North Devon, England, is well known for its surf, but the south of the county is more cream tea country than dude land and not the place you'd expect to find people enjoying the latest surf craze from Hawaii. However, stand-up paddle surfing is now part of the scene along this picturesque coastline. It's a long-winded name for a unique mix of surfing and kayaking which has its roots in Hawaiian surf culture but in the last couple of years has been taken up everywhere from California to Biarritz — and now the UK.
This latest form of surfing involves standing on a massive 3.6m board (the average "short board" is around half this length) while using a paddle to propel yourself across the sea and into the surf, which is then ridden to shore, occasionally using the paddle for balance or to help with turns on the wave.
In its basic form, stand-up paddle surfing appears to be quite a relaxing activity, akin to canoeing while standing up with the added frisson of catching a small wave from time to time. At its most extreme it's as radical as any other branch of surfing, with top exponents such as Hawaiian surf legend Laird Hamilton taking on waves in excess of 13m.
PHOTOS: AP
Stand-up paddle surfing is thought to have been practiced by the ancient Polynesians, and had its heyday in Hawaii in the 1960s, when experienced surfers would use the board and paddle combination to ride the small waves at Waikiki, which roll gently shorewards for hundreds of meters.
The sport was actually known as "beachboy surfing" at this time (nothing to do with the 1960s band, most of whom couldn't actually surf), but it virtually died out until Laird Hamilton and a few fellow big-wave surfers, such as Dave Kalama and Bruce DeSoto, took it up in the early noughties. There are now international competitions in Hawaii and paddle surfing is spreading rapidly around the world.
I booked in at Discovery Surf School in Bigbury for a lesson with instructor Martin Connolly, who picked up the bug on his annual winter trips to Hawaii. I thought the Venus Cafe above the beach, specializing in organic local produce rather than Devonshire cream teas, would be a good place to start, but Martin was having none of it and had me into my wetsuit and lugging a paddle board down the beach before I could say "Cappuccino."
"It's a great option for flat or small days, and when you get it wired you can have a lot of fun in bigger surf," explained Connolly. "I also use it for keeping in shape and even to 'explore' the coastline and the estuary of the local river."
It seemed to me that just carrying the board down the beach was a pretty good work out in itself.
On a quiet stretch set aside by the school for lessons, I practiced getting to my feet on my stationary board, which wobbled from side to side in the windchop, then managed just one paddle stroke before losing my balance and falling in. Although I've surfed for many years, during this first session I spent more time falling off and climbing back on than I did either paddling or surfing.
There are two main problems: the first is that you're attempting to stand on a stationary board, unlike "regular" surfing where the momentum down the wave face helps you balance; second, you stand on the board with your feet and body facing forward — not a natural position for a surfer, who is used to having his or her feet and body facing diagonally across the board in a more stable position.
I eventually got moving under my own paddle power, largely thanks to an initial shove from Connolly — this touch of momentum made both balancing and paddling far easier, and was rather more exhilarating than falling off all the time.
By my second lesson I was able to paddle into a couple of tiddly waves and get a feel for just how it might feel to do this sport properly as I slid smoothly towards the shore. So far, most of Connolly's clients have been experienced surfers keen to try a new branch of surfing, but that's not to say that non-surfers shouldn't give it a go. "Coming to the sport without any preconceptions can be an advantage, and anyone who is fit and a good swimmer, kids especially, should be able to pick it up," he said.
On any surfboard other than a stand-up paddle board you probably wouldn't bother trying to catch the kind of small, gutless waves we were surfing at Bigbury, but conditions such as these are the norm around much of the UK coastline in summer, so the sport could take off big time here — indeed, it would even allow you to "surf" on virtually wave-free coastlines such as Kent and Lincolnshire.
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