Todd Bradley Pocket Coaching SUP Instruction Session 2 – Todd
Before we get to the actual ‘pocket coaching’ part of this series, I wanted to introduce our coach first, Todd Bradley. Todd is co-founder of C4 Waterman and has over 40 years of ocean experience. He has done over 50 Molokai crossings and won the SUP division in the 2005 Quiksilver Molokai to Oahu race. Aside from stand up paddling, Todd also competes in other paddling sports such as OC1 and OC6, of which he has also won several championships. Todd has also competed in other forms of watersports including outrigger sailing canoes, catamaran racing, surfing and open ocean paddleboard racing.
In this video, Todd shows us how he applies some of the paddling techniques he taught us during this session. Check out the video:
(click thumbnail to launch video)
Good stuff. Too bad we couldn’t hear Todd. Maybe he needs some kind of waterproof walkie-talkie thing or some kind of mic.
Diesel – This segment shows how it should be done and what we’re striving for. The next segments you’ll see the rest of us and you’ll be able to hear all the tips Todd is giving since he’s driving the jet ski.
That sounds good. Todd was moving pretty well. Have you seen the downwind footage on RambosLocker out of australia. It is really amazing. He has this new jetski cam that doesn’t shake around so the footage is so nice. There are a few downwind SUP races that he filmed as well. Check it out if you get a chance. Thanks for getting out there and doing something in Hawaii with the SUP downwind. It is appreciated.
Thanks for doing these Evan and Todd. I know it’s a lot work.
It is awesome to see the run up close like this. I think for anyone who has done runs, it tells a lot even without hearing what Todd says.
My runs are going about the same, but our sea surface is less confused, so it’s easier. It looks like you don’t really have proper wind. Maybe 10 mph max. Is that about right?
Diesel – It’s hard to tell how fast Todd is going in the video because it’s all relative to the jet ski. He’s moving around a 7 mph avg and on bumps he’s probably close to 10 mph or so. For those who don’t race, this is fast for us.
I’ve seen some of the videos on Rambo’s site…very cool.
The footage we got from this session helped me out a lot. It’s one thing to see short 5 to 15 sec clips but when I see 5 to 10 minutes at a time I can pick up on a lot more. This increases when its a video of yourself. I distinctly remember paddling and feeling in control and looking cool but when I saw myself on video I can’t help but cringe and feel embarrassed. I look soooo off balance. That’s a good sign because I know there’s a lot of improvement that can be made.
Maybe we’ll try and do one for some of the readers of this blog. If anyone is interested, then post a comment or email me.
DW – I think that day was mostly 15 mph and under winds. Most of our runs are between 10 to 20 mph. If we get the right wind direction, 20 mph , right tide and swell, it’s unreal although those are not the norm. You’re right about our water being more confused. There are waves hitting from multiple sides most of the time. That’s where skill and experience comes in. A rider like Todd, Scott Gamble, Aaron Napoleon, etc will be out of sight in 5 minutes.
I noticed the same thing about your conditions from watching your videos. You seem to get a lot more bumps going in one direction. We normally get bumps from 2 or 3 directions, on the same run. That would be fun in 30 mph wind with swell going in one direction. Like riding a really long wave.
[..YouTube..] Great vids Evan.. Thanks for doing them and thanks Tod for sharing his skills.
DW – The Doctor run looked really cool. The bumps looked good and interesting towrds the end of the race as the bumps ran over the shllow sand banks. The bumps started to twist and turn which looked fun to be surfing.
Hi Guys,
I did the Doctor run a few weeks ago, unfortunately the Doctor was “breathing in” the day of the race so we did it from Perth out to the Rottnest Island taking advantage of the off-shore easterly breeze. It was blowing about 20 knots so kicked up nice little wind swell that was clean and fun to ride – very similar to a south side Maui run.
It got very messy in the second half of the race when the ocean swell which was almost the opposite direction to the wind swell started to jack up, also the ocean swell wraps around the island and pretty much comes from both sides. Combine that with wake from support boats and jet-skis and you can imagine what it was like – like paddling in a jumble of 3′ blocks of water!
Still great fun, took me 2 1/2 hours – the fastest pro surf-ski did it in 1 1/4 hours! Pretty humbling, mind you I was on a borrowed 12′6 Starboard Pin.
I think the beauty of doing these rough down-winders is that it really hones your skills and balance, you concentrate hard and “milk” every little bump. Makes you so much faster on the good days.
Thanks for all the work Evan, you are making a great resource for us all.
PS Rambo is a real character and very talented film maker, the quality of his productions is no accident.
Jonathan – It’s always fun when a bunch of people get out and do a distance SUP run together. Even a choppy, confused downwinder can be fun, especially when you’re out of the water for a while and need to burn some Christmas calories.
I’ve visited Rambo’s site a few times, especially when something good shows up on Standupzone.com. He’s got some great videos there. I think he’s in the business of video production so that may be one reason for the quality of his videos.