Don’t miss The Wave.

It took me a long time to learn how to carve a ski. Back in the day of narrow skinny downhill skis it was very difficult to make your ski arc and slice through the surface fo the snow. I had a pair of long and skinny Rossignol SM giant slalom skis. Then came the “shape skis” revolution and all you needed to do was bank the ski, apply a bit of pressure and whoosh, your skis is carving.You probably remember the shape ski revolution. It came along pretty quick and some people jumped on board right away and were enjoying the benefits of the new easy turning curvy skis. If you were a powder skier the Fat Boys made schredding powder super easy. It was the same for mountain biking and full suspension bikes. Shock absorbers on the front and back smoothed out the bumpy trails and allowed bikers ride faster and jump higher. Mountain biking became more accessible to more people.

In both of these sports, modifications of equipment made it easier perform the activity, allowing new people to come into the sport and allowing accomplished users to push the envelope.

I was left behind on both of those equipment revolutions. Now it is surfing and the “Retro-revolution” of Stand Up Paddle Boarding. I’m not going to miss this one!! I have spent 1 week per year over the last three years trying to learn to surf a regular board. Thrashing my body in the cold seas of Vancouver Island’s West Coast. My accumulated standing up and surfing time over that period could be measured by a 3-minute egg timer.

This past summer I took a 12’ long 30 inch wide Starboard stand up paddle board from Deep Cove Canoe & Kayak and had a blast!! I was catching waves, I was riding waves and I was paddling back out again, faster than all the other regular sit in the water surfers. In the first hour of SUP surfing I had eclipsed the total accumulated surfing time of the previous 3 years.

Being relatively novice to surfing I am sure I was committing multiple surfing faux pas. Had I been in Hawaii, where they take their surfing seriously, I am sure I would have been pounded by the local beach enforcer. But Tofino beaches are populated other cow eyed newbie’s like myself who are just hoping to catch the odd wave and then don’t know what to do when they catch it.

Paddling this aircraft carrier sized board, I, on the other hand was blissfully having a ton of fun catching any wave I chose. I was probably tarnishing the general reputation other good SUP paddlers by jumping the que, or not having much….or any…. control once I caught a wave, but it didn’t matter, I was having fun and getting better with every wave I rode. It was easy to paddle around the beach and pick an empty spot where I wouldn’t leave surfer carnage in my wake.

The fact of the matter SUP paddling is not all that new. SUP has Polynesian roots and in the 1960 surfing locals would paddle out using outrigger paddles to take photos of the tourists. The Hawaiian phrase, Ku Hoe He'e Nalu; can be translated to: to stand, to paddle, to surf, a wave. Big Wave Surfing God, Laird Hamilton, has be SU Paddling since the early 2000s. It’s only recently that people have realized that SUP makes surfing easy. It’s a great core work out on flatwater, and standing up is a great perspective for checking out scenery and ocean life in shallow water.

Regular surfing and windsurfing are sports that are really challenging. Somebody who is accomplished has really put a lot of time and effort into developing their skills. SUP will allows “Joe Average” an opportunity to have some success in catching and riding waves. Understandably the guy who has been working hard honing skills for years could get a bit irked and dorks like myself who are gooning around on these big boards. So when you go, be respectful. SUP can be many thing to many different people. A serene paddle on flatwater at sunset, poking around the intertidal zone checking out the marine life, cruising around an anchorage somewhere on the coast or taking your best buddy for a paddle and not walk-ees.

How to get started:
Firstly you can start on flatwater, A 12’ 30” wide board is pretty darn stable. Many people are impressed at how much easier it is than what they had envisioned. For your first time out you don’t really even need a lesson.
Second, its good to take a lesson if you want to progress. There is a definitely good technique for efficiently forward paddling. A properly performed forward stroke will help you cover more ground and use more muscle groups. There is much more to paddling forward than meets the eye.

If you plan to go surfing it will be good to learn things like how to turn the board really quick, How to get out through the waves, how to catch a wave. These things you can practice on flatwater so you have some skills and conditioning before you hit the surf.

Next you can take your skills into some rougher water. Paddling in the same directions as the wind and waves is pretty fun because you can catch little surfing runs. This will also help your balance.

Once you have the basic skill and some experience you can take it to Tofino or even Hawaii. Be sure to seek lots of local knowledge or even take a lesson at the surfing area. Try not to piss off the local surfers.

Deep Cove Canoe & Kayak rents SUP, and we have a great instructor in Mike Darbyshire. Deep Cove Outdoors sells SUP, Starboard and Werner Paddles, and for 2011 we will carrying SurfTech SUP and Kialoa Paddles