RSVP to Dee’s Pedal-Paddle Party (fiction)
Blogging 101
Simple Steps
Today I called my son’s girlfriend, Tori, to see if she wanted to hit the surf. She did and we did and it was small but glassy and I got more waves in this session than in any other since starting paddleboarding all of three months ago.
AND I took my first steps toward the nose. I couldn’t stop smiling.
Tori said I was shreadding, but you know, she may have exaggerated a tad.
But here we are, and boy can she smile.
New Name II
Last night I told my wife, Donna, about the name change and she reminded me that I would lose a fairly wide spectrum of readers if I limit WHAT SUP to Surf. While I love to surf, I’ve also loved paddling through the South Florida mangroves; around the harbor by Jeff Clark’s Paddle Surf, through the Marina at 101 Surf Sports, along the kelp beds off New Brighton Beach, and down a river in search of Manatees.
From a relationship point of view, paddling promotes connection. We strap the boards on the roof and hit the road. We plan a day around getting in the water, exploring new locations, getting great gobs of time out in nature, and after exercising all those muscles we get a nice meal out. It’s been pretty romantic at times.
Plus there’s such a huge variety of topics to discuss like board selection, sites to SUP, fitness, diet, technique and SUP shops. I did a whole post on SOPOSUP, a cool little shop in Portland, Maine. We never got in the water, but being with the owner, reviewing his blog, and checking out the local surf, which was flat, was just fabulous.
I remember the first blog post like it was yesterday. It was from this past mother’s day when I sat on the sidelines with a bit of a cold. It was Donna who wanted to paddleboard. It was Donna to get in the water first. It was Donna who inspired me to give it a try.
She’s even asked about paddling at night. Here’s what it might look like from a pin I found.
Stand Up Paddleboarding for Life will still include SUP Surfing, where my little wave passion ignites in cool water.
New Name
Blogging 101 taught me that the name of the site and the site’s URL don’t have to match. That was great news. “WHAT SUP?” was my first choice for a URL when I started shopping for a name, but it was taken in all its forms. So I stuck with SUP Days, The Stand Up Paddleboarding Life, which really didn’t communicate my intent. So what is my intent?
Stand Up Paddleboard Surfing for Life is more like it. Not just for the rest of my life, but for life now, today, in this moment. I see the world differently when there’s surfing in my life. The pure joy of standing on moving water; the sound of a wave breaking around me while balancing on a board, is transcendent.
Once again, I’m getting into shape, working on my balance, keeping an eye on the weather, the surf, and my time. This evening I took a walk to the beach and got a shot of some rocks and watched waves.
It was chilly and windy and not right for me. The sun set and left a trail of light on the incoming tide. There might even be good SUP Surfing conditions tomorrow, or the day after.
WhatSup with Blogging 101?
I surfed today via Stand Up Paddle Boarding which is what got me into blogging. I’ve published 30 posts without really knowing more than write what I want to write. None of the pieces were long, and most included photos, since I love photography and find that photos tell a good part of my story.
In many of the posts I’ve included video, see below, since I do video for a living. And most posts are about Stand Up Paddle Boarding but sometimes it’s a stretch, like a post I did about Fenway Park while visiting Boston last month. But now it’s time to learn to blog from the helpful folks at WordPress.com, and my fellow Blogging 101 classmates including @michelleweber, @chrissiepollock
and @aisajib .
I live on the coast, about 15 minutes from San Francisco. I have a wife, two kids and a cat. We see the surf from the back of our home. My oldest son and his wife are about to bring us our first grand child who’s a girl that I nicknamed Sprocket. I’m a lucky man. Yes I am.
SUP DAYS are better than others 