SUP Hollywood to Pipeline

Narly.  That's all I can say.

One of my younger brothers popped in for a quick visit this weekend so we decided the best way to insure he returns for a proper visit (longer than 35 hours) would be to take him SUPing through some rapids.

We decided on putting in at Reedy Creek and taking out near 14th street.

And by the way, epic thanks to Stand Up Paddleboards Richmond for providing a ShuBu, paddle and vest for my brother to use while he was visiting!

Once we got on the water at Reedy Creek we let my brother get his SUP legs...

Once we navigated through the creek my brother was treated to one of the coolest views of the city.....

from the water!  =)

Since this would be one of few opportunities to take photos....we hammed it up.

My brother is a surfer and a skateboarder so he had no trouble maneuvering through some of the baby rapids...

I'm proud to say I stood through some of these baby rapids myself!  =)

And then came Hollywood....

My husband made several attempts before conquering Hollywood....

And then my little brother (who has never done anything like this before) decided to charge it...

Needless to say, he was ok. 

Infact he got the board out of the water and walked up the rocks to try a few more times!

While he didn't conquer Hollywood the way he wanted....he impressed the hell out of me, my husband and every bystander that was watching from Belles Isle....

show-off.  ; )

Because I didn't feel at all ready to take on Hollywood I carried my board over some rocks and put in just past the rapids. 

Then we hit some nice and quiet flat water and got to take a few more photos...

and then Pipeline.

I have no photos or video of Pipeline because I did it!  Granted...I was on my knees the entire time (when I wasn't in the water), but I still did it and am extremely proud of myself for not freaking out.

When we do this paddle again I'll be sure to take out around Pipeline to get some photos.

Until then.....keep on paddling!  ; )

SUP Potomac

We were in DC this past Saturday showing Rob (our visiting Englishman) some of the monuments on foot and after seeing him off decided to try hitting the Potomac on ShuBu.

We put in next to a place called Jacks Landing which (apart from the smell of the sewage) was a fairly nice area.

Because this was just before the big 4th of July celebration there were TONS of boats parked in the middle of the river getting ready for the big show, which in turn gave us plenty of obstacles to paddle around!  =)

We didn't try paddling to see the monuments from the water as we'd been walking in the sun all day and I was feeling pretty wiped by the time we hit the water...but we did see at least 20 planes take off right above us making this one of the most interesting nature vs city paddles yet.

Next time we paddle DC we'll have a plan (food, water, route, parking, etc.) and hope to see more of DC from the water.

Have any of our readers paddled DC???

If so, where is your all-time favorite spot to put in and what's your favorite thing to see from the water?

A few SUP beginnings...

Last week we had the pleasure of taking one of England's finest out to Robious Landing Park for his first SUP experience!

My sister-in-law's family was hosting a visiting soccer coach (Rob) for a week so they had little time to pack in as much fun as possible.  SUPing was one of the top activities on the list of things for Rob to try before he needed to head on to his next destination.

While we only had about an hour and a half of decent weather....we managed a few SUP beginnings that I'm very proud to mention here....

1st....Rob's first SUP (Rob on right, our nephew on left)

2nd...our nephew SUPed solo for the first time

3rd....our brother-in-law SUPed for the first time (Bob pictured on right)

And last but not least....Rob saw a SUPin dog for the first time

Fantastic day for new beginnings!