so this is my newest toy, it's called a stand up surfboard. "aren't all surfboards ones you stand up on?" you ask. well yeah, but this is different, it's technically a stand up paddle surfboard or what they are calling SUP (stand up paddle) or SUB (stand up board). it's kinda a new twist on an ancient royal sport, yeah i said royal.
some history, very abridged, back in the brief time between when ol' whitey first landed on the beautiful hawaiian isles and when the following exploiters, i mean explorers, attempted to westernize, or i guess at that time religify (catholify? eurofy?) the "heathen aborigines" they were treated to the spectacle of scantily clad (sometimes fully nude) hawaiian royalty doing their water walking thing. as much as most surfers would love to tell you that the explorers were amped on the surfing they were witnessing, think about that fact that these sailors had been at sea for a pretty long time, put yourself in their shoes now, you land in this tropical paradise, the natives are friendly, they can cook a mean pig in the ground, they slide huge logs on waves and they like to play naked. what's not to like? sign me up.
ok i have just totally bastardized the history of the hawaiian people, and i hope they don't hold it against me, once i have had sometime on my new board, i will post pictures and stories about just how much fun it is, and just how much it is kicking my butt.
go check out these sites, they paint way better pictures of what stand up is all about.
paddle hawaii
standup paddles
