advantages of knee paddling?

[jaffa1949]

Surf knobs almost kept me from going to Vietnam. But that is another story!

[beachbumuk]

This Thread intrigues me, as the knee paddling and the springing to your feet over the lip as you paddle out looks much nicer and more comfortable.
Ive got 2 long boards a performance 9'6" and an old style Log 9'3" annoyingly on both when i kneel, the tail sinks. I seem to have noticed all the top quality stylish riders are generally rather slender and light. I am an athletic build of 84kg (185lbs) does this just mean that I am going to need a 10'+ monster to do this and nose ride?

[dtc]

When you sit on the board, does is sink much under the water? If not, then from a 'volume' (float) perspective, you should be able to knee paddle. The tail sinking suggests you are just too far back? I don't knee paddle so that is just a guess

As to the top surfers, yes most of them are skinny midgets. But not all - this is a little bit old but you can see there are (were in 2011 anyway) some top longboarders at your weight or even heavier; and some of the entries give the riders board dimensions showing that they aren't surfing huge boards. These guys all nose ride, its part of the 'game' at that level

http://aspeurope.com/events2011/italy/surfers.php

[jaffa1949]

The flotation is one thing the positioning on the board is simple the nose should be no more than 1" or 25mm above the water just like when you are prone paddling , nice things about knee paddling is more power and ability to adjust the weight on the board while paddling by moving back and forward with the upper body , you can lift the nose up and over small white water by leaning back .
If you get reall good you can go from a kneeling paddle to a stand up as you go through white water at the top of a wave and turn that into a top turn and start riding as if from a re-entry

[beachbumuk]

thanks, I have been kneeling on my board but to keep the nose out of the water and the board balanced, it sinks, but it still gives my back etc a little time to recover.

Ive watched my mate do the stand up over the white water while out in Noosa, but he's a tiny lad on a board as big as mine lol

[Naeco78]

all the lifeguards knee paddle not sure to the advantages

The Lifeguard Paddleboards that I've used had displacement hulls that cut through the water and helps offest any surface chop that would otherwise throw a planing hull off balance. Those paddle boards were usually much more narrow than logs, but were still much more stable. It made paddling much easier... but trying to stand-up surf on those things was a beast. It was like the exact opposite feeling once those paddle boards was in the curve of a wave. Maybe a board with a moderate Vee entry rocker would be a happy middle ground, for surfboards that would be used for both.

I think thats part of the reason knee paddling was probably more common back in the 60-70's.. Vee bottoms were really popular in boards from that era.

[Naeco78]

I've been thinking about trying knee paddling next summer to take some of the strain off some nagging injuries. I picked up a board with huge dims recently but it only has some Vee out the tail unfortunately. Will see how it goes..

It's bigger than any of the volume calcs that I could find.. but I'm guessing its over 100 Liters.

10’3” (L) x 20” (N) x 24.5” (W) x 15.75” (T) x 3.25” (Thick)

[SandInMyPants]

This thread never gets old

Good about kneepadling is:
You use different muscles, lattisimus dorsi among others, while you relax your standard position muscles.
When I competed in in various lifeguard competitions we always gave full speed and then switched position when the muscles cramped up.

The bad things with kneepadling:
I am in my 40s and look like a surfer from the 60s with knobs on my knees and feet. I think it looks cool though however, not everyone agrees
Yet what really sucks, are the modern wetsuits which are not made for longboarders with long legs who kneepadle, My 6 and 5mm wetsuits all have fresh water exits below the kneepatch where my knobs have made permant holes. The wetsuit tends to get smaller when your legs bend instead of laying in a vertical position.