Sharon gets her Victoria SUP on…

Two 11' SUPs and paddles....oh ya!

Sharon and I rode down to the Gorge with a couple stand up paddle boards. This was her first SUP session in Victoria and her first ever bike powered SUP session…=-)

Sharon paddling her pink SUP...

We cruised east towards the inner harbour…the opposite direction to my solo SUP paddle a couple of weeks ago.  This meant we headed into a moderate headwind which made for harder paddling, but an easy return trip.  Surprisingly the waterfront between the paddle club where we launched and the inner harbour was very very industrial.

Sharon SUPing with a cement factory in the background...

We paddled past a cement factory, a car wrecker, a couple of ship building yards and some construction sites.  It wasn’t too hard to make it to the dock below the Ocean River Kayak shop…which is also a handy place to access MEC and other downtown stores.  I’m hoping they’ll let me lock up my SUP on their dock so I can do some SUP powered errands instead of biking every time.

Sharon takes a break at the Ocean River docks...

We turned back before getting to the inner harbour since this was Sharon’s first SUP paddle in months we didn’t want to overdo it.  On a good day I should be able to paddle the whole Gorge.

Sharon doing some 70's themed SUPing...

Sharon had a great time, but we had a flat tire problem on my Surly Big Dummy when we rode home…=-(  *sigh*  It added a long hot delay into our return voyage.  I’ll be making sure I’m fully stocked for tools, pump and supplies in the future.

Deep SUP

Image: Deep Magazine

The Easy Rider Iceman!

Warren from The Easy Rider in Edmonton, Alberta – got his winter SUP paddling habit on the news….=-)

I’m kind of glad that it’s too hot at 8am in La Ventana to wear a t-shirt when SUPing!

Starboard

Blue Camo Porn

Paddling a Starboard Ultimate Blend

SUP in the AM

Collin tries out my Foote SUP

SUP Ladies?

Pretty in Pink?

How to get your lady stoked about Stand Up Paddkle boards?  Get one in pink or it could be lavendar…lol…need to verify at the beach and let her know so she can bring the appropriate paddling outfit….=-)

You can even get a matching paddle!

I stopped by Stand Up Paddle Sports in Santa Barbra California for some SUP therapy.  They had a huge selection of boards and accessories…sort of like SUP heaven…=-)  I got a spare paddle and some leashes as well as a bunch of spare fins and accessories like locks and bags for my SUPs.  I also scored the pinkish SUP in the photos.  It’s an 11′ x 30″ Bill Foote SUP that will be a good match for the used Starboard 11’2″ x 30″ SUP I got from The Easy Rider in Edmonton.  So I’ve got two all rounders that my GF and I can paddle together [naturally she'll want the pink one!] and I’ve got the 9’8″ x 30″ Starboard which is a dedicated surfing machine.

More pink SUP porn...=-)

I wish I had more time in Santa Barbara I would’ve liked a couple days of SUP surfing lessons.  I’ll mess around on my own in La Ventana and perhaps I’ll be able to fit some real surfing lessons in on my way home.

Note: all photos are from the Stand up Paddle Sports Blog

SUP Porn

Photo: Unique Media and Design

There is some great SUP action photography here.

Calgary Sun SUP

photo: www.paddlesurf.ca

I was suprised to find an article from the Calgary Sun newspaper about SUP posted on the Paddle Surf.ca website.  I didn’t realize stand up paddle boarding was on the radar in Calgary at all.  I guess I was wrong.

Easy Riders Edmonton SUP

Winter SUP

I’m up in Edmonton Alberta Canada for a day to visit my friends Jeff and Jo-Ann.  Since I had some time to kill before I met up with them I decided to check out Easy Rider.  Easy Rider is a board sports store that sells stand up paddle boards and related gear as well as the more common snowboard gear.  I had a hard time finding them on Google so I figured I’d post about them to make them an easier target for others searching for stand up paddle boards and gear in the Edmonton area.

Easy Rider stocks Naish and Starboard SUPs as well as paddles and accessories from Dakine, C4, Naish, etc…

The staff was super friendly and they are clearly stoked about SUP which is great.  They have regular paddle sessions so I’ll definitely have to come up to Edmonton next summer a couple times to paddle with their crew.  They have a sister site documenting their SUP exploits at Canada SUP.  It’s cool to see that cold water and our cooler climate aren’t getting in the way of having some fun outdoors on SUPs.