insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 14 - April 2016 | Page 46

HEALTH+WELLNESS

STAND UP PADDLEBOARDING

have fun while you
work on your waistline
Stand up paddleboarding, or SUP for short, is having a moment. A big moment. One of the fastest
growing watersports in the world, everyone who’s anyone is having a go; we can’t actually remember
the last time we saw Cameron Diaz off a stand up paddleboard. In 2013, it was hailed the outdoor
sporting activity with the most first-time participants of any in the USA that year, and the UK is getting
in on the action too with lots of people taking to the water as a great way to keep fit. This month,
Polly Humphris made it her mission to master the art of SUP. (Or at least get to standing on the board).

So what exactly is stand up paddleboarding?
Pretty much exactly what it says it is – pulling
yourself through open water using a long, singlebladed paddle while stood on an oversized
surfboard. An all over body workout, the
combination of balancing and paddling engages
every muscle from your core down to your feet,
and reaching forward with your blade for every
stroke is like contracting your abs into a crunch
and holding a squat every time you paddle.
Better still, you’re not dependent on waves or
weather conditions to get out on the water.
Which is how I found myself in Shoreham, on
the River Adur, on a wet and windy March day
having my first ever SUP lesson with Sasha
Chisholm, owner and instructor at Moxie
Unleashed. Before the words ‘wet and windy’,
or the idea of balancing, stood up on a board
in said wet and windy conditions puts you off
though, please bear with me. I was prepared to
fall in and out of the rippling, cold water at least
136 times, but I didn’t fall in once; and who
knew how warm wetsuits can keep a person?
So warm in fact that I’m thinking about getting
one just to wear casually next winter.
“A lot of people’s primary concern is that they
won’t be able to balance on the board, but
they are wide enough for you to steady yourself
pretty quickly,” Sasha told me. “I give beginners
a two-hour introductory session, taking 30
minutes to practice safety and technique out
of the water. I then ask them to kneel in the
middle of the board on flat, confined water until
they feel confident enough to balance standing.
After that, most people get comfortable with it
far quicker than they think they will. It’s such an
accessible sport too. I’ve taught people from
age 7 up to 75, of all shapes and sizes, and
there’s not one who hasn’t picked it up.”

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