knee paddling questions for Blane...

[noa]

well this is of course not exclusively towards Blane, but i address it to him since he has experience in this.
Hi Blane,
i'm wanting to play around with knee paddling my smaller sup board and maybe also try some floatier longboard.
my questions are, when catching a wave, whats the best technique to go from the knee paddling position to upright surfing position ? 
when punching through whitewater are there any special things to do ? and last but not least, what paddle length would you suggest relative to your height ? thanks a lot for your help...

[Paddle-Plappe]

when punching through whitewater are there any special things to do ?

stand up! 

[diesel]

Hey, good question.  I have also thought about this, especially on those super windy days.  I was thinking about paddling into waves like in the old bodyboarding jackstand position.  Remember Jack the ripper at Pipe.  It looks cooler than paddling in on both knees.  One knee down might be the ticket to looking cool, avoiding wind hitting your body and getting more leverage.  The reason I was thinking about this is because my secret spot is super windy and sharky so I need to keep all appedanges out of the water but need to avoid the wind.  It is too windy on the average day to go out on SUP standing up.

[Blane Chambers]

my questions are, when catching a wave, whats the best technique to go from the knee paddling position to upright surfing position ? 

when punching through whitewater are there any special things to do ? and last but not least,

what paddle length would you suggest relative to your height ?

I did these pics years ago.   I still have them...   This is better than tryin drop knee.   Drop knee is pretty tough to balance with aggressive paddling going on but that could of been just me...    Knee paddling is SOLID.




I just bust through the whitewater but just like standing there is a limit to how big you can do it depending how strong the wave is...



Paddle length for my short paddles is 48"     Its going to be shorter than your average one man canoe paddles because you are right on the water.   Because you can get serious leverage you can use big blades.   9-1/4" or even wider can be pulled with ease.    To this day, I still feel nothing comes close power wise to knee paddling.     It really is cheating!

[diesel]

Blane,

2 questions.

Is knee paddling something you would still consider if it is super windy offshore and the waves are firing, or would you not go out, or would you prone surf on a regular board, or would you gut it out and stand-up in the heavy winds?  When I say winds I am talking the 15-25 mph NE tradewinds that we get a lot in Hawaii.  There are some spots that I only go on deadwind days because they get too windy to standup and too sharky for lay down.

What about the tops of your toes and knees?  Isn't it super abrasive on your skin?  Just paddling out through the soup on my knees a few times has taken the skin off the top of my toes.

[SchUP]

Cool shots -- grab a canoe paddle and go.  Or, if the wind is up, this would cut down your sail-volume...

[Deb]

Whatever position you take (stand up, kneel, prone, etc) - as long as it keeps you and others safe, and you have fun - isn't that okay?

[noa]

hey Blane,
big thanks for that post. cool inspirational info and food for thought.
i also imagine one could go down in board width and volume when knee paddling compared to standing.
there is one obvious aspect which i had not really considered until looking at your pictures again.
the whole point of using a paddle isn't so much to paddle around the lineup and catch waves, but to actually use the paddle on the wave face when up and surfing it. is a 48"-50" paddle not too short to actualy use in that way unless the wave is super steep ? how can one effectively use such a short paddle to aid in surfing ?
thanks a lot for your input...

[Blane Chambers]

Is knee paddling something you would still consider if it is super windy offshore and the waves are firing, or would you not go out, or would you prone surf on a regular board, or would you gut it out and stand-up in the heavy winds?

I been a little to busy to spend time making knee paddle boards.   If its windy we go for downwind runs or now we do lots of Carveboarding with the Kahuna Stick when the waves are junk.     Knee paddling in the wind is easy.

What about the tops of your toes and knees?  Isn't it super abrasive on your skin?  Just paddling out through the soup on my knees a few times has taken the skin off the top of my toes.

Back then my knees were tough.     In the beginning I did get rash so I used only smooth pads with a little wax on them.    Way more mellow on the skin!

i also imagine one could go down in board width and volume

Exactly.     My knee paddle boards were in the 25" range and super stable.    I made some really good ones but got into the Stand Ups so I put them on the back burner.     

the whole point of using a paddle isn't so much to paddle around the lineup and catch waves, but to actually use the paddle on the wave face when up and surfing it. is a 48"-50" paddle not too short to actualy use in that way unless the wave is super steep ? how can one effectively use such a short paddle to aid in surfing ?

For me the paddle was mainly for paddling around quickly.   I just so happened to learn to use it at its length.     To short to do some of the SUP type moves but way better in hollow waves or coming off the bottom frontside.     Some old pics...

Off the bottom you can REALLY lay into turns.    The short paddle does certain things way better and others not at all.   


Backside sequence.     I tell you what...   Looking back at this now I remember it was SUPER FUN!   This is on the Munoz 10-6


This day was pretty nice...



Here's the thing with knee paddling.    There is no glory to it and hater surfers will look at you as an even lower life form than they already look at Stand Up people.     Stand up surfers will be looking down at you too.        I never gave a crap about that stuff and continued to do it with comments like I was cheating etc.        Over the last few years, I really fell in love with Stand Up but without a doubt, I will go back and explore knee paddle boards more in the future.      The burst you get out of the hole to take off is insane while kneeling.   

[noa]

great pictures and explanations. thanks a lot. you can really get into those front side bottoms !
weighing 155, what size board would you guess i should look at for knee paddling ?
the whole "no glory" aspect is a big plus for me. i'm not out to impress anyone or pump my ego through surfing.
thanks to your input, knee paddling looks even more appealing. so what would you call this, knee paddle surfing ? or maybe "ignore your ego and break away from the growing pack" surfing.

[hawaiian.style]

awesome pictures!  I can honestly say that I've never seen anyone power a Munoz like that before  .

[stevenson91@cox.net]

I'm relatively new to SUP (18 months) but  I've always viewed knee paddling as a necessary method of (1) getting thru the impact zone when it's wave after wave of whitewater or (2) a  chance to   catch a breather on the inside when your waiting for a break in the sets. I'll do it for a few seconds when I'm caught inside but I jump up as quick as I can and get back into my sprint  paddling. Everybody's got to do it sometime but I try to do as little of it as possible because I know that I'll get better at doing everything quicker if I stand as much as I can in any situation. Blane is right, you get more respect if your standing, from all factions in the water. That said, there are some situations that you just ain't gonna stand thru. You do what you gotta do.

Glenn

[hawaiian.style]

kyt srfr - I agree with you, I knee paddle if I'm caught on the inside.  typically if I'm resting, I'll just sit on my board... the rash I get on my knees and tops of my toes make me think twice about knee paddling more than I really have to.

[diesel]

Maybe you gotta wear long socks to prevent rash.  That would look even cooler than just knee paddling (I'm being facetious just in case someone believes this).  The old malibu dudes in the 60's used to knee paddle and still do even today so it can't be that lame.