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Paddle-boarding, an offshoot of surfing, can be practice in different ways. In its most traditional version, participants lie or kneel on a paddleboard or surfboard, and propel themselves by means of a swimming motion with their arms. Another version is stand up paddle-boarding, in which the participants maintain an upright stance on their boards. They propel themselves by means of a paddle. Well-trained paddlers can do a 20-mile (32 km) race only as a warm-up.

The Miami and Fort Lauderdale area, due to its perfect combination of urban parks located near the ocean, and canals and rivers that spur out of the city, has seen a very important growth in the practice of paddle-boarding in recent years. The following tricks for stand up paddle-boarding may help you to impress friends, family, and everyone else when you go for a relaxing day on the beach, the canal, or the river with them. However, if you plan to try these maneuvers, do it in an environment safe enough for you and all those around you.

The just jump move Well, not exactly, but something like that. You may perhaps have tried to jump over a paddle back and forth when you are on land. That can be tricky sometimes, but probably you have succeeded with no great effort on your side. Now try to do the same on a paddleboard on the water, and you will find that things get much more complicated, but much more exciting and fun at the same time. If you enjoy the difficulty of keeping your balance standing on a board, you will love the experience of jumping over your paddle back and forth, at least before you fall down into the water.

Image courtesy of Ines Hegedus-Garcia at Flickr.com

The 360° move As also happens in life, sometimes you want to go neither forward nor backward in paddle-boarding. You just want to spin around because, well, because it is a lot of fun to revolve around one’s own axis on the water sometimes. This move usually takes place on whitewater. First of all, you set up at the top of a wave. Once you are sure that you can keep your balance there, you start paddling on backside. Then you establish forward momentum, plant the paddle across your nose, and pull hard, making sure to keep the board flat. You will see that this move will impress everyone, and that you will become the hero for the day in that way.

The blender This move introduces a new element in the 360° move, but with the difference that it does not need to take place in whitewater. In fact, it probably works better in still water. You start by standing on the back of the board, holding your paddle firmly on your right or left side, depending on whether you are right- or left-handed. Then you start paddling on backside vigorously, and you will see that your board immediately turns into a furious blender machine in the middle of the water. Although well… in fact you will not be able to blend anything with this move, but you will quickly realize how much fun it is to do it.

Image courtesy of Ingrid Taylar at Flickr.com

The 180° blender move This move combines the previous ones in a way that will make everyone clap after you do it. In this case, you start by standing around the middle of the board, holding your paddle firmly again. Then you move forward, do a 180 degree turn, keeping always your balance, and still holding it firmly, get your paddle behind you. At this moment, you paddle once, but vigorously, and you will see that your board immediately becomes a blender machine even more powerful than the previous one. A move that you will surely enjoy in a sunny day.

With your feet on the air Finally, if you want to feel more adventurous, try something that may appear harder for many.One option is simply to modify your whole experience, and start doing handstands on your paddle-board. This sort of move may even become the beginning of a different way to enjoy paddle-boarding. It will prepare you for other activities, such as the practice of yoga on a paddle-board.

Written by Patrick Dwyer. To read the original article, click here. Hydrobabe is the creator of The Paddle Purse™, the waterproof backpack that allows you to keep all your essentials with you, so you can stay on the water longer. To find out more, please visit our website at www.hydrobabe.com.

Word on the Water is our chance to pick the brains of the SUP community for insight on the state of SUP—past, present and future. For every issue, we ask a handful of standup paddlers from all walks of life to muse on a topic related to the sport. The result is an amalgam of perspectives and musings that we publish and share with the community at large in hopes of inspiring thought and dialog about our favorite pastime.

For our Winter 2015 issue—on newsstands now—we asked a group of spectators at the 2015 U.S. Open of SUP in Huntington Beach to share their thoughts on the future of SUP, specifically, where will SUP be in five years?

Brandi Brady

Hometown: Jupiter, Florida Occupation: Full-time SUP mom to Giorgio and Izzi Gomez Board design is going to get smaller and smaller and we’ll see it move more toward a shortboard style. Everybody will own a standup paddleboard because anyone can do it. Hopefully we’ll see it make its way into the Olympics and into the Pan American Games.

Kalani and Kainoa Delarole

Hometown: North Shore, Oahu Occupation: Elementary school students Kalani: It looks like it’s going to be big. Guys are going to be really good, and maybe they’re going to make better tricks, like an air backflip 360. Kainoa: I think there are going to be different boards. Maybe wooden ones.

Fernando Stalla

Hometown: Sayulita, Mexico Occupation: Professional standup paddler In five years I see it becoming one of the main watersports—catching up to shortboard surfing. Professionally, it’s going to become very serious. As a professional athlete, it’s going to be hard years to stay on the top.

Johnny DeCesare

Hometown: Hermosa Beach, California Occupation: Filmmaker Lakes and oceans will be full of standup paddlers. I think every surfer will have some sort of standup paddleboard in their quiver. The current generation of surfers in their 30s and 40s are going to start moving over to standup and there will be another boom.

Guilherme Lima

Hometown: São Paulo, Brazil Occupation: Pharmaceutical Company Director The equipment will become cheaper and more young people and even older people will start practicing more. In Brazil, it is popular to practice in rivers and small lakes. This is good because you can have the sport in countries where not everyone has contact with the ocean.

Heather Nicole Wilcox

Hometown: New Smyrna Beach, Florida Occupation: Residential Contractor Surfing is on the table to be in the Olympics in Japan, so I’m hoping that in five years standup will be there as well. SUP surfing, open-ocean racing, flatwater racing—any of it has potential to make the Olympics.

Written by SUP Magazine. To read the original article, click here. Hydrobabe is the creator of The Paddle Purse™, the waterproof backpack that allows you to keep all your essentials with you, so you can stay on the water longer. To find out more, please visit our website at www.hydrobabe.com.

On Saturday we headed out to the Atlantic Ocean on a sea kayaking adventure. Puffins, eagles, sea caves and more made for a very cool Something Saturday!

There are numerous sea kayaking tours on offer around Newfoundland, but we opted for the tour offered by The Outfitters down in Bay Bulls, just 40 minutes outside of town. We had heard good things, and we weren’t disappointed.

The tour started at 9am: quite early for a Saturday, but it was nice to be out and about in such fine sunny weather. Once we arrived at the kayaking place our guide suited us up and took us down to the water’s edge to hop in our double kayak.

Down by the shore, getting ready to hop in the kayak.

Setting out into the bay was awesome. The weather was nice and calm, and the sea was amazingly calm. After getting used to the steering and getting into the rhythm we started making our way out of the bay, right out onto the Atlantic Ocean.

Along the way, we made a couple of detours. We explored inside a huge sea cave, being careful not to get washed up onto the rocks as the huge ocean swells came in. We also kayaked around some sea stacks, and happened upon a bald eagle who was nesting near by.

Inside a sea cave.

Sea stack.

We eventually made it out of the bay onto the ocean, and were very happy that the weather was so sunny and calm. On more typical Newfoundland days, there would have been waves reaching 20 feet or more up the cliffs, but we were able to kayak right up to and in between the sea stacks that lined the coast, only occasionally having to paddle hard to avoid getting washed onto the rocks. It was really spectacular: red cliffs rising up on one side, and open ocean on the other (Europe only a 42 day kayak trip away!). We also spotted a fair few jellyfish floating near the surface, and one puffin, who quickly dove out of sight never to be seen again.

Out on the open ocean.

Navigating between sea stacks.

The journey back to shore was a little tougher than the way out. We now had to contend with a wind that seemed intent on pushing us back out to sea, or at least soaking us with a few waves (luckily for Luke, Elizabeth took the brunt of most of these waves since she was sat in the front of the kayak).

After a few rest stops in sheltered coves along the way, we finally made it back to shore. Having worked up an appetite out on the sea we grabbed a quick fish ‘n’ chips before heading back to town. We had been meaning to go sea kayaking for a while, and were not at all disappointed. It was a really amazing experience that we’d recommended to everyone. One of the top things to do in Newfoundland!

Curious what we were doing this time last year? Well, we were taking advantage of St. John’s Doors Open Days! It’s a weekend when buildings that are normally closed to the public or require an entrance fee welcome visitors to drop in for free. Last year on Doors Open Days we visited the Supreme Court of Newfoundland as well as the local Masonic Temple.

And two years ago? Well, we did the same thing! Almost. We also participated in the Doors Open Days festivities, but we went all out exploring the Anglican Cathedral, Central Fire Station, James J. O’Mara Pharmacy Museum, and the Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove Museum. Another epic day.

Originally published on SomethingSaturdays.com. To read the original article, click here. Hydrobabe is the creator of The Paddle Purse™, the waterproof backpack that allows you to keep all your essentials with you, so you can stay on the water longer. To find out more, please visit our website at www.hydrobabe.com.

Style has hit the water with the Hydrobabe for all you ladies. This is like a waterproof backpack aka purse for the water. You can store all your important items such as keys, money, cell phone and sunscreen. It has three pockets one being a mesh net that is at the bottom of the bag. This is used for you water bottle to be stored and out of the way with easy access. The other is a zipper pocket that you can store your sunscreen, lip balm and other small waterproof items. Then you have the dry bag which is big enough for a small jacket, keys, money, snacks, cell phone and even your flip flops. It is very important these days when out paddling to have your phone on you just due to you never know what can happen or what you may see. I always have my phone with me in a waterproof case just so if I see a epic moment for a great photo or if something was to ever happen when paddling.

With the Hydrobabe you can just put your phone in the dry bag with or without a waterproof case and be safe out on the water. The one great thing about the Hydrobabe is that you can pack enough stuff for a day trip of paddling in it. It has a neoprene fabric on the back of the bag which makes it comfortable against your skin this is a key part of the bag. With doing several hours out on the water wearing the bag it was never uncomfortable and with the neoprene fabric it didn’t stick to your skin or shirt do to your sweat. It has a couple hooks attached to the bag so if you don’t want to wear it as a backpack and want to attach it to the board you can. This is a good when the sun is out and you don’t want those tan lines. With the bag attached to the front of the board it will still keep your items safe and dry. The Hydrobabe is the perfect accessory for the paddler who loves doing yoga out on the water due to all the key features that it offers and small enough not to take up that much room on the front of your board. No more making trips to and from your car getting stuff the Hydrobabe is worn as a backpack freeing up your hands to carry your board and paddle. Pack all your key items and hit the water and look great wearing the Hydrobabe.

Key Features of the Hydrobabe:

Waterproof

Store key items

Small

Comfortable

Backpack

Simple

This article was originally written and featured on SUP California. To view the original article, please click here. For more information and to order your Paddle Purse by Hydrobabe today, please click here.