Inflatable Kayak Blog

By Sam Wright

“Hoe he’e nalu.” I couldn’t help but listen when I heard this strange word in the next room. Imagine my shock when I overheard my mother-in-law talking to her friend from Maui who was visiting and realized that these two ladies were discussing stand up paddle boards. Someone told me years ago that if you heard of something new that within twenty four hours, you would hear about it again. That must be true because only yesterday at work, one of the guys was talking about how he was into stand up surfing on a paddle board. He discovered that it was the perfect cross training workout. This dude is the real athlete who only works to pay the bills. His passion in life is his weekend marathons, white water trips, sky diving, and most anything on water.

Last winter he took up snowboarding and he said his instructor also recommended using the stand up paddle board for full body exercise. He said it was the best thing he found for a strong core workout. He explained this really isn’t new and as I joined my mother-in-law and her friend, they told me how this was an ancient form of surfing. The Hawaiian’s have been doing this for years. She said a lot of the instructors liked to do this because of the visibility. They could watch a large group of surfers by this method. In fact the visibility was one of the amazing benefits of this type of sport. You could enjoy a warm coastal climate, and have a better view of the horizon than almost any other type of activity.

My friend at work said it felt like walking on water. I shared his stories with the ladies and the friend from Maui said that Maui was about as close to Heaven as you could get so walking on water made a lot of sense. She invited me and my family to visit and I’m definitely getting a stand up paddle board when I get ready for this trip.

The author, Sam Wright is Kentucky born and bred. Sam lives with his wife and two sons and often enjoys the many lakes and rivers in his beautiful state. Sam occasionally writes about his adventures and enjoys sharing his journeys.