I like the feeling of catching a wave early in parallel stance, even if it's the newbie way to roll, something so fun about paddling the way I do on flatwater and then all of a sudden the wave is carrying me off.

I was out in terrible conditions last week, onshore winds whipped up and everyone left the break as we got in, super choppy. I noticed my nose would pearl no matter how mushy the wave if I was in parallel, and I finally had to try padding in full surf stance -- usually I only do this if I am catching a wave late. It was pretty dang fun to catch waves like this and I think it let me surf better since there's no fiddling around during the drop.

I'd love to hear folks thoughts on this if they could share how they like to paddle into waves and how it might vary depending on the board or the conditions.
cheers

I paddle for the wave in half-surf-stance - not parallel, but not full surf stance with my foot on the tail. (For me that provides good stability, plus I often crouch to really dig the paddle to accelerate onto the wave.) I always move my back foot further back when the wave is close, but then I gauge how steep the wave is and move my back foot accordingly - moving it back further if it is steeper to avoid nose dive.

On a bigger board, I will "skip" both feet further back to get into proper surf stance with my rear foot closer to the pad. On a smaller board (8'5 - 8'10) I can just move my back foot onto the pad.

Not sure if that is the best technique, but it works for me.

Basically 1/2 to 3/4 surf stance. Whilst paddling around & standing still. Front foot toes over centre line. Back foot halfway between centreline & rail.
As soon I'm about to catch the wave. I only need to move my back foot over centre line.
It has improved my wave catching too as I always know my front foot is already in position.
I had forced myself to do this when learning to SUP foil. And now it feels quite comfortable and my preferred stance.
When it's really choppy I may move a bit more to the parallel stance when still but my front foot is always more forward.

I use a "fencing" position, that you could also call half-surf-stance.

I allows max paddling power on both sides of the board, since you have the shoulders facing forwards, and good balance since your front foot is aligned with the stringer: moving your weight between the heel and toes will not offset your balance.

My weight is on the front foot, the rear leg is acting as a "bike stand" to counter the push of the wave: the hollower the waves, the farther back the rear foot.

People on tiny narrow boards may prefer going into a full surf stance, so that the feet are on the stringer, and it is easier then to balance a very narrow board, especially with narrow noses, at the expense of paddling power.

There are some take offs captured on my videos here:

Thanks for the super helpful info, pics, and videos! I'm excited to try the semi- surf stances with these refinements.

Lately I have been doing pretty good surfing my sup and will be in Noosa at the end of the month for a week of non stop surfing! yeah!
I keep my feet parallel while paddling for the wave and once I am on I move my left foot back into a surfing position, it works fine for me but it's a personal choice. I find it makes me more stable taking off and it's a quick step back and causes me no issue, mind you I am not on steep, big waves either and that's ok.

colas said..
I use a "fencing" position, that you could also call half-surf-stance.

I allows max paddling power on both sides of the board, since you have the shoulders facing forwards, and good balance since your front foot is aligned with the stringer: moving your weight between the heel and toes will not offset your balance.

My weight is on the front foot, the rear leg is acting as a "bike stand" to counter the push of the wave: the hollower the waves, the farther back the rear foot.

People on tiny narrow boards may prefer going into a full surf stance, so that the feet are on the stringer, and it is easier then to balance a very narrow board, especially with narrow noses, at the expense of paddling power.

There are some take offs captured on my videos here:

Love the vids and the tunes colas. Good choices.