Flatwater Paddle Ups

Author: Jon Mann

The explosion of pump foiling has brought foiling to landlocked foilers who might not have access to waves or regular wind. Additionally the boom in downwinding and new longer boards that make flatwater paddle ups more accessible have meant that more and more people are seeing the potential in any body of water (pretty much) to go out and foil. I mean who doesn’t want to be able to foil, independent of conditions, whenever they want. So I figured I may as well put some thoughts down as to what I’ve found to be the key cues / aspects for me to successfully paddle up. I’ve also edited my last paddle up clip highlighting the below.

Disclaimer: This isn’t a “How to flatwater paddle up” article and I’m not SUP coach (for those looking for SUP coaching and detailed feedback on their paddling, paddle ups and downwinding I’d recommend the Coach Casey club). These are just points that I’ve learnt from my time as part of the the Coach Casey Club and my main focus areas for myself from watching clips of myself and others paddling up. Since these are my focus areas – it would be interesting to see other peoples focus points, so comment them on my instagram post. If there’s enough responses I’ll post a blog with them. See it as a bit of ‘community coaching’ with everyone sharing their best tips.

Downwinding Prerequisites

First off, for those focusing on downwinding, flatwater paddle ups are not a prerequisite for sup foil downwinding. I didn’t do my first flatwater paddle until 6 months after my first downwind run. So for those getting into downwinding, don’t stop yourself from going out in the bumps until you can do it. 

Flatwater training is a good way to develop a basic skill level, especially for those without a sup background and I feel the prerequisites for going out in bumps are:

  1. Being able to balance on your board using your paddle (see Jeremy Rigg’s video on bracing)
  2. Being able to paddle in a straight line whilst paddling on one side (see Dave West’s video)
  3. Being able to turn your board both ways whilst paddling on one side.
  4. Being able to sprint 10-20 strokes

    Actually getting up on foil on flatwater

    Ok, so for actually getting on foil, there’s really 1 main or key point, and a few little nuances to understand. Every foil discipline has the same common goal when getting started – get on foil. This is achieved by reaching a minimum speed in order to have enough lift to get on foil. 

    This is what drives foil selection at the end of the day – given lift for a given speed, which is based on the given situation. 

    Anyways, bit of waffle, main goal – generate enough speed to get on foil. Speed is your friend, so don’t jump the gun and start pumping too early (tip #1).

    Positive catch. During all phases of your paddle up, make sure you have a positive catch. That is to say, make sure the paddle enters the water in front of vertical. As you start to bounce / skip your board and paddle pump, focusing on maintaining a positive catch is the best way to maximise paddle power and build your speed. Technique wise, this is probably the main thing to learn or focus on. 

    Build up your cadence. It’s easier to slowly build up your cadence and speed than to start too fast and lose your momentum as you fail to sustain your cadence.  

    Lunge forwards. As with pumping and dockstarting, driving your weight forwards is how you generate speed. Pumping the board and foil isn’t just a matter of pushing your back foot down. You need to drive forwards off your back leg, driving your back hip forwards. I try to think of pulling my back hip to the planted paddle. Don’t start pumping too early though as all you do is kill any speed you start to build up. 

    Keep paddling. As you build your speed you’ll feel the foil engage. Eventually your board will skip and bounce off the water. Keep paddling, the nuance here is to time the paddle strokes with the time you board is unweighted (so just after you lunge) in order to translate as much of that paddle stroke into forward speed. The faster you are going, the easier it is to transition to ‘normal’ pumping and also eliminates the need to grave dig your way up to speed. This last part of the flatwater paddle up is really important to learn as it helps you a lot when downwinding in lighter conditions. For me the paddle pump probably was the ‘aha’ moment that opened up a much bigger range of conditions to go downwind in.