SUP Mag UK lo-res free to readers July 2014 lo-res - free to read | Page 28

Curious about SUP,
the sun shining and a light breeze blowing,
it was time to introduce my mate to the
sport. His level of interest was more or less
based on scepticism, not unbridled
enthusiasm. His view, like so many
thousands of others naturally gifted at
sports pursuits, was that SUP sport seemed
somewhat baseless and that learning
required no particular skill other than the
existence of a pulse, backed up by much of
the literature which continues to promote
the experience akin to being just above the
level of sitting on the couch watching
sport, rather than doing it.
Knowing his level of athleticism and
ignoring most of what all good instructional
organisations would deem to be ideal
conditions, we would take on a 4 knot crosscurrent, zigzagging weekend yachties and
power boaters, choppy water and an 8 knot
head wind. I opted to provide him with a
14ft MI Mistral iSUP, ZRE paddle and XM
knee leash. In short he was getting good kit
and further more, dare I say it, me. After
sharing a few pearls of wisdom, we set off.

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Starting out on his knees as instructed,
he paddled the first 500m, over the worst
of the choppy waters and current and
when clear of boat traffic, took to his feet.
He ‘paddle-wobbled’ while I gave a few
cursory lines of encouragement and let
him indulge in the much underrated
process of discovery learning. Twenty
minutes, three falls and a couple of swear
words later, we reached the beach we had
set out for.

Not ‘easy’
He was shattered and had a look of
incredulity on his face, which said it all.
Not ‘easy’ in fact. He had had an
epiphany that SUP-sport is in fact
anything but - though in truth, I had
made sure it wasn't, as the last thing I
wanted was to have him maintaining his
belief that the sport appeared pointless.
Falling off had elevated his experience in
connecting him with the medium with
which he was working and because the
water was choppy, you could visibly see
his legs shaking from the feet right up to

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