Dave Kalama Stroke Clinic-Seattle

Dave will be at Lake Union on Thursday morning, April 28th! $100 gets you a 2 hour class from the master of SUP & OC stroke. Dave is one of the top watermen in the world & we are lucky to get him to come to our area. He normally gets $500/hour for private lessons, so this is a good deal... we will be in a group of about 20.

Contact Urban Surf in Seattle to sign up... spaces will go fast.

You want to go faster? He will make you faster!

Lake Whatcom Down Winder

Sunday the wind was a little too easterly to make a bay crossing safe, so we did a 6 mile run up Lake Whatcom... and we had a blast! Great waves for a lake... wish we had gone the whole 9 miles, but we didn't think it would be that good. Tom had fun making surf turns on his DW board while I pretty much just tried to stay upright on the 14 foot Bark race board...

Here is video Tom shot...

http://vimeo.com/21053430

New Shirts Are in at NW Paddle Surfers

Ladies T's and white rash guards are in....

http://www.shop.northwestpaddlesurfers.com/

Stroke Critique Video

2 months ago I was filmed by my wife just going back and forth, to get a good view of my SUP stroke. My intention was to use it to get it better and work on any "kinks" in the armor...

http://vimeo.com/19990226

I sent the video to some of the top paddlers in the world, in hopes they would watch it and critique me. I was prepared to not like what I heard, but I have thick skin and want to learn and get better!

The first review I got was from one of the best paddlers on the planet, but because he makes money teaching people, he didn't want his name shared with this project. But trust me, he's da man!

You need to reach more although your reach isn't bad. Try to reach forward more with your lower shoulder by twisting your upper torso more and actually extending the shoulder itself forward. From watching the video I can see that your shoulder reach isn't to bad but your not pulling it back into your shoulder socket enough. Also, loosen up your lower fore arm and wrist on the recovery and reach. To get a full extension you almost want to do a soft jab forward, like a boxing jab, to get your arm fully extended as you enter the water. One reason you might not be pulling your shoulder completely back into it's socket is that you are driving down a lot with your top hand, not really a bad thing if your doing the Hawaiian stroke, try pulling back more with less drive down to pull the shoulder more back into the socket.

The next response was from my paddle sponsor, Kialoa owner, Dave Chun...

Here is the thing about technique….it is personal. Because we are all built different, technique will vary. Main things are to engage the large muscle groups and put your body in a position of high mechanical advantage. I have watched the best outrigger paddlers for over 25 years and they all vary in technique. Often quite a bit different. What they all have in common is what they do when the blade is in the water. The blade is quiet and they pull hard.

Listen to the board. Listen to your paddle. These two things will tell you if you are paddling correctly. Different conditions call for variations in technique. The question is NOT what are YOU doing, but what is the board doing. Is the board going fast? If not change your stroke to match the conditions. Make your board go fast. Americans like to focus on themselves. The Tahitians focus on the canoe. Focus on what you are doing. My coach Kamoa Kalama used to tell us “Paddle each stroke like it is your last. Every stroke perfect.”

Focus on your catch. Do drills where you focus on setting the paddle clean…..and than pull. You are a bull. The power phase is a natural for you.

If you notice most paddlers have similar stroke rates. Ask yourself, why do some people go further with each stroke? It is all about what happens when the blade is in the water. BTW: in my opinion stroke rate is irrelevant. It is all about hull speed. Why would someone paddle at a 70 SPM if they are moving faster at a 50 SPM rate? The GPS does not lie.

Great advice from some of the best... hope this helps some other folks like it will help me....

Bellingham Bay Rough Water Race

On Saturday March 5th the race went off right on time at 10:15am with 15-20mph winds out of the south. The course was either one lap or two around the 5.4 mile course. Only 3 SUP's and 2 prone paddlers were mixed in with the 40 or so surf skis and OC's.

On the downwind section from the Marine Park buoy to the GP outfall buoy there were some great 2 foot swells and some good rides. Every other leg of the loop was a chore with stiff head winds, side chop and boat swell.

I covered the course in 1:06 with Darrel on his prone board 1 minute ahead of me.

Great crew of racers and a truck load of home made cookies afterward....

Rounding the Marine Park Buoy with some serious side chop.

Portland Race Series Announced

3 race series , May 7th, May 21st & June 4th

Info at:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=168740389844033&ref=ts

and

http://gorgeperformance.com/html/RISUPrace.html

Pull-ups... THE best for paddlers?

I have had many folks ask me what one exercise I would do when dry-land training for paddling. I gave it a lot of thought and came up with a few, but for me, pull-ups may be the best all-around upper body work for a paddlers muscles. My first answer of course is: only paddling more will make you a better paddler." But for many of us, we can't get on the water everyday due to work, family or weather. Pull-ups mimic a lot of a stand up paddlers stroke & uses almost every muscle involved in the catch, pull, release and return of the stroke.

Some of the muscles worked are the lats, shoulders, pecs, triceps, biceps, fore arms and grip/hand strength. Pull-ups will do more for you than push-ups simply because of the pull motion vs. the push motion. This is not to say you shouldn't do other things like push-ups, no one wants to over-build one muscle group. It's all about balance.

One of the main reasons I know pull-ups work my paddling muscle groups is because if I paddle the day after I have done a work-out that involves a lot of pull-ups, every muscle I mentioned above hurts during my stroke. That's good enough reason for me right there. And when I have been doing pull-ups consistently, I feel like I'm paddling stronger.

Every 3rd day I am stuck at a fire station and have to work out indoors. I try to do 100 pull-ups on those days, mixed in with other core exercises. I usually have to do sets of 10-15 with a minute rest in between. Another great work-out is called "The Murph" so named for Navy SEAL Michael Murphy who was killed in Afghanistan. You start with a 1 mile run on a track or tread mill, then do 300 squats (w/o weight), 200 push-ups, and 100 pull-ups. Then another mile run. All for time. You can do the exercises in any order or number, like 30 squats, 20 push-ups, 10 pull-ups, repeat. Some of the fittest people in the world can do this right around 20 minutes! But don't be surprised if you are double or triple this time.

And there are many people out there that pull-ups are just out of the question right now. You can substitute a full pull-up by using the lat pull-down machine at the gym. You can set a lower weight and work-up until you can do a full pull up. You don't want to injure yourself which means no paddling! And remember, nothing replaces actual paddling and water time. Enjoy.