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I’ve been interested in stand-up paddling for a few years now. I’ve been doing plenty of canoe poling—but I’ve wondered what to do when the water gets deep. Well, I found out one day while paddling on a pond: just stand up and paddle! It works great. I’m finding that I just dislike the restriction of sitting down. With stand-up poling or paddling you can get your whole body into the action, which seems good to me.
A couple weeks ago I borrowed George’s custom made extra-long paddle. —I’d told him about my new jones and he surprised me by saying: “Me, too! And I even have a paddle you can try!” I went out and tried it in my racing C1—it was pretty tippy but still pretty fun. You can’t get stability off the bottom like you can with poling. But I’m sure I’ll adapt.
I’d googled around trying to find a long paddle but couldn’t.
Since I borrowed the paddle I’ve been planning with Tom, a paddle-builder racer pal, to snag some of his spare parts and a long kevlar tube and whip up my own extra-long paddle.
I was planning to make it 6’6″—George said that was too long for my 6′ height. I disagreed.
Then all heck broke loose: George was out at our local lake when he saw a guy paddling on a surfboard. He then forwarded me a web-link he found to standuppaddles.com!!! It turned out that the surfing world has been sparked up for stand-up for quite awhile and it’s only getting hotter. Crazy! It’s called SUP surfing.
I should’ve googled for “stand up paddling” instead of “long paddle”! Well, maybe I did and this new craze is pretty darn new! I know I tried to find a long paddle for quite a while.
So the ocean kids are hip to stand up. According to what I’ve read, it’s been a part of surfing for forever but they’ve only recently revived it—probably as part of the other retro surf trends going on. They speculate that early ocean people did it as far back as they’ve been using boats.
Actually, SUP popularity got a critical boost because it’s the favorite way to be on the water for the world’s best surfer, Laird Hamilton. I think he says he likes it even better than “bare” surfing! The cover of his autobiography shows him doing SUP. He goes on expeditions, even, with his SUP rig.
For the most part, people do it to help them catch waves better (you can see the sets farther out and get back to waves quicker after a surf). It’s also an easier way to surf. And it’s a great fitness workout and a way to get around and have fun during low-wave conditions, and a way to see the ocean and marine life better. You get a far better view of the water when standing up. They’re “shaping” surfboards for paddling, even. They seem to be maybe 12 feet long. That’s still a SLOW boat, in my book. You want 16-17 feet to really get some paddle glide going.
I haven’t yet seen a SINGLE mention of using a canoe or large-cockpit kayak for SUP. Weird. Boats can be far more versatile and far faster than boards.
So, you can google SUP yourself. It’s part of the “beach boy” surf scene, which I guess is the retro longboard scene. Heck, there’s even a print magazine out for it, “SUP.” Or, here are some links to try:
check out their cool wood paddles: www.paddlesurfhawaii.com/default.asp?doctype=mm&C_ID=138
www.mauirealestate.com/blog/2005/04/21/stand-up-paddle-surfing
www.kialoa.com / www.standuppaddle.com
www.quickbladepaddles.com/standupsurf.htm
www.star-board.com — boards, paddles, windsurfing
Photo courtesy of PaddleSurfHawaii.com
Photo courtesy PaddleSurfHawaii.com
Leleo Kinimaka makes sweet wood paddles…sold on PaddleSurfHawaii.com. This Hawaiian culture stuff is sweet!
