Photo: Shutterstock
You don’t conquer paddle surfing in a weekend, and the ocean has a way of putting you in your place and showing you a bit about yourself along the way. And that’s why I was stoked to sit down with the best paddler on the planet, Connor Baxter.
In this podcast he walks us through his first major race victory and how that changed his life and his diligent approach to the sport after that moment. The don’t miss moment is Connor walking us through his approach to paddling and his stroke on both the race and surf board. He explains how riding a tiny paddle board in surf changes his stroke and the physiological issues with that and what he’s doing to compensate. I can’t wait to get out there to work on his toe-side paddling backside turn (when you need to turn towards your toe-side, but don’t want to paddle heel-side paddle for surfing reasons.
This interview is stacked with info, so listen to it, it will make you a better paddler. You’ll learn:
- Why Connor switched his stroke a few years ago.
- Why he chokes up on the paddle and what made him start doing it.
- What he’s currently working on for foot positions while paddling, and how Danny Ching influenced this change.
- His grip technique on a paddle.
- Connor shares a technique to keep your paddle on the toe-side even when turning that way (great for paddling into waves and keeping your paddle on the frontside bottom-turn rail).
