The Gift that Keeps on Giving

Unlike the Jelly-of-the-Month Club, Stand Up Paddleboarding is the gift that keeps on giving.  I spent the last week at beautiful Lake Tahoe and went down to Lakeside Beach on the South shore every day.  I gave six (or was it eight or 10?) people their first taste of this amazing sport.  I had the 11'6" Surftech Bamboozle and the Red Air 10'6" inflatable on the beach daily.  I also had two paddles, 3 leashes, and 2 PFDs on hand.  Everyone that asked about it got a little mini-SUP lesson.  These people were complete strangers but ended up being friends.  People are fascinated by this sport and would continually come up and ask questions about it.  I was thankful to be able to let these nice people use my gear and my instruction to get their first stand up experience.  Some picked it up a bit faster than others but everyone had a smile on their face (and I have the video to prove it!)  I will post the youtube link on here in a few days.  I wish I had more time to work on the videos and this blog!  I hope some of the people that I trained will take the next step, get a full introduction training and end up getting a board!  It's so much fun!

Most people would describe me as quite and introspective but when it comes to SUP I'm Mr. Social.  I want to talk about it, I want to share it with everyone.  Why?  It feels good to give a gift.  It feels good to make other people happy.  Because we all want that glide, we want to surf, we want to be riding a board on the water and feel the waves, feel the current, feel the breeze, feel connected, feel alive.

Here's Casey, trying SUP for the first time.  The paddle was too long for him, but that didn't slow him down.

Here's Crystal, trying SUP for the first time.  She arrived a kayaker and left a supper.