About a year ago, I saw what appeared to be a man standing up in the middle of the Hudson River. That is about all I could see.  He appeared to making a sweeping motion with his hands and arms and looked to be holding a broom stick of some sort.  As he got closer I could see that he was standing on a rather wide surf board and the  broomstick was a paddle. He was paddling standing up, which to a kayaker like myself seemed both tiring and a bit perilous.

Now it appears that SUP, stand-up paddling, has hit the mainstream. Both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times (twice) have featured SUP in articles within the last several weeks.  The sport has its own magazine, books, DVDs and of course, lots of gear.  It all still looks a bit odd to a SDP (Sitting Down Paddler) like me, but it is intriguing nevertheless.

Surf’s Up: The Rise of Stand-up Paddle Boards

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