We’d never tried Stand Up Paddleboarding before so when a friend offered to lend us their board for a coastal holiday we were going on, it was a bit of a no-brainer. We were using a SUP we’d borrowed from a friend. Knowing nothing about SUP, I didn’t realise it was quite a narrow one built more for speed than stability and it was a bit of a struggle for me to maintain my balance.
Laura (Yoga) and the girls (young) didn’t have that problem however. The girls loved it and spent so much time in the water having a laugh. What’s more, they seemed to be enjoying themselves together. That’s a rarity as, being 13 and 10, they usually just mildly tolerate each other. Could SUP be the thing that could make them actually like each other. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
So, with one board between four people and me not being very stable, I found it quite hard to get any practice in and when I did, actually being able to stand on the board for any length of time was proving difficult.
We borrowed the board a few more times over the summer, enough for me and L to see that our own would be a worthwhile investment and decided that a SUP should definitely be on the Christmas list. Big thing to fit down a chimney though.
Where we went
Felt extremely lucky to have such a calm piece of water right outside our front door. Some pals invited us to stay with them at Culkein Lodge near Drumbeg, which is just off the North Coast 500 route. Awesome part of the world. Included a map below but it’s so remote I couldn’t get a pin on the right place. So many wee coves along this route that are fairly sheltered and calm so great for getting out on.
