Stand-Up on a Surfboard

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Mike Sanders, and I'm going to tell you a little bit about standing up on the wave, once you've caught it. What's really important is your position and the fact that you feel the wave pick you up. You don't want to get up too early and you don't want to wait for the wave to crash on you and then get up. You don't want to get up to late. Ah, it's a really, really, good idea, before you even step foot in the water, practice on the beach, and I'll show you how. You want to practice going from a laying down position, which is how you're going to be paddling, to a standing up position. And you don't want to do it on your knee, catch your balance and then put your other knee up, you want to do it in one fast motion, as smooth as you can. So, it's best to practice on the beach, by the waves, where ever, you can even do it at home. But, just pretend, you know, pretend you're a kid again, and paddle, paddle, paddle up, you feel yourself get caught in the wave, that's when you want to put your arms down, like you do in a push up position, and jump right up to your feet. You don't want to, if you lose confidence and you do this, well this isn't in control at all, you're going to, lean one way, then you're going to over compensate leaning the other way. You really want to do it in one smooth motion. And once you're up you'll have a lot more control then if you're going to be on your knees pushing one way or the other. I usually, when I take people out for lesson, I usually have them do it at least a dozen times, at least a dozen times. You can never, you know even though it's practicing on land, it's completely different once you get out in the water you'll feel a lot more uneasy, but once you get to your feet, that's where you want to learn how to control your stability, is on your feet not on your knees. Usually, it's a good idea to have your back foot back over the fins and your front foot where it feels comfortable. So, again, you know, jump up fast, get to your feet and balance on your feet. Usually keep your weight centered in the middle, you don't want too far back, you don't want too far forward. And that's how to stand up."