NKF Pro-Am Surf Festival Sept. 3 - 6, 2010

 Cocoa Beach Pier

Shands Surf Clinic & Health Fair

Shands Benefit Dinner: Thursday, September 2

VIP Party: Saturday, September 4

World Tandem Surfing Event

Stand Up Paddle Race

Space Coast Strongest Man Competition

Space Coast Fittest Woman Competition

Check out this video featuring some of the top US triathletes promoting the training benefits of SUP.

Top triathletes and trainers show how stand up paddle boarding offers a fun, social and challenging activity while providing a rigorous core workout to supplement their regular training.

Lesson Rates:

1 hour SUP Lesson or Eco Tour

$75 (per person/per hour)

*Lessons Include*

Safety

Equipment

Transporting equipment

How to hold the Paddle

Self rescue

Using a leash

Getting up on the board

Stance

Basic paddle stroke

Basic paddle turn

Controlling board direction

Front side turn

Back side turn

Quick turn

SUP etiquette

Equip. Recommendations

*Digital photo included with your lesson.

*Two hour lesson is suggested for first time paddle boarders.

*24 hour notice to reschedule and $25 fee

Olympic skier Julie Mancuso stays in shape with SUP surfing

During the winter, World Cup skier Julia Mancuso markets in unhinged downhill careening. In her off-season, she settles onto a more level plane. The 24-year-old speed demon, who spends her summers on the Hawaiian island of Maui, is a disciple of stand-up paddling, in which she propels herself through the ocean gondolier-style on a specially made 10-foot stand up paddleboard. As luck would have it, the recreation also gives her a killer ski-specific workout.

"It's hard to recreate the ever-changing ground that comes at you as you ski," she says. "But on a stand-up board you're constantly tipping and balancing and having to make small, quick adjustments. It improves your reaction time and balance."

After healing from arthroscopic hip surgery two years ago, Mancuso headed straight to a surfboard. "It was the best way to synchronize all those small muscles in my feet, ankles and legs that I hadn't used in a while." The rehabbing regimen paid off; later that year Mancuso won her first World Cup event. As if spending every day at the beach weren't reward enough.

Article reprinted from ESPN Sports Magazine

Surfers stand up and paddle

Florida Today - Melbourne, Fla.

By: WAYNE T PRICE

Apr 11, 2010

PEOPLE/LIFE

FLORIDA TODAY

Longtime surfer Scotty Bumbalough moved to Central Florida from Hawaii three years ago, planning to pursue the sport he had picked up while living in the Aloha State.

The sport was stand-up paddle surfing and it was extremely popular in Hawaii. It was a different story in Florida at the time; few had even heard of it.

"I inquired about buying a board and one of the places I called thought I said 'powder board,' like for snowboarding," said Bumbalough, who now teaches paddle boarding in Orlando and all along the Central Florida coast.

"Nobody knew what it was, so I started doing it," he said. "Now it has really taken off."

A cousin to surfing, and with hints of sail boarding and kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding is slowly but steadily moving into Florida after first gaining popularity in Hawaii and California. Stand-up paddlers are popping up at traditional surfing hot spots along the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the flatter waters in area rivers and lakes. It's the fastest growing segment in the surf "hard goods" market, according to the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association.

Following the same pattern traditional surfing did decades ago, Florida is emerging as a great destination for stand-up paddle boarding.

Florida also offers the opportunity for stand-up paddle boarders to view wildlife like dolphins, manatees and exotic birds on the ocean and the state's waterways, which could mean paddle boarding could factor into and boost the state's efforts to promote ecotourism.

In Florida, you're just now starting to see it flourish.

"(Stand-up paddle boarding) is definitely something that attracts more than traditional surfers. Aspiring surfers that do not have the luxury of having an ocean nearby can still experience riding a board with an SUP on other bodies of water.

Island start

The roots of paddle boarding go back centuries, probably starting in the islands of Polynesia more than 200 years ago. In Hawaii, locals -- known as "Waikiki Boys" -- began using paddle boards in the 1940s as they helped tourists learn to surf and snapped their photos.

About a decade ago, though, stand-up paddle board competitions started springing up there and that carried over to California. A new niche in the surf industry had been born.

It probably was only a matter of time before stand-up paddle boarding made its way to Brevard, home to Kelly Slater and other surfing legends and considered by some the epicenter for surfing in Florida.

Dr. Lance Maki, a 62-year-old obstetrician from Merritt Island, first saw stand-up paddle boarders in 2005 while in Santa Cruz, Calif. A longtime surfer, Maki said he thought it was the dumbest thing he had ever seen. His wife, though, urged him to try, and two years later he purchased a board and took it to the beach across from Patrick Air Force Base.

He has been a fan ever since and counts as a notable accomplishment paddle boarding in all five Great Lakes.

"It's the absolute best for Florida," Maki said. "You don't need any waves at all."

Last week, Maki took his board to the Cocoa Beach Pier. The waves were too small for the regular surfers, but conditions were perfect, he said, for stand-up paddle boarding.

"No one out but me," Maki said. "I had a great time, caught lots of waves and got a great workout. It's the best for core conditioning."

A good workout

That's what Will and Karen Lucas of Melbourne Beach also like about it.

Avid surfers for decades, they took up stand-up paddle boarding as a way to pass the time at the beach when the ocean was flat. They found it to be a calorie-burning, thoroughly enjoyable experience that certainly beat perusing a novel under a beach umbrella.

Because the sport requires users stand up, remain balanced and paddle using a 6-to-8-foot oar, the aerobic activity works the muscles throughout the body's midsection.

"It's a good way to exercise and stay in shape for surfing," said the 56-year-old Karen Lucas, who works at the Longboard House.

She added the short learning curve probably also would help with its popularity. Traditional surfing takes a considerable amount of time and dedication to master, while stand-up paddle boarding is relatively easy and something people of all ages can grasp.

"If the water is flat you can usually get standing up the first time out," Lucas said.

Bumbalough, who lives in Orlando and sells paddle boards and equipment, said two weeks ago he was stand-up paddle boarding at the Canaveral National Seashore just north of Titusville when the potential for ecotours swam up beside him.

"A pod of dolphins, maybe five or six, came up next to me and I surfed with them for about an hour," Bumbalough said. "They were coming up to me, swimming under the board. The dolphins seemed to be fascinated by it."