SUP8383 said...
what would be even better if someone organised some free regular group paddles
Hi SUP8383,
Wow! Just caught this thread started by a very exuberant individual and friend of mine, PR. I hadn't planned on really advertising this stuff on SB until we were a tad more organized, oh well. I'd just like to set the record straight and dispell a few myths.
Firstly, if you don't know me, I'm from the kiting fraternity, and before that, windsurfing and before that, sailing. We helped to cultivate a strong community of kiters at our local beach Pinnaroo Point. We do this by offering lots of community services for free and being there for people. Every season we fully cater two large beach parties, one at start and one at end of season. We celebrate the season and thank the local community for allowing us to share the local beach. We've been doing this for years. We give free tips to kiters, rescue boards and rescue people when things turn pear shaped.
I'm fiercely proud of our kiting community at Pinna's where everybody knows everybody and it's all smiles. A real community which is now self perpetuating and fun to be a part of. The community there now also do a lot of the rescuing so now it has gone full circle. I'm a strong believer in Karma and giving back.
I have boundless passion and energy for sports I love. It's taken me years to get the bug with paddling, but I have it now and pretty bad
Part of the reason I stayed away from SUP until this year is I just never really saw people doing it apart from in Cottesloe.
When I took my trip over to Gold Coast and caught up with long time friends Jacko and Angie, I got a good long look at how paddling on the West Coast could be if someone with enough passion, drive and enthusiasm stuck their hand up and gave it a go. I came back from that trip with a million ideas and visions of a strong community of paddlers paddling together and contributing to the sport in general.
It's with this in mind that we are putting some programs together for this season. Yes we are offering Fitness classes for people who want to get fit. This is a paid gig for those who don't own SUP's and at $25 for over an hour, I don't think we're gonna get rich doing it. Customers who buy a SUP off us, can join us for free on the paid gigs.
For the rest of you, if you are keen, I'm doing a sunrise fitness session covering cardio and endurance workouts as training for BOP and "The Doctor". This is free for anyone who wants to come along and have a paddle so long as you own your own gear. This would most likely be three days a week and on Saturday mornings I want to organise BOP style training for anyone who wants to come along and join us. I already own inflateable markers from kiting where we also contributed with free course racing, so it's not like I have to invest heavily to put this on. I just had so much fun with the GC crew and their BOP training like what Pete Dorries is putting together that I want to continue doing it over here in Perth.
The whole idea of this is to create and nurture a strong paddling community mainly focused on flat water racing and fitness training. This is a free gig. I also hope to do a free downwinder with customers as time permits. This is not all about gouging the public for money. I'm just a little passionate about this wicked sport and with unbridled enthusiasm for having fun and sharing the stoke with a few fun informal events, then god willing we'll probably make a few bucks along the way
It ain't about the money, I'm gonna go training alone anyways. It would just be nice to have a few others to join and have a good chat afterwards though.
I'm just doing things a bit different for me, my customers and friends and by the looks of it for WA too. You can join us if you like, it's there if you wanna come along. If not, red thumb 'til your little heart's content, it don't bother me in the slightest. We'll have dates and times on the FB page as soon as we lock it all into place if you want to come and join us. It'd be nice to get to know some of the local paddlers.
DM
