Improving Your Stand Up Paddleboarding by Andy Burrows & James van Drunen

I am delighted to have been handed a copy of this new book written by two stand up paddleboard enthusiasts and racers. I’d been lucky enough to meet co-author James at the Battle of the Thames in 2017 and 2018, where he came 1st and 2nd, respectively – a great talent and an incredibly decent and polite young man. He is a professional SUP racer and SUP trainer and runs a SUP tour and academy in Spain. He has competed in the iconic SUP 11 City Tour and has several top 10 finishes in the Eurotour. Andy came into SUP in his mid-fifties (a man after my own heart!) and is a well-known and successful competitor in the Circuito De Mediterraneo SUP race series. He was also a highly successful coach and mentor in his previous business life.

So, with Andy and James at the helm of this book and after a year in the making, it has been worth the wait and is incredibly comprehensive, covering all aspects of SUP. Aimed at those who can already stand-up paddleboard, it showcases most SUP disciplines, including racing, touring, surfing, yoga and white water. It’s a comfortable 152 pages long, in paperback, and has taken direct help from some of the leading paddlers in their chosen field.

In the first chapter, the book teaches you about the journey to ‘unconscious competence’, which will give you a greater understanding of how to improve your efficiency, technique, skills and physical capabilities, which are all thoroughly covered in the following four chapters. Uncomplicated and precise, with step-by-step photos to clarify instructions, I think this book will appeal to those wanting to broaden their horizons and explore different aspects of their chosen sport.

We all know how important goal setting is, and this is also covered in chapter one – the book feels nicely interactive, and there are some simple graphs to work through, including downloadable dartboards to help you set your own goals. Other helpful resources on the publisher’s website also relate to this book.

If you want to improve your physicality, this book will tick that box too; “Ultimately, most people SUP for enjoyment and the approach to SUP fitness should be designed to enhance this experience.” Whether you want to tour, race or try a bit of white water, you will get much more out of these disciplines if you are physically fit. There is step by step photos to improve endurance, agility, speed and balance with simple training templates included.

There’s a great section on the right equipment, from board and fin choice to the proper clothing for various conditions. Underlying the whole book are two things; safety and mindset. Safety, as we all know, is hugely important as this is a water sport and being so accessible, it’s necessary that this has been referenced. There is an excellent section on how ‘not’ to train and some common injuries to look out for, and how to address them.

The start and finish of the book refer to the flow and mindset and why we all paddle to find that inner happiness that seems so ingrained in SUP. Over the last few years, ‘blue mind’ has been continuously mentioned when discussing SUP, and it is now scientifically proven that water makes you calmer. Clearly, Andy and James are well aware of this. There are many references in the book to happiness, enjoyment, freedom, spirituality, a meditative state, the spirit of adventure, excitement and confidence – hopefully, you can see where I’m going with this – Andy and James are very much in love with their chosen sport of stand up paddleboarding – it’s not all about the racing, it’s much more than that for them both and that comes across wonderfully in the book. It’s incredibly inspiring.

If you paddleboard and want to improve, want to explore other disciplines, want clear instructions as to how you can achieve those goals and want a highly enjoyable, readable book, then you won’t go far wrong with Improving Your Stand Up Paddleboarding – Andy and James have tried to be different, they know there are books out there teaching the basics and guide books to show you where to paddle, but with this colourful and engaging book full of step by step photos they have given us all something new. They want to inspire you to try something different and give you the tools to do just that, a certain amount of knowledge of all disciplines and a good level of fitness too. Most of all, they want you to “continuously improve, experiment and enjoy” your SUP journey, which can only be great!

After ten years of paddleboarding, I found a lot to interest me in this book, and I definitely learnt something new. It could be an excellent gift for yourself or the paddler in your life! It’s now available from all good bookshops, websites and direct from the publishers in the UK, https://fernhurstbooks.com