Ten years ago, only a handful of people had heard of stand-up paddleboarding. Fast forward to today, and it’s all the rage. Find out what makes SUP and all its iterations so popular….

SUP, Stand-Up Paddleboarding

“Close your eyes, take a deep breath, bend your knees, and wiggle your toes. … This is the closest you’ll get to walking on water,” John Denney happily calls out. Standing on a 10-foot paddleboard, navigating seamlessly through the quiet rhythm of the Intracoastal water near Coral Cove Park in Tequesta, he was right.

It was barely six years ago when John and his wife, Bari, introduced stand-up paddleboarding to South Florida. They had left the shores of Maui, Hawaii, where the water-bound activity first spawned. Since then the sport has taken off, having a presence in nearly every inlet, waterway and beach along the eastern coast of the United States. Today, the pioneers themselves take pride in educating others about proper paddling technique.

“That’s what’s going to make this sport a sport, and not a novelty, is if people learn how to do it correctly,” John says.

While paddling on the water, John is in his element. In Maui, he – along with legendary big wave surfers Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama – was part of a group of watermen known as the Strapped Crew. It was they who introduced tow-in surfing, kiteboarding and stand-up paddling.

So wanting to bring that waterman mentality to the East Coast, John and Bari rented a RV and trailer, and began their journey in Montauk, N.Y., introducing stand-up paddleboards to various surf shops and outdoor centers until finally arriving in Jupiter.

“There’s so much water here in Jupiter, it lends itself to whatever you can think of doing on this big board,” Bari says. With a master’s degree in counseling psychology, John teaches paddleboard enthusiasts certain skill sets that’ll enable them to reduce tension and activate powerful thoughts.

“This sport requires you to be in the moment. You need all your faculties: balance, awareness of your surroundings, and technique,” John says.

Having nearly eight years under his belt, John is leaving an indelible mark in the industry. He currently works with three different entities: Jupiter Kiteboarding in Tequesta, where he offers private lessons; PaddleFit, where he teaches proper safety and paddling technique, and offers certification courses for instructors; and Kalama Kamp with Dave Kalama, where they offer destination stand-up paddleboarding camps.

The Denneys were also the first to organize stand-up paddleboarding races in the area, which inspired a new category of stand-up paddleboarding to emerge. Places like Blueline Paddle Surf & Clothing in Jupiter host a summer race series, where racers from all over the state compete in.
Bari has also made a lasting impression. She was the first to introduce yoga positions on a paddleboard. She put her basic sun salutation into practice and developed a 15-minute routine that encompassed a tour on the water.

“There’s just a freedom that comes with it,” says Bari with an air of empowerment. Stand-up paddleboarding has taken the South Florida water scene by storm. It has allowed even “the most common man to feel like a surfer.” And thanks to John and Bari, there are no signs of it ever slowing down.

SUP Touring

Having lived in Jensen Beach their whole lives, Moose and Jennifer Brown were always bound to the water.

Nearly every weekend they would head out to the Spoil Islands sprinkled throughout the Indian River Lagoon and bask in the South Florida sun. But it wasn’t until one day their friends brought stand-up paddleboards to the islands that their lives would never be the same.

“We started doing it all the time. … We did it for date night or as a family outing with our son,” Moose says with his larger-than life intonation.

In time, Moose and Jennifer noticed they were losing weight. In fact, Moose, who weighed 260 pounds when he first began paddling, had lost 80 pounds in just a few months.

“You’re out there having fun, you don’t even realize you’re exercising,” Moose says.

So in August 2011, Moose Brown bid farewell to his bail bond business of more than 10 years and began living the life of a waterman. He and Jennifer opened Treasure Coast Paddle. “We’re helping people in a whole new way now; a more positive way,” Jennifer says.

Treasure Coast Paddle is located in Jensen Beach on Northeast Indian River Drive next to Mulligan’s. But since they do a lot of beach events, festivals and charity fundraisers, they’re looking to restructure their business and become more mobile.

Having access to one of the most remarkable lagoons in North America, the Browns can customize a tour for anyone wishing to see Indian River Lagoon’s rich array of sea and plant life along the unique network of canals, lakes and rivers. Whether it’s a paddle out to the Atlantic Ocean or simply a paddle toward one of the islands for a quick picnic, anything can be mapped out. It just depends on weather conditions and what a person is looking for in a tour.

“There’s too many great spots on this river to keep it dedicated to just one, so we keep the options open,” Jennifer says.

Treasure Coast Paddle also works very closely with the autistic schools in the area. Last year they raised nearly $10,000 for the Treasure Coast Autism Project, doing races and raffles. “Ultimately, we’ve worked with very different groups, but the one thing in common we have is the water,” Moose says.

For Dan Neumann, who owns the popular Coastal Paddle Boarding along with his wife, Rochelle, it’s all about giving paddle boarders an amazing experience. Located on the water near the Fish House Art Center in Port Salerno, Coastal Paddle Boarding offers guided tours, lessons and special events.

“There’s a tour we do in Hobe Sound to Peck Lake Park. It starts from the Intracoastal to Jupiter Island’s nature reserve. … There’s no human interaction; it’s perfect. So out of all our tours we do, that’s our favorite,” Dan says.

SUP Full Moon

On the Saturdays closest to the full moon, Cynthia Trone and a group of at least 20 other people ride off into the sunset on their stand-up paddleboards.

After a 90-minute tour of Jupiter Island’s Intracoastal waterways – paddling through waters that mirror the twilight hues of a sun that’s ready for bed – the riders come back to their launching site and celebrate the full moon.

As the manager of Jupiter Pointe Paddling in Tequesta, Trone organizes full moon drum circles in the open space next to Jupiter Pointe’s charming hut. Equipped with a fire pit, s’mores and drums supplied by Trone’s friend, LeRoy “Mustafa” Wright, the celebration begins.

“It’s really magical,” Trone says. As a former apprentice of John Denney, Trone has spent the last six years immersed in the paddleboarding world. She began managing Jupiter Outdoor Center located on the Jupiter Inlet in between Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Square Grouper in 2007.

For four years, she worked at the oldest paddleboarding company in the area; a company that according to its new manager, Sharon French, is notorious for its Loxahatchee River tour. It was the first nationally recognized wild and scenic river, offering diverse views of cascading cypress trees and animals, such as deer, turtles, egrets and more four-legged wildlife.

In 2011 Trone left the Jupiter Outdoor Center to manage Jupiter Pointe Paddling located on the east side of Federal Highway adjacent to Wylder’s Waterfront Bar and Grille. She has since held summer camps, charity events like Paddle for a Cure benefiting the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s local chapters, paddleboardingeco-excursions to land protected by The Nature Conservancy, and stand-up paddle windsurfing lessons.

Even though Trone manages a prime launching location, she hopes to one day own her own place, preferably with her oldest son, Jackson, who at 20 years old is a team rider for Mike McGann’s stand-up paddle surfing team.

The mother of three paddles out nearly every day; she particularly loves the evening rides. As soon as the wind dies down, she’s out there spotting manatees and sea turtles, and simply finding a euphoric peace. “It’s absolute paradise,” she says.

When Mike McGann witnessed paddleboarding for the first time he didn’t like it.

“I’ve been surfing my whole life so I thought, ‘It just won’t work for me,’” McGann says. “I saw it as one more thing in the way that could potentially hurt someone.”
But the tides quickly turned. The minute he was on a board, he was hooked. “All those days I spent struggling with small waves on a surfboard, I knew I could now use a stand-up paddleboard instead,” says McGann with a genuine zest.

As the owner of Florida Paddleboards in Juno Beach, a location he and his wife, Claudete Fagundes, opened in September 2011, McGann offers boards for all stand-up paddleboarding genres: racing, touring and his favorite – surfing.

According to McGann, stand-up paddle surfing has a completely different dynamic than traditional surfing. The paddle can be used to steer, gain or decrease momentum, and since the rider is already standing, McGann, believes the learning curve is much easier. “The hard part in surfing is balancing the ‘pop-up’ position,” says McGann of having to lie belly down on a surfboard and suddenly standing up to catch a wave.

Since Florida Paddleboards’ arrival to Palm Beach County’s surfing scene, it has been McGann’s goal to create a harmonious communion between the surfing community and the people in the paddle community.

“I didn’t want to flood the local waters with boards from our store, getting people hurt, or other people mad that have lived here for a long time,” McGann says.

In order to bridge the gap between the two groups, McGann has spent a lot of time teaching people, free of cost, on where to go, safety components and wave etiquette – one rider per wave. “We’ve seemed to find a balance through education,” says McGann with a hopeful timbre in his voice.

He’s even recruited progressive traditional surfers to get on board with stand-up paddle. In fact, more than a year ago, he started the first surf team in the area to compete in stand-up paddle surfing contests.

When given the choice between the two, McGann will choose stand-up paddle surfing over traditional surfing every time. And the reason is simple. “I have ability to go anywhere in the ocean,” he says.

SUP Yoga

Tasha McWilliams had always thought yoga was for “wimps.” She was the type of person who could never sit still and viewed yoga strictly as a meditative practice.

“I had the worst attitude toward it,” she says with a sense of irony. That is, until her fortitude was tested. “My dad along with three other family members died within months of each other last year,” McWilliams says. Overwhelmed by an unimaginable sense of loss, McWilliams took heed to a friend’s suggestion to take a yoga class as an additional form of comfort.

In October 2011, she began taking classes at The Power Yoga Tribe in North Palm Beach with owner and instructor Preston Scott. And the first time she did pigeon pose – a position in yoga known to unleash certain emotions due to its intense stretches – she wept.

“God has given me the mental strength to get through the trials, but yoga has given me the physical strength I needed as well,” McWilliams says.
Yoga came easier to McWilliams than it did for most. Perhaps it was the fact she played competitive college basketball, and therefore possessed more of a physicality quality. But whatever the reason was, the fact still remains – that in less than a year – she was doing advanced poses that even her instructor hadn’t mastered yet. About eight months ago, McWilliams decided to take her yoga moves to her stand-up board she purchased a little more than two years ago.

Today you can spot McWilliams out on the water in Juno Beach doing tripod headstands, a full wheel, side crow, and pigeon poses, all of which she holds for five to seven breaths.

“When I’m out there, I can’t help but smile and know I have an awesome creator,” McWilliams says.
McWilliams looks like the perfect poster child for South Florida. She has flawless sun-kissed skin, eyes that match the ocean she loves so much, and a smile that could stop traffic, you would never suspect she was from Rochester, Minn.

And even though McWilliams has experienced severe tragedy, she still looks at the glass half full. “Without mainly the strength of the Lord, a strong family, and finding yoga, I wouldn’t be doing so well,” she says.