hi i,m a beginner at sup but been surfing for 40 years ,mostly on longboards lately,at 85 kg and 6ft 1 the c4 with only around 116 litres volume and under 27 wide is not going to be easy but i wanted something to surf more than paddle and may try it as a normal board in the surf. Went out today and it surfs ok and catchs waves super easy.Can use it with a paddle but only in flat water so far. Does the paddle help a lot to turn and balance the board when surfing. Bought the board used without a paddle and made a couple of rough paddles to try . one a single blade as everyone seems to have and one double or kayak paddle about 10 ft long which is a lot easier for me to use as i can paddle both sides , go straight and keep from falling off easier. the first few times i went out with the single paddle and it felt like i would never be able to get the hang of it in the surf, then i tried the long double and it seems like with a bit of practice I could get in to it. Tried a friends Southpoint Bonga 10 ft and that was a lot easier with the extra volume. There must be a good reason that every one uses a single paddle?

Snap Tomooh - 85kg, 6'1" with a long history of surfing (only 30 years though!) and also paddling a racing ski. Starting Sup-ing about a year ago when I picked up a PSH 12ft gun (28 7/8s wide). First time out the one sided paddling felt really awkward - like I was zig-zagging all over the place. Second time out was into 6 ft heavy beach break with lots of chop inshore - very little joy on any front. Since then I have had some great sessions on flat water and in the surf, from 2ft to 6ft, and I have gotten used to the one sided paddling. So much so that I haven't taken out long board or short board at all!

Last weekend I paddled 15kms mostly flat water, then surfed a fantastic 3-4ft right hander for another 2 hrs. I don't have a lot to compare it with but having put in a bit of time to get my feet, the PSH 12 ft gun is an excellent all-round board that surfs really well. There were times during the 15kms where I still thought a two sided paddle would be more efficient and easier to use, but here is my take on why one-sided survives, especially for surfing:
- it's easier to push down with top hand when it is on top of one-sided paddle shaft, than it would be holding a mid-part of longer two-sided paddle;
- when surfing, you spend more time with one foot in front of the other (especially when accelerating into a wave) which makes off-side paddling very awkward;
- once you get used to the one-sided, apathy takes over and you don't think about it anymore.

If you want to have a look at how the paddle can be used while surfing - check out this clip on youtube

Stick with it - the rewards are worth it.

Think about a wipe out in any surf zone, a paddle twice as big is twice as easy to loose and it could hit more people and all that... besides the islander culture where all this sup and oc 1-6 gig comes from embraces the single blade. Go take one holiday in Hawaii or Tahiti and check it out.

We have here one guy who use an "hybrid" paddle: A standard SUP-length paddle where the handle is actually the tip of a small blade. He uses it standing up as a SUP paddle, but in rough conditions (chop, whitewater), uses it "kayak mode" on his knees.

Could be interesting for beginners, but frankly I do not see the point past the beginner stage: you are encouraged to keep kneeling, a dangerous position to go through broken waves, the paddle is an aluminium one (heavy, no nervosity), the mini blade makes changing hands less fluid.

tomooh, in your case, the problem is simple: 27" wide is too narrow. resell this board and take a wider one, at least 30".
"it felt like i would never be able to get the hang of it in the surf" => actually your problem is the lack of width, not the paddle. To give you an idea, when PSH shaper Blane Chambers started, he was trying to use too narrow boards too, and thus could not even paddle standing up to take the wave, so he paddled kneeling down... Since then shapers learnt to make wide boards that surf great... by actually using the paddle in turns.

Hi,

With regard to the double paddle... Long before SUP became gloablly popular, Israeli lifeguards always used these very wide stand-on boards with a double paddle. They were only used for lifeguard puposes as far as I know - not for recreation.

Here are some images



For some better images:
http://blog.israelinphotos.com/2008/10/lifeguard-sidna-ali-beach-nof-yam.html

Much more info on the Hasake (double paddled SUP-like board) here:
(pronounced 'hassakeh')

http://www.mylocallineup.com/news/stand-up-paddle/hasake-the-israeli-and-arabic-sup-board.html