Today I'll share 5 mistakes every beginner paddle boarder makes and how to avoid doing them yourself. The tips are simple to apply, and you'll have a more enjoyable time on the water if you do.
Have you been trying paddle boarding but can't find your balance paddle in a straight line or slip against the water properly? This article is for you'll be sharing five tips to help you master paddle boarding.
Nobody likes to look like a newbie, so this tip is to help you to avoid it.
1. Walk a little bit into the water
Most people forget that there's a fin below their paddle board, which allows you to detract more straight as you paddle in the water. Still, unfortunately, most people forget that it's there, so when they go to get into the water for the first time with their paddle board, they walk a little bit into the water, put their board down and get on, they try to paddle, but stuck on the beach. Because their fin is on the beach behind them, still in shallow water, to avoid making a simple mistake, be sure to walk into the water towards, at least, up to your knees. Then you can put your board in the water, and then you get on your board and start paddling away. This ensures enough depth in the water for your fin below your paddle board.
2. The paddle blade in reverse
All paddles have a curve to their blade. With this curve, you always want to ensure it's facing in the direction you want to paddle, never in reverse. This is the big mistake that most beginner pedals make. They paddle less efficiently as they reversely enter the water with their blade.
It's because the blade has a curve, you need to have the curve facing in the direction you want to paddle, so it can allow the blade to enter more efficiently into the water, allow you to pull yourself to the blade more easily and allows you to paddle more forward and less down by paddling in the correct position.
Then you'll save yourself more energy, paddle faster and help protect your body by causing less harm to your shoulders as you pull yourself through the water more efficiently. So remember that the blade's curve always faces in the direction you want, never in reverse.
3. Did not find the center part of the board
Have you ever wondered why it's so hard to balance your paddle board? Why can't you seem to paddle in a straight line?
Now, you first need to look down where your feet are on the paddle board. Every center paddle board comes with a carry handle. This handle acts as a reference point to the center part of the board. You want to ensure you're standing on either side of this handle, about shoulder-width apart. This will ensure that you're always standing in the center, the most stable part of the stainless paddle board, not too far forward or too far back behind this handle.
4. Did not adjust your paddle to the correct height
If you don't adjust your paddle to the correct height, you'll have less stability, and your paddle will be very straight when you paddle along. You're not at the correct heights, which is exactly why your paddle needs to adjust to your correct height.
Unfortunately, most beginner paddlers don't know what that correct height is. They either have their paddle way too tall or too short and struggle to paddle efficiently in the water. The best rule of thumb is actually raising the paddle to be one shaka above your head when it comes to adjusting your paddle to the correct height for just casual paddling, or more or less, to where your arm is almost straight but still has some bend to it, having your paddle set to the correct height, this will allow you to paddle more efficiently and feel more stable while paddling on your paddle board.
5. Always looking down at your feet
The biggest learning curve when it comes to stand-up paddling is how to let your body naturally balance on the board.
Unfortunately, the biggest mistake most beginner paddlers make is always looking down at their feet when trying to balance their paddle board. It would help if you were not looking down at your feet or paddle board because you're seeing all the movement of the water on your feet, and you're naturally going to feel more motion and less stability in your body. The better thing you should look at is the horizon in front of you. By fixing your eyes on the horizon, you naturally feel more stable because the horizon is more stable than the feet below you.
A simple rule of thumb is to look where you want to go. If you're looking down, you're naturally going to fall. If you're looking forward, you're next going to go forward, so look where you want to go.
I hope you found these tips helpful.