The Joy Trip Project

SUP evangelist Gary Stone has been in business since 1984. His shop Paddleboard Specialists is a fascinating study in the course of evolution surf sports has taken to transform itself into a popular activity with broad appeal. Originally at a retail location called Isthmus Sailboards in Madison, Wisconsin, Stone started off selling boards for windsurfing. [...]

As standup paddling has exploded in popularity, the number of new enthusiasts and instructors eager to teach has also grown. The short learning curve and minimal equipment required to paddle is allowing the sport to spread like a virus. But with this influx of new users, rental programs, race events, on-water yoga lessons and stroke [...]

Growth in the world of SUP takes shape in all forms and Ryan Wibeck’s Carve Industries of Lyons, Colo. is making a bold statement through a line of handmade standup and surfboards made exclusively from wood of beetle-killed pine trees. As climate change and a warming planet make the weather more hospitable to the dreaded pine beetle, [...]

After three years on the same standup board, it was time for an upgrade. When it comes to my personal equipment, I need to know that the gear will make a difference before I make an investment in something more advanced. Still uncertain of my paddling skills and relative fitness, I’m never completely sure that [...]

Podcast: Play in new window | Embed Recently I was asked to create at story about outdoor recreation for the Wisconsin Public Radio program ‘Wisconsin Life‘. With such unseasonably warm weather I managed to get my stand up paddle board out onto Madison’s lakes earlier  than ever before. So I went out on Lake Wingra [...]

An open water channel crossing of the Hawaii Islands will always make for good cinema. And in that Destination 3 Degrees, a film by Chris Aguilar and Soul Surf Media Productions, does not disappoint. Though hardly a triumph of movie-making, the film pulls together the key components of a complex recipe that blends adventure and [...]