Joe rented a Naish Nalu and paddled round-trip from Ferry Beach to Round Lake. “I’m buying one of these boards ASAP!”
Well, Joe, we are happy to oblige…
-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
Meta
Happy Independence Day
“I love this sport!” said this happy SUP’er. “it was the perfect way to spend Independence Day; being independent. Free of all concerns other than perfecting my C-Stroke.” 
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Lake Lineup
My daughter, waiting for a wave. Her very first lineup… “When I grow up I want to be a Naish Team Rider!”
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
Slacking
Forgo the gym with its recurring membership fees, bad smells and sweaty, muscle bound regulars; start slacking! That’s the hip jargon for Slacklining.
What’s slacklining? That’s exactly what I wondered while reading an Outside Magazine interview of Sally Jewel, CEO of outdoor retail giant REI. In the interview Jewel was quoted saying that “what our customers need are ‘gee whiz’ products to take their minds off the recession”. I’d sure like to take my mind off the economy, I thought. So I read on. The two “gee whiz” products she mentioned were paddleboards and slacklines. Shazam! I thought, “I’m halfway to forgetting…”. I already had the paddleboard half covered, I just had to figure out what “slacklining” was.
Google gave me the answer: nylon webbing slung between two trees (or two cliffs for the adrenally insane) that you balance and walk on. It’s akin to tightrope walking yet more of a cousin than a brother. As the names imply one is tight and the other slack. Because the webbing is slack the proficient “slacker” can do some pretty amazing stunts while transiting the slackline. I learned this by visiting YouTube. Wow! Back flips, front flips, helicopters… I was amazed, inspired and perhaps a smidge concerned for my future wellbeing.
I threw caution on the ground and stomped on it like a child atop a puddle. I could not let fear of fractures, lacerations or impalement derail my intent. I ordered my slackline that same day and opted for 2nd day delivery, remembering that I was still trying to forget the recession!
When my FreeFlow slackline kit arrived I quickly liberated it from it’s cardboard coffin. “Cool!” And off I went to set it up as I had learned by watching FreeFlow’s instructional YouTube video–repetatly.
I did not do any backflips. Nor front. I could hardly stand up on the contraption. My knees wobbled like an out-of-balance laundry load. This would take perseverance. I have an abundance so how arduous could it be?
Not that hard at all, really, once you get past the knee-knocking inception. Within days I was crossing the line. By weeks end I could turn and walk back across. A month later I was mounting the slackline by leaping up on it with a running start. Each session brings a new milestone and a greater sense of physical fitness. And although the moment’s precise timing escapes me, I did realize I had in fact forgotten about the economy: I had enthusiastically purchased a dozen kits and become a FeeFlow Slackline dealer!
It’s addictive! It’s a profound workout and comes in handy for balance and coordination training. Surfers, rock climbers and a hefty chunk of regular folk are already out there slacking. Come join the craze.
Post-Paddle Power-Nap
Lake taking a power-nap after an afternoon paddle...
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
SUP Baby
Taking my own advice: I got off the couch and went for a late afternoon SUP session yesterday. It was a full-retreat really from a day of oppressive heat and humidity. We had to do something, but what’s a dad to do with his seven month old daughter and two golden retrievers when Mother Nature presses her hot hand down? How was I going to manage to cool this hot group by myself? Mom was off doing very important mom stuff so I had no support crew. As a knee-jerk reaction to the situation, heedless of the potential logistical quagmires my utterance might conjure, I said, “Let’s go to the beach”. The dogs stopped panting briefly to concur. My daughter, Lake doesn’t use words yet but I know she wanted to say: “heck yeah!”
I loaded up the dogs, my Naish Nalu SUP board, my Quick Blade paddle and my “favorite baby in the whole world” and headed to the lake. The beach was deserted, the breeze spirited and the sun just waning when we arrived. Hauling my board, paddle and baby I made for the water. The dogs were already swimming since they chose not to help me with the “luggage”. Lake was safe in her Baby Bjorn Comfort Carrier, riding my chest like a marsupial. Yes, I take my daughter SUPing. Why not? To you nay-sayers I will interject that I stay in shallow water over a sandy bottom since I don’t want to tempt fate. But to halt your active lifestyle when your baby arrives is to deprive you and your child of really living. Now, back to the story:
Lake and I have paddled together several times over the placid waters of Florida and here in Northern Michigan. She loves being on and in the water. And yesterday was no exception. However; yesterday something wonderful happened: we caught our first wave together. It was just happy happenstance; the right place at the right time. Our otherwise calm lake was disrupted by a double-over-ankle boat wake. A gentle lil’ wavelet snuck up behind us like the shadow of infant. It urged us shoreward. As paddling became gliding and gliding surfing, I instinctively began humming the theme song to Hawaii 5-O (not humming really, more of a do da do do do doooo… sort of thing). We were hanging-twenty! Lake gave a laugh that tickled my constitution. She shouted: “Do it again, Daddy”. Okay, that’s a lie, as I mentioned earlier, Lake is a tad reticent, she’s working on Momma and Dadda right now and even that’s more hopeful interpretation than truth. But I did do it again, Lake and I coveting the passage of another boat, the dogs in tow trying to keep pace…
Catching your first wave is akin to stealing your first perfect kiss: it’s peaceful and exhilarating at once. They both stir a fervent longing for “another”. It’s the feeling surfers call “stoke”. Stoke is not the threadbare cliché that some would have you believe; it’s getting hooked on the rush of quiet adrenalin. It’s a perfect kiss. It’s catching a wave… Lake is hooked! On surfing that is; kissing will have to take a back burner (with the gas shut off) until her teens at least.
Posted in Uncategorized
Leave a comment
