SUP Tips – How To Move Your Stand Up Paddle Board To The Side Using the Draw Stroke
Sometimes it is necessary to be able to move your board to the side, especially when you want to move towards a docking place. To move in different directions we can make use of various stroke types. For Docking the Draw Stroke is ideal. To learn more about the SUP stroke see these Paddle Board Stroke Tips with Connor Baxter, or the Basic Paddle Stroke for this.
Follow these easy steps to learn the Draw Stroke and move your SUP to the side:
Step 1: Move your feet slightly to turn towards the side you want to go. Your hip and toes should be pointing towards where you want to go while staying in the center of balance on the board.
Step 2: Holding your Paddle firmly with both your hands, reach towards the side of your board and plant the blade of your paddle deep into the water. It is important that the blade of your paddle is parallel to the rail of your board when you initiate the stroke.
Step 3: To initiate the stroke pull the paddle towards the rail of the board. While the paddle moves closer to the rail it is best to at the same time angle the paddle so that it can move slightly towards the tail of the Sup board.
Step 4: To finish off the stroke, swing the paddle towards the tail of the board before the paddle reaches the rail. Slide the paddle out of the water to finish the stroke at the tail of the board.
Step 5: Repeat this stroke until you have reached the dock. You can make slight adjustments to the way in which you angle your paddle to better direct yourself towards your goal point.
Are you new to SUP? Check out this article containing 10 Questions Every First-Time SUP Buyer Should Answer!
Do you need help on finding out which SUP board might be the right choice for your needs? Try our Board Selector now!
