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St.
Croix Paddlesports - 7050 East Highway 101 - Shakopee, MN
55379 |
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Coming Soon! St.
Croix Stand-up Paddleboards! |
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A new brand of paddling is
sweeping the planet – stand-up paddleboarding!
While new to most, even seasoned surfers -
stand-up paddleboarding originated in ancient
Hawaii. It was rediscovered there a few years
ago and blasted into popularity. Now it’s
spreading to coastal areas all over the world,
and even migrating to inland lakes and streams. |
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Stand-up paddleboarding is for
everyone. Athletes, young kids, Hollywood stars
and active grandmas can be seen on stand up
paddleboards. There are varieties of boards
suited for many environments. Equipment needs
are simple – just a board, leash and paddle.
There are endless opportunities – surfing,
exercise, viewing wildlife, and even endurance
competitions on flat water. Because there is no
limit to what you can do with a paddleboard,
it’s something you can really “dig into” and
enjoy for many seasons to come. |
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What is it? Stand-up
paddleboarding (SUP) basically means standing on
a long surfboard (about 10-12ft) with a long
paddle – a paddle you can use while standing up.
Surfers have quickly figured out that you can
catch a wave much earlier with a SUP. SUPs are
also perfect for exercise on flat water because
you use all your muscles for balancing on the
board, and it’s an intensive core workout. |
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Flat Water Stand-Up
Paddleboarding |
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You don’t have to surf to enjoy a
stand-up paddleboard. When all is said and done,
stand-up paddleboarding, it seems, holds endless
possibilities. It’s great for cruising lakes,
drifting down rivers, and exploring bays and
estuaries. America’s beautiful outdoors are
yours for the paddling - waterways, rivers,
lakes and the ocean all become your own personal
playground. It’s a serene thing. You are out
there by yourself and you can be paddling along
and because you’re standing, you'll see schools
of fish and stingrays and you'll see the
contours of the reef, rocks and the sand bars
and the formations of kelp or grass, of all
these things that are going on around you. You
get that special spiritual connection with
nature. |
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Flat water stand-up paddling is a
great cross training exercise. It is very good
for aerobic and strength conditioning because
you use practically every muscle in your body to
paddle and keep your balance. If you put the
effort into your workout, it can really burn
some calories and strengthen your body’s core.
People everywhere are taking to it. There are
even extreme distance endurance competitions for
flat water stand-up paddleboards. In Hawaii,
some competitions are from one island to
another. |
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Stand-Up Paddleboard Surfing |
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Stand up paddle surfing entails
standing on a large longboard and propelling
oneself with essentially a long shafted paddle.
Recently, it has been taken up by surfers as a
different way to ride but also for exercise.
It’s been popularized by incredible feats of
famous paddlers like Archie Kalepa, who crossed
between Molokai and Oahu. And a paddleboard was
even piloted in 50-ft surf by Laird Hamilton at
Jaws. |
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An important aspect of stand-up
paddle surfing is its ability to catch smaller
waves. Near the beach this means waves can be
ridden longer because they can be caught early,
before they fully form. But it’s got important
ramifications for long-distance paddling. One
can travel great distances downwind by catching
and surfing wind waves. This entails paddling
down the coast with the prevailing winds and
catching the waves they create.
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