Standup Paddleboard Foundations
A four-week course designed to give you the skills and knowledge for a lifetime of paddle adventures!

Our Standup Paddleboard Foundations Course is designed to give you all the skills and knowledge you need to make paddling a part of your life, whether it’s adventuring out to that coastal island, or planning a fun trip for your friends or family!

The more you can do, the more you can do…

Developing your paddling skills allows you to take your adventure beyond.

Each session will consist of a dryland discussion where we introduce the skill or technique, easy to understand cues to check progress, as well as when and how to apply the skill. Paddlers will have ample time to practice and explore each skill while receiving personalized feedback from the instructors. We will also complete point to point paddles that will allow us to string together the different strokes and maneuvers learned during the skills practice. In addition to focusing on the individual skills and how to apply them while en route, we’ll also have the chance to gradually increase our paddling speed, endurance, and fitness.

For each course, paddlers can choose to register with equipment rental, or bring your own paddleboard.

Skills Covered in the Course Include:

Efficient forward paddling
Sweep Strokes
Pivot Turns (paddle boarding) 
Stability
Rescues
Towing
Draw strokes

Learn from the best

Standup Paddleboard Foundations lays the groundwork for a lifetime of fun and adventure on the water! Our experienced instructors offer personalized instruction with a focus on foundational skills that will serve as a basis for all future learning and development. During this four-week course we’ll introduce a variety of paddle strokes and skills designed to help you have the most control of (and fun on!!) your board.

During our time on and off the water, you’ll learn:

  • Proper forward paddling technique and why it matters.

  • Directional control, learning to turn the board when desired, or keep it tracking straight when that is the goal.

  • Learn to find and maintain stability on the board even as conditions start to get a little bouncy, and how to get back on the board after falling off.

  • Navigation and weather: we’ll look at how wind and tide combine to determine the current paddling conditions, and how to alter planned routes when possible, or utilize coastal topography to minimize exposure.

Dates for 2024

Wednesday Evenings, June 26th-July 17th 6-8pm

Launching from Independence Park, Beverly, MA