In the April Outside magazine, I read about stand-up paddleboarding and thought, there’s another crazy thing I’ll never try.
Last week, I walked out of Great Outdoor Provision Co. and thought, Man, there’s something I can’t wait to try.
The difference perspective makes.
Here’s how the Outside article started (quoting from the drop headline): “Masochistic surf kook bent on taming very large stand-up paddleboard seeks Graveyard of the Atlantic for island-linking expedition entirely at whim of wind and waves.” Masochistic … kook … taming … Graveyard … whim — not descriptions I look for when deciding whether to try a new sport.  The article — about the author’s six-day, 70-mile vertical paddle from Ocracoke to Nags Head — didn’t quite live up to its beware-all-ye-who-enter-here headline hype. But passages such as “ … averaging a fall every five minutes or so, accumulating abrasions on knees and knuckles …” and  “Nevertheless, I go down hard, cracking my jaw on the deck and bloodying my lip. And I haven’t even reached the real turbulence yet … ” keep me from adding stand-up paddleboarding to my to-do list.

A couple weeks later I’m in the GOPC in Raleigh’s Cameron Village when I notice three rows of oversized surfboards in the back of the shop. “Hey,” I ask sales guy Chris Garrett, “aren’t those, um … ”
“Stand-up paddleboards,” he politely fills in.
Stand-up paddleboarding — begun by the Polynesians as basic transportation, converted to adventure sport by Laird Hamilton — is pretty much what it sounds like. You have a big — 11 to 14 feet in length — slightly puffy surfboard, you stand on it, you use a seven-foot long paddle for propulsion.
Garrett and I talk a little about the boards — the wider boards tend to be more stable and beginner friendly; the longer, narrower ones are built for speed and touring; some are built to perform in waves; some are good for placid lake and sound paddling; you can strap a dry bag to them; they don’t like rocks.
Garrett says he’s paddled several times and the way he describes it it sounds almost beginner friendly. I have my personal litmus test, however.
“Have you ever windsurfed?” I ask.
He laughs. “I’ve tried windsurfing,” he answers. Standing up on one of these boards is easy, he assures me. “It’s nothing like trying to stand on a windsurfer.”
Later, I talk to Chad Baird, stand-up paddleboarding’s Victor Kiam. Though he didn’t buy a SUP company after getting hooked on the sport, he did quit his job at GOPC earlier this year and begin selling SUPs full time.
“I’m an ex-whitewater paddler, I have a paddling background, I grew up skateboarding and snowboarding, and I spent four years surfing,” says Baird. “The stand-up paddleboard is the best of those worlds.” Better, he claims because with surfboarding you need waves, with other paddleboard sports such as windsurfing and kiteboarding, you need wind.
With stand-up paddleboarding, Baird and Garrett say, all you need are abs — which you’ll develop if you spend much time on a board.
“It’s a great core workout,” says Garrett, because you’re constantly working to maintain balance.
Working, but not too hard, promises Baird.
“It’s one of the easiest sports to pick up, period,” he says. With a 35-inch-wide board, he  says that practically anyone can get up on the board — on flat water, at least — and make it go. (The boards also have fins, further helping to keep them stable.)
Stand-up paddleboarding isn’t cheap to get into. Baird says a new board will run anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000. Baird suggests starting with a board at least 30 inches wide; as you become more comfortable and crave speed and performance, you’ll likely want something narrower. (As a result, used beginner boards in good condition can be picked up for a decent price online.)
A lightweight (key, considering their length) carbon fiber paddle can run $150, and because a SUP is considered a boat in North Carolina, the law says you’ll need a pfd on board (Baird suggests an unobtrusive inflatable fanny pack pfd, activated by a CO2 cartridge, which runs around $100).
Garrett and Baird like the unique perspective a stand-up paddleboard offers.
“It’s kinda surreal,” says Garrett, “standing on water.”
Baird likes the view.
“It allows you to see so much more of what’s going on,” says Baird, who’s been stand-up paddleboarding for two and a half years. “In a kayak, you can only see what’s immediately around you. On a board, you can see all around.”
It’s easy, it builds six-pack abs, it’s the sport of messiahs (the “standing on water” part). I’m sold — when can I try it?
Turns out, tomorrow.

* * *

About tomorrow
That would be Thursday, May 20, when Great Outdoor Provision Co. will hold a stand-up paddleboard demo at Lake Crabtree County Park. It’s free, just show up between 4 and 7 p.m. at the first parking lot in the park for some quick instruction and a chance to paddle. More info, call (919) 833-1741.

Can’t make it tomorrow? Another demo day is scheduled for June 17 at Lake Crabtree.

Live in Charlotte? There’s a stand-up demo scheduled for May 27 from 4-7 p.m. at the Gar Creek Canoe Launch at the Latta Plantation Nature Preserve. Call the GOPC store at (704) 523-1089 for more information, here’s a map to the site