• Great for anyone: Ranging from expert to novice, paddle sports are open to all fitness levels. Gentle on the body, paddle sports are great for older folks and young children. Just remember if you are not a strong swimmer or are going into rocky or fast flowing water, it’s a good idea to wear a life jacket and take a buddy with you.
• Enhances cardio-respiratory system: Paddle sports improve your lungs’ ability to provide oxygen to your body and reduces the risk for heart attack and heart disease. At least 30 minutes of steady exercise is linked to a decrease in heart disease.
• Offers low impact exercise: Paddle sports engage all parts of the body, developing muscles in your back, legs, and arms. Specific muscles that these sports engage include: quads, hamstrings, glutes, lats, core, shoulders, triceps, back and biceps. Rowing, kayaking, canoeing and paddle boarding are also easy on the body, offering a low impact workout that allows you to build muscle strength without the wear and tear on your joints. The gentle motion of paddling may prevent injuries from occurring or worsening. These sports allow you to get in a good workout without damaging your joints.
• Great for cross training: Paddle sports provide you a good activity to incorporate into your workout routine. Paddle sports can be a good alternative for people experiencing stress fractures or shin splints as they can give you time to heal without interrupting your workout routine. Take a break from running or lifting weights and give your body a rest from high impact activity.
• Promotes weight loss: Paddle sports promote weight loss in a low impact and easy setting. Paddle sports are calorie crushing workouts that at a moderate pace can burn up to 600 calories per hour. Beyond weight loss, regular activity decreases your risk for weight related problems such as diabetes and heart disease.
• Improved balance: Keeping balance on the water is tough, especially if in open water like the ocean where there are waves. Paddle sports improve balance by strengthening core muscles and training you to stay upright and stable while standing or sitting on the board/kayak. Your body will adapt to the movement of the water, making it easier for you to keep your balance.
• Reduces stress: Paddle sports offer a way to enjoy time in the sun in a relaxing and stress reducing environment while working out. The repetition and motion of rowing can be very relaxing, as is being out on the open water. Many find relaxation in watching the paddles propel thought the water. Enjoy the scenery as you paddle through a creek or the shoreline of the ocean.

Grab a friend and paddle your way to a happier and healthier lifestyle- don’t forget to enjoy the weather and scenery too!

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Modern standup paddleboarding began in the 1940s in Waikiki.

John Ah Choy was a local Hawaiian who surfed, but as he got older and was unable to get up and down from his board, he would stand on his board from the break and paddle out with a canoe paddle to catch waves. His sons, Leroy and Bobby Ah Choy, and their friend,Duke Kahanamoku, started to mimic this while they taught surfing to visiting tourists. They did this as a way to keep an eye on surf students while also monitoring the incoming swell.

They also utilized the vantage point of being out on the water to take pictures. As the style became popular with other surfers, it took on the name Beach Boy Surfing after the instructors, who were called Waikiki Beach Boys.

Steve West credits outrigger canoeing combined with surfing as the basis of SUP, since the individual skills (board riding and paddling) already existed.In the 1990s Laird Hamilton redefined and modernized standup paddleboarding as a sport.In 2004, SUP surfing was added as a category in the Buffalo Big Board Contest.

Standup paddleboarding has diversified from a variation of surfing into racing, touring, yoga, whitewater, and fishing. Its surfing heritage coupled with its various disciplines make the sport attractive and accessible to everyone, regardless of ability.

The first magazine devoted to the sport, Standup Journal, was founded in June 2007.

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In addition to the single-person versions that look like modern kayaks, they also used umiaqs– larger kayaks that could carry entire families and their possessions. Some umiaqs were as long as 60 feet (18.3 meters).

The smaller kayaks were primarily used for hunting. The word kayak actually means “hunter’s boat.” Kayaks are ideal for hunting because of their stealth nature. Inuits could sneak up on unsuspecting animals on the shoreline or in the water.

The kayak found its way to Europe in the early to mid-1800s as a soft-sided frame boat, and German and French men soon began kayaking for sport. Kayaks also maintained their practical use in icy waters — explorers of the North Pole and South Pole carried them in their expeditions. Soon after, kayakers got a little adventurous, in 1931, a man named Adolf Anderle became the first person to kayak down the Salzachofen Gorge. This may have been the birth of modern white-water kayaking. The International Scale of River Difficulty was established not long after to classify how dangerous a river’s rapids were — the same classification system used today.

In 1936, the Olympics included kayak races in the Berlin games. The United States began to get on board at this point, as did women — two years after the Olympics, Genevieve De Colmont paddled the white-water of the Green and Colorado rivers. Fiberglass “rigid” kayaks came on the scene in the 1950s and were the standard until polyethylene plastic took over in the 1980s. Kayaking enjoyed modest participation as a fringe sport in the U.S. until the 1970s, when it began to move more to the mainstream. Now the Olympic Games feature more than 10 different white-water kayak events.

Book a transfer to the beach with a kayaking session today.