whats the point of knee paddling?

[tomcat360]

I just watched riding giants......again....and everybody knee paddles. well, atleast the guys in the older clips. whats the point of knee paddling? I've heard people talk about it, I've tried it, and I dont really see much advantage. It seems like your getting less arm surface area in the water, so less speed?

could somebody clarify this?

[EastCoast4Life]

my old man does it on his boards...he says it gets his whole upper body into the paddle and he does scoot pretty good...i think its more of an old school thing because i cant seem to master it...but then again most of the time i try im just mocking him

[jonny]

when you knee paddle, you are using your legs and back PLUS your arms so you are getting a much longer and more powerful paddle each stroke.

I tend to mix it up a bit, knee paddling uses different muscles so when I start to flag paddling normally I switch to knee paddling for an extra boost.

I also find it much easier to get over the whitewater (smaller stuff mind) on my knees than lying down for some reason.

[tomcat360]

huh, I'll give it a try next time I'm out loggin. any tricks to it?

[Laguna]

I noticed this when watching Endless Summer 2, I tried it on my funboard but just sunk. Only works on Longboards

[jonny]

mainly down to practice to be honest. I guess tips would be to keep your centre of gravity as low as possible until you get the hang of it and try and be in such a position on your board that it paddles pretty much in trim.
Knees pretty wide apart and go for it.

Best time to practice is when you are out back waiting for a set.

[tomcat360]

im sure I can get a bunch of time paddling when I'm at the waveless river. miles of open choppy water without waves.