The quiet Hanalei River: ideal for beginning borders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWith the paddleboard, there is also that slight little problem of the board moving underfoot. In this respect, the Hanaeli River really is the perfect place to get your feet wet (and maybe the rest of you, as well). Most days, it flows so slowly that you can easily kayak (and board) it in both directions, although Mitch did warn us that we needed to keep an eye on the wind and tides (which he was kindly doing for us). Your body acts as a sail, which makes paddling upwind difficult, even for experts.\u00a0But Mitch hadn’t lied when we said we’d all get up and get going: We might have been tentative, tenuously balanced, and mildly terrified, but indeed, within minutes, we were standing, and paddling, and for the most part, we were staying upright (the occasional exception being yours truly).<\/p>\n
Paddle-Boarding on Hanalei Bay, Kauai<\/strong><\/h3>\nThe quiet Hanalei River was a great practice ground. But inevitably, it was time to take our show on the road. After about half an hour, Mitch decided we were ready for Hanalei Bay. Surf was almost non-existent, but it was, sort of, open water, and as far as I was concerned, those little ripples could have been the breakers of Waikiki. I managed to stay upright through the first few, and then got plenty of practice falling (which, after all, Mitch had said was an essential part of the learning process).<\/p>\n
When I got tired, I simply sat on my surfboard and drifted, looking at the shape of the Hanalei shoreline, which indeed is that of a dragon lying by the sea. You can see old Puff’s eyes and snout, and his spine and foreleg, all in the shape of the mountains surrounding Hanalei Bay.<\/p>\n
When I’d rested long enough, I got up onto my paddle board one more time, pulled myself into the kneeling position, then stood up and balanced as a wave fluttered underneath. I kept my balance, bent my knees, and paddled forward. I survived another wave, and stayed upright, looking straight ahead toward the shore. Puff lay snoozing in the Kauai sun. As I paddled my way unsteadily back to the outfitter’s dock, I could swear I saw him wink.<\/p>\n
Practicalities<\/strong><\/h3>\nHere are some tips from the folks at Hawaiian Surfing Adventures:<\/p>\n
\n- Start on quiet water: a placid, slow-flowing river or a protected bay on a windless day.<\/li>\n
- Spend as much time as you need kneeling on the board and paddling, to get a feel for balance, the water, and the paddling motion.<\/li>\n
- Bent knees help with balance, and squatting and standing up as you paddle helps propel you forward using energy from your legs as well as your arms<\/li>\n
- The faster you paddle, the easier it is to stay upright.<\/li>\n
- Don’t be surprised if your core abdominal muscles become sore. They help with balance, and they get a workout.<\/li>\n
- Check your position every once in a while to make sure it hasn’t shifted. Feet should be mid-board, the paddle needs to be facing the right direction, and you should be looking up and forward, not down..<\/li>\n
- If you lose your balance try to drop into a kneeling position. If that isn’t possible, flop flat into the water so, if it’s shallow, you don’t hit the bottom too hard.<\/li>\n
- Wear tape around your thumbs to prevent paddling blisters.<\/li>\n
- Wear sun screen.<\/li>\n
- A surfer’s scrape-guard shirt protects beginners from falling against the sand in shallow areas, and offers sun protection, as well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kauai’s Hanalei River proves a gentle learning space for the family friendly sport of stand-up paddle-boarding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12388,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,183,156],"tags":[59,577],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12368"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12368"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37718,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12368\/revisions\/37718"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.buckettripper.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}