Hubby is a surfer. He has surfed since he was a teenager. He surfs the traditional way as in laying down on the board and jumping up after catching a wave. But what does a surfer do when there's no surf? He does stand up.
This is the big thing in surfing if you didn't know. As its name implies, you are already standing up when you catch the wave. Instead of using your arms to paddle into a wave, you use a paddle.
But how does this help a surfer if there's no surf?
Well another side to stand up is stand up paddling often called SUP for short. This is done on flatter water such as rivers and lakes although it can be done in the ocean too on calmer days.
There are two basic stand up boards. One is a board for surfing waves and one is made for paddling and is often called a racing board. The picture above shows Hubby and friend Steve Boehne taking out a tandem race board made by Steve.
Steve owns the Infinity surf shop in Dana Point and is a past world tandem surfing champion with his wife Barrie so he knows a lot about riding and making big boards.
The harbour area at Dana Point is a perfect place to go paddling. I have also gone out with Steve on this board but sadly there was no one recording it for posterity.
Hubby didn't know if he wanted a surfing board or a race board. Here he is trying the surfing version while a few of the locals line up for a chance to try it next.
Next he tried out a race board. Race boards are usually lighter and less stable than the surfing kind.
Come in number one your time is up.
The race board won and now graces a spot in the garage when not in the water. As Hubby said, if there's surf he's going to surf his regular way.
Lots of people have taken to SUP though not all of them shoulder their share of the paddling.
Very interesting. I'd never heard of SUP, but then...we don't do much surfing here in Colorado. That looks like a lot of work. Can you put a little motor on the back of those surf boards? Glad hubby is enjoying his sport. Love the picture of the dog and his paddler.
ReplyDeleteSUP can be done on lakes too if the water is flat but I don't know how popular it is inland. Paddling can be hard work if you are going around an area for exercise. And there are races which are pretty intense as it is first pass the post where as surfing contests are judged differently. Hubby and friends do a circuit around the harbour in the Spring to Autumn months. I'm not sure if you could fix a motor to one - it would probably tip the board.
ReplyDeleteHubby wants me to take it up but I'm concerned about my injury. The wake of a boat can tip you over.