed and then just hold that speed. My paddle was moving through the water at the same speed for
the duration of the session which was pretty close to the speed of my craft. This was just a bad habit
which I developed.
I think the reason I developed it was that after my first 6 months of surf ski paddling, I started training
for the monster ironman race, the Coolangatta Gold. The first leg of this race is a 23km surf ski paddle
and it is only about 30% of the entire event. Given the endurance requirement of the entire race and my
immaturity with ocean paddling, I think much of my focus turned to conserving energy. Minimizing
energy spend per stroke became a factor which incorrectly turned into a lazy stroke.

So this lesson is possibly most appropriate for distance paddlers where there is the temptation to fall
into this trap.

Technique wise, what this means is that from the catch - which is the point when your paddle enters the
water - your stroke must get faster as your paddle moves through the water. At the catch, it needs to be
moving as fast as your craft (otherwise you are effectively putting the brakes on) and it must pick up
speed through the stroke, until your paddle is moving quickest just before you exit the paddle from the
water and begin the next stroke on the opposite side.

When you are accelerating your paddle through the water for every stroke, only then will your paddling
speed continue to improve.

Technique – Putting It All Together

I remember a difficult period I went through with my paddling, where I knew that I was doing all the
individual elements of correct technique, but was struggling to pull it all together into one solid,
continuous stroke. There was one element I was missing, one element that tied my foot drive with my
rotation with my paddle blade.

CORE

Your core is so important when you are paddling a surf ski. In a previous chapter, I explained how your
stroke should come from core rotation, not the motion of your arm. This I have found is only part of the
story though as you can easily rotate through the core, without actually engaging your core and getting
it to work for you.

So what does this mean? This means you have to “activate” your core muscles every time your paddling
stroke catches and you begin applying your heel pressure. Activating your core muscles means turning
them on, locking them in, or tightening them against the pressure of the stroke. When you activate your
core, your abdominal muscles should feel the same as when you are clamping down, holding on while
you desperately look for a toilet in an unfamiliar shopping centre - you get the picture.

When you paddle, the following is what happens:

First your blade enters the water at the catch part of the stroke. At this point, you start driving with your
leg, applying heel pressure. Almost immediately, your arms should lock onto the paddle and you should
start rotating through the core. If at this stage you activate your core strength, it will feel like your arms
are holding the paddle in the water, while the weight of your whole body is leaning on the blade driving
it through the water. The “leaning” feeling is key, this is what is powering your paddle. Your arms are
just holding it in place.

When paddling, if you know you are rotating through your core but not getting this feeling of having
your entire bodyweight transferring onto the paddle blade, the chances are you are not activating your
core muscles. As such, most of the power from your leg drive will be lost and not be being used in the
stroke. Also, it probably means you are not using your core muscles to paddle at all. The rotation may
just be giving you a different angle from which to paddle with your arms.

Coach’s Tip - Core Strength And Where It Comes From

Core strength comes from five muscle groups. Remember you are only as strong
as your weakest link so it is important to strengthen all five.

Remember the lower back as well as the four areas in the stomach muscles.
They all need to be strong and then trained with resistance at speed. There are
many different exercises to strengthen the core and each exercise is good for
you as long as it is done correctly. Here is an example of three exercises focusing
on the muscle groups:

1. Bent over dumbbells or mower starts

2. Russian twists (very specific to paddling)
3. Bent Knee Dead Lift
Surf Skills
Starts

It was my first race, at the Brunswick Heads masters carnival. My heart was pounding
with nerves. My goal for this race was simple, do NOT come last. **BANG** The starters
gun fired. I jumped into my ski seat, found my balance, put my feet into the wells, looked
up and started paddling…

WHAT??!!

How in heaven’s name did that happen. At my first stroke, I was coming last by about ten
metres already. The leader was already through the breakers.

Being able to mount your ski and start paddling is a crucial skill. There are some tips on the articles
section of the website regarding mounting your ski in the shallows, in flat water conditions. It is pretty
simple and this information is readily available elsewhere so I am not going to cover it here. Rather I am
going to take you through two different starts that are a little more challenging.

It is likely you will find yourself in situations where these skills will be necessary, whether you race or
don’t. So it is a good idea to master both.

Start 1 - Race Jump Start

Starts are an important part of every race. You can win or lose a race at the start. Race starts are an art
that take an extraordinary amount of patience, practise and courage to master. Here are some tips,
good luck with it.

The trick to starting a surf ski in a race is to be able, from standing beside your ski, to launch it forward
by pushing it with some leg drive, while you jump into the seat and put your legs in the foot wells in one
fluid movement. While jumping into your seat, your hands should be reaching for your paddle, bringing
it into position for your first stroke, which should begin as your feet settle into place… As I said, getting
them perfected takes extraordinary effort. I’m still working to perfect my starts.

There are many parts to a good start, I will take you through them all and offer tips to overcome some
issues you may come up against, issues that I certainly did come up against.

How To Stand -

When you line up at the start, you want to stand perpendicular to the ski, if you were looking straight in
front of you, you would be looking at the other competitors lining up. You need to hold your ski with
two hands.
The hand that is holding the far side of your ski needs to be holding the ski towards the back of the seat.
This hand also needs to hold your paddle. If you have a starter’s block on the ski, it is a good idea to hold
this rather than your ski itself as it will give you more hand space to grip your paddle.

The hand that is holding the close side of the ski (Ie. The side that your body is on) needs to be further
up towards the foot wells. Just how far up depends on how deep the water is that you are standing in.
Experiment here a little with different water depths and grips to work out what works best.

Now that you are holding your ski, you want to rotate your feet so they are looking out to sea, in the
direction you will race when the gun goes off. You should bend your knees a little, so your legs are in a
crouching position similar to the stance you would have if you were doing a standing start in a running
race.

The Paddle -

You hold your paddle along the outside of the ski, on the far side of the ski. (I.E. The side of the ski that
you are not standing on) Try to run it up along the side of the ski, without going over the top of the ski.
The hand that is holding the paddle should be way back, near the blade of the paddle just where you
would be holding it during your stroke. The point of this is that when you jump into your seat, one of
your hands is already holding your paddle correctly. To start paddling, all you need to do is grab the
paddle with your other hand and put the blade in the
water.
Troubleshooting Tip – When
When starting, I had a number of issues with my paddle.
lining up your paddle, make
Firstly, my paddle would often slip off the side of the ski,
sure it is not upside down. You
settling on top of the ski. I actually found it much easier to
will be surprised how often
hold my paddle here than along the side. Do NOT get
people do the perfect start,
fooled by this. When your paddle rests on top of your ski,
only to find their paddle is
you will not be able to jump your feet into the foot wells,
upside down, requiring them to
your paddle will be in the way. Right from the start,
swap hands prior to their first
practise holding your paddle along the side. Even put some
stroke. Every adjustment costs
wax on your ski to hold the other blade if this makes life
valuable seconds off the blocks.
easier.

Secondly, I found the waves would continually grab the

blade at the back of the paddle and twist the paddle and/or move it out of place. Once this happens,
you just start fumbling with everything. The paddle, the ski, everything gets difficult. This issue was
related to the third issue, which was that I found it difficult to hold my ski and paddle in the same hand.

The issue I had was with my first surf ski. Simply, the ski was too wide at the side of the seat, making ski
and paddle too much of a handful. This meant I could not consistently control and manage the paddle. I
just did not have enough palm space. If you have similar issues, get a starter’s block attached to your ski
where your back hand goes. It will sort all these issues out. I only realized this when I bought a new surf
ski which had a starter’s block already attached and found that all my paddle holding problems
disappeared.

Holding Your Surf Ski In Turbulent Waters –

More often than not, you will be racing your surf ski in wavy conditions. That’s the whole point of these
ocean craft after all. So when you are lining up at the start of a race, you will be buffeted by waves
which seem to be trying to wrest control of your ski out of your hands. You know too that as soon as you
lose control, or your ski points in a direction you do not want to go, that is when the start gun will fire.

As you look up and down the line, you will find some competitors will be struggling with their skis,
others will be effortlessly holding them ready to race. There is a little trick you can employ here. Lift your
ski out of the water and point it in the right direction. Make adjustments by taking your ski out of the
water, not fighting against the waves.

Jump Forward, Not Up –

Riding a surf ski is really similar to riding a bike, in that momentum brings stability. If you try and sit on a
bike without moving, it is likely you will fall off. If you push the bike forward, then get on the seat and
start peddling, you have a much better chance of staying on. A surf ski is no different. If you try to jump
into the seat, put your feet in and then start paddling, it is likely you will tip out. If you jump forward
though, surging the ski forward with momentum, when you land in the seat and start paddling, you will
have a much better chance of staying upright. So practise jumping forward, not up, with your starts.

This also makes race strategy sense too. If you gain two metres with your starting jump, that is two
metres into the race that you will not have to paddle and two metres that your competitors will need to
catch up.

Get Your Knees Up –

When jumping into your ski at the start of a race, you need to get your feet into the foot wells. The
temptation here is to jump high, which takes away from the previous point. Instead of jumping high,
practise getting your knees up with your forward jump. If you can get your knees up, you can swing
them between your hands and put them in their place, as part of the same movement you make when
finding your seat with your backside.

Reach For Your Paddle –

Once you are in your seat, even before thinking about your feet, you should be bringing your paddle
around for your first stroke. Getting that paddle in the water will help you balance and also continue
your forward momentum. So it is important that you get your paddle going as fast as you can.
Get Your Feet In –

Getting your feet into place on the peddles should be the last thing you tick off your list when starting.
By now you will be surging forward after your jump, you will be in your seat and your paddle will be
flying. Just the momentum of all this should bring your feet into place.

You may find this is the part of the start that is most painful and therefore, requires most commitment
and courage from you to master. Countless are the bruises that my bony ankles have endured trying to
expedite the placement of my feet in starting. The first couple of attempts are easy enough, but when
you are banging bruised ankles into your ski time and time again, at some stage it will take some grit.

Baby Steps –

Learning how to do race starts is a very difficult skill to master. It takes a lot of practise. I completely
recommend though you break it down into its elements and practise them individually, prior to putting
it all together.

For example, you can practise the jump, looking for forward drive and knees up without your paddle. Or
you can practise getting into your seat and reaching for your paddle, without worrying about your feet.
When it comes to your feet, practise one and then the other. In a race, if you launch and get one foot in
as part of the launch, you will be among the leaders anyway. So master this easier skill before going for
both feet.

Coach’s Tip - The Heywood Drill For Jump Starts

A common fault with surf ski starts is the timing of the Jump. Specifically with
the push. Also the direction of the jump can slow performance. The push and
jump can be in sequence with a fault in the timing and direction. The Heyward
drill helps synchronize the jump, push and direction all at the same time.

In competition the start must be fast and efficient, therefore having an easy to
practice drill that will tidy up basic steps can help fasten your performance.

The drill is to hold your ski in knee depth water standing on the predominant left
side, right hand centre of seat, left hand just forward of seat. Perform one or
two bunny hops forward without jumping into the ski. Bring the ski back and do
it again without jumping into the seat .

Now lock that feel into your memory. You have just performed the most efficient
jump and leg drive for a good racing start.

Now using the bunny hop again, do only one and on the second, use the same
forward jump to land in the seat. Do it again after bringing the ski back to knee
depth. This time jump into the seat on the 1st bunny hop push. Your jump
direction is forward, your leg drive is the same time as your push and jump.
Jump high and land in the seat. Do not let old habits come back in.
Remember, bunny hops are not an advantage at a race start. Get into you ski
fast. Bunny hops are only a drill to improve performance. On the gun perform a
fast reactive jump start with synchronized push, straight into the seat. Then
paddle up fast, 1/2 , 3/4, then full strokes. This is quicker than doing bunny hops
before a start.

If you jump in after one or two bunny hops while your competitor has jumped
straight in on go, they will be up to maximum speed when you start paddling,
which will cause you to lose up to a length before you reach your top speed.

This is also important to remember when going over a shallow bank. It is much
faster to paddle and tilt your ski to stop the rudder dragging than to get off and
bunny hop or run and get back on.

In summary, the faults the Heyward drill improves are:

1. Pushing the ski forward to a stop and then jumping.

2. Not jumping high enough
3. Jumping in the wrong direction. This can occur when only a little jump is
used with a side saddle hip motion.
4. Not enough forward momentum.
5. A good drill for learning how to do a double leg jump start.
6. Help a competent side saddle starter transition to a forward leg drive
jump start.

A side saddle start is done by using leg drive and then throwing your bottom
sideways into the seat before the legs.

It is important to be good at both.

A person who is learning to a double leg jump, push start will gain good benefit
from practicing bunny hops and then jumping into the ski.

Experienced Paddlers can also refresh basics with this drill. The critical aspects of
the skill are high forward jump with push from the legs and arms together - then
landing in the seat while bringing the paddle up fast without losing forward
momentum.

A follow on area that needs to be covered to produce super fast start following
the jump is bringing your paddle up fast for that crucial 1st stroke and then
rating in reaction to the gun. Drills may be used to work these areas also.
Start 2 Deep Water - Refer To Images
From the left side of the craft, place your left hand near the rail at the left foot well. Your right hand
grips the right rail in the middle of the seat.

Your paddle may be lying over the ski, on the seat side of the foot straps, or it may be lying parallel to
the ski on the opposite side you are getting on, or it may be in the water, parallel to the side you are
hanging on to the ski.

Pull your trunk over the foot wells just forward of seat with your head over the right rail. Your chest is
now lying on the foot wells. Roll backwards towards the rudder and place your buttocks in the seat and
at the same time swing the legs over the ski and into the water. You will now be sitting on the ski with
your legs over the sides.

Pick up the paddle in both hands and put your legs into the foot wells. You may do this one foot at a
time until your paddle balance skills improve.

Practice this a lot. Pretty soon you will be get back on, grab your paddle and put both feet in the foot
wells all in the same motion ready to paddle off.
Mounting a ski in the water after falling off is shown in the photos above. Practice this on the sand first
with the paddle in different positions, then keep it in the most preferred position for you. Remember
you are playing in a turbulent environment (the surf) therefore it is wise to be comfortable with the
different positions of the paddle by or on the ski when mounting in deep water.

White Water – 3 Strokes

When you start paddling in the ocean, the first obstacle you will hit is the white water of broken waves
when paddling out. If you have followed all the balance and technique guidelines up to this point, it will
not be difficult to get through this white water, all you need to do is add the following fundamental
guidelines to your paddling skills toolset. There is nothing secret or special about this technique, it is
simply the fundamentals of paddling through white water. That being said - it’s amazing how many
people forget the skill.

Approach the wave head on. If you are coming at an angle, it will be much more difficult to
maintain your balance.
You want to concentrate on getting the following three paddling strokes correct when you get
to the wave:
o The first stroke should go into the water just before the broken wave gets to you. Try to
complete the stroke as you hit the white water. Maintain your posture.
o The second stroke should be inserted right into the middle of the white water, pulling
you over and through.
o The final stroke should fluidly be placed on the other side of the wave, in the clean
water again. I say fluidly as you do not want to stop/start stroking through the wave, it
should be fluidly executed as if there was no change to what you were doing before the
wave.

Keep practising that 1 – 2 – 3 punch and you will have no problems negotiating white water. Sometimes
you see experienced paddlers really struggling getting through the white water, this is because they
forget these fundamentals and just try to hammer through them, using all the speed and power that
they have at their disposal. If this happens to you, go back to concentrating on the 1 – 2 – 3 punch
stroke fundamentals.

Wipeouts and Remounting

When you are starting to ride, wipeouts will be common, especially when waves, runners, swells,
currents and wind are thrown into the mix. As such, it is important that you learn an effective way to get
back onto your surf-ski quickly, with the minimum of fuss. Nothing is as tiring as half a dozen
remounting attempts while getting buffeted by a contemptuous ocean.

The straddle and sidesaddle remounts are most useful for beginners. The straddle remount is generally
faster but when it can’t be used, the sidesaddle remount works best. There are also ski types that work
well with one or the other.

The straddle remount entails that you’re upwind of your ski and that you can point it into the wind. Grab
the foot straps and paddle with one hand and the far rail end of the cockpit with your other hand, and
pull yourself up from the water. Lie face down diagonally on your ski and then swing your legs over and
across the ski while swiveling your butt onto the seat. This may take some practice and you will find that
you’re most vulnerable while performing this maneuver. Grabbing the paddle with both hands stabilizes
your position and then you can swing your legs into the cockpit. You can pull your legs in while balancing
the whole ski using the paddle. A paddler well versed in the straddle remount needs only a few seconds
to perform it.

In extreme wind and wave conditions that prevent you from pointing the ski’s nose into the wind, you
can let it drift sideways and remount using the sidesaddle method. Again, you must be upwind of your
ski. Boost yourself up using the same grips as the straddle method, but instead of lying face down,
immediately swing your butt onto the side of your ski, sitting on it. With your legs hanging down into the
water you’re in a pretty stable position. The hard part is getting into the center of the seat from that
position. But a deft slide of your butt and swing of your legs can get you into position quickly, and then
you’re on your way.

Like other surf ski skills, remounting needs effort and practice. Practice remounting in warm waters and
try it wearing the complete gear you’ll expect to wear during extreme conditions, so you can get
accustomed to remounting with all of your gear on.

Here is a point to clarify why it is important to be upwind of your surf ski in windy conditions, when
trying to remount. Remember that your surf ski is a long, rigid piece of equipment that is filled with air.
So not only is it long and rigid, it is also very light. It is the perfect shape and weight to be picked up by
the wind and pushed or rolled across the top of the water.

I have found myself in the situation on a windy day after a fall, trying to remount my ski from the down-
wind side of the ski. When this happened, the wind kept pushing the surf ski across the water, despite
my weight holding onto it. Both the surf ski and I were slowly but consistently being moved with the
wind.

The dynamics of this movement to your body in the water, when these circumstances occur, is the surf
ski and your upper body move with the wind, but your waist, legs and feet are a drag, like an anchor.
This drag will put you in a position where your legs and feet end up underneath your surf ski and
hanging out the other side. When this happened to me, I found it impossible to remount the surf ski.
Any effort to get my body up and onto the seat was foiled by the moving ski and trailing legs. Remember
- the surf ski continues to move with the wind as you are remounting, pushing it further over your legs.

After half a dozen failed attempts to mount my ski from this position, I held onto the foot straps with
one hand, ducked under the surf ski (letting the wind push the ski over me) and grabbed the other foot
strap on surfacing. Now I was upwind to the surf ski and had no trouble mounting the first time.

If you are in this situation, remember to keep hold of your surf ski (by the foot straps) when ducking
under it. The last thing you want is for the wind to blow the ski away from you - resulting in the need to
swim after it.
Extremely Choppy Conditions
If you paddle in the ocean or in competitions, at some stage you will face extremely choppy conditions.
These can be the most challenging conditions to paddle in and the most challenging scenarios to master.
I remember a race I participated in at Coolangatta on Australia’s Gold Coast in such conditions. The chop
was all caused by a mighty wind blowing the prior evening, it was all wind chop without any underlying
swell. Despite this, the face of each chop ranged between 0.5 and 3 metres during the race - it was so
bumpy and uneven and the wind was blowing about 20 knots.

That’s all fine in itself though, the really tricky part to extreme chop is that the waves can travel and hit
your from and at all directions. Choppy conditions are not like waves. In choppy conditions, it can be
near impossible to point your craft in an “easy” line, cutting through the waves or riding the runners. In
choppy conditions you are assailed by bumps from all directions.

When you are just starting surf ski paddling, in conditions such as this, it can take all you have just to
survive. It takes all your concentration to stay upright and not fall out. Just stringing your strokes
together can be a challenge. In these conditions, all opportunity to practise correct technique can be lost
in the battle to survive.

This is all natural, so do not feel dispirited or lose motivation when this happens. Keep practising, it does
get easier over time. Here are some tips which I have found helped me in such rough conditions and
over time, helped me get back to correct technique when paddling in them.

1. Really use your feet to push back and stick yourself into the seat. You should never drop the
minimal foot pressure holding you to the seat.
2. Once you have mastered the first tip, the second is quite difficult. You need to relax your core
and trunk. Let your ski float and do the work by not fighting it. A tense and rigid body will create
an inflexibility that will prevent your craft from righting itself after the bumps. If you are like me
and struggle to relax, take a few deep breaths, concentrating on letting your breath out slowly.
3. Increase your paddling rating, even if you have to shorten your stroke. You can lengthen your
stroke later when you are more comfortable in these conditions, in the meantime the quicker
strokes will help you keep your balance
4. Make sure you do not leave your paddle in the water at the end of your stroke. This is one
mistake I always used to do. If you start to lose your balance sometimes you will feel that if you
leave your paddle blade in the water, you will be able to stabilize yourself and push yourself up.
This never works out, if you leave your paddle in the water at the end of your stroke, you WILL
tip your craft and pull yourself in. Practise finishing every stoke quickly and get that paddle out
of the water.
5. In these critical balance situations I have found I have much more success saving myself once my
paddle is out of the water, by slapping the flat blade back down onto the top of the water. This
gives stability (as you can put some weight on it without letting your blade sink) and without
immersing the paddle, the moving water and ski cannot pull you over.
 Coaches Tip Paddle Back With Chop
Always hold your paddle in both hands. This is a much better tip than to never
let go of your paddle.

Balance is much easier to maintain going into a wind or chop. It is when you are
paddling back to your starting point that repetitive falling off may occur. How
do you overcome this?

Use Damian’s tips above and remember when coming home with the wind
behind you and there are consistent small waves giving you a ride - let the ski
go. By that, I mean you cannot turn the ski with your body, you can only turn it
with your foot pedals. By trying to correct your direction at every turbulent
change with your trunk, you will keep over-balancing, tipping yourself in the
water. The foot pedals are your controlling mechanism, not your body.

You can also feather your blade for balance if you need to. Remember - control
the ski with the foot pedals. Let the ski go with the flow.

Extreme Conditions, Strong Winds, Leashes and Safety

Today I went for an hour training session in the ocean, in pretty crazy and wild
conditions. The waves were not massive, only peaking at 2′ – 3′, however they were very
choppy, the water was moving in all directions with a sweep to the south east and half
way through the training session, the wind picked up big time.

I had two hairy moments in the water today. Firstly, when I was about 2kms out to sea, I
fell off due to nothing more than a lack of concentration. I was checking up on the other
paddlers, was not paying attention and next thing I knew, I was in the drink. Holding
onto my ski and paddle, I was downwind from my craft. The wind was blowing strong
over the ski and then me. I found in this position that the ski kept drifting over me,
pushing my torso back and trapping my legs under the ski. This made it very difficult to
remount. Eventually after 6 attempts I managed the straddle remount – it certainly was
not elegant, but it got me back up. This experience shook me a bit so I took a moment to
compose myself before continuing.

The second hairy experience was much closer to shore where again, a lapse in
concentration resulted in me tipping off my ski as a wave hit me from an unexpected
angle. This time though I ended upwind from my ski. This situation probably is a bit
scarier in retrospect as the wind started taking my ski away from me, rolling it across the
top of the water. It is quite difficult swimming with a paddle, so in the end I had to throw
my paddle at the ski and swim after it. It was the only way I could catch up to the surf ski.
Further out to sea with a slightly stronger wind, this situation can become critical.
The two lessons I learned from these experiences are:

1. When doing any ocean sport, there will always be the element of the unknown, times when the
unexpected happens. This is why it is an extreme sport. You must always keep yourself fit
enough that you can swim back to shore if you lose your equipment. Today in both experiences I
could persevere in my efforts to retrieve and remount my ski as I knew no matter what
happened, I could still swim back to land.
2. In windy conditions, it is worth considering investing in a leash for your ski. Ensuring the ski is
attached to your paddle will ensure you will not lose it out at sea, forcing a swim to safety.

Popping Through Breaking Waves

One of the scariest and most intimidating things that can happen to you while paddling a surf ski is that
you get to a large wave just as it is peaking and starting to break. These waves hit you right in the face
and chest, really hammering you. These times really are excellent times to get absolutely intimate with
the waves, so you really understand just how powerful they can be. Personally, I have had times when I
have been hit so hard by these waves that I have been violently flung back in my seat, the back of my
head smacking into the back of my ski and further, pinning me underwater to my ski for a panicky few
seconds, before tossing me disdainfully aside or dumping me over the falls. It can be scary.

Attack Peaking Waves and Punch Through

The natural inclination for us when faced with these situations is flight. On a surf ski, this means we take
the foot off the pedal, in the hope the wave will break before we get to it, leaving us with only white
water to deal with. This is one of my most common mistakes.

If you see a wave approaching that is going to hit you, attack it with everything you have. You really
need to rate up your stroking and put in some super powerful ones so you are at maximum speed when
you get to it.
The biggest problem these waves pose to you is that when your ski spears through them, if you maintain
your straight posture, the blunt force of the powerful wave will hit you directly in a blunt surface, your
chest. Remember that your trunk hinges in a backward and forward motion at your hips. So when this
blunt force hits you, you will rotate on these natural hinges and your torso will be forced backward onto
your ski, with tremendous force. Your hips simply are the place of least resistance when these two blunt
forces collide, so they will be the “give” that prevents anything breaking.

Of course though, when this happens, at the least you will have lost all momentum. You will probably be
thrown from your ski too though and either way, if there is another wave in the set… you will be at its
mercy. So what do you do?

The answer is simple, you remove one of the blunt forces out of the equation. You remove the flat plane
of your chest, rather turning your body into a point that spears through the wave with your ski. To do
this, firstly point your paddle at about shoulder height in the recovery position, so the front blade is
aggressively spearing toward the wave. Make sure you hold your paddle strong with both hands. Then
bend forward at the hips, lean right forward, pointing your head and shoulder right at the wave. If you
get this right, if the wave had eyes, all it should be able to see is the top of your head and the top of your
shoulders.

From this position, when the wave hits, there will be so little resistance you should pop right through
the wave and be able to continue on your way. The wave will first hit the sliver of the top of your
paddle. The blades are so narrow along the ridge that your paddle will meet no resistance, piercing
through the wave. Once your paddle blade is through, your paddle shaft, your arm, head and shoulders
will all follow, slipping through the hole which your spear shaped profile created.

Coaches Tip - Enjoying Your First Surf Session

Gold Coast beaches have testing shore breaks consistently up to 1metre waves.
Your beach may be the same. Your first venture into the surf may be very
disappointing unless you have a contingency plan to negotiate the shore break.

Damian has prescribed drills and setup procedures for your ski and has also
overcome the frustrating tie being stuck inside the waves due to the relentless
Gold Coast shore break.

If you face this situation, you can always “Push It Through” - The contingency
plan is to push your ski through the shore break and mount it behind the waves.
This takes a little timing but, as it is shallow water right up to the breaking
wave, you only need to wait and time it right.

Wait and watch the waves, then when the time is right, quickly walk forward
and push your ski out past he waves. Don’t let the conditions hold you back. Be
very aggressive and hold your ski with a strong grip. Once through you are in a
different world. Have fun
Aggression

I’d learned a lot of tips and techniques over the previous few weeks. Leg drive, high
hands, relax, core rotation. I went out and applied them all to every stroke for half an
hour. What a load of rubbish! I keep falling off anyway! This is really frustrating, DAMN!
**COUGH** **SPLUTTER** Another wipeout!! Another damn mouthful of water!!

DAMN!! DAMN!! DAMN!!!!

“Geez Damo, that last half hour of today’s session, you did really well. What were you
concentrating on, you looked like you were starting to put it all together?”

There is so much to remember about correcting and perfecting your paddling technique. So much in fact
that you can get caught up in all the technique and just forget to paddle. When this happens, you stop
dealing with the ocean and what is around you, dealing instead with all the little bits and pieces you are
trying to remember. When you stop dealing with the elements you are paddling in, the elements will
deal with and dominate you.

I learned this one Saturday morning when I just could not get anything right. I was so busy concentrating
on everything at the same time that it overwhelmed me. I had no rhythm, I had no balance, I was not
even having fun anymore and I was frustrated and angry. Then I had one more wipeout on a little wave
and I basically snapped. I threw all the technique out the window, I forgot all the lessons I had learned
and I just angrily attacked everything. I paddled, I paddled hard. I attacked the waves when I was
paddling out with severity. I attacked approaches to waves coming in with all the power I had. Do you
know what – I dominated. I was no longer being dominated by the ocean. My aggression in that
moment turned me into the dominator.

When the passion of the moment had left me, I reflected on that session. All the technique and drill
exercises are there to make you paddle and ride your ski better. They are tools to an end, they are not
supposed to be consuming. Give them their due and their place. As well as drilling skills though,
sometime you need to just ride naturally. You need to attack, play and surf. You need to put all the
information out of your head and just ride. The drills you do in training will slowly become part of your
natural stroke. So when you are riding, you will be bringing the fruits of your labours with you. So
occasionally, put them out of your mind and just enjoy the paddle. Enjoy your flight over the water.

Catching Waves
This is where the fun really takes off. It’s funny, catching waves looks like the easiest part of riding a ski,
those that do it well glide so gracefully across the water, not even bothering to paddle half the time.
Despite this apparent ease, surfing on a surf ski is a difficult skill to master. When you have though, it is
the pinnacle of ocean fun. The power of the waves is crazy, you feel like you are flying across the water
and then **BOOOOM** when the wave that you caught breaks behind you, it is like you are running
from an earthquake.

The most difficult thing to master when catching waves is keeping your ski straight. As soon as you pull
yourself over a wave, your rudder will be out of the water, your ski will be pointing down the face. In
this situation, there is nothing steering your craft, it is likely to start to drift especially if you were not
100% straight to start with or are still struggling a little with your balance. The one thing you can to do to
help get past this is PADDLE! Paddle like crazy. Paddle as fast as you can to get down the bottom of the
wave so your rudder bites again, giving you your steering back.

If you start to turn before you get to this stage, the chances are you are going to wipe out. You may even
end up turning right around, facing out to sea in which case, keep paddling. Get out of the impact zone
so you do not get smashed by the next wave. Then turn around, line up your ski again and try on the
next one.

When you start catching waves, you will probably find this
“paddle like crazy” advice very difficult in itself. These craft Troubleshooting Tip – If you
are so light they become quite unstable and bouncy in find that no matter what you
waves. Often you will find yourself struggling for balance do, when you catch a wave
sitting, let along being able to throw paddling into the mix. your ski slews across the wave,
This is especially the case when the wave has broken and the causing a wipeout – check your
white water has caught up with you. Persist though with rudder. Sometimes the cables
your paddling. Paddle, paddle, paddle. loosen, giving your rudder
some give in which to move
You’ll wipe out continually for a while, then bit by bit you will without any peddle pressure.
start riding waves all the way to the beach. Soon after that, When this happens, your
you will develop the instincts to know when to paddle and rudder will often move under
when you can sit back and really enjoy the ride. the water pressure of the
wave, independently of
Coach’s Tips - Keeping it straight
anything you are doing,
In selecting the line you take on a wave to the
causing your ski to turn and
beach, do not be misled by the shoreline. That
you to wipe out. Tightening the
is, straight in may not be the best line to take.
rudder mechanism will make
Many paddlers whether learning or advanced catching waves a lot more fun.
make the mistake of heading straight for the
beach only to quickly broach or fall off just
after the wave has broken.

The angle of the wave may not be parallel with the shoreline. In most cases this
occurs when the wave height is a meter or bigger breaking into shallow water.
The prevailing wind on the day or day before will guide you as to what angle the
wave is coming into shore.
 You need to select the line so your ski is at right angles to the line of the wave,
as it breaks, not the shoreline.

Catching Runners
Of course, these craft are not “wave riders” like their shorter, stumpier cousins. These craft are made for
efficient flight over and across the water, so you are not going to spend all your time catching waves and
paddling back out into the lineup. You are actually going to spend most of your time “out the back”,
covering vast distances over the water. As such, it is important you learn the art of catching runners.

A runner is basically a wave that is heading to shore but, as the water is so deep where you are paddling,
it is just rolling towards the shore, not peaking or breaking. You will not catch these runners all the way
to shore, just as long as they will take you and hopefully, you will be able to link a string of them
together, making your journey a lot faster and a lot less taxing on your body.

At the start, catching a runner is similar to catching a wave. You will feel the runner lift your ski and you
will need to paddle like crazy to catch it. If you catch the runner straight down like a wave though, once
you get down to the bottom, your ski will hit a trough and basically stall. The runner will not have the
power or steepness to pick you up again, you will basically lose all momentum. Quite often when this
happens, you will actually feel all the water from the runner washing over your ski, even lifting you out
of your seat if there is enough water in it.

So the trick is once you have caught the runner, to angle your ski along it and ride it as far as you can. If
possible, you may be able to gather enough speed to pull over the next runner. If so, great, make the
necessary adjustments, put in the strong strokes and repeat the process.

The idea here is to use these runners to take you to shore as quickly as possible, with as little effort as
possible. When done well, you will have lots of energy left for a
final sprint to the beach, if that is what is required, as the runners
will have carried you most of the way home.

When using runners in this way in a race, always keep an eye on

the finish line. Runners rarely head straight for the beach, usually
diagonally towards the beach. This means you will need to take a
zig zagging route to shore, tacking where necessary to put you back
on track when a good runner may have taken you too far to the
left or right of the finish line.

One final point too that is relevant to catching both waves and
runners, is when paddling, as you are moving forward with the
speed of the swell, the effective length of your stroke is reduced.
So go back to the technique section where we talk about reach in
your stroke and really concentrate on applying this stroke technique, when trying to paddle into waves
and runners.

The only thing now for you, is to grab you ski and get out there. Go-on, go and have some fun.
Training
Surf Ski Fitness

Courtesy of Rob Stewart from Gold Coast Personal Training

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a broad overview

on how to approach the fitness needed to adequately
compete in a race on a surf ski. It is written from a purely
fitness point of view and is not intended to be medical in
nature. Nor is it specific to any one type of athlete – it is
merely an overview of the basic principles involved.

Possibly the most technical of ocean disciplines, the surf ski

requires a great level of skill to master. While it is important
for the athlete to be strong, fit and dedicated to the art,
these areas can never be replaced by the actual skill needed
to propel the craft through the unpredictable ocean. Correct
technique is always more important for success in the ski
than anything else. Having said that, a lack of fitness can
negatively affect the overall result of a race despite the skill
level.

The areas of the body most impacted upon during the ski leg are the core, back, shoulders, chest and
arms. Due to the nature of the discipline, we can largely ignore the lower body for this chapter. We will
not specifically breakdown each area into muscle groups, but rather discuss what training will benefit
each general area. Success on the ski depends on the right training in the areas of endurance, speed,
strength and overall fitness.

When discussing any training program, we must look at five key areas. These are:

1. Type – what training will you actually do?

2. Intensity – how hard will you train?
3. Frequency – how often will you train?
4. Length – how long will the session go for?
5. Recovery – what will you do when not training?

The type of training depends on the outcome desired. Aerobic training, meaning related to oxygen or
building your cardiovascular fitness will be difficult to do on a ski alone. It is harder to achieve real gains
in this area on a ski because the heart rate cannot be kept at a high enough level for long enough to
generate real benefits. This type of training is best left to running or swimming. Similarly anaerobic
training, or that needed for shorter sprint events, is not suited to the ski. Fartlek training, or interval
training, is something well suited to a ski. It consists of training at varying distances, speeds and rest
periods. This type of training is excellent because it most closely simulates race conditions.

The other type of training that is important for the ski leg is resistance training, or that using weights.
The key thing to remember here is that any resistance training is merely a complement to the ski
training you are doing on the water. Over time, your back and shoulder muscles particularly will develop
and become stronger, merely due to the training on the water. There is no need to hit the gym and push
huge weights in order to bulk up. Indeed too much size in these areas can be counter-productive to your
technique and overall results on the ski. Incorporating weight training should only happen once you
have an adequate skill level and the base fitness levels to take advantage of gains in muscle size and
strength. Generally weights sessions should contain of at least 8 exercises, with 3 or 4 sets of 12 to 15
reps. Rest between sets should be 30 seconds maximum and the whole session finished in 40 minutes.

Resistance training must be integrated in nature. In other words, all parts of the body should be
covered. The days of going to the gym and just concentrating on one body part for an hour and then
returning two days later and focusing on another body part are gone. We don’t get onto a ski and just
paddle with our arms. We use our core, back, shoulders, chest and arms in an integrated way to paddle
the craft forward. So why not train that way too? The key thing to remember is balance. Unless you train
your muscles to work together, lifting weights won’t help you go any faster on a ski. What this means is
prescribe similar load to the front and back of your body. If you work your biceps, then work your
triceps. If you work your chest, work your back and so forth. This will stop one area of your body
becoming overdeveloped and thus hurt your overall ski technique.

One quick word on core – there is no real need to do specific core work. If your ski technique is correct
and your resistance training technique is correct, then you will already know how to constantly turn
your stomach muscles on and therefore work them. However, those starting out as ski paddlers or those
looking for a real power advantage over their competitors may want to practice some dynamic core
exercises, such as a Russian Twist with a dumbbell. The point of this is to help increase speed and in
turn, increase paddle rating. About 60% of the ski stroke is turning at the core, with the body turning
from the trunk at 90 degrees from one side to the other. An exercise like this can help train the body to
perform that motion.

Intensity of training relates to how much effort will be put into the training. This centres on the never-
ending search by an athlete as to how much they can stress their body to condition it without pushing it
too far and causing injury. A way of roughly judging that is to operate within your targeted heart rate
zone. Heart rate monitors are very advanced these days and can be worn in the ocean. To calculate your
maximum heart rate, use the formula: MHR = 220 – Age. Then take 85-90% of this and make sure you
never keep exercising for long periods once this zone is reached.

Using long and slow endurance training has a key place in training programs for ski paddlers, but the
value of shorter, higher intensity sessions should not be ignored. It is difficult on a ski to apply maximum
strength to each stroke whilst still being able to maintain proper technique. A longer session will
ultimately lead to drop off in technique and intensity after a period of time. Breaking this session up into
shorter, more intense periods, not only builds fitness, but focuses the paddler on maintaining technique
under duress. Again this replicates race conditions.

The body must be allowed to heal, otherwise it can never fully benefit from the gains of training. This is
where the frequency of training comes in. What is the right amount of sessions per week? That depends
on the type of training. Any cardio training should consist of at least 3 sessions a week, but no more
than six. This should include one complete rest day a week. For resistance training, more thought needs
to be applied. Technique sessions on a ski will be compromised if you have flogged yourself in the gym
the day before and your upper body is fatigued as a result. If your resistance training is integrated, no
one area of your body should be more stressed than another. Integrated training allows you to
undertake 2-3 sessions a week and still be able to complete your technical training.

How long you train for again depends on what you are actually doing. As previously stated, a weights
session should be over in 40 minutes. Coincidently, this is the minimum time limit specified for beneficial
aerobic training. As an upper limit, any more than two hours is seen as potentially pushing towards
overtraining. No doubt, a 2 hour ski paddle is a great way to help with endurance, but it is not
something that should be done every week. As a general rule, never spend longer in a session than you
would on a race day. If the ski leg takes about an hour, why train for two hours at moderate pace, when
you could be working on how to go harder for the one hour the race will take?

Many an athlete has been undone by training too hard, too often and then breaking down by race day.
Unless the body repairs itself and recharges for the next session, you will plateau or go backwards with
your results. If over a period of a few weeks of training, you are constantly tired, sore and irritable, then
you are doing something wrong. Either cut down your sessions or increase your rest period. Or both!

So once again, ski technique is the most important factor to success, but this can be complemented with
planned and sensible endurance and strength sessions that follow the basic principles described in this
chapter.

Surf Ski Coaching

To date, this eBook has been about the
challenges you may face when learning to
ride a surf ski and the theory behind the
solutions to those challenges. I have
hopefully filled your head will all kinds of
information that you are bursting with,
ready to get out on the water and start
practicing. One thing I have found though is
that applying theory and applying theory correctly are two entirely different things. Until you have sat
down, had someone put your body, hands and feet correctly into position and felt what they are
supposed to be doing, it is entirely possible that you are drilling incorrect technique into your stroke. For
this reason, I must really emphasize that this book is not meant as a replacement to competent
coaching. It is simply a theoretical guide to the fundamental principles of riding and racing surf skis,
based around the challenges I faced when learning to ride and the solutions I found solved those
challenges for me.

Let me elaborate on the difference between the two. In this eBook, I have said that to sit on a ski with
correct posture, you need to have a straight back with your shoulders slightly in front of your hips. It is
very easy for me to give you this advice, it is what you are supposed to do. What I cannot do though is
watch you paddling for an hour, observing how your posture is at the start of your session, through the
various stages of the session and as you get fatigued towards the end. What I cannot do is give you all
the corrective drills that are pertinent to your specific case, your style and your level of competence.
Only a coach can do that.

Myself, I still use a coach and will for years to come. On Australia’s Gold Coast, I use Stuart Keay and
Trudy Holt from http://www.SurfCoach.net.au, I highly recommend them to you if you are on the Gold
Coast, they offer long term coaching if you live here as well as shorter term sessions if you are only
visiting. To give you an indication of the quality of Stuart and Trudy as coaches, Stuart has won Gold
Medals in Queensland State, Australian and World events, in Surf Lifesaving surf ski events. He knows
how to ride a ski, he knows how to paddle well and he knows what it takes to win competitions. I think
behind any excellent coach is a person who has already achieved it, so I think this speaks volumes for
Stuart’s qualifications.

Many people too make the mistake of getting a personal trainer and believing that is enough. A trainer
is there to get you fit, not to train you in sports skills. Only a coach can do that. That is why I have a
section in this book both for training and for coaching. It is interesting too to point out in Rob’s article on
the fitness side of the equation that “ski technique is the most important factor to success”, also
espousing the need for competent coaching.

So (unless you are competing in my age category ;-)) get yourself some coaching, even if it is in a group
session. If you want someone recommended, go to the http://www.SurfCoach.net.au website and get in
touch with Stuart and Trudy. If you want someone more local, join up with your local Surf Life Saving
Club, if they do not have a coach there already, they will be able to point you in the direction of one.
Other Issues
Coach’s Tip - Surf Ski Damage and Long Distance Carrying On The Beach

We were beginning a training

session, paddling off the beach
into quite a heavy surf on the
outside break. The tide was close
to low therefore these large
waves were breaking into
shallow water. Some caution
with craft was necessary.

Another surf club who had

started training earlier were on
their return journey north past
our club. For some reason they
were catching a wave into the beach at certain towers and then paddling back out
through the break on their way home. Not a really good idea in this heavy surf. Two
girls came to grief on a wave and to more grief when they checked their ski on the
beach.

One was fortunate as we could use our tape to patch the damaged hull - it did not
have any structural damage. So she could paddle her ski home.

The other was more misfortunate. Her ski had split along the rail up to a meter in
length. It would take a lot of tape to support that and even then the ski was at risk of
breaking in half. We advised her to walk it back. This seemed a bit daunting for her at
first until I recommended for her to drag it. This technique will not damage the ski
and is an easy way to return along the beach when swept miles away from where you
need to be.

As per the image above, to do this, hold the ski by the rudder and drag the ski in the
water. Hold the back with the bow in water up to knee depth.

Issue – Tight Hip Flexors

When you start riding a ski or kayak, it is very likely that you will feel very sore around the front of your
hips. The simple reason this is the case is that you are holding a position your body is not used to, so
your body is complaining about it. Everyone I know who can remember when they learned to paddle a
surf ski, including myself, experienced this discomfit. It passes pretty quickly, so my advice to you if you
are experiencing this discomfit is to suck it up .
 Issue – Numb Bum
When I purchased my second ski, on longer
paddles (at around the 40 minute mark) I
started getting a numb backside. It would
start in my bum, but then travel down my leg
to my feet.

I can remember on one particularly bad day I

lost all feeling in my left leg and when
alighting from my ski, I could not walk on
that leg for at least 5 minutes. I was
staggering around like a drunk, it was quite
embarrassing.

I’d just spent $2,000 on this new ski too, so it was a little distressing for me. I was panicking a bit and
wondering whether I was facing the choice of sacrificing the $2,000 or sacrificing my left leg.

I did a little bit of research though and found this issue is not uncommon, particularly among kayak
paddlers. I found my solution in the form of the figure 8 foam inner seat you see in the image above.
The bony bits of your backside sit in the holes of this seat so you do not gain too much height (thereby
losing stability) and the padded bit molds to your body, ensuring comfort and preventing any circulation
cutoff that may cause numbness. I bought mine from Dolphin Surf Craft if you are looking for one of
these.

Issue - Tight Thighs (This One A Coach’s Tip)

A Tip To Relieve Tight Thighs

During our workout in the river which began with drills on technique, an issue
effecting one of the paddlers in the group was a balance problem . He was also feeling
tight in the muscles at the top of his thighs - this is a common problem, one you may
have experienced.

The cause of this uneasy balance is the path taken by the blade in the water. Poor
balance is caused by the paddle pulled too close to the boat and not following the
wash away from the boat. Correcting this paddling technique issue resulted in instant
change in the paddlers comfort.

The second factor to introduce is on each catch push the heel into the foot well. The
combination of paddle following the wash and heel drive makes you one with the
craft. Tight thigh muscles are also relieved. Balance and comfort - what more could
you ask for.
Buying Surf Skis
In this chapter, I cover at a high level, the types of things you want to consider when purchasing a surf
ski. It should be enough information to arm you with to ensure you get an appropriate surf ski, until you
have enough experience and knowledge about the craft to make these judgment calls yourself.

If you are just starting in the sport of surf skiing, buying a second hand ski is a good idea as when you are
beginning, you will crash and fall off often. When this happens your ski will tumble without you,
bouncing along the beach as the waves hit it, maybe hitting rocks or other skis in your group. It will be at
the mercy of the waves until you retrieve it. This can take quite a toll on the ski especially in the surf.
Obviously you don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a new surf ski, only to damage it or write it
off in the waves within your first year.

If you are buying a second hand ski, there are a few more things you need to look for to ensure quality.
These are listed below and are additional to the criteria that are important when buying a new ski. (I.e.
Read the new ski information first and apply the second hand information as additional requirements.)

Buying a New Ski

When buying a brand new surf ski, you should be comfortable in knowing that the craft you are buying is
sea worthy, robust and a quality surf craft. It is brand new, you should be able to trust that it can do the
things it is made for. So to that end, check out the warranty. The manufacturer of the ski should be
confident enough in their craftsmanship that they will guarantee it against the rigors of normal use. If
they do not have this confidence, I probably would not have confidence enough in their craft to buy it.

The only real consideration you need to concern yourself with then is size. Make sure the leg length is
perfect for you. I covered appropriate leg length in the “Setting Up” section of this eBook, so you know
what the perfect leg length is. Now, the trick is to not let yourself be sold into buying something that is
not perfect. You are buying an expensive new surf ski, you have every right to get one that is perfect for
you. Make sure the sales person acts like a consultant, finding you a ski that is right for you, not selling
you something they want to get rid of. Occasionally you do get that kind of thing, but for the price you
pay, you should demand a lot more.

Buying a Second Hand Ski

When buying a second hand ski, a lot comes down to how much money you are willing to spend. The
axiom “if you spend peanuts, you get monkeys” really holds here, the less you spend, the poorer the
quality of ski that you will get. Some tips for buying a second hand ski follow:

Make sure the leg length is appropriate. You may not be able to get it perfect, but it should be
pretty close. If you cannot get a ski that is even close to your leg length, do not waste your
money buying one that is too long or short, spend a bit more time saving money and keep
looking.
Check the strength of the sides, top and bottom of the ski. Ensure there are no areas where the
ski is obviously weak, buckled or caved in. Such areas represent weakness and probably indicate
the ski cannot be taken out into the ocean. (They may still be serviceable in flat water though)
Check over the whole surface of the ski, looking for holes, minute punctures and hairline cracks.
These will all take water when paddling. If in doubt, put some spittle over the questionable area,
blow a half dozen breaths into the air hole, put the bung in and see if the air bubbles through
your spittle.
Ensure the rudder is straight when the peddles are even and only responds when the pedals are
moved. I.e. There should be no free play in the rudder. It may loosen up when you start to use it,
(many constantly do) but the seller should have least done you the courtesy of tightening it up
for the sale.
Try to get a deep seat. They are much more stable and easy to learn on.

Coach’s Tip - Testing the Stringer and Rail of a Second Hand Ski
Stringer test: Press two hands side by side down onto the deck of the ski.
Starting at one end, press firmly down on the centre and then move
along, overlapping the last hand position. Work your way along the
whole length of the ski. Turn it upside down and do it on the hull.

Any soft areas will need further inspection. A ski with soft areas is not a
good sign for a craft intended to be used in the surf. Remember though,
on some skis the stringer begins forward of the bow. That is, in
construction the stringer does not go the full length of the ski. The same
test applies though because the whole deck must be firm.

Rail Test: Turn the ski on the side and place one hand flat on the deck
with the other on the hull. You are going to squeeze the deck and hull
near the rail at the same time.
This may only need to be done in a few places - near the centre, forward
and front of seat, at the back of the ski and at the front of the ski.

You are looking for hair line cracks along the rail of the ski on the top and
bottom, or on the deck or along the hull. They are usually quite long if you
see one. The ski will take water through here and if not repaired, using it
in the surf will cause it to widen and eventually cause your ski to break on
a good size wave.

Remember to do this on both sides.

If you found these faults after testing so far but are still prepared to buy
the ski, make sure you ask for a big discount as you will need to get it
repaired.