Jun

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Everyone’s going Paddleboarding

Mark Pawlak    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts     paddleboarding, Stand up Paddle boarding, surfers against sewage, Surfing, watersports

Sat on the beach, watching the surfers searching for waves, the jet-skis scooting past and the tourists on airbeds out for laugh, you can’t help but notice new arrivals on the waters.

At first glance, they appear like canoeists, just stood on their boats. However, these are not kayakers having a lark, or surfers playing games, they are paddleboarders.
Stand up paddleboarding (SUP) is not a new, trendy, hybrid sport; the practice dates back to the origins of surfing, when Polynesian used a paddle and a board to get between islands.

The board is wider and fatter than a surfboard and it sports a large rudder. The paddle helps generate speed, and as you are already stood up you can even surf back in once you’ve had enough for the day.

And, as if to prove just how useful paddle boarding is as a means of transport, a team from environmental pressure group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has crossed the English channel, with just a board and a paddle.

The SAS relay crew may have even set a new world record; they navigated the busy waters between England and France in just 5 hours and 38 minutes!

Whether paddleboarding will really take off is to be seen. Nonetheless, it’s gathering quite a following and is already well established in some parts of the world.

Peacefully paddling into the sunset, seemingly oblivious to the extreme sports sorts, you’ll see the paddle boarder. If this sounds like you, then tell us why it’s such a special sport.

About the author

Mark Pawlak wrote 194 articles on this blog.

Editor at Adventure Sports Holidays, Mark's love affair with travel and the challenges of adventure sports continues... "You could save all year for a two-week, all-inclusive, doss by the pool, booze and buffet binge. Or, with a little planning and some good equipment, get off your arse and plan an adventure!"

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7 Comments to “Everyone’s going Paddleboarding”

• 

  Mark Pawlak July 1, 2010 at 4:01 pm

  Here in Brighton these guys and girls are always out on the water. It does look like a really mellow way to spend an afternoon. But crossing the channel? Now that’s what extreme sports are made of.
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  Paul July 2, 2010 at 8:48 am

  SAS paddle boarding across the channel in 5 hrs – that sounds like a useful expense of our tax payer money. Shouldn’t that bloke have been our in Afgan rescuing some school children from some terrorists?

  All that said, paddling boarding is a nice way to relax and enjoy a new perspective on the water….although not much fun when the water is choppy and your going against a tide…

  I’d like to hear who else has had a go or does it along the south coast of the UK. Ive had a couple of goes out of Poole/Dorset.

  When I was out in Oz, paddle boarding looked like a really good energy saving way to get back out of the breaks to the back waters – something other surfer will know, your arms get tired after about 1or 2 hours.
  I totally respect the guys who can ride and control paddle boards in white water – its trickier than it looks, but I’m becomes like riding a bike :O)
• 

  Lunch July 12, 2010 at 1:06 pm

  We have got the craze hear in South Australia as well. Great fun & even a few competitions have been run. Not sure about the English Channel though!
  If your into Extreme Sports in an untapped enviroment, check out a few activities that could come under this banner at http://www.goinoffsafaris.com.au
  Great White Shark cage diving, swimming with Aust. Sea Lions, dolphins and 40kg Southern Bluefin Tuna all in the wild! Sandboard massive dunes, beach fish, kite surfing & yep, paddle boarding plus heaps more!
• 

  Iain July 13, 2010 at 3:19 pm

  Our office is on the River Thames and about once a year/two years, a plucky paddle boarder saunters up the Thames, usually with a massive police escort. He then saunters back rather quicker
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  Tim B July 13, 2010 at 4:02 pm

  Thanks Iain. Nice site by the way! I must admit I’ve tried it a few times and paddleboarding on flat water, unless you are on some exploratory mission up or down a river or round a coastline, is a little dull! I can see the attraction if you get in the waves eg no back breaking paddling or getting beaten to every wave – but flat water I don’t really get!

  That said I’m in favour of anything that gets people out onto the water.
• 

  Lucy July 17, 2010 at 10:31 am

  Same here. How much fun can flat-water SUP be? I’ve been slating my paddle-boarding friends for a while now about it but they’re still into it – I guess there’s only one way to find out what the craze is all about…!
• 

  Joan May 16, 2012 at 8:38 am

  No way is SUP boring. I paddle for over an hour nearly daily and it’s always a new deal adding tunes of radio. It’s excercise, meditiation, and religion all in one. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.