Archive for the ‘Surf Skiing’ Category
Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011
 How To Surf Ski The advantage of practicing drills on the ergo is that there is no concern for the environment
e.g. turbulent water. The Paddling shaft may be repeatedly used to focus on one step of the stroke e.g. the catch, the pull through or the exit. You may be trying to improve your exit hand out of the water and as there is no concern for balance you may perfect this step of the stroke in one sitting.
Anyone who has trained on such a machine usually realize its specific benefits to ski/kayak paddling. They feel it is a necessity as a conditioning and technique improvement substitute for actual ski paddling. This is because using the ergo is so specific to the real thing and also it is a little harder because the resistance is consistent for each stroke, therefore giving you a stronger pulling stroke when out on you ski.
Tags: surf ski practice, surf ski skills, surf ski training
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Saturday, July 9th, 2011
 Fish Caught On My Surf Ski (Taylor) One of the past-times I really enjoy on my surf ski, is fishing. Particularly during Australia’s winter when the tayler are running.
Here is a picture of 5 good sized tayler I caught on one recent outing. My fishing partner Dale caught 10 that day and we also threw back 3 or 4 each. Is was a stellar outing in the ocean.
Eating fish so fresh is a real treat too. In this case, the 5 fish was too much for my family to eat on the evening, so rather than freeze them and lose that freshness, I gave 2 fish each to my neighbors. The biggest Ikept for my family – there was so much meat on it it really was enough. I was a real popular guy that week!
So how do you fish on a surf ski? I’ve seen a few different methods, we trail a lure behind us. We start with a bike tube. This we sling over our shoulders, which leaves our hands free to paddle. We tie about 10 metres of fishing line to the bike tube, then attach a good sized lure to the other end.
When we start paddling our surf skis, we let the fishing line out and paddle on both sides of the breaking waves. Deep channels on the beach side of the waves and any areas of turbulent water (rips, high currents etc) are all great places to catch fish.
This really is a great part of my surf ski lifestyle. A wonderful and fun way to keep fit while enjoying the outdoors when full on training is on the back burner.
Tags: fishing, surf ski fishing, surf ski leifestyle
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Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010
http://surfskisupremacy.com If you want to learn how to paddle a surf ski in the ocean this excellent eBook will get you punching through the white water flying over the water and catching waves back (more…)
Tags: how to surfski, learn surf ski, ocean kayaks, ocean paddling, surf ski, surfski
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Friday, July 30th, 2010
http://surfskisupremacy.com/ If you want to learn how to paddle a surf ski, this excellent eBook will get you flying over the water (more…)
Tags: how to surfski, learn surf ski, ocean kayaks, ocean paddling, surf ski, surfski
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Friday, July 16th, 2010
http://surfskisupremacy.com/ Learn proper surf ski paddling technique with this excellent guide. (more…)
Tags: how to surfski, learn surf ski, ocean kayaks, ocean paddling, surf ski, surfski
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Friday, July 9th, 2010
http://surfskisupremacy.com/ Learn surf ski skills and proper technique with this excellent guide. (more…)
Tags: how to surfski, learn surf ski, ocean kayaks, ocean paddling, surf ski, surfski
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Friday, July 2nd, 2010
http://surfskisupremacy.com/ It can be difficult for a novice surf ski paddler to find consolidated and robust information about this great sport. Finally there is a downloadable guide available. (more…)
Tags: how to surfski, learn surf ski, ocean kayaks, ocean paddling, surf ski, surfski
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Saturday, June 5th, 2010
Come Fly With Me Today I was out paddling with my coach, we paddled for just under an hour and then followed up with some technique work on the ergo machine.
One of the things that my coach has been talking about recently is to not put on the brakes by paddling too hard. He says that paddling should be similar to spinning a bike wheel. (while the bike is upside down) To start, you grab it and give it a good hard spin. When it has momentum though, all you need to do is help it along with lighter surface taps. If you keep grabbing it to spin it, each time you grab it, you stop the momentum so you have to use additional energy to start it again.
My coach pointed out that this is how I paddle. I am paddling so hard that each stroke grabs the water, slowing my surf ski down, then starts to push through again.
Following my hour paddle in the ocean this morning, we went into the gym to work on this a bit. We have a surf ski ergo machine there. When my coach started paddling, he was paddling at a rate of about 105 strokes per minute and was producing about 135 watts. When it was my turn, I struggled to get my rating above 80 strokes per minute, yet I was producing about 170 watts.
I could only increase my rating to 100 strokes per minute, by really focusing on reducing the watts I was producing. And guess what I had to do to achieve that… If you guessed stop using my arms – you would have been spot on. My current stroke is still too much arms. I really dig in and try and bully my way through the water. In doing so, every catch puts the brakes on a little, meaning every stroke is a little less efficient. By concentrating instead on core trunk rotation, a more efficient stroke ensued. I could much more easily maintain the higher stroke rating without tiring and there was much less “brake” at the catch part of the stroke.
So bringing this experience back out into the water, one thing you can do to judge whether you are using too much arm power and not enough core power, is look at your rating. Can you increase it and maintain a rating over 100 strokes per minute? If not – try lightening your stroke power and increasing your trunk rotation.
Tags: ocean paddling, surf ski paddling, surf ski paddling form, Surf Ski Technique
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Saturday, May 29th, 2010
 Learn To Surf Ski Today I went for an hour training session in the ocean, in pretty crazy and wild conditions. The waves were not massive, only peaking at 2′ – 3′, however they were very choppy, the water was moving in all directions with a sweep to the south east, and half way through the training session, the wind picked up big time.
I had two hairy moments in the water today. Firstly, when I was about 2kms out to sea, I fell off due to nothing more than a lack of concentration. I was checking up on the other paddlers, was not paying attention and next thing I knew, I was in the drink. Holding onto my ski and paddle, I was downwind from my craft. The wind was blowing strong over the ski and then me. I found in this position that the ski kept drifting over me, pushing my torso back and trapping my legs under the ski. This made it very difficult to remount. Eventually after 6 attempts I managed the straddle remount – it certainly was not elegant, but it got me back up. This experience shook me a bit so I took a moment to compose myself before continuing.
The second hairy experience was much closer to shore where again, a lapse in concentration resulted in me tipping off my ski as a wave hit me from an unexpected angle. This time though I ended upwind from my ski. This situation probably is a bit scarier in retrospect as the wind started taking my ski away from me, rolling it across the top of the water. It is quite difficult swimming with a paddle, so in the end I had to throw my paddle at the ski and swim after it. It was the only way I could catch up to the surf ski. Further out to sea with a slightly stronger wind, this situation can be very scary.
The two lessons I learned from these experiences are:
- When doing any ocean sport, there will always be the element of the unknown, times when the unexpected happens. This is why it is an extreme sport. You must always keep yourself fit enough that you can swim back to shore if you lose your equipment. Today in both experiences I could persevere in my efforts to retrieve and remount my ski as I knew no matter what happened, I could swim back to land.
- In windy conditions, it is worth considering investing in a leash for your ski. Ensuring the ski is attached to your body will ensure you will not lose it out at sea, forcing a swim to safety. If this is a decision you make though, give careful thought to paddling back in through the breakers. Personally in a wipe-out situation, I would not want to be attached to my craft.
Tags: ocean paddling, surf ski choppy waves, surf ski in rough conditions, surf ski windy
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Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Come Fly With Me Surf ski training shouldn’t be taken lightly, and should be planned well to be able to get a paddler ready for an upcoming event. So if you’re out to plan your own surf ski training regime, here’s the breakdown of useful activities to include in your schedule.
Rest and recovery. Rest is every bit as important as training. It won’t do to be injured or too exhausted to compete because of an improperly planned training regime that didn’t include time for rest.
Training. Training can further be broken down into paddling training and body training. The former deals with techniques, styles, and skills that can be developed, honed, and sharpened in the water with training sessions. Like downwind paddling, stroke factors like breathing, full shoulder turns, and full arm extensions. The latter deals with training the athlete’s body. Running, swimming, or visiting the gym usually accounts for most of body training. Aerobic leg exercises are good preparations for any sort of distance event, surf ski races notwithstanding. Besides, it not only builds up leg muscle groups, but improves overall athletic strength and stamina.
Practice. Practice differs from training in that how you practice is how you will play or perform in the actual event. That said, though training sessions are more intense and area specific, practice sessions should take longer. The gist is to train smart and hard, but not too often, and to practice for comparatively long hours but not as intense or hard. The key to practice sessions is duplicating the conditions and the entire environment of the upcoming event or race.
A hard week of training can then be somewhat like: day 1 accounts for body training or simply rest if previous physically tasking training or practice was done; day 2 can be paddling training on flat water. Day 3 is completely for rest and recovery; day 4 is for paddling training with concern over specific areas; day 5 is the same as day 4, though things can be done faster or at a higher level; and days 6 and 7 are reserved for practice. One to one and a half hours of training would do (so you can easily fit them in your everyday schedule, too), while two and a half to three hours should be set for practice. So naturally, days 6 and 7 would be the days when you don’t have work. And of course, continuous weeks of hard training would have the opposite effect, so alternate easy weeks with hard ones.
Tags: rest and recovery, surf ski fitness, surf ski training
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