In recent months there have been several fatal accidents in the Northern Hemisphere involving surf ski paddlers and cold water. 

Heather and Brandon Nelson practise rescue techniques (http://ultramarathonpaddling.blogspot.com)

[Editor: although this story refers to the South African National Sea Rescue Institute, the points made apply wherever you are in the world!]  On Christmas day, members from three NSRI stations: Yzerfontein, Melkbosstrand and Table Bay responded to reports of an abandoned surf ski found near Dassen Island.

This is the second in our series of stroke correction videos.  The idea is that you grab your camera and a friend to take some video footage of you paddling - upload the video to youtube (or send it to us & we'll do it for you); we display the clips here and elicit comments to help you improve your stroke.  It's amazing what video footage reveals.

Many of us start paddling without much idea of correct stroke technique.  If we're lucky, more experienced paddling buddies throw us a few pointers, but for most it's a case of try it and see.

Surfski.info has several surf ski schools listed in our links, but they're few and far between!   So how do you get expert advice on your stroke if you live far away from the experts?