SUP The Mag.com

Life Out Loud, Stand Up Paddling, SUP The Mag.com / 02.06.2013

A long, cold winter brought a late start to the standup paddling season in Wisconsin. With ice on the lakes around Madison clear through the first week of April, warm spring days we’ve been hoping for took their own sweet time coming around. But the weather seemed to open up with perfect timing to welcome a special guest from the islands of Hawaii. Courtesy of the local shop, Paddleboard Specialists, and Sandwich Island Composites (SIC) pro board rider Jeremy Riggs brought a little Pacific Ocean sunshine to the Dairyland, as well...

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...

Interview, Magazines, Shop Talk, SUP The Mag.com / 21.12.2012

Rob Bossen of Silver Creek Paddle & Company Based in Minneapolis, Minn., Silver Creek Paddling & Company delivers an exclusive assortment of Pau Hana Surf Supply standup paddle boards for racers, experienced fitness paddlers and those who are just starting out. In the middle of the country with paddling opportunities of all kinds, this little distribution center is helping to grow the sport in a big way. Not far from the Mississippi River, owner Rob Bossen said he’s excited to help aspiring paddlers discover the waterways right in their own...

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...