To enter to the sea being to 5 centimeters on the water, only with an oar and a board where you must make balance, can you imagine it?
The "Stand Up Paddle Board" (SUP) is the new adventure I'm venturing into. It's basically a surfboard with a paddle where you can navigate. If you go standing, kneeling or sitting, balance is key in this sport, otherwise you may end up in the water.
There are several modalities of SUP, where you can slide on the waves (most similar to surfing but with an oar), doing yoga, running or just surfing. The latter, called "touring", is the one I am practicing.
For each modality there are tables or rather "long boards". For example, for stroke mode, ideal boards are the longest and narrowest because they are faster; To "cross" the best are the wide and long because they are more stable and spacious, so the Paddleboarder can carry the necessary implements to spend hours sailing. I only specify these two types of tables because they are the ones I have used.
In action!
My first time at the table was with some great friends; Two of them are lovers of water sports, and they were the ones who motivated us.
Together with Martín, Alba, Engel, Aurora and Carlos.
In our first tour we didn't go very far, it was a day of adaptation, of relating to the sport. I confess that I felt nervous when approaching the board, but that day it rained, and that helped a lot; The water was calm, and honestly it was magical, it was a sublime experience.
The second time, feeling more confident, we were transferred to Playa Cangrejo, on the banks of El Morro Hill; In total we travel about 4 kilometers. On that occasion the emotion were caused by the jellyfish (in Venezuela we call them "aguamalas"), that they were swimming all the way; Were between white and transparent, of various sizes, it was very beautiful to see them.
In the third course we feel totally daring and we sail from Playa Lido to the Aquarium, another sector of El Morro where the water is crystal clear and a coral reef with a diversity of marine fauna can be visualized; If the fact of doing Paddleboard in the rain is amazing, imagine throwing the look at the water and find this surprise. This time we moved about 5 kilometers.
After the third time we have returned to surf but within walking distance, as we have taken other friends to practice the sport for the first time. But our next adventure will be to travel about 15 kilometers from Playa Mansa (also in Lecheria) to Playa Lido.
The Paddleboard is really amazing, once you hold confidence to your board there will be no one to stop you, at least that's how I feel at the moment. If you are going to start in this sport the first thing I recommend is that you become familiar with your implements; On the shore I climbed on the board, I walked on it, I swung, I made some rather sudden movements, I got up holding it on the water, and in no way turned, so that was how I achieved the security I now feel.
We practice this wonderful sport thanks to the school Lido Kite, in Playa Lido, Lechería, they rent the boards and also teach different water sports; They are there on weekends from 6:00 a.m.