"SUP with OR?"

Far and away, the most talked about new thing in paddlesports at the annual Outdoor Retailer (OR) tradeshow earlier this month in Salt Lake City was Stand-Uup Paddling or SUP. It is the sport of standing on a surf board and paddling with a very long canoe paddle. During the on-water demo there were line-ups to test-drive the SUP boards.

SUP was developed in Hawaii in the 50's as a means of cross-training when the water was flat and for paddling out to catch the waves. It has evolved to the point that surfers use a SUP set-up to surf the big stuff. Big wave surfer Laird Hamilton has surfed some of the world's largest waves with his SUP board and paddle.

Paparazzi had caught big name stars like Matt Damon, Jennifer Garner and Pierce Brosnan stand-up paddling, which is developing interest in the activity.

SUP is a superb core work-out! While the boards are quite wide and boyant, just staying balanced and dry engages all of the core muscles and much of the legs. Then, you need to make the board move. Doing so also uses your core, plus upper body muscles. Its an all-around workout!

SUP is well-suited to flatwater and easy rivers like the Bow.

I tried SUP briefly at Calgary Paddlefest (co-sponsored by Undercurrents!) in July for 5 minutes and at OR for about 10 minutes several times. However, I really got to appreciate it's benefits when I went for a hour long SUP run on the Bow River (from Bowness Park to Shouldice Park) with Wooly, our surf instructor extraordinaire.

Many people will like that there is so little gear needed - just a board and paddle and some 'warm when wet' clothing (just in case!). Learning the basic technigues does not take long! One immediately obvious benefit was how far ahead I could see, verses canoeing of kayaking. And, I started to "feel the burn" near the end of our trip, so I know I got a workout. We were even able to catch a small wave and surf with the boards! The boards tracked well and turned fairly easily. Switching paddling sides, marathon-style maintained my symmetry.

At OR, there were many booths that featured SUP boards. And it seemed like every paddle manufacturer now makes a SUP paddle. I even picked up a "Learn-to-SUP" DVD at a booth!

Undercurrents will definately be bringing in SUP gear for spring. It was pointed out to me that SUP is the "missing link" between traditional paddlesports and surfing, both of which we support. It is basically ordained that we must support this new sport!

Aloha!