Paddling a short board straight

[Phils]

I start with my blade 10-15 inches off the rail of the board at about a 30 degree angle. I'm planting the blade deep for the first couple of strokes and pulling the blade under the board. As I get the board moving I don't go as deep at the catch and I speed up the cadence and shorten my stroke. Pumping during the stoke helps generate speed. I try to keep the board flat with my weight centered. Deep strokes as you're getting lifted often result in hitting your wing with the blade. You can see the angle of the blade and depth of the stroke in the videos below. I'm using the Go Foil NL160 and the Go Foil GL180 in these videos. The NL160 took a lot more strokes and foot movement to get lifted.

Very impressive paddling.  Can someone tell me what the path of the blade looks like if viewed from above on the initial strokes?  Is it a straight line parallel to the rail of the board?  Straight line but moving towards the board?  Or more of an upside down "j"?  Thanks

[J.Riggs]

The stroke from above looks like a parenthesis bracket but keep it straight at the end of the stroke and exit early.
Here's a video I did several years ago. In the video I explain how to steer the board while paddling on one side. I failed to mention weight placement in the video. If you are paddling on the right side and you want the board to turn to the right you should put a little more weight on the left side of the board. This will allow the board to slide towards the paddle at slow speeds without dipping the rail and pushing water.

[jondrums]

I've found the opposite in terms of weighting for the foil boards I've been riding.  They have some rocker and the chines are pretty straight front to back.  Weighting the right side makes the board go right.

But for fairly flat boards that have a lot of rail shape or chines that are curved it may be that weighting the left side makes the board go right.

Not too hard to experiment with side-to-side weighting effects during the glide phase after you finish a paddle.