Hello everybody,

we've just published the full review of the Starboard 7'7''X25'' PRO Brushed Carbon. Check it out @

www.standuppaddling.it/content/view/2678

Cheers,
Marco

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supit said..
Hello everybody,

we've just published the full review of the Starboard 7'7''X25'' PRO Brushed Carbon. Check it out @www.standuppaddling.it/content/view/2678

Cheers,Marco

That needs clarification Marco. The review is for the 7'7"X27" and not 25".

Cheers Ozzie

Marco,

Could you clarify as to what is the "hybrid paddling stance" please to the uninitiated.

Cheers Ozzie

Hello Ozzie,

a big oops and sorry: of course it is the 27''. We're about to test the 7'4''X25.5'' though. That being said, in the hybrid paddling stance your front foot points forward and it is slightly off the center line of the board, while your back foot points at about 45 degrees towards the side of the board, with the heel just across the center line. This stance gives you stability edge to edge, and also, nose to tail.
Hope it helps and, again, I do apologize for the mistake.

Cheers,
Marco

I will add that you should take care that your front foot is facing forward, otherwise when you weight shifts between toe and heel to keep balance, having your heel on the side will make you dig a rail and fall on your front foot side. Think more of a fencing rather than surfing stance.

The same is actually true of the back foot, having your back foot facing frontwards is stabler, although it feels awkwards.

Yep Colas!

Cheers,
Marco

A bit heavy at 5.9kg for brushed carbon finish.

Hi there,

>> A bit heavy at 5.9kg for brushed carbon finish.

5,9 Kg with fins. Not that heavy .

Cheers,
Marco

The following video gives a good demonstration of how to execute the hybrid paddle stance:

http://www.paddling.net/standup/sup-pivot-turns.html

My query here Supit is that this type of stance would work well on a much bigger board with plenty of foam but I do question its
value on a shorter board like this one as the split stance would surely cause the board to sink more at the back. Does that seem a
reasonable enough assertion?

Cheers Ozzie

Hello Ozzie,

well, you made a point but the hybrid stance works even on the 6'4'' that we're currently testing. It'd be just impossible to keep a straight line while paddling without the hybrid stance on that board. It does require practice, though.

Cheers,
Marco

Actually, all the weight is on the front leg. See explanations at: www.gong-galaxy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1623
Btw, this is what allows to put the rear foot sideways (which feels more comfortable), as there is nearly no weight on it.
If you sink the tail, that means you are putting too much weight on the rear leg.

Note that top athletes that have so much balance as to master the weight repartition between toes and heel at all times can be in pure surfing stance, as Mo Freitas shows in his recent videos. But for us mere mortals, fencing is the way :-)

Indeed. The smaller the board, the more exaggerated the split stance becomes. Also as the conditions become rougher I tend to spread out my stance further.

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colas said..

Actually, all the weight is on the front leg. See explanations at: www.gong-galaxy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1623
Btw, this is what allows to put the rear foot sideways (which feels more comfortable), as there is nearly no weight on it.
If you sink the tail, that means you are putting too much weight on the rear leg.

Note that top athletes that have so much balance as to master the weight repartition between toes and heel at all times can be in pure surfing stance, as Mo Freitas shows in his recent videos. But for us mere mortals, fencing is the way :-)

Can you provide links to those videos please Colas.

Cheers mate

I totally agree with Colas and JeanG.

Cheers,
Marco

have a look at this one on the scales 7'6 x 28 x 88ltr 5.7kg with deck grip and fins made from tough eglass at only $120 per foot custom made.
Rails that don't chip and a quad fin set up.

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JeanG said..

Indeed. The smaller the board, the more exaggerated the split stance becomes. Also as the conditions become rougher I tend to spread out my stance further.

When you say exaggerated what exactly do you mean.

Colas,

I had a look at the photo and it clearly shows that the back half of the board is well submerged under the water with the front half above the water. Surely this
would result in the board experiencing major drag and hence being slow through the water? I can understand that as you go shorter you need a lot more than the
stability provided by having your feet shoulder width apart with even weightedness. By adopting a split stance, that is a hybrid stance with the rear foot further back
as well as placing the majority of your weight ON the front foot for the purposes of reducing the pressure on the back foot, surely you impact upon the ability to
adjust you weight on the front foot. To me intuitively this should present with further issues the more pronounced the split is. Am I reading this right guys?

cheers Ozzie

ghost, Mo last video is impressive:


On the wide stance, the wide stance is only needed on take off (and pushing through whitewater), it is too tiring to use for paddling around. For this just moving your rear foot a tad backwards is sufficient, as you can see in this picture of the recent turtle bay event (well after you manage to focus on the feet, of course)



BTW, the videos of women SUPing is very interesting, as they have less inhuman physical qualities as the young gods, you can actually learn useful things by watching them: especially these full video streams where you can see them pushing through whitewater, taking off, moving around...

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colas said..
ghost, Mo last video is impressive:

?rel=0

On the wide stance, the wide stance is only needed on take off (and pushing through whitewater), it is too tiring to use for paddling around. For this just moving your rear foot a tad backwards is sufficient, as you can see in this picture of the recent turtle bay event (well after you manage to focus on the feet, of course)

BTW, the videos of women SUPing is very interesting, as they have less inhuman physical qualities as the young gods, you can actually learn useful things by watching them:

?rel=0

?rel=0especially these full video streams where you can see them pushing through whitewater, taking off, moving around...

Colas,

The video of Mo is very impressive as you say. To be honest, whilst it shows his obvious surfing skills which is very apparent it does not I feel give
you an impression of what takes place leading up to take off. I find this disappointing Colas because a lot of the videos that we get, especially of the guys that know what they are doing on the wave shows very little of their preparation and general paddling around whilst waiting for a wave to come in. I say this because I see a lot of guys in the water, including myself, who struggle in that area especially when conditions become quite difficult. Its all very well to advertise guys jumping on boards that are under 8 foot and showing a highlight package of what they get up to whilst surfing but that is somewhat misleading because you dont really know if they spend a lot of their time kneeling down or in the prone position because standing up for long periods may be overly difficult. I get more out of watching the techniques and in particular paddle stance when waiting for a wave than anything else because if you struggle with this part of paddle boarding then you have zero chance to excel on a wave.

Thinking more about it, the other element that you have to consider in terms of adopting a hybrid stance whilst paddling around waiting for a wave to come in is the volume distribution of the board. My JP definately has a sweet spot in the centre part of the board encompassing an area just to the front and just behind the centre point that can lend itself to a split stance. By widening that stance it makes the back end up dip noticeably in the water simply due to the fact that the amount of volume there is drastically reduced. So you can afford to adopt a pronounced hybrid stance permanently on a long board with plenty of foam but on a much shorter board like my JP 8'2x28 it becomes more problematic. In saying that you are compelled to a large extent to adopt the split stance on the smaller boards to give you the extra stability as a shoulder with parallel stance does not cut it.

Cheers mate

There is plenty of paddling around footage - in rough conditions no less! - in the full length broadcast videos from Sunset.

Ghost, as JeanG said, look at the full length broadcasts (the videos many hours long on the Waterman's League toutube channel)

On small boards, you cannot have you feet parallel, as they rock very easily, any chop will put you out of balance forwards or backwards. You need some leverage to steady the board. But 8'2" is still "long", you can get away with parallel feet on these (except when taking off and pushing through whitewater).

I had a couple of sessions with Sean Poynter when he came to Portugal for a SUP clinic. While waiting for waves, he would adopt a perfect surf stance (back foot on the tail pad and front at the middle of the board) ad he would lower his body. And then when a wave came he would turn the board and rise his body in a single stroke. Mighty impressive.

He said he adopted that posture in order to stay flexible.

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colas said..
Ghost, as JeanG said, look at the full length broadcasts (the videos many hours long on the Waterman's League toutube channel)

On small boards, you cannot have you feet parallel, as they rock very easily, any chop will put you out of balance forwards or backwards. You need some leverage to steady the board. But 8'2" is still "long", you can get away with parallel feet on these (except when taking off and pushing through whitewater).

Okay will do. I will have a close look at the entire video and then come back with my own thoughts.

Interesting observations about how Sean Poynter prepares I thought.