It’s August and it’s summer in the Marshwood Vale. Being only 15 minutes away from the coast what could possibly be better than trying out a new activity?
A couple of weeks ago I decided to book a stand up paddle boarding lesson with Sarah from Bay Paddle Boarding. Putting the thought of great white sharks and manowar jelly fish out of mind I arrived at West Bay feeling determined to conquer the waves!
The very smiley and bubbly Sarah was absolutely lovely. We had a quick chat about the basics of SUP and then got straight out onto the water. The waves were a challenge. Sarah quickly give me a few tips such as pointing the front of the board straight into the waves and making a strong deep paddle action to get myself moving. Within the first 30 seconds I realised that this was going to be a lot harder than I first thought. My legs were shaking and I was wobbling around on my knees trying my best not to fall off before I’d even left the shore line.
Success! I thought (as I quickly got the hang of steering and turning around). Ten minutes in and my quads (muscles group front of thighs) were screaming. Imagine doing a ten minute squat hold and now imagine how that would feel if you couldn’t get away from it! Alternative was to stand up and potentially fall off (which is exactly what I did) Ha!. Trying to stand up on the stand-up paddleboard in the sea when you don’t have sea legs is trickier than you might think.
Thanks to Sarah I conquered my fear, took myself outside of my comfort zone and as a result have become a massive fan of SUP. Can’t wait for next year. I’ll be back out on the board and hopefully with better sea legs next time. 🙂