Friday 15 January 2010

Over under Ocean Adventures: enter NAISH!

The last few days I have been walking on clouds... and water! Naish have given me a beautiful, brand new, fantastic STAND UP PADDLE BOARD! She is yellow, 9 foot tall, quite slim- and I have named her Beastie.

About to enter the water at Kommetjie for Beastie's virgin paddle... and many laughs!

I tried SUPping (as Stand up Paddling is fondly known as) for the first time last year at Earth Wave in Muizenberg, and from the moment my feet touched that deck, I was hooked. I have been a passionate (yet amateur) surfer for a couple of years, but this was something altogether different and magical. It is like walking on water. Back straight, knees slightly bent, chin up... one paddle and you glide along the surface as if you're an ancient Ocean Goddess or River Queen!

Wilderness lagoon, sunset paddle... magic!

It truly is an exhilarating experience! As the board is bigger than a normal longboard, you can catch waves further out and have a longer ride. But I must say, it's the moments between the waves that are transformed into the most incredible ocean encounters...

I intend to use Stand Up Paddling not only as a way to catch waves, but another way of exploring my greatest love, the ocean. I ended 2009 in Wilderness up the east coast of SA where we SUPped at Buffelsbay catching sweet little waves, up the Kaaimans river to the waterfall, family paddling around the lagoon and catching dodgy waves under the bridge.
This is truly an exciting way of approaching the sea!

Family paddling on the Kaaimans River! The more the merrier!

I plan to do all manner of aquatic adventures together with new friend Beastie: catching waves, longer river paddles, expeditions out to sea visiting islands and sea friends- strap a mask to your board and the ocean is your oyster!


The unforgettable day Jeannie and I met the friendliest Dusky Dolphins in all of the Atlantic Ocean, paddling off Glen Beach

Bring on 2010, not only under- but on top of the water!

For more info on boards and learning, check out www.sup-culture.com

6 comments:

  1. Were you renting or borrowing before? If renting, how much and from where? Dying to try this out but a little out of my financial reach.

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  2. Indeed Daan, indeed! You should get one, your flat Dutch waters is perfect for it!

    About renting: I was lucky enough to have friends with boards that I could borrow from, but there are a few places that teach lessons and rent out. Most of the surf schools in Big Bay and Muizenberg have SUP's too... or check out suphq.com and sup-culture.co.za for more info, second hand boards and a really great network of people!

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  3. I surfed at Muizenberg recently and there were four SUPpers on this exact board! What is with that? I don't think they were even all together as a group.

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  4. Wow, that does sound rather odd... as the boards only came into the country a few weeks ago... maybe they were all NAISH boards (all Naish boards are yello) but of different sizes and so? If not, maybe there's a pod forming... ;)

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  5. new blog please! feel like i haven't been able to live vicariously in ages!!!

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