Surf Academy is the Fastest Way to Elevate Your Paddling

Surfing is an invaluable skill to add to your repertoire to enhance your overall paddling. Surfing builds your comfort and confidence in chaotic situations, all the while being in a relatively safe environment. You can build elite paddling skills from playboating and never put yourself in the way of much danger in the process. 

What is Surf Academy?

Surf Academy is a program that is designed to help elevate your skills while using river features to their maximum potential. The more comfortable and proficient you are at using these features, the more confident you will feel when going downriver and working all that the river has to offer.

Surfing requires precise movements, leans, and body position. All of this applies well to the skills used with everyday paddling. Surf Academy is designed for a wide range of skill levels to help get you to a higher level of kayaking proficiency. All you need is a solid roll and the willingness to push yourself outside your comfort zone. Then you will be all set to get the most out of Surf Academy!

Warming Up 

Getting warmed up is always an important way to start your session. All freestyle warm up activities should work towards skills that will be used when you are surfing.

Sweep Strokes

Since playboating is more about centripetal motion instead of forward motion, the sweep stroke is of the utmost importance! I warm up with some forward and back sweeps to spin in circles as a way of loosening up muscles you will use in playboating while also practicing looking at where your kayak is going. This builds the coordination to spin on a wave or in a hole as well as rock spins. 

Leaning on Edge

I like to also warm up with some work on balancing my kayak on edge, beginning with a simple tilt and balance without the aid of your paddle. If you keep your posture straight up and down while on edge, this activity will be significantly easier and will work to build good habits.

Then I like to paddle forward for some distance while leaning on edge and then turn around and paddle back leaning on the opposite edge. All while still maintaining my posture. Then try the drill backwards! This will practice holding your lean while moving and will help with moving forward and backward in a hole without window-shading. 

Lean Clean

This activity is one where you use your leaning and small, but forceful body movements to spin your boat in a circle without your paddle. You rock your boat back and forth on opposite edges and use your hips and feet to help with the rotation. It is a drill that requires a lot of energy and effort. This also builds coordination and strength for flatwater cartwheels. As well as all of the moves you will do in a hole.

Rock A Baby -In this activity, you lean to one side and work forward and back sweeps on edge to rock back and forth with the bow and stern going up and down. Being able to balance on your side during this activity is extremely helpful when building balance while hole surfing. The main benefit to this activity is that, with proper balance, you can dedicate your full power into your cartwheel rather than a brace to stay upright.

Double Pump – The double pump has you get forward speed then lean on edge. You lift your bow high and then slam it back down, trying to get it as close to vertical as you can. Once you are comfortable with this, you can try to rotate to the opposite side and slam the stern down for a second end. The strength and muscle memory developed by this and the Rock A Baby help tremendously with creative interaction with the river and your bow and stern.

It is important to note that flatwater activities tend to cause you to expend a lot of energy. If you have a good play spot that you are practicing at, I would recommend saving your energy and limiting the duration of your warm up. You can always practice flatwater stuff when the playholes are too low.  

The Importance of Posture and Staying Inside The Box 

Posture is of the utmost importance in playboating. Your body needs to sit straight up and down whether your boat is flat, on edge, or vertical. The most basic skill to master when playing in holes is the sidesurf. Tilting your kayak and balancing while in a sidesurf will then build the confidence to move around in the hole. Once you feel good moving around in the hole, you can go to the side of the hole and use the outflow to spin around and transition to the opposite edge.

It is also important to keep your body inside “The Box”, which would be the area one foot forward or backward of the perfect posture position. Rocking a little bit forward or backward can be beneficial to making a move happen but going outside the box can result in too much forward or backward pressure on the bow or stern to throw off the fluency of your moves. 

The Wheel and Axle  

The Wheel and Axle is my basic model for spinning and cartwheeling. Both of which are the main components of Surf Academy. The paddler is the axle and the kayak is the wheel rotating around the paddler. The idea is for the kayaker to stay in the center of the freestyle moves and for the boat to rotate around the kayaker. Your head should follow where the kayak is going to encourage smooth transitions from move to move.

More Advanced Moves: Blunts, Clean Cartwheels, and Loops

Have you mastered the flat spin and the cartwheel? Surf Academy can also help you to add more tricks to your repertoire such as blunts, clean cartwheels, split wheels, and loops!

Then during the downriver capstone of Surf Academy, I focus the group on unlocking both park and play and downriver play features. All your hard work in town will prepare you to now style your way through all the waves, pour-overs, holes, and playable features down the river. 

I will show you how to put it all together:  surfing, spinning, squirting, splatting, wave-wheeling, and cartwheeling your way to sponsorship and social media fame!  

Start Your Surf Adventure Today!

Surf Academy has something for everyone. With three sessions on the playspots of the Potomac near DC and then one final out of town field trip, Surf Academy will give you an opportunity to make your surfing dreams come true! You’ll be amazed at all the cool moves you will be able to learn and the amount of fun you will have in the process!

Where Can You Sign Up For Surf Academy?

Check Dates online!