How long do you give yourself on a new board & board width Q's

[amheckSUP]

I've taken my JL Blade II 12''6" x 29" out twice now and have had quite a bit of difficulty staying up on the board.  First time might have been a little more choppy conditions, but today was pretty flat on Tampa Bay.  I can stand up and paddle for a minute or two, but I'm concentrating so hard on staying balanced that its really not too much fun.  I'm starting to wonder if I picked the wrong board for my first.

So a couple questions - how long do you give a situation like this before you decide its time to move on?  And if moving on means purchasing another board, would 32" be wide enough to be stable?  Or do I want something even wider?  I guess I'm trying not to make a 2nd ill-advised purchase.

My wife is going to try and ride the board tonite.  She, too, has only paddleboarded a couple times, so I'm curious to see how she does on the board.  I said, maybe you can ride this one and I'll buy something wider for me, but she's not too keen on the displacement shape for whatever reason and thinks the board is too long for her, so who knows at this point.

I've never surfed and have never had good balance on a skateboard, so I'm worried that maybe I just don't have the balance required for this sort of thing... 

thanks in advance,
Aaron

[Old School 213]

A little more background would help. How much do you weigh? Level of fitness or activity on a scale from couch potato/office dweller to gym rat/triathlete? How much time have you spent paddling?

Out of hand I would say to stick with it. You may be so intent or worried about on staying up that you are just too tense and it's becoming a downward spiral. Loosen up, keep your knees bent and don't look down, the water will still be there (look down = go down).

Remember rule #1: have fun.

[amheckSUP]

yeah, you know, I think I am looking down almost constantly.  I forget about that.  I'm 6'1" and just a tad over 200.  During the day I have a desk job but lift and/or run several times per week.  Probably somewhere between doing nothing and being a total fitness freak. In my early 40's.  But brand new to standing up on anything floating besides a cruise ship.

thanks for the response.  I'm always so excited to get out but then it ends up not being so much fun constantly falling.

[lucabrasi]

If I remember right you pretty new to the whole thing and around my size. I am 6'4" and 210 or so anymore. I was around 225 when I started and I myself think it would have been awful for me to learn on something 29" wide so I would give it more time. With that said you may need to concentrate when on something like that rather than just lazy day mindless paddling. When I paddle my Kaholo advertised at 27.5"-29.5" it is definitely more concentration on it for me, especially the first few times I was out on it which was after a season or two of paddling 32" wide or wider. 1" does make a big difference.
Besides, it's all good. This would just go into the quiver for those really warm flat days and your new wider everyday board will be your go to board…..except for the days with a T in it. Need a 14 footer for those.

[balance_fit]

2 times on the board isn't enough. After 6-8 weeks of 3 sessions per week, then make a decision. By then, you'll be ready to upgrade! Time On Water.

[amheckSUP]

thanks for the thoughts all.  Yeah, I'm not ready to call it quits yet, but its just a bit frustrating watching these couples paddling around almost effortlessly without a care in the world and then there's me looking like a total idiot out there. 

I remember when looking at the Blade, it was just a touch less width than the others and I thought "how bad could it be".  Ha, I guess I'm finding out now.

[PonoBill]

It's a race board, and a pretty serious one, it's not just the width, it's the shape that's tossing you in the drink. In a relatively short time, at your weight, you should be flying past those folks on their chunkier boards, but it's hard to be fast or have fun while you're laying in the water. The bottom line is how hard are you willing to work to have fun. There's no question that you can master this board, and there will come a time pretty soon where you wonder why you were having any trouble at all with it, but you need to get your sea legs.

The double concave will give you some stability when you are moving quickly, but exacerbates the roll in any kind of chop. That and the sharp rails, pulled in nose, and relatively narrow tail will make the board a bit challenging to deal with. I've paddled a Blade (at 240 pounds, 68 years old with the usual geezer balance issues) and I thought it was a very interesting board--fast, fairly stable, easy to manuver. Almost no rocker--that's working against you too. On longer boards rocker acts like a hammock, your weight in the middle has to be lifted for the board to tip.

If it were me, I'd stick with it, and step up your efforts. But only you can determine what works for you. I'd say emphatically that a stable board won't teach you to stand on a more difficult one. If you're going to keep it, commit to it.  The transition to "what was my problem???" will come suddenly, and when it does, you'll be happier with something fast and sleek than a tubby SUP yoga board. But you'll pay some dues--you already know that.

A couple more things that sanosups excellent entry below reminded me of. The narrow stance thing is a big deal--I see beginners with their feet on the rail. Bad idea. I try to touch my heels together when I'm standing with feet in line, and in a surf stance I try to have both feet on the stringer/center-line. I don't really get there or stay there, but the idea is to calm the board by centering weight rather than using your inexpert body reactions to control it. In chop you want the board to move with the chop and leave you calmly adjusting and stable. If you're trying to hold the rails still you'll be flailing around.

Bend your knees with your head up and looking forward. Not only will looking down screw up your reactions to imbalance, but at 200 pounds, your head and shoulders weigh about 25 pounds. That's too much weight to be tossing around willy-nilly.

[Califoilia]

Some beginners have a tendency to spread their feet too wide, thinking it will add to their stability by having a wider base.  With a paddle board, this is just the opposite, because any weight shift to one of your feet, will sink the rail on that side of the board much faster...as you've now got less board to the outside of your foot than you do the inside of it....causing the board will tilt much more, and very quickly as well....giving you less time to recover by attempting to shift your weight back to the other side/foot, and in you go.

This is basically the same premise of a wide board vs. a more narrow one.  A wider board simply gives you more board/volume to the outside of your feet, when you're standing in that same wider stance.

So before going out and spending more money, I'd first suggest that you see if you can stand with your feet a bit closer together, and then bend at your knees more as Old School suggests....as this will not only lower your COG, but also get your shoulders lower to the water to get the paddle blade as deep as you need it, by taking up some of the height you gained from narrowing your stance, and making you "taller" than you were in the wider stance.

As Old School also points out....don't look down!  Your body can react to changes in balance MUCH faster than when it has to go through the whole process of seeing the change, having the mind recalculate everything, and then making the balance change that's required.  By the time it's gone through all that...the rail/board has sunk and tipped even more, and those last recalculations have fallen short, you can't recover...and you're in the water.

The body goes where the eyes, and head take it.

12'6"x29" should be plenty of board for your height and weight....so just a little more time, and a little understanding of how the boards work (where the stability comes from) should get you heading in the right direction.

[supthecreek]

amheck..... not fer nothin" but my first board was 36" wide 

5 years in and my narrowest board to date is 30"

Granted I am talking about surf shapes, but I paddle flat-water almost as much as I surf.

29" is narrower than I would recommend to learn on because I believe it should be fun... not frustrating.

A good alternative may be to rent a wider board to get a good solid session under your belt.
You will learn more if you are not struggling just to stay upright.
You may find that your next attempt at your Blade may be much easier.

Your wife should fare much better on it because women generally have better balance.
If she likes it.... give her the keys and demo some other boards for you ;-)
Once you get over the "struggle" stage.... it gets geometrically easier

I fell 100 time my first day in the surf on my monster board.

HINT..... next session.... wait till its flat ass calm, paddle in an estuary or some other place with no waves or motion.

[Chilly]

You mentioned your “concentrating so hard”. This is probably one of the reasons you’re falling. First thing I would suggest is not to worry about falling. It’s just water so relax, especially your legs. The biggest problem I see with new paddlers is that they use their upper body for balance. Instead, minimize any movement in your upper body and use your legs for balance. Another tip is to learn to use your paddle as a brace. You do this by placing it in the water. Many beginners do the opposite and swing their paddle in the air trying to regain their balance. Balance is a learned skilled. The more you work on it the better you’ll get. I hope this helps.

[SUPcheat]

When I was on the harbor practicing for a few months on my first inflatable, one day I was feeling all right about my increasing balance.  Then, a woman who must have been at least 8 months pregnant wearing maternity clothes paddled by looking like it was just another day in paradise, never fell, looked calm and confident.  I felt like chasing her and pushing her off her board.

When I finally went into the ocean after ten months of practice on the harbor, it was starting over again.  The ocean was exponentially harder than the harbor, it NEVER stopped moving.

I would see the guys bounding around on chop, waves and white water on the ocean and wondered if I would ever stand up, much less do that stuff. A few months later, I started doing some of that stuff, too.

Time on the water etc. etc.

I've learned that at my older entry age and without a lot of balance sports to fall back on, the improvements are very small but steady.

The ability of the balance system to adapt over time is amazing even for an old goat.

[amheckSUP]

Awesome stuff guys.  I feel a lot better.  I think looking down and having my feet too wide are not helping.  It was amazing how fast it can get tippy to the point where I am in the water.  With my feet near the edge trying to keep the board flat, I think I'm doing more harm and making it almost stand up on one edge and then the other, feeling like a big see-saw, trying to compensate.  And you know how that ends up.

I guess overall I'm glad this can be learned with repetition.  I think I knew it could, but there was maybe a little thought that worried that maybe my balance was just that bad.

[PonoBill]

Nope, it's not your balance. My first board was a Ku Nalu--12'2" X 26" with almost no rocker and straight, rounded rails. Even now, eight years later, it's a challenging but rewarding board for me (I have a new one). I'm going to paddle it today, because it's just such a blast. But I fell a thousand times off the thing, and thought that SUP might just not be my sport. Then I got a JL 11er and felt like I was cheating it was so easy. 11er was 11' X 30" and I could walk around on it like it was a dock, because of all the effort with the Ku Nalu.

[hbsteve]

Here are a few more things to consider.  You said the water was mostly flat.  If it's not flat as you are learning, try going into and or with the chop, swell etc.  Trying to learn in cross chop is harder, as mentioned about ocean paddling.  Learn to pull the paddle out before it passes you feet completely.  Each paddle works differently.  But by having your blade behind you, you can't use it to brace and you body is not is a stable position.  We are trying to help you with our knowledge, experience and love of the sport.  But, none of us can see you.  Consider taking a lesson. 

[southwesterly]

I am with SuptheCreek with this one. Sure give it another shot or two, but if you're falling in all the time you're not having fun.
At some point you have to ask yourself just what do you want to get out of this SUP thing anyway. Do you want to be the top racer in your area? Or do you want to cruise around with friends and family in a fun fashion? There are plenty of wider surfboard shapes that are great for small surf and all around cruising (cue Wardog and the Surfing Sports One World).

My narrowest board is 32 inches wide. Sure they are all 9'6" and shorter and suited for the surf, but I cruise all the time on them. If I had a narrower race board, I might get to my turnaround point 5 to 10 minutes sooner than my stable and wide board.  But frankly I don't really care. I've got the time and I'm going to enjoy the view.