Foxen Canyon Wine Trail with Modo

Stand up Paddle Boarding

Since March we have been exploring a new wonderful sport, Stand up Paddle Boarding. After several months of rental membership from Paddle Sports of Santa Barbara (a really great place!), we fell in love with the sport. Stand up is like traditional surfing except that the boards are longer, often in the 10-12 foot range, and you use a paddle to propel yourself forward. On a stand up paddle board you can paddle around the ocean, soaking up the amazing views, or you can use the paddle to help catch a good wave ( We got the best barrels ever dude!). From our boards we have excellent views of the Santa Barbara coastline, Channel Islands, and Santa Ynez mountain range, and have seen seals, dolphins, pelicans, huge jellyfish, and many other marine wonders. The sport is an excellent core workout as well as being a relaxing activity. We decided on the following gear, which we got from the super friendly folks at SUP Sports:

Sweewawa's board is a Focus Hawaii 10'0"" Classic. This is a stunning board with a gorgeous bamboo veneer finish on both sides. The trim is purple which matches her Oneill wetsuit. We both got bamboo-finished Quickblade Kanaha Carbon Fiber Paddles, which are light, strong, and paddle fast.



I decided on a original board from SUP Sports, called the One World 11'1". This beautifully designed board has dual-side Australian pine veneer, and a sleek sky blue trim. It is fast for distance paddling but still has good maneuverability, even at over 11 feet in length. This board is so much fun.



Below are some early photos of us just learning to use the boards, off the Carpinteria, CA coastline near our home: