Why are SUPs so damn expensive?

Years ago an old fisherman here in south Florida said to me: "Good fish ain't cheap and cheap fish ain't good."
I think that applies to a lot of things in life. Now I love a good deal on a generic brand of Neapolitan ice cream as much as the next guy, but sometimes you have to get the good stuff.
To me, standup paddling is such a tremendous facet of my life that I want a solid board under my feet and a nice paddle in hand. My first set-up was a Jimmy Lewis Albatross and QuickBlade Kanaha. Both great products. I raced that combo more than 12 miles during the 2010 Key West Paddleboard Classic. Cost, with racing fin: just under $2,000.
That fish ain't cheap.
But that also doesn't mean you have to drop a couple thousands dollars to get a good set-up. SUP companies initially targeted watermen, established athletes and surfers capable of ocean crossings and surfing head-high tubes. These companies were smart to get well-established surfers and water athletes to help promote the sport and get other interested in walking on water.
In recent years many SUP companies have released a lower price-point soft top boards and well-designed fiberglass paddles. We now offer a HovieSUP touring board with paddle cut to length, delivered for under $1,000.
Now there are plenty of cheaper SUP set-ups out. Some companies are jumping on the bandwagon -- mass producing heavy, slow boards. The main design purpose behind many of these models is to make sure they stack neatly in a tractor trailer to cut down on shipping costs.
I don't know about you, but I want a board designed for the water, not to be shipped efficiently.
I'll leave you with another line from a very experienced paddler friend:
"Buy the (board) you want. If you don't have the money, just rent and save up. If you buy the (board) you want, you only pay for it one time -- at the cash register. If you buy the (board) that you don't want, you pay for it every time you're on the water."
Peace.

Lee County growing the SUP scene

I've lived in the Lee County/Fort Myers area since 1999. I feel like and old-timer, but a lot has changed.
There, I said it. I'm officially at mid-life crisis stage 4.
In reality, life here is pretty darn sweet. We have a standup paddleboard race and festival coming to Bunche Beach on May 1, and now Lee County has upped the area's paddling presence by securing a major partner (Canoe & Kayak magazine) for this year's Calusa Blueway Paddling Festival -- a two-week event held each fall that features races, demos and lessons, tours, gear demonstrations, nature displays, music and food.
Betsy Clayton works for Lee County. Years ago, she and I were rivals. Both environmental reporters, she at the News-Press and me at the Naples Daily News.
Nowadays we're more in tune, as Southwest Florida Standup continues to grow and Betsy keeps putting together top-notch events.
Here's the latest:
http://blogs.canoekayak.com/industry-news/calusa-blueway-paddling-festival-names-canoe-kayak-as-presenting-sponsor/

More details on Lee County May 1 SUP race

Southwest Florida Standup paddleboard is proud to be a sponsor of Lee County's first standup paddleboard race. We're working with a handful of watersport companies on what will hopefully be a memorable and annual event.

Details: 

Mark your calendar for Bay-to-Gulf SUP Race

Fort Myers, Fla., March 18, 2011 — Stand-Up Paddleboarders, fitness enthusiasts and watersport lovers can mark their calendar for Lee County Parks & Recreation’s first-ever SUP race, set for May 1 at Bunche Beach Preserve in south Fort Myers.

The Bay-to-Gulf SUP Race will bring together Southwest Florida’s burgeoning SUP population and will show others from around the Sunshine State and Southeast the pristine paddling on the Great Calusa Blueway in Lee County, according to race organizer Vicki Little of Lee County Parks & Recreation.

Stand Up Paddleboarding is an activity for all ages, from athletic 20-somethings to baby boomers looking to stay physically fit. SUP is the fastest growing segment of the watersport industry worldwide. “It’s taken Florida by storm and we’re happy to be able to showcase this sport right here in Lee County,” Little said. 

Sponsors and participating outfitters for the inaugural event include Ace Performer, Florida Paddlesports, Gulf To Bay, Paddleboard SW FL, Planet Fitness, SWFL Stand Up, True Blue Water Sports, Xtreme Life Sports, YOLO Board Adventures, YOLO Watersports and more. The partnering hotel for the event is LaQuinta Inn, 20091 Summerlin Road, Fort Myers. The partnering campground is San Carlos RV Resort, 18701 San Carlos Blvd., Fort Myers Beach.

The race event features a 1-mile recreational race and a 3.5-mile competitive race. Check the race entry form for divisions and age brackets. Entry is $20 in advance or $30 race day. Visit www.leeparks.org to register or call (239) 533-7440. Race questions can be directed to (239) 533-7444 or (239) 229-0649. People who do not have their own SUP boards can rent them. For a list of local outfitters, visit www.calusablueway.com/articles/outfitters.

Even non-racers will find something to do at the Bay-to-Gulf. Outfitters and sponsors plan to offer free demonstrations for those who want to try SUP. Attendees also can explore Bunche Beach Preserve, which features more than 700 acres of habitat and wildlife. The preserve is located at 18201 John Morris Road, Fort Myers. Bunche Beach provides access to the Great Calusa Blueway, a 190-mile marked paddling route that meanders behind the Beaches of Fort Myers & Sanibel. Details and maps are available atwww.calusablueway.com.

Lee County race coming May 1

I love spring in Southwest Florida.

Waters begin to warm, the occasional storm front provides a few waves to surf, and there's enough light in the day that you can actually paddle after work. 

Now is the time to get on your board, work on your leg strength, hone your stroke mechanics and get in shape. Those may sound like marching orders, but with SUP, you don't realize you're getting an incredible workout until you've been on the water for three hours and you can barely crawl to your car. 

It's also a great time of year to focus on the racing season. 

To me, the Key West Paddleboard Classic is the top event in the state. I certainly haven't been to every paddleboard race in Florida. But I don't know that any location can top Key West: You start in the Atlantic Ocean, paddle south until the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico currents crash, get tossed around a bit, paddle the Florida Bay side, round the north end of the island, dodge a few oddly tall corals, and then head south again to Smathers Beach. 

It's just over 12 miles of oceanic furry, at least the 2010 version was. 

This year's Key West Classic takes place on May 14. My wife Marcie and I both plan to race for ourselves (www.swflstandup.com) as well as a few of our business partners and sponsors. 

Closer to home, Lee County is organizing a standup paddleboard race/festival on May 1 at Bunche Beach. Southwest Florida Standup is one of several local paddleboard companies sponsoring the event. 

The Bunche Beach area will be covered with demo tents, boards, paddles, life jackets (of course), paddlers and spectators. 

At least three races will be held that day -- a 3.5 mile course, a 1-mile course and a relay. 

Look for more information in future posts. Local companies and the county parks and recreation department are planning what promises to be a spectacular event. So no matter if you're 7 or 80, if you want to standup paddle -- or just check out the scene -- head to Bunche Beach on May 1.
If you'd like to go out with us sometime on a tour or get serious about fitness training and racing, e-mail me at chad@swflstandup.com. We can make it work. 

Peace. 

Feeling SUPersonic

A dolphin launches its thick, charcoal gray body into the air, tucks into a bend like an Olympic diver and plunges into the Gulf of Mexico. 

Swirls of disturbed water rise to the surface like tire-sized eddies in a powerful river current. Bubbles. More swirls. Then a huge wake forms. Dozens of silvery mullet leap out of the water in a desperate attempt to escape death. Surely others aren't as lucky. The big mammal surfaces again. Mist fires into the air as the dolphin recharges its lungs. The top-chain predator seems oblivious to nearby paddleboarders and continues to hunt just outside of the sandbar. 

These typically-tranquil waters along the coast of Southwest Florida have become a frontier of sorts, a place where a novel yet ancient sport has opened the eyes, hearts and minds of growing number of middle-aged groms.

Until the last year or so, this region was off limits to surfing of any style. Outside of the occassional passing hurricane or a Herculean cold front, we were forced to hang at the beach and joke about our "over-ankle" conditions -- crack open a beer, lay back in a pastel-colored beach chair and talk "what ifs." 

What if those 10-inch wave faces were five feet. What if we were eight inches tall and had a few shapely Popsicle sticks. What if Tropical Storm Bonnie had actually brought us ridable waves. 

But add a giant, thick, wide surfboard and a seven-foot canoe paddle to the equation and "over-ankle" becomes hella fun -- at least to us Southwest Florida surfing simpletons.

Two-foot curling rollers are a God-send. Anything above that qualifies as epic. Sloppy chop with an onshore wind? Bring it on. An outgoing tide that crashes into the wind swell and causes steep yet amazingly weak wedges? We'll be there all day. 

Southwest Florida will never be Maui. We'll never get consistent overhead peelers. No offshore monster waves breaking on unnamed reefs. No need to tow-in or double leash. 

But to us, stand-up paddling is surfing, the only viable way to go everyday. 

SUP: Maybe it should stand for Surreal, Unequaled Possibilities

Seems like spring is here a little early this year. Warm temps, calm and clear waters, plenty of UV-packing sunshine. It's the perfect time of year to expose yourself to standup paddleboarding. It may look difficult, but standup paddling is a viable activity for the vast majority of people between the ages of 7 and 70. I think our eldest paddlers were a man of 74 and a lady of 73. They loved it -- laughed like 8-year-olds. 

And the best thing about stand paddleboarding (besides falling) is the activities are only limited by your imagination. I was very naive on my first few trips. I loved this style of boarding, but it seemed limited to floating around and looking for dolphins (nothing wrong with that) and open water racing (which I also love). Surfing seemed doable but that was about it for my cromag-style brain.

Then my wife Marcie jumps on one, and with in minutes is pulling off yoga poses with style an ease. 

A few weeks later a close friend suggests we take a beer and a fishing pole on our boards and just drift offshore. It was sketch for sure, but also seriously fun. We jumped dozens of ladyfish, had all kinds of hits that we missed, mostly because we were laughing and trying desperately to keep our beers upright. 

As we reeled our crankbaits back to the boards, huge schools of baitfish would follow, then jump on our boards in an attempt to escape the gnarly teeth of the schooling Spanish mackerel below. There were dozens of shiners flopping around on each of our boards. One breached the security of my board shorts. :0

Just when I think we're doing it all, another friend borrows a soft top Laird for a few weeks. He was paddling and training, fishing on it and, well, sleeping. He'd just moved into a new apartment an didn't have a bed set up yet. So he took the fin off a board and just slept on the board, deck up of course. Said it was quite comfy. 

Another friend donned a dive mask, paddled around on her stomach and just stuck her head underwater whenever she felt the need. It was quite funny watching her gain momentum while swimming the board, then plunge her head beneath the surface. Created quite a wake. She was snorkle paddling, or snaddling as we've jokingly called it. 

Some guys on the East Coast are even spearfishing off them. Others are using them as dive platforms for near-shore scuba. 

Now I'm sure that none of us were inventing something unique (really nothing is), but it was new to us, probably new to Bonita Beach. But we began to realize: standup paddleboards aren't just boards. They're more like a canoe, kayak, surfboard, paddleboard, snorkle platform, fishing vessel and sleeping perch all molded into one. 

SUP = Surreal, Unequaled Possibilities

Standup paddleboard has changed my life

As a kid, I dreamed of becoming a full-on beach bum. I'd see guys at the Panhandle and on the East Coasts with shaggy hair, no shoes -- just a pair of shorts and a tan so deep you'd think they got exposed to radiation at the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station near Miami.
So when I got out of college, I sold all my shit, loaded up my dog Nico (a great dane) and drove south from my home in Tennessee. I'd never even been to Southwest Florida. All I knew was that I wanted to sail and paddle and surf and fish all the year long.
I started camping at Oscar Scherer Park near Venice. Sent out some resumes, got a job near Fort Myers, got married, raced offshore sailboats, kayak fished like hell for several years, raced outriggers in Fort Lauderdale, dabbled in marathon canoe racing for a couple years. It was all great -- wonderful Florida experiences that I'll always remember.
Then came this standup paddleboard thing.
I took out a Laird 12'1" board in the summer of 2009. Paddled the Gulf of Mexico on a super flat day with a slight breeze and super clear waters. It was mind-blowing, an experience that has changed my life. I could see dolphins swimming below. Sea gulls and pelicans glided about head-high on the water. The ocean surface had long been the domain of sit-down experiences. In a boat, you typically sit. Same in a kayak, canoe, sailboat, etc. But this was different. It felt so much more like a primal, innate experience. Human perspective changes when you actually stand up and look out over the horizon, whatever that horizon may be. I often compare it to the feeling the first upright monkey must have had on that day he finally stood up and looked over the African plains. I'm sure, in his own words, he said my standard line: "Dude, you've got to try this."
Fast forward 18 months and my wife Marcie and I have nine boards in our garage. Our sacred wood strip canoe functions now more as a SUP gear holder than a water craft. I paddled solo canoes (touring and racing) almost exclusively for six or seven years. No more. I haven't paddled a solo canoe or kayak in almost a year, and that was at a charity canoe race with a great friend.
Just last week we opened a business: Southwest Florida Standup. We cover most of coastal Lee County, from Bonita Beach north to Estero Bay, Lovers Key and Fort Myers Beach.
SUP has been sweeping across Hawaii, California and other more-hip places for about a decade now. In Florida, it's still in an infancy stage.
But I feel like I'm in a type of infancy stage as well -- the beginnings of a watersport that will take our region by storm.
Our business and this sport are part of a dream for me and Marcie, something we're stoked about. Something that's so powerful that we're now willing to risk everything to promote this great sport, and, hopefully, revel in some type of profits down the road.
Business aside, nowadays I look a lot like those shaggy-haired, board-short-wearing, barefoot dudes I admired as a kid.
Maybe, just maybe, this beach bum thing will turn up roses after all.