SUP is an ideal sport for women. WHY?
- SUP is very easy to learn, with about an hour of instruction one can stand can be up on a board and paddling and cruising along! Proper paddling techniques and more advanced board maneuvering can be an on-going instruction process, but it is totally optional, so unlike the more technical sports you can excel right out of the gate! For slow flat water paddles, the pressure on the cardiovascular system is very low, much lower than when you go running for example. So it’s a great sport to start even if you are not fit or have not been exercising for a while (e.g. after having a baby), but you can gradually increase, e.g. paddling upwind, the pros even practice with resistance bands.
- SUP puts very little strain on your joints and injury risk is much lower compared to snowboarding, mountainbiking or inline-skating.
- Women who SUP regularly (three times a week) build amazing core strength, arm muscles and overall body alignment. It is the only sport out there that gives you literally a “head to toe” work out. You can turn a SUP session into a real work-out! Complement your paddle sessions with the exercises from our SUP fitness section, which you can easily do from home on those days in between paddles.
- SUP is a great way to spend time with a girlfriend, do a sport and chat the time away. If you get hot, jump in! The boards are very easy to maneuver so you can all go along as a group and enjoy the scenery, the conversation and the amazing work-out! The elevated position on the board gives you a great view on scenery and the board allows you to access quite, peaceful areas where no car, cyclist or runner can get to
- SUP is a new sport with a tight-knit community. If you start to Stand-Up Paddle, you will be warmly welcomed by a friendly community who is happy about every new joiner. There is so much more water to explore and lots of space, so it is much less competitive compared to surfing, where nobody wants more people in the waves. Start with SUP, join some events, you will meet lots of great people and might even find yourself invited to go paddling in London, on a Bavarian mountain lake or maybe even Barbados or New Zealand!
- It is a sport that brings out the goddess in all of us! Women who SUP feel very empowered, unlike trying to learn how to surf, it is not a humbling sport, one feels very powerful as they master the board as they stroke to cross a bay, glide along the coast, explore a waterway or salt marsh and even get out into the deep.
- Yoga and SUP are perfectly complimentary sports. So if you are already into yoga, but crave a little more outdoor fun without too much stressful action (say as you have in mountainbiking). You can even do Yoga on a SUP and guess what, there is a special Yoga SUP board!
- SUP is a great sport for the whole family, kids included! One board just may not be enough for your whole family!
- In a busy life juggling family duties, kids, housework and a job, you can conveniently squeeze in an hour or two of SUP. No need to plan in advance (e.g. book a court like for tennis or be at the gym at the certain time for a certain class). You can even take your little one with you on the board.
Thanks to Steven Schrier for the input to this section – Check Our Noah’s Boats and Boards for all your SUP Needs
Thanks to Annabel Anderson (Starboard) for letting us use the photos.
