Travel Chat

Summer Bucket List: Stand Up Paddle Boarding!

A few weeks ago I shared my Summer Bucket List and one of the things on the list was to go stand up paddle boarding.  This week I checked it off the list!  Y’all should probably know a couple of things about me before I tell you about my SUP adventures…

1. I am willing to try almost anything at least once.  There is not guarantee I will be any good, but I am at least willing to try!

2. I am not the most coordinated person and I am not even going to elaborate further on this because it will not help anyone’s perception of me lol!

We got off to a little bit of a rocky start as my sister’s paddle got away from us and I had zero ability to steer my paddle board in the direction of her wayward paddle. After eventually collecting the paddle we navigated our way out from the dock and out into the open waters of the bay. It was time to check this activity off the summer bucket list! As you plan your summer bucket list make sure you include a stand up paddle board outing with all your summer fun in the sun!

What I quickly learned about SUP is that I should probably not enter any competitions any time soon!  Here’s what was going through my mind while we were heading out…

Where in the world is my paddle supposed to go to steer me in the right direction?

How in the world am I supposed to keep up with the rest of these girls who seem to be cruising along like professionals?

How do I avoid running into any one of the boats docked along the channel?

Is my sunscreen wearing off or am I still protected from turning as red as a lobster?

How do I stay balanced so I don’t tip to one side or the other?

And then a boat approaches.  At the same time as all of these thoughts are swirling through my mind.  People this is going to be a problem because I was so busy thinking I didn’t even notice what trails behind a boat.

It’s wake.

Y’all as soon as I hit the wake I toppled right into the water and came up sputtering!  But here’s what’s important to note…I managed to keep my sunglasses on!

But I recovered, got back up and back out into the water.  And it was going okay until we tried to navigate back into to the dock to return our paddle boards.  And I once again toppled right into the water.   Like fifteen feet away from being safely back on land. Ugghh!

After my second time falling into the water, my sister looked at me and asked, “Why do you try to catch yourself with your face?”  Well I surely wasn’t trying to catch myself with my face, but remember how I said I’m not super coordinated?  I don’t know how to catch myself any other way!

Despite falling into the water twice, I had a good time and I would definitely try it again!

Have you tried SUP before?  Do you have any tips for me?  Any other outdoor summer-time activities you’d recommend adding to the summer bucket list?

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