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Stand Up Paddling

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I was hanging out with Owen this morning while Erin was out at the giant Saturday morning farmers market (Mommy sto', bee wan) when I received a phone call from my friend, former office mate and fellow IfA postdoc Jon. He said he was heading down to Kaimana Beach to do some stand up paddle boarding. A couple weeks ago Jon told us about his new hobby and Erin and I had mentioned that we'd like to give it a try sometime. Well, today was the day!

We didn't bring the camera, but the video below gives you an idea about what stand up paddling is all about. The vid nice and cheesy, just like old fashioned surf videos. You can get the gist of it in the first minute or so.



Just like the guy in the video we were going to do some board work in relatively calm water. The video was filmed at Ala Moana Beach, which one of our favorite haunts. Think salt water swimming pool, which is great for Owen. Kaimana is a little rougher, with little 1-foot waves coming in past the reef.

Jon gave me some basic tips such as: head straight into the surf, fall flat so you don't hurt yourself on the coral, stay relaxed and keep your back straight. A lot of the advice about how to react to the waves and keeping my balance was very similar to what I learned when I played football. Paddling into surf or covering a wide receiver, it's all about keeping your torso over your hips.

It's pretty hard to stay up, but after a couple tries I managed to paddle about 150 yards out over the reef. At that point I realized that I only had instructions about how to go straight out, and no instructions on how to turn and get back. So I did what I knew how to do best: I fell. And then swam back to shore, pushing the board and paddle ahead of me.

Erin hopped right up on the board and went straight out on her first try. Jon laughed and said, "Women are always better at this than guys." Erin was definitely a natural. Not to be outdone by Erin, I went out again and managed to paddle about 300-400 yards out, turn around and paddle back while only falling twice.

Talk about a full-body workout. Even my toes are sore. We'll definitely be doing that again soon. Stay tuned for some cheesy surf videos, Johnson-style!

Comments

mama mia said…
You don't know how envious I am! Really wonderful thing that you are able to do this....now if you haven't yet watched Endless Summer (I think you can rent it), you must see the ultimate cheesy surf movie....this makes me think of college days on the gulf coast. Ah, youth!
September 9, 2007 at 9:05 AM
Bonzer said…
Oh please, please, please, make a cheesy video, Johnson style!

I forgot to tell you that People magazine had a picture of Jennifer Aniston paddle surfing in Kauai a few weeks ago. Maybe you and JAn could hook up.
September 9, 2007 at 9:43 AM
Karin said…
Berkeley is all fogged in this afternoon. I'm feeling very jealous of your day at the beach :-) I can't wait to see a video!
September 9, 2007 at 4:01 PM
JohnJohn said…
Erin and I saw Endless Summer at a surf film festival in San Fran a couple years back. "Jimmy decided to go back and hang 10 on a couple more of the cool pipelines. Danny and I decided to check out the local scenery. Look at these two beauties, probably fresh out of nursing school and looking to have some fun-in-the-sun!"
September 9, 2007 at 9:31 PM
JohnJohn said…
Of course we knew JAn was into the SUP. Why do you think we decided to try it?!
September 9, 2007 at 9:32 PM
mama mia said…
what I remember most about the Endless Summer was a continued mellow guitar melody through out the film. I can still hear it thinking about it...this was after I tired of wearing my tiki necklace and surfer's cross, which, if I remember correctly, looked like a swastika! I too await johnson style video...
September 10, 2007 at 10:05 PM
The Ghost of John Brown said…
Whatever happened to good ole fashioned regular surfin'? I remember when the only thing you had to paddle out with was the oars the good lord gave you when you was born, unless of course you was born a cripple an' then you weren't gonna be paddle surfin' neither. I bet they got cripple surfin' on the youtube...
September 12, 2007 at 8:52 AM
martha said…
You guys definitely have more interesting things to write about than I do!!! Surfing, astronomy, video critiques and trips to organic farmer markets!!! WOW
September 14, 2007 at 3:47 PM
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