G'day all. I am after some techniques and tips to help improve my balance. I have a Jimmy Lewis Kwad 9'7" x 31". I have had it for about 3 months and I am still struggling with my balance and this is affecting my abilities too catch many waves. I have tried to change my stance and moved up the board as well as back down the board but with no discernable change and I am becoming frustrated. Can anybody shed some light on some good techniques or tips as I will be very grateful...

Hi surfnsirhiss - what are your dimensions: weight and height? How is your balance on land?

I would suggest two areas to help (and there are other posts that discuss how to balance on short boards that will help): what you do on water and on land.

On water:

First, consider a slightly staggered stance (if you feel it is tippy end-to-end), and don't spread your feet too far apart. It may be counter-intuitive, but it can be easier to balance if your feet are closer together.

Second, and it depends upon when you are having balance issues (getting upright, staying upright, etc.), but if you paddle on your knees first, and then get up, the forward motion will make it easier to stay up.

Third, think of the paddle as your third lag. When you aren't paddling, keep it in the water and use it to brace yourself.

On land:

A stronger core will help you balance - consider Pilates (start with Reform Pilates) or just look up exercises that will help your core.

And consider practicing balancing at home; on one foot, one foot with your eyes closed, two feet on a tippy board. I got a bit of 2' x 2' board and put a squishy ball underneath. Stand on it while watching TV. Engage your core when doing these exercises.

It all depends how serious you are about it, but these suggestions should help.

What height and weight are you?

Do you have any previous boardsports experience?

Balancing on a SUP is not easy at first, especially in choppy conditions. Our brains are not used to dealing with the ground moving around underneath us. Evolutionarily, we are land-based creatures and not used to being on a platform that is constantly pitching and yawning. So, especially if you do not have extensive board sports and/or Watersports experience, you are going to have to let your brain reconfigure itself to dealing with an unpredictably moving platform. You will also need to allow time for your muscles to develop that allow yourself to readjust your standing position, and to learn how to use your paddle to brace: A significant amount of balancing a SUP is about being able to use the paddle to stop yourself from falling, rather than balance abilities per se.

So that's a lot for your brain and body to learn and to adjust to. It will take time, and practice.

How many hours of paddling have you done so far? Many people can expect to be falling pretty much every minute of so - or even after only a few seconds - even after 30 hours on a board, in choppy conditions. Even after 100 hours, you are still just a newbie.

So you may just be expecting too much of yourself. But some of the ways to improve balance and fun on a SUP are:

1. Practice balance skills nearly every day on dry land using a balance board (like eg. Indo board, or a Bosu ball). If you watch TV, then watch it while doing exercises on a balance board.

2. Get a larger and more stable board and paddle as much as you can in flat water first, before venturing out into the ocean. Start to decrease the width of your board as soon as you are comfortable enough. Just get time on the water and allow your brain and body to get used to being on a moving platform.

3. Practice bracing drills. There are some useful videos out there in internet land that show this.

4. If you are carrying a bit of weight, then lose some. Even a few extra pounds makes a huge difference to your balance abilities. Your body was designed to be a certain weight, and for most people that is a bit less than they are. If you doubt this, try wearing a full Camelbak out in the surf and you'll soon see how extra weight affects you.

5. Get a board that is definitely appropriate to your size, weight and experience. This may be quite a lot wider and have more volume than those being carried by others you see. They will probably have been paddling for longer than you have, and/or they are just luckier to have better balance skills.

6. Balance ability is one of the first abilities to wane as you get older. So if you are over 40 in particular, and are new to SUP, expect to have to work at it for MUCH longer than eg. your kids will have to.

But most of all, just keep at it. I remember going out for my first SUP in F6 onshore winds and knee-high chop and thinking that the sport was completely impossible - and I was on a huge 12ft 2" Laird board! I couldn't stand for more than a few seconds at a time. Now I realise that starting out in those conditions was frankly a bit optimistic, especially for an older guy. But I decided to stick with the sport until I'd done it for 30 hours on the water, and then when I got there I thought "Hmm...getting slowly better, I'll try another 30 and then make up my mind about this sport". Now, well over a couple of thousand hours later, I'm having fun in the conditions I used to find impossible. But I still fall sometimes, and I have accepted that I will never have the balance skills of many people I know, and watching how quickly my kids adapt to balancing SUPs has been pretty sobering.

For some lucky people, it comes easy. For the rest of us, it takes a lot of time and patience. Just try to keep having fun, and be kind to yourself. Even the best people in the world fall sometimes.

If you are falling only at a very specific time when SUPing (like when catching a wave), then that's a slightly different matter. But the remedy is much the same: practice.

Falling when trying to take a wave is the most common newbie experience by far. Catching waves well is as more about wave experience than it is about balance. Bend your knees, get into surf stance well before the wave gets to you, make sure you are positioning yourself early enough so the wave isn't breaking before it gets to you, never try to take a broken wave, and paddle hard to try to match the speed of the approaching wave. Boards with very little rocker can be tricky at first if you don't have much experience. The most common error beginners make is trying to take off while standing too far forward. You need to paddle from towards the middle of the board to catch the wave, but then get your back foot over, or close to, the fin immediately that the wave starts to lift you. It also helps to take off at an angle to the wave rather than heading straight down to the bottom of the wave.

Hope this helps. Keep at it.

Hi surfnsirhiss, in addition to the above, pick favourable conditions (light winds, minimal crowds). If it looks too small, go out, paddle around a bit & just get use to the ocean's motion. When you see a wave coming, start paddling in a big arc, get in a slight surf stance & time it to pick up the wave. (forehand may help a bit also).

When I first hit the waves on a sup (after many many months of flat water paddling) I was in shock by how unstable I was, falling off within seconds time & time again. The waves were small by prone surfing standards but for a first timer they were a bit too big, coupled with a confused swell. Eventually I surfed a beak like above & it came together.

Then you have the fatigue legs to worry about but they wil get stronger. And then the quads & ITB's get sore but that's another story.

I posted a thread on the Standupzone about my quest for balance improvement.
www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,27332.0.html

At 67 years old and 100 kg..... I continue to be amazed with what is possible... if you are willing to work at it.

Yesterday, I really pushed my limits.

I swapped boards with a fit, young friend.

It was choppy with 10 mph onshore winds, 1' crap swell and totally wonky

The board
Banh Pho custom carbon, traditional shape
8' x 29.5 at 113 L

After a few tries, I got up (with the board 4" underwater as I pushed up)
Once paddling, I was fine.... my training worked, staying upright while moving, was pretty comfortable.

The real challenge was catching a wave.
I got a nice 1 footer and actually pumped down the line.... 2 months ago, this would have been impossible to consider.

I am in total disagreement with "big board, flat-water"
This only gets done on the smallest board, in the absolute worst conditions.... over and over, till you reconstruct the needed muscles and skills.
It's the whole reason that I rode his board yesterday..... too low volume, too pointy, too bumpy. Perfect for improving my skills.

Here's a pic of my fit, young friend and his fit, young board ...... I rode THAT?