Staying straight on displacement board

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[robcasey]

a few thoughts..
- make sure the blade is not following the angle of the nose when its going in, a common issue with beginners which immediately turns the board. imagine a line going from your rails on both sides straight past your nose, that's where the blade goes in. 

- maybe just paddle on one side?  either pull in from approx 1-2' away from the nose and into the rail kinda like a j-stroke or plan b, push one rail into the water slightly and paddle on that side.  adjust your trim to find the sweet spot where this works for you so you're paddling straight.  i can only do it on my left side. 

-short strokes, pull out at your feet, sometimes going past your feet folks tend to push the blade out away from the rail as they remove it from the water thus pushing the board in the opposite direction. 

- bigger or more effecient fin? check out casey gotcher's Gladiator fin. 

[adios pantalones]

I'll reiterate some of above, your paddle needs to pull paralell to the centerline, not the rail. Keep the shaft in at midships. At my feet, before the draw, the inner edge of my blade is under the board.

Try weighting the opposite rail a little.

Big fin, all the way back in the box.

And finally, make sure you are not too far back on the board, a common beginner mistake. When in doubt favor the front weight. Having the nose high will allow the board to spin. Good around the mark, not in a line.

You should be able to paddle on one side as long as you want. I can paddle to exhaustion on either side. Switching sides just to steer is unnecesary and slow. It takes a while to finesse a slight draw stroke on the catch, but it can be mastered.

Keep working on it.

[Waves4supper]

You want to bring the paddle forward with the blade not catching too much air. To do this, at the end of your stroke you twist the blade 90 degrees and just before you plant it in the water you twist it back.
Now if you do the first twist just when the blade is still in the water, it will each time give a little "kick" which keeps your board going straighter.
I don't know if this is an appropriate technique for racing, but it works for me in the waves.

Bruno