Author: Supposer

At the risk of tempting the wrath of old man winter, I think it is almost safe to start pulling the watercraft out of their winter hibernation and begin to daydream about the first stand up sessions of the year in Minnesota and other winter prone locals. The days have been noticeably warmer and longer, and the ice has (nearly) melted away on the lakes and streams that litter the landscape. As soon as the ice houses start disappearing, you know that it is nearly the time for all of our leisure water craft to make to reclaim their element in the waterways. This spring we at Sup Poser are extra giddy for our first SUP sessions because of the depute of a trio of new stand up paddle boards that we acquired from Pau Hana.

We are excited about the versatility of our new water craft this will allow for us to take leisurely paddles in our neighboring water ways, as well as do extended group yoga sessions on Sand Lake and other waterways throughout the summer.

We just unboxed a pair of new Pau Hana boards this week and can’t wait to tether them together into a lotus shaped flotilla.   We will float into a care free yoga sessions and won’t bump or get away from each other during our practice.

Since it is officially spring on the calendar, we have begun the planning process for our summer 2015 calendar of events. In the making for the upcoming summer are organized SUP free paddle outings on the St. Croix, Yoga sessions on Sand Lake and other Twin Cities area lakes, a series of dusk sessions that we are affectionately calling SUPer Time, and of course the participation off the community events on Forest Lake August 8. We are also going to be participating in the 2nd annual Fat Cat triathlon which will be open to paddle boards for the first time ever.

With so much to look ahead to this summer it is no surprise that I already have my fin attached to my Sup board, and am ready for whatever weather the summer can bring. We hope to include as many people as we can into our adventures this summer. If we haven’t reached out to you or your community yet, we hope that you will find our sport and all of the bliss that it invokes in your own time and place. See you on the water soon!

On July 11, 2015 the Scandia Marine Lions club will be hosting their 2nd Annual Triathlon, Saint Croix Fat Cat.  New this year, is Stand-up Paddle Board participants!  The first portion of the triathalon, racers will launch from the Log House Landing and paddle 3.8 miles down the Saint Croix National River.  Speaking from experience, this is a gorgeous paddle around Greenburg Island and into William O’Brien State Park. Post paddle, racers will run a 5.2 mile route (ah-hem … uphill!) through the park.  Last year, I was fearing the mosquitos would be treacherous and the trails would be really soft after a week of rain.  The race organizers did a great job offering repellant and water stations in the park, but in reality, a good pace kept the bugs away.  The final stretch is the 11 mile bike through the hills of Scandia and along Big Marine Lake.  If you’ve ever been to Smaland, Sweden – you’ve think you have been transplanted.  The resemblence is uncanny.

 

SUP participants are limited, so register early!

I’ve been to San Francisco nearly monthly for my job and to other destinations in California a number of times, but I’ve never piled into a car southbound from San Francisco to white knuckle some curvy cliff roads to see some of the most breathtaking views and experience the point where chaos meets calm. The Big Sur!  After a week of work in SF, I piled into my dear friend Katie’s car with my dear Ben on a Cali Highway #1 adventure.
We drove down the #1 along the coast, past Carmel and onto Morro Bay in search of the perfect destination Sup Yoga retreat spots . Coincidentally (or maybe not so much) Katie, Ben and I are all from North Dakota. No Coast. Flat lands. Now, all of a sudden, we found ourselves dancing on the Santa Lucia Mountains and teasing the crashing waves of the unruly Pacific.  What. A. View.

 

We kept going. Noting options for hiking and camping. Even searching for Jade. While the meditative options are aplenty, the untamed waters would offer some pretty tricky board situations.

 

It took us nearly 4 hours to meander just 125 miles down the central cost. We made it into the sleepy little village of Cayucos where we met Randy from MN Stand-up Paddle and Sail and some local surfer friends for dinner at Taco Temple. Our bellies were filled with fish tacos and thirsts were quenched by fresh Firestone DBA with lots of ha. We walked it all off with a moonlit stroll on the beaches hugging Morro Rock.  Time to rest up.

Our goal was to set out the next day to surf, SUP, Yoga SUP and find the perfect retreat options for unruly Midwestern weather farers such as ourselves.

Bright and early the next day, Randy was able to connect us with Steve from Good Clean Fun in Cayucos.

We geared up with paddle boards and headed back to Los Osos for launch.

Paradise found! Randy had been promising me that this looked the closest thing to Hawaii while still being on mainland USA. Do I dare admit he was absolutely correct?  Sure, ya betchya.

A back bay nestled among the giant eucalyptus trees waited for us. And I mean just us. There was a small cafe, with more dogs then locals. Not a human on that glossy water. The wind and sun was in our favor too, but not to risk it, we wore our wet suits. I’ve learned taunting a north wind in January is a real threat.

We paddled through Los Osos back bay and around to the Morro Bay Estuary – where the river freshwater meets the salt water, down around the estuary and back into Morro Bay. Coming around the outlet, back from the estuary and into Morro Bay was probably our most trying portion of this approximate 6-mile paddle. The wind turned and we had to work for it. But once into Morro Bay, we paddled right through the harbor with sea lions greeting us along the way.  The wind died down and when we looked back, there were two porpoises swimming directly behind us. Beautiful!  We Ended the afternoon with more fish tacos and live music on the pier at Tognazzini’s.  Not ready for the day to end, we girls headed back out to the water for some SUP yoga while the boys hunted down some waves. Well if that sunset wasn’t threatening to be the most beautiful yet of 2015 (and we had to get our boards back), we may still be out there.

 

Stay tuned for a fun little retreat cooking up!  I think we found THE spot.