Make Your Season Count with Loco Surfing

With the ringing in of a brand new year, plans are made for the months ahead, goals set and resolutions made. Some will fall by the wayside, others will be half measures while the golden few will stick like Loco SUP glue and be capitalised upon.

The secret to any New Year resolution is to make it achievable. Waking up, determined to become the next Kelly Slater is all well and good but hardly doable if you’re a middle-aged dad, with a family of four, residing in a landlocked, wave-starved part of the country. Keeping goals realistic is the only way to ensure your Loco paddle board plans work out for your Loco surfing.

What we all can do is make the little things count. A wise man once said: ‘If it’s worth doing then it’s worth doing right.’ This mentality can be adapted to your Loco Surfing stand-up paddle boarding sessions.

Most of us will have limited time to squeeze sweeping sessions in but when the time comes, have some simple goals in place, be willing to adapt, and have a purpose for your Loco paddle board time.

For instance: If you have aspirations of stomping a specific wave manoeuvre, consider the fundamental skills you’ll need to build up to that point. It’s no good just going hell for leather, closing your eyes, and hoping and praying. Everything stems from having solid building blocks in place before attempting to smash it during the main Loco paddle board event. This is key for your Loco surfing progression.

If you have limited time in the waves then it’s even more crucial to have defined, simple, and actionable ‘tasks’ in mind as you hit the surf with your Loco SUP. However, and it’s worth making this crystal clear, shooting for the stars with your Loco SUP sessions shouldn’t be to the detriment of enjoying yourself and having fun – this should still be paramount! Enjoying your Loco surfing is the main goal.

All of us have good and bad days and sometimes, even with the best-laid plans, a great forecast, and plenty of pre-SUP preparation in place, our bodies and/or mind refuse to step up to the plate. At this point, have a contingency plan and don’t be afraid of flipping things on their head and focus on alternative aspects of your paddling. If you’re not making headway with improving your downwind speed, for instance, then change tack and think about your paddling technique with your Loco paddle board. And if this isn’t working then just enjoy the view more. Above all, don’t beat yourself up if it ain’t happening with your Loco surfing.

Making your Loco Surfing sessions count doesn’t have to be an in-depth, time-consuming exercise in analytics. Picking small areas of your stand-up routine to work on will have a knock-on, and positive, effect to all areas of your Loco SUP.

Here are a few suggestions of simple exercises to aid your Loco SUP performance this coming year –

• Increase your paddling reach (extension) – this will make you more efficient and faster as a result on your Loco paddle board.

• Work on improving your Loco SUP surfing bottom turn – a good one will give you speed and set you up for the next section.

• Keep yourself better hydrated – a ‘juiced’ up paddler will enjoy improved performance during races, over distance, and in the surf with their Loco.

• Use your head – stop looking at your feet, lift your bonce, and see your overall Loco paddle surfing improve.

• Try as much new Loco kit as you can – this will give you a better understanding of what works best for you and your Loco surfing.

Make your goals realistic, achievable, and neat fitting with your usual stand-up paddling routine and watch your stand-up paddle boarding performance shoot through the roof. 2014 – time to make it count with Loco!

Happy New Year from Loco