I really like the continued evolution of SUP. Seeing how the best keep trying variations to get even better.
Great vid, nice to see Travis is working on taking Johnny P.'s OC Tahitian stroke technique into his standup stroke..
Looks like paddling past your feet is ok after all.. 
Dave Kalama has changed his stroke a fair bit from his early vid's..
I find when downwinding I'm constantly changing from a relaxed traditional stroke to a quick tahishian type stroke to get onto a bump but I can only maintain that quick stroke rate for a short period without putting myself into the red..
I always found that big twist of the shoulders and hips hard work and wondered how the good guys can maintain it.. Looks like I can stop working on that part now.. Yea.. 
I would assume changing technique whilst you paddle could also assist in managing injuries and reducing fatigue
Select to expand quoteDavidJohn said..
I find when downwinding I'm constantly changing from a relaxed traditional stroke to a quick tahishian type stroke to get onto a bump but I can only maintain that quick stroke rate for a short period without putting myself into the red..
I always found that big twist of the shoulders and hips hard work and wondered how the good guys can maintain it.. Looks like I can stop working on that part now.. Yea..
I started doing this new stroke a couple months ago after one of the Gold Coast legends put me onto it and gave me some really good detailed info about the mechanics of it.
(Now I have pretty average form at the best of times only ever being self taught), but this new form of style I think I find it easier to a degree than the big twist and un twist of the body (maybe I'm not doing it 100% right but what I am doing seems to be working).
I find when reaching forward just before dropping the blade in the water I lunge forward or sort of just find that tiny bit extra extension in the bottom arm to get that blade forward just that little bit more and when doing that right I am falling or driving the blade down into the water better and deeper which is giving me a more powerful pull than the (twisting body motion). I do find I leave the paddle in longer past my feet. I have no idea if thats slowing me down or not. I also find I am getting the blade more up and down straight along the board compared to the twisting stroke.
Travis is onto it about there is different style of strokes for different times in a race/down wind etc.
its like using a different gear for certain conditions and times.
I would really love to good quality stable camera from behind and then side on of Travis, Danny, Connor, Kai and esspecially Boothy during flat water and then down wind conditions to see how they really do it out there.
there isn't a lot of tech footage of the really good paddlers out there.
I seem to recall Connor mentioning falling onto the blade as well - but he was using his legs to achieve this. When catching bumps I find it very useful to weight the blade (= unweight the board) by dropping onto the blade by bending my knees. Travis hardly bends his knees in this video but on flat water I also don't find the bend knee technique does much, I would like to see more video of Travis catching bumps.
I think they are doing less knee bending but more raising from heals onto toes going forward dropping onto blade. ?????
burnt the glutes and calfs at first.
Select to expand quotePeterP said..
I seem to recall Connor mentioning falling onto the blade as well - but he was using his legs to achieve this. When catching bumps I find it very useful to weight the blade (= unweight the board) by dropping onto the blade by bending my knees. Travis hardly bends his knees in this video but on flat water I also don't find the bend knee technique does much, I would like to see more video of Travis catching bumps.
Here you go from this year Molokai.
No time to edit anything so just a clip of raw footage
Hope that's the kind of thing you were after.
That's about 2h15 into the race, still a bit of hip twisting
Tall paddle, short paddle, waist twist, non waist twist, bounce not bounce......i just do what feels comfortable.
Travis seems to be using legs much more in the M2O video than in the other one - I wonder why he doesn't mention it at all....
I've always maintained that the biggest problem with SUP technique is applying a seated stroke to standing. Sure, their are elements that we can borrow, but we have so many more ways to effectively move the board through the water given the greater opportunity to use the hips, knees and ankles from a standing position. The reason why the twisting motion is so important when sitting is that the opportunity to use the other joints are limited.
I really like the sentiment of this video. The fact that SUP is new and we are still experimenting.
I think we will get closer to the optimal stroke when we use the mechanical advantage from a standing position to it's greatest effect, and find a way to involve larger muscle groups, as well find the relationship between alignment and efficiency, which is what is missing in this vid. In my mind alignment=efficiency and jutting the hip out to counterbalance, whilst having a role, will come at a cost of efficiency. I also think when this happens I'll have less people talking to me about sore shoulders and backs!
Good discussion!
Couldn't agree more! So many muscles at a greater mechanical advantage when standing! The experimentation from these guys is awesome
