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. For those that don’t know we are introducing SUP, a new sport and it’s gonna be big. Find out why everyone’s going paddleboarding.
Introducing SUP, it’s gonna be big
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. Polynesians used a paddle and a board together 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.
Everyone’s going Paddleboarding
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!
Do you think paddleboarding will really take off? Well is to be seen but in our mind it will be the next big watesport. It’s already gathering quite a following and is very well established in some parts of the world. But trust us it won’t be long before SUP in the United Kingdom and elsewhere will catch up.
Peacefully paddling into the sunset, seemingly oblivious to the more extreme sport sorts, you’ll see the paddle boarder. If this sounds like you, then tell us why it’s such a special sport.
