SUP

It was going to be a stellar day here on the central coast, with temperatures hovering near the high 70's. Saturday morning we woke to another day of warm air and soft breezes. My husband said to me

"Let's go for a paddle".

What he meant was Stand Up Paddle. SUP. Do you know this term? I only learned about it recently myself, apparently it's been around since the 50's or 60's. But it's gaining in popularity by leaps and bounds.

Here's the boat house where he keeps his board, the rest of what you see is owned by the Parks and Recreation, for all the summer activities.

...these are all the rental wetsuits, i think there's size to fit everybody and every body...

...here we go, the boat house is right on the beach so my Husband only has to carry this humongous board a short way. It may be hard to tell by my photos but there was a very large fog bank right in front of us. We looked at each other and laughed, it wasn't quite so warm anymore. Well, I had brought a thick rash guard, good thing. Even if the air was warm (in the sun) the temp. of the ocean was in the low 50's.


This is a stand up paddleboard. It's different from a surfboard in a few ways. They are loooong. This one is 10'6". And it's wide. For the stability of course. It has a thick pad on top, for traction. Made out of epoxy it is heavy, but mostly it's just awkward to move, out of the water anyway. Oh, and you need a paddle, which is how you move the thing around. The whole thing costs as much as a small car. Which is why we only have one.

There goes my Husband! he was giving me a quick demonstration. Even though I've seen it done before. I don't mind watching his cute, ahem, stay focused now...there he goes....

"Standup paddling is best described as "Yoga on Water" It's a no-impact sport...improves balance and coordination...strength and endurance...stress reducing...relaxing and invigorating for people of all ages ,ability, & size...The biggest plus, is that it's the funnest core fitness exercise on the planet...leave the world behind at the water's edge and let the dance take over... "

Look, it's me! see me paddling away?... in the fog?! i managed to stay dry when I jumped on at the shore, I was so determined not to fall, i wanted to avoid that water. Plus, my husband warned me that if I fell to fall away from the board, or it'll hurt. I love that kind of advice, if you have to mess up, mess up this way... :)

...here I come, I can hear my husband calling to me, what? what are you saying? I can't hear him, I don't want to break my concentration, so I ignore him. It is easy and hard all at the same time to paddleboard. It's a great workout. Every muscle is engaged. I was a bit wobbly, but never really close to falling off. Maybe that's because I didn't move around too too much. Did not want to go in the water.

I could see the bottom. The visibility was fantastic. I was looking for stingrays.

It looks like I'm standing still. But I'm not. It's a little like kayaking, you dip your carbonsomethingorother, paddle in the water and pull yourself forward. It really is fun. My exit out was not quite as graceful as I'd have liked. A small wave came and jiggled me off. I lost my balance then and landed in knee high water, on my knees.

And got wet. Oh well, it was worth it.

Now it was Chuck's turn to get his workout in. He took off down the coast and after I changed out of the wet stuff I wandered around and found a few beautiful things, would you like to see?...

... a lovely sandpiper...

...some kind of scallop, i think a pacific pink...

...and another species of scallop, i think. And do you see this seaweed here? I learned that we have over 100 types of seaweed on this beach. I went back to college last year and took a class in Natural History, one of our assignments was to collect specimens of 20 different seaweeds. I decided to enroll because I was feeling left out with all the kids in highschool and college. I got an A in my class. My kids said "Of course you did Mom". And then they rolled their eyes.

....and then this!! a baby abalone! these are really rare, we never see these around here anymore. I am really excited to find this! I love these shells and I love to eat it,the abalone. If you've ever had abalone you'd know what I mean. They are second only to the Lobster, according to me. Yum.

...speaking of... here he comes now! He was only gone a little over 30 minutes. When he jumped off the board, still only wet on his feet, I was smiling from the recent abalone score. He took one look at me and said, "Ok, what did you find?"

And then he asked "what would you like to do? go to breakfast or go to the jacuzzi?"

I chose both :)




xxx lori