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Stand up paddleboarding making waves in the West By Pete Estabrooks It’s wonderful to find a “new” physical pursuit taking the recreational world by storm only to realize there was someone, somewhere hundreds, if not thousands of years ahead of you. Stand Up Paddling (SUP) falls into that category.
Cultures from African to South American have histories of hunting, fishing and warfare standing on floating boards and rafts. Polynesians and Hawaiians for centuries had the market cornered on recreation. The explosion of this sport stemmed from watermen on the Hawaiian Islands experimenting with tradition and surf instructors on Oahu standing on their boards watching their charges making way on first waves. From there the stand up paddling that grew up on coasts and surfing destinations worldwide has taken a turn inland. Stand up paddling is the fastest growing and easiest-to-master water sport going. It is all the fun of full-tilt surfing for the ocean crowd and provides an additional thrill for the river and lake-bound kayaking, canoeing and rafting fitness adventurers on the prairies. A long, wide, relatively stable stand up paddleboard on still water is a launch pad to a world of fun and a wealth of functional strength, endurance and stability. From this surfboard base, you can kneel or stand using a single long paddle to provide propulsion and balance. The basics are simple to pick up and the physical benefits run the spectrum from cardiovascular conditioning and muscular endurance to balance and stability. With practice, there is no open body of water that is not appropriate for stand up paddling; from pool to lake to river to rapids, it’s an exciting use of all that your heart, muscles and mind are capable of. This sport has wide potential to appeal to people who include the great outdoors and fun as prerequisites for fitness training. Warren Schlivert, manager of Calgary’s Rednik Surf Shop, has watched the excitement grow from selling 12 to 15 stand up boards in 2009 to selling more than 120 boards this year alone.
Stand up paddling provides an outdoor outlet for those seeking a low-impact alternative for their cardiovascular and core stability training. As a family activity, stand up paddling is a killer way to introduce your children to water safety while keeping them at arm’s reach. Take care to get lessons from a competent instructor because without them the sport is a recipe for a wet body, frustration and foul language. Mountain Equipment Coop, Rednik Surf and Undercurrents are all go-to spots with instruction and certification necessary to keep you ripped, rocking and on the right side of the board. It’s not that paddleboarding is difficult to master. But if you get a few tips early enough in the game, they make the whole process easier to grasp and enjoy. Start easy, with a pool, a lake or gently moving river, and then move with baby strokes to rivers and waves. Make sure to wear a life jacket and, as the conditions require, a helmet. The sport basics include a board, a leash and a paddle. Paddling season can easily be extended with a wetsuit, booties and gloves.
Paddleboard Options:
Built for speed and only speed. Fast and fast it’s remarkably stable due to its substantial volume.
English Bay (Vancouver) - Deep Cove (North Vancouver) - Whitecliff Park (West Vancouver) Chesterman Beach (Tofino, B.C.) Barrier Lake, Spray Lakes (Kananaskis, Alta.) Bow River, Banff to Canmore Bearspaw to Bowness (Calgary west) Bowness to Prince’s Island (Calgary) Races:Undercurrents Mountain Equipment Coop Rednik Surf Co. July/August Issue 2011 |
Flat Water Jimmy Styks Surge
When you are ready to trade boredom for board-on from the lakes, rivers and eddies of Alberta to the mountain rivers and beaches of British Columbia here are some of the best races and places for stand up paddleboarding: