Hi Paddle Pals

I have been doing a fair bit of paddling into wind and it's hard work. I was wondering if anybody has any tips or tricks other than pure grunt and hard work.

When standing up my speed into wind is about 2-3 kph. Downwind and in flat water I can get 6-8 kph. It's not bad for exercise paddling because you can grunt for the first 30-40 minutes then warm down for the return 15-20.

The most effective way of getting upwind in strong winds I have found is to simply lie down and hand paddle. This works ok for getting out to catch bay slop in winds up to 20 knots. You need to paddle a fair way out so you have time to rest and get settled for the paddle in to catch waves. Bay slop is just as surfable as ocean slop and you don't have to drive as far.

Kneeling doesn't help too much because your body still makes a substantial sail and the into wind effect amplifies the turning characteristics of the board.

For surfing in offshore conditions a little breeze (10-15 knots) can turn a good session in to a frustrating excercise in bashing at the water with the paddle. 2-3 kph is not enough to accelerate to catch waves and the sail effect of the board and my body is enough to get blown back off the wave.

The only way I found to catch waves in offshore winds was to lie down paddle, catch the wave, then jump up and grab the paddle and continue. This is verging on circus trick material and requires lots of stuff to work. It's probably better to just leave the paddle in the car and surf the SUP board as a giant mal.