Caladesi Monthly Paddle Social 3-26

Stand Up Fitness/ Kahuna Kai's monthly paddle social was a huge success. We met at the Dunedin Causeway and made the .75 mile or so paddle across to Caladesi Island State Park. I described this paddle a couple of weeks ago in a previous post with some awesome shelling pictures. This paddle didn't involve quite as many shells, but made up for it with many new friends. There were more than 20 paddlers on the water enjoying a beautiful day in the upper 70's. Everyone from first time SUP'ers to racers enjoyed this perfect spot. Brody and Jesse even brought the next great paddler, their new son Jonah aka "JAWs". The tide was out and made for quite a different paddle than last time. A sand bar that was covered on our previous paddle proved to be a great landing spot. Sponges, full shells, and star fish were to be found. Small bonnet head sharks, rays, and dolphins made this a truly pristine eco tour. It was really fun to see small groups of paddlers form and explore different areas. Some headed for the mangrove mazes, some explored the pine island to the east, some went shelling, some hung on the beach, and some even went tandem paddling on the Yak. This place has so many diverse areas to explore and is truly one of the bay areas gems. If you missed out on this paddle The Kahuna Kai Adventure Center will run weekly 3 hour Sunday tours! Call 727-742-8870 or check out Standupfitnessinc.com for more details. After the paddle many of the crew dined together in our ever growing SUP community. However, Erica and I decided to hold off on the food and wait around for the sunset. Our patience was rewarded with a spectacular light show courtesy of mother nature. It doesn't get much better than this. Slideshow time!

YOW with Paddle Board Orlando

Friday was an amazing day! I teamed up with Kim from paddleboard Orlando paddleboardorlando.com, and got a few of my coworkers and clients out for their first paddle. Being that we were all fitness buffs Kim and i didn't exactly take it easy on them. We taught paddle basics and went the .75 miles out to dog island in the middle of lake maitland. We were on our way to muddlake for a fitness class, when my buddy Bruce got caught watching the fisherman who hooked a bass and whoops he went in. The cold water didn't ruin Bruce's spirits as he didn't even want to towel off. He wanted to just keep going fully addicted. After that I went into paddlefit mode as I took the group through pushups, squats, sprint paddles, and core work. If that wasn't enough Kim took us through some YOW. What awesome stuff. If you are ever in Orlando you must seek Kim out for this unique paddle experience. Kim and I are getting together again this Thursday to brainstorm and there will be many more groups in O-town. Thanks again Kim. You only live once! YOLO! Enjoy the slide show at the bottom.

Intro to Paddlefit at Vinoy Park St. Pete

Spring is finally here! What a beautiful day this Saturday was! It around 80 with a light breeze. We were in Clearwater again for the weekend so I decided to go help Brody Welte of standupfitnessinc.com out with the intro to paddle fit. We had a strong turnout with about 10 people out. The only problem was that 7 of them have never paddled before. No worries, it became a lesson. The experienced SUP'ers took turns shreddin on the race boards while the newbies got an hour lesson of paddling basics. If you are ever in the bay area you need to go to one of Brody's paddle fit classes. North Beach at Vinoy park is beautiful and in an ideal location. You can see the pier, downtown, and explore the channels back to some nice houses. The water has tons of rays and other sea life, not what I was expecting in an urban backdrop. Erica and I hung on the beach while class was going on and handed out tons of business cards. It's so fun and rewarding to be part of introducing people to SUP. What an addiction! Enjoy the slide show.

Caladesi Island

It was a beautiful Blustery Sunday and Erica and I decided to paddle from the Dunedin causeway to Caladesi Island State Park. This Paddie is amazing! National Geographic Traveler even highlighted it as one of the best adventures in Florida! The causeway connects the mainland to two State Park's. The populated yet beautiful honeymoon Island to the north and Caladesi to the south. A pass separates the two parks and leads out to the gulf. It was a terribly windy weekend, so it wasn't exactly ideal paddle conditions, but we made the most out of the approximately one mile crossing. We landed on the beach with a dozen or so kayaker's and began exploring. I was taken aback by the amount of shells on the island. Of all the places I have been in Florida including Sanibel I have never seen more shells. I am talking about thousands of the small conchs, mostly with the animal in them so no taking those, but there were star fish, sand dollars, and lightning welks everywhere. I am not sure if these where normal conditions or due to the rough gulf, but regardless it was beautiful! After exploring the shells for half an hour we got back on the boards and headed north on the inter coastal side of the island. There are more small beach's and Mangrove mazes to explore. This trip is a must do for any paddler! Erica really kicked some serious butt today staying on her feet in rough conditions! Enjoy the flickr slide show!




For those of you in the bay area, Kahuna Kai and Stand Up Fitness will be running their monthly paddle Sunday the 21st from 3-5 for $25. Act now as there is a limited amount of boards. Call 727-742-8870 for more information. If you can't make it this weekend Kahuna Kai will be running a weekly Sunday tour as well as running lessons from the causeway.

Sweetwater Kayak Symposium so easy, anyone can do it

As my friend the distressed mullet(distressedmullett.com) says, be a man, learn to stand. That was Brody and I's goal this weekend, to show kayakers that they need to stop being lazy and stand up. We went to the Sweetwater Kayak Symposium based out Sweet Water Kayaks, not far from Derby lane on Gandy in St. Pete. The symposium brought kayak advocates from around the world. I met some amazing people who have paddled the Arctic circle for 7 weeks or this guy Jake who went down the Mississippi along the gulf coast and somehow went through the Great Lakes in a big round trip showing that we truly are all connected by water. Anyways, Brody spoke at the event and we were to hold demos to show these influential kayakers what SUP was all about. Saturday was a bust with rain, wind, and cold, but Sunday proved to be a nice day. Some of the Kayakers were skeptical of us standing folks and thought we were punks by perception, but i actually heard multiple guys say they knew what their next toy would be. Get up stand up!

Kayak group This symposium was cool with multiple classes around the bay area to choose from taught by legendary paddlers.


Raceboard All work and no play makes Garrett a dull boy so while Brody was talking to everyone i tried out all the different YOLO boards. This thing is sweet. I understand why guys can rock out 10 minute miles, they ride this thing. Crazy fast made out of carbon fiber.


explorer This 14 foot board is made for touring and is what the YOLO guys took through the everglades. If you are going touring or want a stable board this thing is a Cadillac in the water.


So easy a gimp can do it Not my words, his. He claimed to be SUP's new great ad "So easy a gimp can do it" What an amazing guy, was a competitive surfer for a # of years all with a titanium leg.


Winning them over One by one the kayakers slowly came over to hear Brody's pitch.


YAK Yolo's very stable explorer/ rental/ fishing board. Super durable and stable. This is great for beginners or those that want go on an adventure with lots of bungees and room to move around on.


Tahoe Rubicon One of the kayakers actually was a Tahoe SUP rep. They make great flat water boards, I was impressed with the glide, but it was pretty tippy. it has a dry storage compartment, but apparently they are liars as water easily crept in.


timid yaker This guy was a great example of a timid person who didn't want to get wet that was up and loving it in about 5 minutes.


courage to stand


Dominating 5 minutes later and he was up and loving it.


Really cool experience to watch people who were not interested in what we were selling slowly fall in love with SUP. Thanks for letting me tag along Brody!