Stand Up Paddling

Business, Interview, Life Out Loud, Madison, Magazines, Stand Up Paddling, SUP The Mag.com / 08.04.2013

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. By 1996, Stone opened shop in a new spot where he could service a growing national audience by way of mail order, and today, Isthmus Sailboards is a remote showroom. Stone does a steady...

Magazines, Stand Up Paddling, SUP The Mag.com / 06.02.2013

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 clinics, there is also a growing need to establish professional standards for safety and best practices in board handling. Offering certification courses meant to teach the teachers, twin watermen Dick and Dane DeBoer...

Business, Climate Change, Cool on Kickstarter, Environmental Journalism, Green Economics, Interview, Magazines, Stand Up Paddling, SUP The Mag.com / 15.01.2013

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, it’s continuing to lay waste to millions of trees across the west. Surrounded by a tremendous fire hazard, as well as an overwhelming surplus of perfectly good wood, land owners and the local bureau...

Business, Gear Review, Magazines, Stand Up Paddling, SUP The Mag.com / 12.12.2012

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 I’m not the problem. Long, slow training days trading strokes on the water made me want some kind of change. But when I ventured out for the first time on the Cross-Fit SUP...

Adventure Media Review, Madison, NPR, Podcast, Public Radio, Stand Up Paddling / 23.03.2012

[caption id="attachment_7013" align="aligncenter" width="501"] photo by Nick Berard[/caption] 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 with my digital recorder to gather sound and an experience to write a short essay. ~JEM SUP Wisconsin ​Spring has come early to Wisconsin this year. It’s a warm day in March when I strap...

Adventure Activism, Adventure Media Review, Environmental Protection, Examiner.com, Stand Up Paddling / 17.08.2011

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 conservation goals to document an amazing athletic achievement.